Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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The great Cheez-It conspiracy

I love Cheez-Its.  I know.  They’re not good for me.  They’re empty calories.  They derail diets.  Who knows what’s really in them.  I know.  I still love Cheez-Its.

For years I’ve worked on loosing the 20 pounds I’ve gained since 2004.  Actively counting calories.  Recording everything I eat.  Foregoing dessert or seconds or night time eating.  Struggling.  Making progress, falling back.  Giving up, trying again.  Joining groups, quitting groups.  Some of you know the routine.

Right now I’m allowing silly little yellow orange squares to beat me.  They sit in the vending machine I pass several times a day.  Did you know that little bag in there is 6 Weight Watcher points?  In a diet that only allows me 21 points for the entire day?  Crazy!  I think the manufacturer bakes something into them that triggers my craving.  It’s a conspiracy I say!

I know that snacking is one way of coping with stress…and there’s plenty of stress in my life…but not enough to eat like this.  So what else is it?  Why does it seem impossible to walk by that machine without contemplating spending the 85 cents?  Some days I win the battle.  Some days I don’t.

So now I need to give up on the crunchy salty goodness.  If I tell you I’m not eating these anymore will that make it true?  Can I think about each of you when I’m tempted and keep the change in the purse?  I hope so!

What about you?  What’s your favorite snack item?  And how do you keep your cravings under control?


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When is here good enough?

Home

Home

You know I suffer from wanderlust.  I’m a lot like Katie that way; give me a place to go and I’m ready.  If I had my way there would be somewhere new to visit every weekend; errands, housework and the yard responsibilities would melt away.  Some people, particularly someone I’m married to, probably think I’ve already abandoned all household responsibility.  He would be close to correct.

The road calls me constantly and it’s hard when I’m out  not to just keep going.  So I found it refreshing Sunday afternoon to feel content and happy just standing on our deck watching the birds swoop in and out of our freshly filled feeders.

My brave little titmice were first to zoom in, even before I retreated from filling the feeder.

Brave little guys

Brave little guys

The chickadees soon followed…

What you lookin at?

What you lookin at?

…and the goldfinches, now a subdued green were happy with the full thistle feeder.

Greedy goldfinches.

Greedy goldfinches.

And as soon as I was inside a whole gang of cardinals arrived to party.

Party!

Party!

It’s good to know that I can be content here too.  Even if it’s only for an evening.  I know that the call of the road will be singing loud again soon.

But for a moment it was good to be home.

Supper!

Supper!


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Weekly photo challenge: Eerie

The WordPress weekly photo challenge is Eerie.  I toyed with going out and finding something new.  I have a few ideas, but nothing exactly right.  Plus I am totally swamped this weekend.

So I went to my archives…and found a moody photo from our trip to northern California a couple of years ago.

Can you feel them?

Can you feel them?

Inside Alcatraz you can almost feel the inmates moving beside you.

Maybe someday I will make a point of going out to find eerie.  It would be fun to look.  Keep your eyes peeled, there might be something eerie near you!


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Novice Obedience – Katie earns her title

These are mine!

These are mine!

With high hopes we went to Katie’s third leg for Obedience Novice today.  I even figured out pretty close to perfectly our timing so we didn’t have to sit around all day.  Katie was engaged as we waited, but anxious to get going. So was I.

Is it our turn yet?

Is it our turn yet?

There were six teams in our class; we were #4.  Just as the Team #1 started I realized Katie hadn’t gone to potty in awhile…so we went out in the rain and walked around. She wet but I had hoped for more.  Ah well.  (Truly, this matters, later in the story.)

Then it was our turn.  Katie heeled fine into the ring and set up fine.  But she lagged behind me on the heel on leash and wouldn’t sit at the final halt which was right in front of the gate.  She was more interested in everyone sitting out there than me.  I don’t think she even realized I had stopped.

Her figure 8 was OK,  though she lagged a bit on the outside curve, she at least sat when we halted.  Her stand for exam was perfect; she had no problem letting the strange lady touch her.  I was so proud of her!

