friends | Change Is Hard

September 27, 2014
by dawnkinster 10 Comments

What’s your favorite part of the weekend?

Friday night, snug at home, out of work clothes and into something more comfortable, putting the badge up on the shelf where it lurks until Monday morning. That’s my favorite part of the weekend, when hours spill out into the future, nothing quite set in stone, potential for adventure or rest hiding just out of site, yes that’s my favorite part of the weekend.

Or Saturday early morning waking up automatically at 5:55 a.m. glancing at the clock and sighing because you know that alarm is going to shriek in five minutes and then you realize it’s Saturday and you don’t have to listen to that obnoxious sound and you turn over and snuggle back into the warm blankets and soft pillow, now that’s my favorite part of the weekend.

Maybe it’s at 6:05 a.m. when your sheltie-girl sighs and stands up and shakes and you know any semblance of sleep is over because she drops a kiss on your face and then stares at you while softly whimpering until you give up feigning sleep and gather her up and head out into the day. Yea, that’s pretty sweet too.

But don’t forget the sheltie adventure planned for some time in the next two days; a hike through the woods on a beautiful fall day, or a romp in the backyard with her Frisbee, can’t beat that, surely that is the favorite time of any weekend?

This weekend we have company coming on Sunday. Katie says she thinks, for this weekend anyway, that is going to be her favorite part of the weekend. She’s resting up now in anticipation.

So, what’s the best part of your weekend? Inquiring minds (and shelties) want to know.

August 24, 2014
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

What’s to miss about running.

Once upon a time a long time ago I use to run. I was never fast but I got to the finish line. I used to train for races along with a group of women I’d met online, and then in person at races, and then in person just because they are really cool women. Then I got busy and I didn’t train as carefully as I should have and I tried to get ready for a half marathon having not run for awhile. I ran too much too soon and too far and I suffered a hairline fracture in my foot.

The wheelers get ready to start their race.

I knew as I was going the longer distances that something was wrong. I knew the morning of the race as I got up before light and packed the car with all the essentials, warm up clothes, clothes for after, water, food, extra socks, pins, number, that I shouldn’t be running this race. Still. I had trained for it. People were expecting me. It was an inaugural half marathon through a pretty part of the country.

I wanted to do it.

During the drive to the appointed meeting place I reached over in the dark to the stack of clothing on the other seat. I didn’t feel my race bib with it’s number, that I KNEW I had put on the top of the pile. I pulled into an empty parking lot and stopped under a light. I searched the car. No bib. I drove frantically home and searched the house. No bib.

It was a sign, I decided, that I wasn’t supposed to run this race. I called my friend and told her I wasn’t coming. Then I went back to bed.

And I never seriously ran again. It’s hard to start from scratch. It takes dedication and time and resolve. And I can’t seem to get out the door. It’s been years, the stress fracture is as healed as it’s going to be. I’ve gone to a foot specialist and purchased custom orthotics. I could do it.

Anticipation before the race.

I see runners when I’m driving to and from work, or when we’re on trips. Portland Maine seemed to be the capital of young athletic fit bodies running half dressed through the streets. All seem to float effortlessly. I become enamored again with the concept.

But I don’t float. I slog and running is not as romantic as I remembered.

Here they come!

This weekend I went up to Flint to see the start of the Crim Festival of Races. Ten thousand plus runners and their supporters were celebrating healthy activity, and the love of running. I felt the familiar twinge. No not in my foot; in my heart. I miss the sense of community running gave me. I could do that again, I thought to myself.

In order to run you just have to start.

Just start.

August 16, 2014
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Adventures! And more adventures!

Katie here. Hey! Did you know I got to go camping with my mama? A lot? I bet you saw it on Facebook. I swear, she needs to get me my own page, she’s always letting the cat out of the bag on that thing. And I hate cats! All cats should stay in the bag, I’m sure there’s a law about that somewhere.

Another of my favorite parks!

So anyway, today I got her to take me to a park, because daddy said she owed me cause she went to work this morning and Saturday’s are supposed to be about me! I used to go to school and everything and now she says I’m ‘retired’ whatever that means so I don’t get to do anything! You believe me, right? That I’m a poor abused ignored dog? They never feed me and I have to stay at home all the time. You should probably send help.

Oh. You don’t believe that? Well it was worth a shot.

Soaking up a little shade on my walk today.

