Spring?

Is this it? Is spring here? Is this a perfect spring Saturday?

yes, yes and yes.

We hiked the Westwood Ridges this morning and then I worked in the garden this afternoon. The best bit was just standing pointlessly and idly in the sun, soaking it all up.

We have two new horses in the field - they're young, gorgeous and frisky.. Who wouldn't be on a day like this?

The biggest decision I have to make right now is where to hike tomorrow and how far. Life is tough.

more politics

There is always enough time, energy and money for what is truly most important to me. Conversely, if I want to find out what is most important, I only have to look at where I spend my time, energy and money. It doesn't matter what I say is important - it's about putting my money where my mouth is.

This is not a major revelation and I believe I've mentioned this before. However, today I want to apply this to how we are going to vote on Monday. We have four parties saying a lot of things and making a lot of promises. But where do they put their time, money and energy?

Unfortunately, we can't draw the major conclusions from the opposition parties that we can from those in power. But we can look at local representation. Where I have seen the NDP hold seats, I have seen people working pretty hard to represent what is most important to local constituents. Not so the Conservatives - I refer in this case to Jean Crowder versus James Lunney.

But let's have a look at the Conservatives - this is where we can draw some major conclusions about what they deem important. War is important. Drill, baby, drill is important. Big corporations are important. Ego and self aggrandizement are important.

Not important are democracy, youth, seniors, women, the middle class and prosperity for all.

So - please look at what the parties are actually doing - and then, please vote on May 2!

It all happens at once

I guess this is just one of those times when I have to look long and hard at how to make it all work. First, my eyesight changed overnight and I need two new pairs of prescription glasses for driving - ah well, I've had the same pair for eight years - I suppose it's to be expected. What is not expected is that BC Med no longer pays for the checkup. I mean really - how can a health system not include eye exams? What kind of sense does that make?

Okay - I bit the bullet and made the appointment.

Number two - I finally dropped into the Mac shop to see what can be done about my iPhone which is sort of working since it's detour into the toilet bowl and drying out spell in the rice bowl - except the battery won't fully charge and when I try to charge it, it cycles on and off constantly. The word is I have to buy a new one.

Okay - I'll bite that bullet before I go on vacation in July.

Number three - my computer is acting up and I do believe I have to buy a new one. Another bullet to chew on, especially since I would ideally like to buy a Mac with an iPad for travelling.

All that and take a three week vacation on top of it.

Sigh.

My new mantra: I am insanely wealthy and can afford any expense that crops up.

Repeat after me....

Retired women

I heard on the radio this morning that women enjoy retirement more than men. The reason for this, the study says, is because women are more relationship focussed while men tend to tie up their self-worth in their jobs or careers.

Huh! I think I'm just enjoying it because I am innately lazy.

Here's one of the things I love. At noon I am heading out to play bridge all afternoon - instead of working! What's more, it's for a good cause - to raise funds for Haven House!

So I get to have fun, skip out of working and help a cause I believe in all at the same time. It doesn't get much better. Yep - what I'm telling people these days when they ask me what I do is, "Working less and playing more." Today it's playing bridge.

Voting strategically

I am not a big fan of voting strategically. I want to vote with my head and heart and my principles. BUT (this is a very big but) Canada has a system in place that doesn't allow me to do that - certainly not this time around.

74 percent of Canadians did not vote for Harper in the last election - and yet he got to run the country. Something is badly wrong with this picture. I know of no other country where this would be allowed. In the last election in England, when no party won a clear majority, they were forced to form a coalition. And why, pray tell, is a coalition a bad thing? Harper made it a dirty word - please don't buy it. Coalition governments are terrific. They get things done. They have an innate system of checks and balances. Switzerland and many other countries have been under a coalition government for ages - and it works.

Back to strategic voting. In this country, for some reason, we can be ruled by a government that a minority - not a majority - voted for. Is that weird? So I am going to vote strategically for the party that will win my riding rather than the Conservatives.

Truly - it's an "anything but the Conservatives" vote.

The important thing is that I'm voting.

Please make your voice heard.

bliss

Let's get together and feel all right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJlVVhyjXfA&feature=player_embedded

There's a choir in this really wonderful music video - and I was stopped by the expressions on the singers' faces - especially a man - just an ordinary 40-something guy - but he had a smile on his face that was like a light shining from inside him. Bliss - pure bliss. No other word can describe that emotion.