Then we were back to do more heeling this time without a leash.  If I could get the video to play in this blog you’d see that she was on a different planet than I was.  And as we headed back toward the crowd she whipped around and tugged at her tail.  This is her sign she has to GO!  😦  She didn’t sit on the last halt on this heeling pattern either.  Just stood there and looked at me looking at her.  SIGH.

On a brighter note her recall was pretty cool.  She was almost straight when she ran up and sat in front of me.  That’s been an ongoing problem for quite awhile…she’ll run to me and then sit crooked, all the while grinning.  Silly girl.  Today she sat pretty straight, and finished by circling around me when I signaled and sat pretty.  WHEW! (Those of you on facebook can see the video there.  I can’t remember how to upload to youtube, and so it isn’t going into this blog.)

I thought we had it in the bag then, she has had no trouble at all on her long sits (1 minute) and downs (3 minutes).  But surprise surprise, she didn’t want to sit, though she did after one additional command….and she REALLY didn’t want to down.  I had to physically fight with her, which cost me big points.  I know that she had to GO Mama!  And I was holding my breath the whole 3 minutes thinking she was going to just get up and head for the door.  She did shift from one hip to another and I thought she was going to move, but she stayed where she was.  Have I mentioned that she’s a good girl?

All lined up.

All lined up.

So in the end Katie got her Novice Obedience title.  We scored 178.5 out of 200 possible points.  We even got third place!

Did I do good Mama?

Did I do good Mama?

While we were waiting for awards the dog next to me leaned in for a head rub.  I couldn’t stop, each time I tried she leaned in further.  What a sweetie!

New best friend.

New best friend.

Best of all for Katie is that she got a ton of ribbons and a new toy!  She won a pink whale.  She’s already been playing with it.

Me and my whale.

Me and my whale.

She’s napping now.  I need a nap too.  She did things today she’s never done before, but most of the errors were mine.  Which is why I didn’t get a pink whale I suppose.

Good girl sweetie.  Mama loves you.

Don't touch my whale!

Don’t touch my whale!


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November challenge

blogroll

Have you heard about NaNoWriMo?  It’s a national writing project aimed at helping writers get a novel written in a month.  Apparently it happens every November.   Of course I’d love to write a novel, but that thought seems a little, OK a lot, ambitious.  And I’m not prepared with a novel idea (pun intended) at the moment.  So, for those of us who enjoy writing but on a smaller scale WordPress has issued a challenge for bloggers called NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month – a challenge to post a blog entry every day in November.

What do you think, will this be a challenge for me?  Sometimes I think I blog too much as it is.  Yet I am intrigued by this.  The instructions say the daily blog can be anything, any topic, photos or words, short or long.  But I’d like each day to be entertaining or thoughtful or at the very least cute.  I don’t want to post just for the sake of posting.  I want to give each entry some thought, just like I do when I’m not being formally challenged.

November is a very busy month for me already.  Maybe this is too much to add.  But to be honest, I’d be sharing this busy month with you anyway, so maybe it’s an advantage that I have so much scheduled.  I doubt I’ll have a problem with topics.  Then again I’ll see how this all works out.

I hope you’ll all come along.


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Yes I’m a pretty girl. I know.

New smells!

New smells!

Katie here!  Haven’t you missed reading about my adventures?  Me too, cause I haven’t had any!  I’ve been bugging and bugging my Mama but she says she’s working too hard to go adventuring with me.  Huh.  Seems an easy fix; just stop working Mama and hang out with me all the time!  Problem solved!

So anyway, I’ve been working on her to take me to the park and she finally said yes, she could take me in between all her other commitments, if I was sure I wanted to go.  Sure I wanted to go?  Is she crazy?  I’m always sure I want to go.  Go ahead.  Test me, say “Hey Katie, want to GO?” and see what happens.

I'm ready Mama!

I’m ready Mama!

Yep I’m always up for a jaunt in the park.  This time we went to a park a little farther away with fresh smells.  We went way in the back of the park where no one was and she let me run around off leash!  That is so much fun!  I always stay very close to her but it’s nice to be able to stop and sniff whenever I want.

Then suddenly she was clipping on my leash real fast and telling me to hurry up!  And you know what came chugging across the field?  THIS:

What the heck is that?

What the heck is that?

It was a tractor pulling kids on a hayride all around the park.  I thought it was very interesting, but I don’t think I would have run after it.  Well.  Pretty sure.