So today I made my mama feel guilty and she took me to a big park nearby. We walked down the bike path and I was very good, didn’t bark at any bikes or cars or anything. OK. One car that was hauling a noisy trailer…but really who could resist barking at that!

Not worried about that bike in back of me.

But I bet what you really want to hear about is the camping my mama and I did a couple of weeks ago! We went to a real park and I got to sleep in my tent for two nights! There were lots of kids there and mostly I sat in our camp site and watched them go around and around and around the campground on their bikes and scooters. And I did not bark at any of them! Not even once!

Watching the kids go by.

The best part of our camping trip was when my friend Peep came to visit and we went on a long walk through the woods. Actually Peep and I don’t care particularly if the other one is there, we just like that when our mamas get together we get to go on long walks!

Peep and me.

Sometimes one or the other of us finds a particularly good smell and then the other one of us will go check it out, but mostly we walk our own walk. We’re very good together because we pretty much ignore each other. Mostly Peep went ahead and I brought up the rear. I like to take really long sniffs of stuff you know. Plus I have this big heavy coat to drag around.

Anyway, mama and I had a really good time. She read a bunch of books over the weekend and I got to go on a bunch of walks. Sometimes we walked on trails in the woods and sometimes we walked around the campground. Lots of people said I was pretty. And cute. And really good. Cause I am.

We went on lots of trails.

The mosquitoes weren’t as bad as our last big adventure, but there were still enough that sometimes we retreated to the tent. That was OK, just meant another nap. Naps are a very important part of camping. I take my napping responsibilities very seriously.

zzzzzzz

The weekend was perfect!

Then last weekend mama and I camped out three nights in a row in the backyard! The moon was full and she didn’t put the rain fly up and we got to sleep under it and stars. It was wonderful! I only barked once when that mama deer snorted at us. It was her fault for waking us up anyway. A dog has to to what a dog has to do. Right?

What’s out there?!

So all in all I guess my mama really does love me. And yes my daddy loves me too, he feeds me right on schedule and sometimes early if I make my sad dog eyes at him. And I get to go on adventures almost every weekend. So I guess my life’s not so bad, but don’t tell them I said so, OK? I like to keep them feeling guilty.

I get more treats that way.

Love,

Katie (The Adventuring Sheltie-girl)

This is our little secret!

July 23, 2014
by dawnkinster 37 Comments

1500

I’ve been blogging a long time. Since September 2006. Some of you have actually read every entry, maybe even commented on most of them. Thank you for that, thank you if you’ve just read some of them.

The blog began when I quit my job and went back to school at age 50, working on a masters degree in Information Sciences, what used to be Library Science. I met a young man named Spike during my first semester. He was into technology and was putting together a host server. He asked me if I wanted to blog. I didn’t know what a blog was, but I like to write and I liked the idea of having a place to publish some thoughts. So he set me up.

It was kind of interesting and definitely fun to be back in school at my age with a bunch of 20 somethings. I felt both younger than my age and older, depending on the moment. I’d often forget I was so much older during discussions, but then someone would say something or do something and I’d realize I was old enough to be their parent. Perhaps their grandparent. In group projects I felt like their mother. I lent money to them to get home during stormy nights. I brought cake to the class with the snack break. I reminded them repeatedly that this or that assignment was not the end of the world, that there were bigger issues in real life. I told them often to enjoy the freedom that being in school affords. I luxuriated in that freedom myself, loving the public bus rides, the walks between classes, the work in public libraries where stories were always presenting themselves.

I especially like being in school at the university that both parents attended, graduated from, with most of my classes in the building my dad studied chemistry more than a half century previously. I liked walking the stairs he climbed. I said hello to them as I passed the house he grew up in. I thought about them when I wandered near the river.

So I wrote about school, and life, and my folks. And when I graduated in 2008 I wondered if maybe I should just close the blog down. After all, I was no longer an interesting student. I was back in real life and it wasn’t all that exciting. But I still liked to write, and I had a few readers, and while I tried to figure out what the blog was, it was still a place for me to put thoughts. To get support on life’s challenges. To offer my own support to others. To explore ideas. To play with the dog. To express sadness and joy sometimes in the same post.