I believe I have felt like that several times in my life - I know I have.

I looked at this man and thought - that's what (who) I could fall in love with. With the man? With the feeling? I don't know - but I was strongly attracted.

The feeling is enough.

vote

I have such faith in our youth - tons and tons of faith. I've just been watching vote mobs such as this one that started it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEf34V2rmaM

Now these vote mobs are taking place all across the country - check it out!

Three million young people - and not a single party leader is talking to them. Shame on them! I hope and believe that the youth will prove them wrong. They will vote! They will make their voices heard. Good - because the old white men who lead our parties don't seem to care about our future or the future of our planet. Young people care. They are also innovative, creative and intelligent. I have far more trust in them than our leaders.

This movement excites me and gives me hope.

Spring

I'll tell you how I know when a day has reached the apogee of perfection - it's when I feel guilty for being inside.

Today is that day. What's the first thing I saw this morning at about eight a.m.? Swallows! Right on cue and on time the swallows have arrived and I'm thinking they must be convinced this is paradise. The sun is shining and there isn't a cloud in the cerulean sky. The sun is warm. I dig my fingers into the earth and even the earthworms are wriggling with pleasure.

I hoed the garden and sowed my heritage pea seeds and my first batch of salad. Yes, I know it's lettuce, but really, salad is what I have to call it. Here's what I do: buy a couple of dozen packets of every available kind of lettuce (except iceberg of course) - open all the packets and dump them into a container. Mix them all up and then sow very wide rows - 2-3 weeks apart. What comes up is a ready-made salad and I pick young plants all spring and summer and right into the fall - I usually do my last sowing in August.

The important thing  is wide rows - as long as you can reach the middle from either side, it's good. I am always amazed that people still sow plants in one narrow row and then walk on wide paths on either side of that row - what a waste of good garden space! I plant absolutely everything in wide rows.

At any rate, there's my gardening tip for the day. After lunch I'm going to Notch Hill With Abby. If I didn't I'd feel really guilty - not only for me but for Abby too! Time to soak up this day!

Choices

Decisions, decisions. Sigh

Today was tough. Hike the Westwood Ridges or the Abyss? We opted for the Abyss - happily this was a decision made yesterday so that took some of the pressure off today.

Then, later on, the decision of when to take a bubble bath - before or after feeding Abby? Tough one.

Now I am faced with the choice of reading or watching a movie I downloaded.

Life is tough. Especially on a spring day - a day off - with the sun shining and the birds singing. Ah yes!

Long Weekend

It seems a long, long time between New Year's and Easter - a long time without a three-day weekend. And yes, I know, I shouldn't care much about this any more but today I do.

Today is the end of a long work week - and especially today - it was trying.

Putting it all out of my mind now.

Curling up with a good book and hiking tomorrow and gardening on Saturday and Sunday - bliss!

More on Politics

I agree completely with anyone and everyone who suggests that we are splitting the left vote and that split may give the dreaded Harper a majority. Do the Liberals and NDP see this too?

What would it take for them to get together and form the New Liberal Democratic Party?

We need to do this and we need to do it now. On the other hand, this may come to pass right after the election with everyone receiving minority votes - we can only hope.

Harper is dead set on changing Canada's social structure in a fundamental way, including privatizing health care. Like the right wing in the US, he's all about more for the haves and less for the have-not-so-muches.

Let's all get out there and vote - especially you, if you are one of the 41 percent who usually don't vote. This is important. Look at what happened in Wisconsin where the governor proceeded to dismantle the middle class. Don't think it can't happen hear. Make you voice heard!

Spring

Isn't spring wonderful? The days are getting longer and longer and even though this year the weather seems to be exceptionally chilly, it's still spring darn it. I started my walk with Abby this afternoon in glorious sunshine and dashed home in pouring, slanting, driving rain.

Must be April!

Back to sun pouring in the windows, making me want to curl up on the couch and doze in the sun like a contented dog - who has just gulped down a gigantic chicken breast and part of a back and a few veggies. (she is so spoiled)

Excited about getting the stitches out tomorrow. It doesn't take much to make my day exciting!

Strategic Voting

There have been quite a few posts on FB lately encouraging people to vote strategically. Pick the party in your area most likely to defeat the Conservatives - and vote for that candidate.

