a99kitten's Musings

Came home from work yesterday very sore and tired. My leg was bothering me a lot. Too much moving around I guess. You don’t realize how much you get up and down and go here and there until you can’t or it’s a really big production to do it.

I pull into the garage and hobble out into the entry way. I had left the dogs home with husband since I knew I would only make it a half day and he promised to take them for a good walk. So I ask him if he took them for their walk yet (it was 3:30pm but still a reasonable question) and he says “Well, why don’t you sit down and get situated.” I’m like what the heck does that mean so I look for the dogs. But again…not so quick and nimble currently. He says “They are fine. We just had a bit of an issue but it’s all fine, everyone’s fine. Just sit down and rest.”

Ok, so this is basically verbatim what he said to me when 10 years ago when I left a teeny puppy Angelus in his care for the first time ever while I went to the Madonna concert with a friend. I took Angelus to work even then and so he had him there (we worked together) with his stuff, my detailed instructions and it would be only be for a few hours. But this was his first time flying solo in puppy care.

I’m at the concert and it is about to start and I get a call. He says “Ok, so everything is fine. Angelus is fine.” WHAT?? How do you start a conversation out like that when I can barely hear you due to the music they are piping in while people sit. “What happened?” I ask. So…husband left Angelus in his office with the door closed while he stepped out for a quick 15-20 minute meeting. He was sleeping so no big deal. He came back to find Angelus had climbed up onto his desk and broken into a Christmas basket of food and ate something – a big hunk of chocolate shaped like a computer mouse. WHAT???

He said he basically saw his life flash before his eyes right then. And then called the vet and explained what happened and that his wife was going it kill him dead if anything happened to Angelus. They told him try getting him to vomit right now since it just happened. How he asks? Hydrogen peroxide they say. OK – so he sends our VP of Marketing running to the store to buy some and then husband tries giving him spoonfuls. Well Angelus immediately spits it out all over himself and husband. Pretty sure he started wondering why Dad was trying to poison him.

Husband could not get any down Angelus’ throat (the key is a turkey baster.) So he called the vet back and they said bring him in NOW. So he left work and drove over and they pumped his stomach and they got him to throw up and monitored him and his vitals were all fine so he could go home after an hour or so. He also threw up the tin foil that was around the mouse. Puppies.

So he got Angelus home and called me. After telling me all this he says “I thought about not telling you since it’s all fine but you would have seen the charge for the vet on the AMEX and wondered what it was and asked me and then I would have told you and then you’d be mad for not telling you sooner. So I told you now. But he’s all fine, so enjoy your concert”

Now, you have to understand, I’ve only been gone a few hours (we had VIP passes so we went early). A few hours and this chaos occurs. Sigh. There are other stories of puppy chaos but this was the first one.

So yesterday when he said “everything was all fine” I was like what the heck happened? I’ve been gone like 5.5 hours. So I went and sat down and got my leg up on the sofa and was like ??? He’s says “It’s all fine.” Yeah – got that part.

So I have this piece of drywall that I’ve been using to block off our front entry deck so that I can keep the front door open and the yard gate open and the buddies can come and go in/out but not escape into the wild of our neighborhood. They really are awesomely well behaved so never try and jump over it or push it down. They respect the barrier. Now…if a cat was on the other side I’m not sure how much respect there would be but the neighborhood cats have learned to steer clear of our yard. And this way I do not have to hobble up and down the stairs to let the dogs in or out.

When I left the house Angelus was in the front yard and Storm was inside. This is quite typical. So apparently husband got up and then took a shower before he was going to take the dogs out. He gets out of the shower, gets dressed, grabs the leashes and calls for the dogs. Storm is right there but no Angelus. Then he notices the dry wall is askew. It was WINDY yesterday (windy like garbage cans were rolling down the street) so it looked the wind pushed it in a bit. He said it didn’t seem like enough room for a husky to escape but he couldn’t find Angelus.