1500 posts later I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. And whether or not I will ever make a difference. And if any of it matters. Social media has changed. Now there’s Facebook and twitter and a whole lot more that I don’t even know about. And going into the future I suppose blogging will become even more old fashioned. On the other hand blogging allows people to express complex, more complete thoughts than Facebook or twitter. It slows people down for a bit longer, makes them think a bit more. It can be elegant. And thoughtful.

Or not.

So I’ve rambled enough. This post was supposed to be something significant, and here it is all nostalgic about my student life. But that was significant. And I’m glad I did it even though I didn’t get to work full time at a public library. I’m glad I did it for lots of reasons…

…one of which is because it led me to all of you.

July 11, 2014
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

Beachy fort day

Thursday we visited two forts and a wonderful beach. Want to see?

First stop, the small Fort Edgecomb with it’s octagonal turret built in 1808.

All that is left is the tower.

It’s a small park now, along a bit of waterway that is filled with lobster buoys.

Wonder if all those traps have lobster in them?

Pretty spot.

Then we headed out to Fort Popham, built in 1862 right on a most glorious beach! This fort is mostly intact and was a lot of fun to wander.

Arches within arches.

But of course I was most attracted to the beach…miles and miles of beautiful sand…

Looked at clouds from both sides now.

…with smaller pools of water for children to play in.

Fun in the sun.

The water in the Atlantic was cold. It is Maine after all. But it was so much fun to play in the waves for a little bit.

Brrrrr!

Once you got in and remembered how to breath you could be a kid again! And really, it’s OK not to be able to feel your legs, it’s all part of summer at the beach in New England!

Moon over Maine.

We ended the day at a waterfront tavern having dinner with friends.

Special evening.

Can’t get any better than that.

July 2, 2014
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Wordless Wednesday

June 28, 2014
by dawnkinster 15 Comments

Katie scores

Katie here. My mama was going to have me show you around the yard today cause some stuff is really blooming pretty. But she got busy trying to clean up the basement and forgot. She even forgot that I was upstairs (I don’t do stairs, it is not princess-like) and she was downstairs for a long time. But then I howled. That brought her right up and she took me down there with her while she finished up. I guess she made a nice bedroom down there but it isn’t really my taste. I like a king sized bed. With lots of pillows. Of course.

But I digress (I get my wandering mind from my mama). While she was down in the basement doing basement stuff I started barking hysterically and jumping around trying to see out the front window, and my mama could tell I was serious! So she ran up the stairs and guess what? I was right! There had been someone on my front porch! And the evil mail truck had been in my driveway! HA! I scared it away, yes I did, before she got all the way up the steps. But the mail guy left a box! For me and mama!

Something smells good!

Well, we had to open it right away because it was from my boyfriend Reilly’s mom. And whenever we get a box from her it’s full of good stuff!

I’ll share some with you mama. Maybe.

Look at all the loot I scored! OK. Some of it is for my mama, but it’s mostly for me! ME ME ME ME! Reilly’s mom sent us some stuff to take on our next camping trip! Bug spray and treats and food and stuff! And she sent my mama some beautiful music to listen to on her way to that job thing she goes to every day! AND a shirt to wear that says she’s a Sheltie MOM! So everyone will know when we’re camping. Not that I ever let her out of my sight when we’re on an adventure, but in case she gets lost they’ll know to return her to me!

So I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to Reilly’s mom Bree. Check out her website, or her Etsy store. She makes the most pawsome stuff! My mama just loves everything there!

Thank you Bree! And hug that Mr. Reilly for me too, so he remembers he’s mine!

Love,

Katie.

My own cow! Thank you Reilly!

June 16, 2014
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Safety update. And turtles

Who you lookin at?

Today was a busy day as volunteers, including some of you, made phone calls to Senators in Washington, asking them to consider safety before profits — to strike down the Collins Amendment that would gut the Hours of Service Rule just instituted last summer, and to watch out for amendments that would prohibit any attempt at raising trucking company’s minimum liability insurance requirements. And as the day went on some Senators stood up and voiced concern over trucking regulations. In particular there is now another amendment, the Booker-Menendez Amendment (both are Democratic Senators out of New Jersey) that would strike down the dangerous part of the Collins amendment; the part that would cause the hours truckers are allowed to work to increase back to 82 a week. The Booker-Menedez Amendment would allow a study of the ‘unintended effects of two consecutive nights off’ for drivers who work 70 hours or more a week but would not make changes in the rule until after that study was complete. Seems like a good compromise to me. I called my Senators again late this afternoon and asked them to cosponsor that amendment. We’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted. I truly appreciate all your support, in all its different manifestations, from calls to writing, to hugs, to concern. It’s all important. And the more you talk about it with friends the better chance we have of making our politicians understand the importance of not letting profits compromise safety.