I understand the sentiment, but I would respectfully suggest that this is not a winning strategy.

What you are doing with strategic voting is voting against something - not for something. It's a negative and it seems to me that all politics has recently devolved into negativity. It doesn't work - not in the long run. I don't want to know what you are against - tell me what you are for. Vote for what you are for. Inform yourself of the issues and vote for something you care about.

The Law of Attraction works every time and when you are against something, you'll get more of what you are against. The Law doesn't hear the word "no" - it only clings to the place you are putting your focus.

Mother Theresa put it perfectly many years ago when some American students asked her to join an anti-war rally. She declined. And she said. "Tell me when you have a pro-peace rally. I'll be there."

Snowshoeing

I love this feeling - being physically tired - and warm because I've also just come out of a hot bubble bath. Four hours of snowshoeing can make you pretty tired. But what a perfect day for it! The dogs, of course, also had a blast.

I feel so utterly blessed that I am so strong and healthy - I know I'll keep doing this sort of thing well into my eighties and probably even my nineties.

Amazing!

So happy.

Saturday

What I love about Saturday - at the beginning of the day it feels like the weekend will last forever.

In the afternoon it still feels like the weekend will last forever.

I love that I have nothing to do except laundry - and I love doing laundry. Yes I do. I love folding clean clothing and putting it back in my drawers and closet.

I love that I walk with Abby for a couple of hours and then come back to feed her and watch a movie I've downloaded on iTunes and then read - and veg.

Love it.

My needs are so simply - no really!

Oh - and we're going snowshoeing at Mount Washington tomorrow - how great is that?

The Vote

The older I get the more interested I become in politics - and I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing. Given the state of politics these days where corporations buy the vote (especially in the US where an activist supreme court declared that corporations are people and have the same rights), politics can be frustrating and discouraging.

So - yesterday the Nanaimo Daily News ran an editorial lamenting the fact that Natives and young people don't vote. This followed on the heels of Natives complaining that not one of the four old white men who lead the main political parties were addressing Native concerns. The editorial took the position that if Natives and young people want their issues addressed, then they should vote - because only people who actually vote will get these people elected. Ergo - they will only address issues pertinent to getting votes.

Frankly, I think that's a very specious argument. What came first - the chicken or the egg?

It is the responsibility of politicians to address our concerns. It is up to them to share a vision with us of a future Canada - a vision that will engage the entire population. What we appear to have is a bunch of old guys who want to make their corporate partners happy.

Young people matter. Look at what Obama did in 2008. He engaged young people and they played an enormous part in making him president. If he'd pouted and said, to heck with them - they don't vote anyway - what would that election year have looked like?

Young people are the future of our country. Of course politicians have to consider them - and they have to make them want to vote. That goes for young Natives and young immigrants and even young white men.

Everyone matters - not just the ones who can be relied on to turn out and vote. Maybe if we had a democracy that engaged us, the 41 percent who don't vote, would.

Aging - The Good News

That's a photo of my Lizzie near the end of her life. She was a star. There will never be another like her.

Which brings me to today's subject - getting old. Dogs don't mind getting old. Neither do any other beasts that I know of. It's just what happens and it's way better than the alternative.

Me? Now that I'm getting older, I celebrate it in a big way. Too bad we live in a culture that does not seem to value "oldness." Pick up any magazine aimed at Baby Boomers - quite a few - and you'll see the ads for Botox, fillers, diet pills, etc. - any ways or means there may be to retain youth - including, of course, Viagra.

I wish we could just stop a minute and look at the beauty of being old. Speaking just personally (and I think statistics say I'm not in the minority), I have never been happier or more content in my life. The stress of the rat race no longer affects me. I don't worry about the boss or what he is going to do or think. I don't worry about finding Mr. Right or ditching Mr. Wrong or racing against my biological clock. I don't worry about keeping up with the latest fashions.

I'm old enough to have discovered who I am and what makes me tick. I know what makes me happy and what gets me excited. I have time - time to do all the things that bring me contentment - time to play with my dog or learn a new skill or travel or  watch American Idol or read a good book or watch a romcom on iTunes.

I have learned that stopping and smelling the roses really is a very important way to spend time. And wisdom really does come with age.