He said once again, his life flashed before his eyes. He starts jogging around the neighborhood looking for Angelus, calling him, shaking his leash. Nothing. He is standing in our driveway, shaking the leash and Stormy is howling (he does that if you call continually for Angelus) and he said he can feel the fear welling up inside about telling me. Then he hears a whining. And a howling that is not Storm. So he goes around to the backyard and there is Angelus on the desk howling because he thought he was missing the walk! Why he didn’t just come running back to the front yard, I do not know. Why husband didn’t check the backyard first, I do not know.

So then he breathes sighs of relief. Leashes the dogs up and starts to leave. But he never moved the semi-tipped over drywall “gate”. So Angelus goes around it, Storm hops over it but in the process the leashes pull into 2 different directions. And he trips a bit as he was starting to stretch his leg over it and the dogs pull in 2 different directions and to steady himself puts his foot down…right on my makeshift gate. Breaking it. He also said that the first thing in his head as he was tripping was how much crow he’d have to eat if he hurt himself since this is basically how I fell – 2 dogs, 2 different directions as we go down a muddy, rocky hill and kablamo and there goes my foot/ankle – and he’s been calling me clumsy ever since. Uh-huh.

So after he is done telling me all this I ask “So did you actually take them on a good walk?” Oh yes – fun beach times, etc etc. So did you find me a replacement for my gate I ask. No – but that dry wall wasn’t going to last long anyway, we will build a good gate with the remodel (I’ve been wanting one forever) blah blah. How does this help me now? I ask. Today and next week? With me as a gimpy? Silence. Sigh.

So he left for Tahoe last night. Yes…left his disabled wife home alone. Don’t get me started. But WITHOUT my gate?!?! Grrr. So now I need to come up with one because hobbling up and down the stairs (we have a lot of stairs in this house) to let the dogs in and out will not work. I am not supposed to move much in the first 2-4 weeks and I know I already violate that. Grumble.

This is why men are not the caretakers in society. If it were all men, well….you’d all be dead.

Last night my leg a LOT. Wow. Worst since the day I actually broke it. I think I was moving around too much between work and home. But I really didn’t move all that much. But I guess even a little bit on a break is a bad idea. When I got home from work I made a quick dinner and basically collapsed on the chair (with the big comfy ottoman which will basically be my spot for the next 4-8 weeks!)

I watched the 2-hour premiere of AMC’s The Killing. Very good. A lot of introducing the characters and the crime. It seems like it is set up like Damages was – a season to tell the story of one crime/case. The actress playing the main cop reminds me of someone and it will me drive me crazy until I figure out who! She and the other cop are a lot meaner to the people they interview than the cops on Law & Order – sheesh.

But so far, I like it and will continue to watch it. AMC has been doing a really good job with their shows. I didn’t like The Walking Dead but it was just too ridiculously gross for me. And of course Mad Men which I am soooo sad won’t be returning until 2012. Ugh. These writers and studios really need to think of their fan base with this negotiating crap. Because a lot of people will just move on. Sopranos did that (delayed a whole year) and that sucked. People have shorter and shorter attentions spans so if you have a hit on your hand, make sure you keep the audience happy and bring it back on time. Oh, and this goes for you too NFL. Grr.

I want to watch The Borgias too. But I don’t subscribe to Showtime so will wait till it’s on DVD I guess. It started this week along with Camelot. I decided against subscribing to Stars just for 1 show. Again, will wait for DVD. They get those things out on DVD so fast anyway. I did record The Kennedys. It got panned by the critics but there are enough likable actors in it, plus the subject matter is fairly well known enough – I’ll check it out. If it’s bad – delete! The funny thing is I’ve read it’s a fairly white-washed version of their story anyway. I guess Hollywood wants us to ignore Joe Sr’s illegals activities and ill-gotten gains, John’s illnesses, injuries and vast pain med use, the rampant cheating by seemingly all male members of the family and the lack of ethics by (at the very least) some members of the family. But those are the things that would make a movie or mini-series so much more interesting! Hollywood sucked up to JFK so much, I think they just can’t stop. But sure – make a movie about Frank Sinatra or mobsters and show them in a bad light – no problem. Skewer Nixon or apparently John McCain in an upcoming movie – not a problem. The Kennedys have a fascinating history – just not always a very good one. But movies should be made about interesting things. Pssh.