Scoping the lay of the land.

Meanwhile. I came home to find a Blanding Turtle (no I didn’t know the name, but a friend on Facebook did!) in my driveway. You know those things can move pretty fast when they want to. By the time I got inside and hooked the dog up for a walk to the mailbox it was nowhere to be seen. But I knew where it was, under some shrubs along the edge of the driveway. Because Katie wanted to go over there really bad. But I wouldn’t let her and we high tailed it back inside. Almost instantly I noticed it had moved up to the garage and was looking around. I think she’s trying to decide where to lay eggs. I watched and took pictures through a tiny bit of beveled glass in the front door.

She walked all the way up the driveway, along the garage door, then back past the front porch and under the car. Who knows where she went after that, but there’s a lot of garden for her to choose from. Katie and I went out on the deck to watch and listen to the birds. I fell asleep until the frogs began to sing. It would be a good night to camp out but sheer exhaustion precludes me from lugging the tent out and setting it up. Plus tomorrow is another day.

I hope Capital Hill sees fit to make the right decisions tomorrow. I hope they aren’t like my wandering turtle, just exploring and looking and ending up headed right back where they came from. Or hiding under a metaphoric car.

Wandering off to look for better places.

I’ll let you know. For tonight I’m pulling my head into my shell and getting some shuteye.

Katie says night too.

But Mama, I don’t want to go to bed yet!

June 12, 2014
by dawnkinster 28 Comments

The grand camping adventure

Katie here. Mama says she’s had a very long and emotional week and she’s exhausted and too tired, she says, to write a blog about our camping adventure last weekend. But I know that many of you are waiting impatiently to read all about it, so I have taken over the blog! It should be my blog anyway if you ask me; I can not imagine what would be more interesting or more important than yours truly. I am, of course, the center of the universe.

Ahem.

Mama took last Friday off so that we could go way up north and set up camp for a two night stay at a luxury state park. I thought it was luxury anyway, as mama gave me my regular big pillow and then two of hers just so I could see out the little vent in the front of the tent any time I thought I heard something. I like to know what’s going on. That way I don’t have to bark at stuff. And I don’t get yelled at. It works out.

My princess bed.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our drive up north took about 4 hours and I was an incredibly wonderful traveler! Mama put my crate on the back seat and I could see her all the time which made me very happy. Plus she stopped at all these wonderful rest stop places that had really cool smells. I never wanted to get back in the car after I did my job, so mama let me walk around for awhile.

Vacations are like that you know, no reason to rush. Right? The best rest stop was the one only a couple of miles from the exit for the state park. It had this little path going back into the woods from the dog run area and it was so green and wonderful in there! Except for the mosquitoes. And the fact that mama put her foot into a gopher hole and fell and hurt her hand. But other than that it was all fun!

We’re up north now!

Mama says she knows she’s ‘up north’ when she starts to see the ferns on the forest floor along the freeway. They make her smile. And when my mama smiles, I smile too. It’s sort of contagious. You’ll notice I smiled a lot on this trip.

We got to our campsite a little early but that was OK, it gave us time to set up camp and blow up mama’s bed without annoying anyone with the noisy pump. Then we walked around the campground. It was pretty empty that first afternoon. In fact, all weekend I bet the campground wasn’t half full, which worked out fine for us! We had a cozy site tucked back into the woods which would have been really cool. Did I mention mosquitoes?

Friday evening we tried to go do one of the hikes that are in the park, through old pine trees, and we got about 100 feet in and had to race out of there. We were getting eaten alive and mama was wearing bug spray! Mama says I looked like a bug cloud in the shape of a sheltie. There were several short hikes we would have liked to do during the weekend but the bugs were ferocious.

Luckily mama had plans Saturday for us to go over to Elk Rapids, a town about an hour west of where we were staying, to visit her blogger friend Gerry who gave us a tour of the town. We saw old houses and churches and we walked through town and let people admire me. I even got to go inside a store because the owner thought I was beautiful. What can I say? I get that a lot. This is a bridge over to the library in town, isn’t it cool?

