The New Floor 2

Lex + I

Alexia and I had a great impromptu day of togetherness today.

The day started out with her needing a buddy to help her walk the neighbor's two dogs. Her usual friends weren't available, but Dad was. So, off we went to spend some time at the duck pond with Rufus and Zack.

Once they were worn out and back home, Lex helped me to dis-assemble the playset in the back yard. At one point she saved the day when the ladder and monkey bars wouldn't separate from each other due to a problematic bolt... I needed one more set of hands to help get them apart before they toppled over on top of me.  Lex scrambled up to quickly solve the problem.

We finished the day with a hiking trip to Artist Point.

We even brought along her dog Katrina.

While we expected to have snow up there, we didn't really expect THAT much snow. In fact, even the bathroom was still completely buried!

 

The trails are still 98% buried and the combination of steep slopes + tennis shoes + dog meant that neither of our intended destinations were within our risk level.

Instead, we just scouted around the safe areas, tested out some hiking poles, micro-spikes, cameras and a classic 'cardboard wrapped in plastic' sled... generally having a great time exploring the environment and relaxing.

Burgers and Ice Cream on the way home of course.

Thanks Lex... we'll climb Table Mountain soon I'm sure!

Now, some photos and a lengthy video that ends with some sledding video footage.

 















 
Hiking and impromptu sledding at Artist Point 07-13-13 from Eric Rolfs on Vimeo.

The Life Of An Involuntary Dog Sitter

The family has been enjoying a summer kickoff by living the good life in the Tri-Cities since school let out for the summer.

I've been kicking off my summer with a lot of hours at work followed by many miles of running and many conversations with dogs about how annoying their barking is.

Here's a quick recap of my summer so far.  Every day is pretty much the same.

Wake Up to dogs barking.  4:45 a.m.

Discuss the obvious fact that the dogs are barking at each other and there is no legitimate threat... morning sunlight is not a threat.

Announce that breakfast isn't until 6:15 a.m.

Back to bed and listen to the dogs discuss whether my Teva hat hanging on the doorknob is considered a threat or not.

6:15 a.m.  Feed Chuckles the big dog food.  Feed Apricot the plain dog food for little dogs.  Feed the white dog the little dog food in a bowl of water so she thinks it's cereal & makes the other dogs jealous.

Feed myself.

Feed the hamster.

Feed Bacon & Eggs (T's two frogs)

Feed Polly & Esther (A's two frogs)

Feed Grumpy (A's Beta fish)

Yep 10 mouths to feed.  Unbelievable.

Dogs run around shouting obscenities at anything that moves. Or doesn't move.  Or might move.

7:40 a.m. Everyone back inside for nap time.

Me, off to work, praying that somebody comes by during the day to let the dogs out & to play with them.

Mid-afternoon:   Receive text message.

Say a quick prayer that my family has a safe trip home... soon.

6:00 p.m.  Head home.  Dog's won't answer phone.

6:45 p.m.  Dinner.  x10

Listen to discussions about whose turn it is to randomly bark through the night and whose turn it is to require a false-alarm midnight emergency pee.

Midnight  Bed time.

Repeat.... 4.5 times.

~E

Image Credits:  Apparently some dog in the UK who can text  and some website called 'theoatmeal'.