Youth is not wasted on the young. Youth is an apprenticeship, a time of trial and error. It can be fun and exciting. It can be scary. It's full of learning experiences. This time of life - the time when we can work less and play more - is the reward. It's amazing and wonderful.

I am grateful every moment of every day for this wonderful, miraculous life! Who cares if there are a few wrinkles here and there and age spots on my hands. I mean, really! The ironic thing is that when I had a flawless complexion and all the beauty that is the natural province of youth, I spent hundreds - nay thousands of dollars on all the latest brand name beauty products, seduced by the ads in the glossy magazines. It took me half an hour every morning to put my face on just right before I ventured out the door.

Today I slick on moisturizer, a dusting of powder on my nose, a quick lick of eyeliner and lip gloss and in less that five minutes I'm done. My hair? Oh, it just dries naturally.

Oh the bliss of being older and not wanting or needing to impress anyone! The bliss of truly coming into my own! If only young people knew - oh well, let's keep it a secret and let them make this delightful discovery all by themselves - they'll get here one day.

Old White Men

Last night we had the Canadian leaders debate - four old white men. Amazing!

Are we still so steeped in colonialism that we can't throw in more diversity than that? Oh - yes we could - but the CBC - also led by old white men - decided that the only female leader would not be allowed into the old men's club.

Why do we keep electing these people? Why does 41 percent of the population not vote? Okay - so that's a rhetorical question. But please, people, we get what we vote (or don't vote) for. Let's vote. Imagine if the 41 percent who don't vote all decided to vote Green? Wouldn't that be something?

I had an interview today with a young woman in Victoria who is a consultant - her job is to help small businesses succeed. Her vision is to create work places where people are happy to work because when they're happy they contribute and volunteer and this makes the world a better place.

Her ambition is to be premier of the province one day.

I'll help and support her any way I can.

And not only because she's not an old white man - although not being one helps.

Back to Work

It is quite clear that the lazy days of last week are gone. Work assignments are coming in. Ah well, if I didn't have work to do, the days off wouldn't be nearly as sweet.

I am waiting for slightly warmer weather to put in my first seeds. I know peas and lettuce are fine in cool weather - but nights are darn cold and I'm going to trust my gardening instincts.

I love that I can grow much of my own food. Next year I may get even more ambitious and start raising my own cauliflower, broccoli and brussels sprouts - the traditionally difficult crops. I may even dare to plant some tomatoes again and brave the threat of blight.

I just read somewhere that growing our own food is considered one of the most radical things we can do today. Really!? Well call me rad to the max. In fact, if this trend continues, I may just start walking everywhere - oh wait - I already do that.

Achievement

I understand that as I change the patterns in my life, I still have to fulfill my needs - Admiration, Achievement, Autonomy. If I get those three big ones met constructively, I'll be pretty content.

Achievement is huge for me - it's my hunger. I remember the moment I identified it when I did "The Wall" - I almost hyperventilated because it was that big a deal for me. And yes, it's lovely to get that need met by completing a new book or winning a huge award or.....

But it doesn't have to be that. Yesterday it felt terrific to get to the top of the mountain. Today it feels good to have hauled the manure and fertilized, dug over and weeded the strawberry bed.

The most important thing is to know your needs - there is huge power in that. Then, map out constructive strategies to get those needs met - no matter where you are - no matter the stage of life you live in, you can get your needs met constructively - just know them first.

perfect day

Here's my formula for how to spend a perfect rainy, chilly, windy spring day.

1. Ignore the weather and don your weather-proof gear.
2. stick food and water in your backpack
3. stick 2 dogs in back of very good friend's jeep - remembering to also bring very good friend.
3. drive to trailhead - in this case Mount Tzouhalem.
4. Trek straight up (pant pant) to summit.
5. explore alternate trails down
6. celebrate not getting lost
7. get back in car with very wet and very muddy - and tired - dogs.
8. celebrate making it back by eating Denman Island organic dark chocolate bar
9. drive home
10. clean up dog.
11. hop into hot bubble bath in deep soaker tub
12. curl up on couch under duvet blanket and nap.
13. spend rest of day reading and generally doing nothing.

Yup - it makes for a darn fine day.

Democracy

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean 
I love the country but I can't stand the scene. 
And I'm neither left or right 
I'm just staying home tonight, 
getting lost in that hopeless little screen. 
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags 
that Time cannot decay, 
I'm junk but I'm still holding up 
this little wild bouquet: 
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 



- Leonard Cohen


What happened to democracy?