The princess goes to the library.

We went down to the beach too, and watched a bunch of guys in a big canoe replicate an historical landing. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew I was hot, so I took my mama over to the river to get a drink.

Ah…..

This was a big deal for me as I don’t generally get my feet wet and I never drink out of a river. It’s just not something a princess does. But you gotta do what you gotta do…right?

Then we went to a park that a lot of beautiful and interesting sculpture in it. I liked it because there was shade on most of it, except those that were out on the beach. It was all interesting and I got to sniff a lot of new stuff!

Shade and color is good.

Then we went to Gerry’s house and I got to meet her duo…Cowboy and Sadie. I didn’t like that my mama kept saying how adorable Cowboy was and what beautiful eyes Sadie had. She’s my mama and I want her all to myself. Plus I had a hard time keeping track of them, they were so fast and there were two of them and only one of me. So I got up on my mama’s lap while she and Gerry sat and talked a little bit. Mama was really glad she got to meet Gerry and the gang. I liked Gerry a lot but I’m not so sure about those furry ones…maybe next time I won’t be so nervous about the whole thing.

The duo.

I slept all the way back to camp, and when we got there we escaped into the tent where I slept some more. All this traveling wears a girl out!

Zzzzzzz…..

Sunday morning we did a little walking around the campground and then mama piled everything into the car as fast as she could to get us away from the mosquitoes. I really didn’t want to go home.

Where did my pillow go mama!?

I stood in our empty camp site a long time until she made me get in the car. But then I slept a lot on the way home.

And where did my tent go?!!

Once I made it into my house I was the old Katie girl — full out barking for a long time just letting my mama know I had a good time and thanking her for taking me with her on the big camping adventure. I was a really really good girl. I didn’t bark once on the trip up or the trip back. I slept all night both nights, though I did get my mama up by 5:30 every morning. But then we went back to bed for a bit. I sat around the camp while she was working on stuff and didn’t whine, and when she asked me to do something I did it right away. Sometimes.

Can we go again soon mama?

Yep, I’m hoping my mama makes reservations for us at another campground soon! Maybe one that doesn’t have so many mosquitoes though. This is way more fun than sleeping in the back yard and I can’t wait to go again! Mama failed two nights at making a campfire, she blames the wood. I think she needs more practice. What do you think?

Where should we go next?

Me and my mama.

March 22, 2014
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Spring? Are you sure?

Pretty

This is not my garden. Did you think maybe? I can only hope. First of all chipmunks have long since eaten all my crocus bulbs. And second, my garden still looks like this right now:

Not pretty

This is, instead, a lovely handwritten note sent by a friend through snail mail, to surprise me on the first day of spring. And it did indeed surprise me. But more importantly it made me smile. A lot. The whole effect, the beautiful flowers and the getting something in the mail, made my day and I want to say thank you. Thank you very much. You know who you are.

In our part of the world it doesn’t look much like spring, though we got rain last night instead of more snow, so there is hope. And a professor friend of mine posted on Facebook yesterday that the sandhill cranes were back. She lives an hour south of me, so I expected I’d hear them soon. They have such a distinctive cry you can’t confuse it with anything else. And do you know what? This very morning as Katie and I were out front slogging along in the soggy yard looking for the perfect spot there arose from the treetops across the street such a screeching that we both jumped. The sound bounced off the houses and careened around spruce trees. I never saw them, but it was evident they were right there! I laughed out loud and Katie looked at me in question. Did you hear that girl!? Did you here THAT! And what happened next just added proof to the pudding.

A red winged blackbird sang. And sang again so there was no mistake. Sometime last night, while we were lying awake listening to the rain on the roof the real spring arrived in my very own neighborhood.

Katie and I took the camera out back to see if we happened to have anything popping up from the ground. All we found was this:

Faint hope

Do you see? Let me get closer:

Proof

It’s not much, but in combination with my birds, well, I can finally let my shoulders fall back from up around my ears where they were shivering. I can take a deep breath and taste the warm muggy days to come. I can look out over my snow covered yard and envision the pear tree and redbud blooming. Someday there will be daffodils after all. I had so little faith.

Katie says all today means to her is that there is less snow on the deck and more sticks that need breaking up into sheltie sized pieces. She thinks that’s good enough for now.

Sticks Mama!

I think she’s a smart dog.

I know I am smart.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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