After that we went to investigate the kids playground.  Mama kept asking me to sit on these silly big dots of color.  I told her I didn’t like the way it felt on my feet, and besides, I pointed out the sign said ‘NO PETS’ but apparently Mama can’t read.  She did leave her glasses in the car, so maybe that was the problem.

I found a dot that matches me Mama!

I found a dot that matches me Mama!

At one of the dot places there was a drain and it had funny sounds coming out of it.  I didn’t like it.  Not one bit.

Scary! Can we go now Mama?

Scary! Can we go now Mama?

After that we walked past the climbing wall.  I was pretty bored.  Doesn’t Mama know that dogs don’t climb walls?  What does she think I am, a cat??

Stupid climbing wall. Wonder what's over THERE?

Stupid climbing wall. Wonder what’s over THERE?

Mama kept asking me to pose in front of pretty trees and stuff.

Another red tree. Boring.

Another red tree.  Sigh.

That was boring too.  I wanted to walk some more and  we did end up walking a long way…but not 8 miles.  She’ll tell you we did, but honestly?  We didn’t.

Look! I went a long way! (kidding!)

Look! I went a long way! (kidding!)

We did some heeling practice too cause I have a trial coming up next weekend.  Mama said looking down at me and my shadow it almost felt like she had two dogs.

Me and my shadow...

Me and my shadow…

Daddy says I have enough personality for two dogs.  And that’s why he won’t let Mama get me a brother or sister.  He says I am enough.  I don’t know.  I might like a brother or a sister.  But on the other hand I sort of like all the attention myself too.

It got kind of windy before we left.  I like how the wind blows my fur around.  Makes me very glamorous don’t you think?

Yes I know I'm beautiful.

Yes I know I’m beautiful.

My mama and I had a great time.  I don’t know why I have to bug her so much to get her to take me to the park.  She has just as much fun as I do.  Maybe even more considering she’s always taking pictures.  In fact the header up above, the one of the two leaves?  She took that while we were at the kids playground.  I pointed it out to her.   My Mama.  Always stopping and taking pictures.

Next weekend we have an Obedience Trial.  I can tell she’s sort of nervous.  She’s always spontaneously asking me to heel.  Geeze.  I get it Mama!  Give me a break!  I’ll be fine next weekend.

Will you be fine Mama?

Smiling at my Mama.

Smiling at my Mama.


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Weekly Photo Challenge: Horizon

WordPress has issued the weekly photo challenge.  You know how much I love photo challenges and as soon as I saw the topic – horizon – I knew where I wanted to look.  When I think of wide open spaces and a visible horizon here in Michigan I immediately think of our Great Lakes.  So I looked through my archives and found a couple of possibilities.

But the road called.  I admit it…I’ll grab any excuse for a road trip.  Even a short road trip.  So early this morning I set out heading north and east, targeting Lake Huron for my horizon shot.  I didn’t know exactly where I’d end up, but the weather guy said there were gale force winds and 10 to 15 foot waves.  I wanted to see that.

Turns out the weather guy was wrong.  No waves but I did find this (click on photos to see the detail):

Lake Huron

Lake Huron

Don’t you wonder what that is out there on the horizon? Of course you do.   It’s the remnants of a structure that was built in the mid 1800’s to load gypsum onto ships from the quarry onshore.   Want to see it a little closer?

Originally built in 1868

Originally built in 1862

There was a pier built on the big concrete pilings all the way out to the loading building which is multiple stories high.  It’s huge, even from far away.  If you Googlemap Lake Huron near the town of Tawas you can see it jutting out into the lake.

Here’s some information, found at a historical market near the beach.

Historical explanation.

Historical explanation.

So that’s my submission for ‘horizon.’  Except that on my drive back I stopped at another little beach and found this fisherman.  I thought this was a nice way to view the horizon too.

Fishing Lake Huron

Fishing Lake Huron

I enjoyed looking for the horizon today.  The sky was interesting and the lake was, as it always is, pulling at my heartstrings.  It was good to take a few moments to enjoy the view even though I didn’t get to see any giant waves.

Walking toward the horizon.

Walking toward the horizon.