Are you going to vote in the next federal election? I am. No matter how corrupted our democracy is - no matter how hopeless it all is, I still believe in the power of people's voices. And I will vote. I have yet to walk into a polling station and not shed a tear as I cast my vote. I feel so privileged to be part of this process.


That said, I understand the voters, particularly the young, who stay home and don't vote. They don't believe their voice makes a difference - and who can blame them? What proof do we have that the government is there to do the will of the people?


Harper is in contempt of Parliament - and still he is allowed to run. He says on national television that people don't care about the charges against him. Our elected leaders no longer do our bidding; they bow to the will of the lobbyists and the powerful corporations. While programs are cut and taxes go up for thee and me, the big oil companies are getting government handouts. While people lose their homes and take to the streets and soup kitchens, we  spend hundreds of millions of dollars on fighter jets - which will fly off and kill even poorer people in countries that have never harmed us.


Make no mistake - it's all about money. Greed is the new virtue. And it amazes me that people actually vote for politicians who want to be reverse Robin Hoods - cut corporate taxes - the private sector creates jobs - yes it does - in developing countries overseas where women and children get paid pennies per hour instead of union wages.


The mythical trickle down effect is just that - a myth. Studies going back sixty years show that trickle down economics is a story created by big business that has no basis in reality.


And yet - we must vote. But there is something we must do even more than that. We must begin to be outraged. I'll tell you, the day we start having pro-democracy rallies - the day we say, collectively, that we the people have had enough and that we're mad and we're not going to take it any more, I'll be there.


It's time to restore real democracy - where the people's voices are heard.


I'm voting Green.


And then I'm girding my loins.

The Cure for Cancer

Imagine a cure for cancer - a cure that is inexpensive, really works and has no side effects! A dream, right? No - not a dream - a reality. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeA84udy7hY&feature=share

This is, of course, not the first wonderful cure we have found. It's just that when big Pharma doesn't see millions and billions of dollars in profits, it doesn't care.

Curing cancer is not the objective, no matter what all the "Run or Walk for the Cure" campaigns try to tell you. The cure is to make a very big profit. That is why I will never participate in a cancer campaign. Why? To give more money to the greedy pharmaceutical companies? Did you ever wonder how all these pledge campaigns got so well organized and who was behind them?

I will, however, give a big voice to the real work being done. Unfortunately, that real work is being stopped in its tracks by greed. I believe it is criminal to suppress medicine that cures. But it's being done every day.

What kind of world do we live in where everything - I mean everything - has been boiled down to a spreadsheet? Compassion? Sure - if we can make a profit from it!

Why do we stand for it? When are we going to yell, "I'm mad and I won't take it any more?"

And why, please, does it take $100 Million to research a drug that has already been researched and shows no side effects? What does the $100 Million pay for? I'm willing to bet there are a bunch of people with tumours who would be more than willing to take ADS - just like that.

Ah - but it all has to go through our "system."

Our systems are killing us. They're so out of whack they can't even be lampooned any longer. They are an integral lampoon and we put up with them. Amazing!

American Idol

I admit it - I spent a good deal of time this morning watching last night's American Idol on YouTube. Who will be eliminated tonight? Oh the angst! The drama!

I am amazed by how little it takes to distract us (me) from the really important things in life. And no, I'm not thinking hunger, suffering and politics - I'm thinking of tossing a ball for my dog - because it makes her happy.

What's really is important in life? We hear the term "bucket list" everywhere these days - thanks to a very bad movie that was made a few years ago. And, oh my gosh, that term has been so trivialized. I recently saw a bucket list that had on it "cut classes at school." Really? That's one of the most important things for you to do before you die?

It may be time to re-evaluate importances. And it may be time to re-think what "bucket list" means - we all have things we want to do but there's a difference between "want" and "wow - this is really important!"

Oh course, if it's really important, you'll just do it, won't you? Why on earth wouldn't you do something that's very important to you? Or are you just saying it's important? If you really want to find out what's truly most important to you, look at where you are spending your time, energy and money.

So - where am I spending my time, energy and money? My dog, the great outdoors (hiking, skiing, etc.), books, books and more books, friends, writing and ah - American Idol.

Leisure

I am sooo not used to all this leisure time. Now that we're down to three newspapers - and maybe now that it's spring - and maybe now that the silly season (read election campaign) is underway, things are, to say the least, slow. Not a single assignment yet this week.

Well, she says to herself, "Self - it's only going to get more so, so you'd better learn to enjoy it."

Okay. Okay.

Enjoy - hmmm - gardening is done and my inner lazy slut is coming out. Do I need to dust? Yes. Do I want to dust? No. Am I going to dust? Duh - of course not. Not when silly season is here to distract me. I admit it - I am a political junkie. Just as well I don't live south of the border - down there, it's campaign season all day every day every month of every year. And they wonder why they don't get things done.

Garden

I spent a couple of hours digging in the garden today - getting ready to plant more blueberry bushes and  hoping to sow the first batch of lettuce seeds this week.

More than ever, I see the importance of growing our own produce. The madness of lawns - I mean - really - what kind of crop is grass? What kind of crop requires us to use large amounts of gasoline (lawn mowers) to keep it short. We can't even eat it.

This year I am growing raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, peas, beans, herbs, tons of lettuce (I live on salads in the summer) and then frequenting the farmer's market in Cedar - an excellent market. I buy my dog food there too - chicken necks and backs. No - I do not feed my dog kibble. Why would anyone who loves their dog feed them highly processed food every day? No matter how premium the brand - it's highly processed. Would we eat kibble every day or feed kibble to our children?

Ah yes, I appear to be on a food rant. Eat local, eat organic, eat your veggies.....

Grow what you can.

It's just common sense, isn't it?

Day off

This is Providence Farm in Duncan in early spring - two days ago to be exact. I used to live minutes from the farm and Saturday was the first day I ever visited. It's magical - truly. Full of peace and serenity and a spirit of community.

Providence Farm is also the beginning of the hike up Mount Tzouhalem - which is why we were there in the first place and will return very soon. You can see the top in the photo - nice steep climb to get your heart going.

Speaking of hearts, science has recently discovered that, just like the other muscles in our bodies, the heart muscle grows and builds with exercise. People my age who have exercised pretty strenuously for most of our lives, have hearts the size and strength of 20-30 year-olds. Excellent!

Sedentary people on the other hand - well, you don't want to know. A good plan is to get at least five days of heart pumping exercise each week starting now - in your twenties. But (and this is important) it's never too late to start. The old adage applies to the heart - if you don't use it, you lose it - very likely it applies metaphorically too.

excellent day

Notch Hill and Costco - it doesn't sound like much but when it's done with a good friend and a couple of dogs who are BFF's - well it just turns out to be a great Sunday.

Here's the best part (I adore Sundays), - I get home and have my favourite lunch (avocado and tomato on toasted dark German rye) with yesterday's paper and then a nap on the couch.

None of it adds up to much - it's certainly less than ambitious, but it makes me happy.

I'll go out soon, walk the back 40 with Abby for 20 minutes or so and then curl up inside with a good book or two or three and call it a great day. It takes so little to make me happy - really.

Personally, I'd call me low maintenance - single men reading this, take note. (although some men I know would disagree with this - ask me if I care.)

Excited about my first time cross country skiing later this week.

Spring Hike

The man and I hiked up Mount Tzouhalem today - in perfect April weather, meaning we had warmth and sunshine and then bouts of showers, followed by more sun and then sprinklings of rain. It was wonderful!

Afterwards we talked, went into Duncan, wandered through the downtown and stopped at the wonderful Garage for tea and chocolate and a wander through the book store.

I was honest with him - and myself - when he called later. I like him enormously - but my feelings are simply not moving beyond like.

Still - he wants to go cross country skiing this week and that may be all right.

He would be a wonderful man for me to fall into something with - but it's like - definitely like.

Next

Ocean is back home. The house is vacuumed. Order, of a sort, is restored. They sure do enjoy each other though.

This morning I took them to the Westwood Ridges to tire them out. Did a pretty good job too - although Abby cut her foot rather badly. Bleeding stopped now and I think she's fine.

I feel like doing nothing more for the next two days than curling up with a good book or three and having more than one hot bubble bath....

However, as it turns out, I have a date tomorrow with the man to hike up a mountain....

And then another hike on Sunday - and a stop at Costco to buy some new dog beds because Abby deserves even nicer than she has. Busy.......