The Reagans would be better but I doubt Hollywood could produce anything good about a Republican President – even one of their own! I have a new book about him that I need to read. And he has far more than 1 memorable quote. Waaay more interesting than JFK (but whose family can keep you reading for hours!)

After watching The Killing I went to bed and read some. I’m reading “Wolf Hall” and it’s really good! I started it Monday while waiting endlessly at the doctor’s. But by now my leg will killing me. This boot thing is obnoxious. But better than a real cast (that’s my mantra when I get annoyed by the boot.) While I was watching TV, I loosened it up a bit to breathe. The nurse said keep it tight as much as possible ESPECIALLY while I was moving around but if I was just sitting still watching TV or reading, I could loosen it or take it off for a bit as long as my leg was kept still and elevated. So I did. And it felt marvelous. Sleeping with it is awful. But again, still has to be better than an actual cast. And I want it to heal fast so I need the dang thing on and keeping my ankle bones aligned.

But at around 3am, I woke up to a lot of ouch. I couldn’t really get it in a position where it didn’t hurt. FU ankle. And then after finally falling asleep, I woke up around 4am to Storm doing the “ack, ack” pre-vomiting. So, with this injury, there is no jumping out bed quickly. No sir. But I jumped up as fast as I could onto my other leg and hopped over to the towels to get one down under him before he could throw up. Every since he threw up those peach pits, I stress about him. He doesn’t eat like a vacuum anymore now that his Cushings is all under control but I need to monitor him if he throws up (for his medication too.) He doesn’t very often though. But the “ack, ack” noise is enough to get me up. Not husband of course. Slept through the entire thing. Pretty sure we could have an earthquake and house fire and he’d sleep through it though the both.

Tried going back to sleep but my leg was just ouch. And I was not kind of awake so thinking about a gazillion things I had to get done, and how to get them all done gimp-style. How I was going to manage when husband went out of town. And I was also ridiculously starving! I typically don’t ever wake up in the middle of the night that hungry. And I certainly will never get up and eat anything. But man – my stomach hurt I was so hungry! And felt a but nauseous too. I had water and tried to go back to sleep.

I think I finally fell asleep around 5:30am. And then it felt like coming out of a coma waking up at 6:45am to RUFF! Angelus lets out one RUFF when he wants to be heard. He feels this is enough to get my attention and get me moving :) This of course stimulates Storm into get up mode who will ah-roo until he gets the job done :) Breakfast time it is…

Got them breakfast. Made myself a little coffee and am looking at what a gorgeous morning it outside and hating that I cannot be out walking them in it. Now I know how they felt post-surgery when they weren’t allowed to go play! It blows. Plus a fresh foot of snow is supposed to fall in Tahoe Thursday and Friday. I’m not going up. No way. That will just make me too mopey-face.

Oh well…time to get ready for work. Everything takes like 10x longer to do. Trying to stay off my foot as much as possible while still trying to navigate life is a bit impossible. Plus the doctor said that I can’t keep putting all the extra pressure on my right leg since you don’t want to damage it (by hopping, stairs, etc.) which is funny because this is exactly what happened to Angelus – he tore his ACL in his left leg and the surgeon said, don’t let him move around too much while it heals post-surgery or he will damage his right leg since he will be using it more. Sure enough – less than a year later, his right ACL tore. Doh. So ok, ok, I am trying. But I am like Angelus – I need to get up! Hmm…I think I still have some if his sedatives around…. ;)

I give Storm one of his medications every other day. I put the pill between 2 small pieces of cheese so he will just inhale it. It’s a medication women are not supposed to ever touch so I don’t want him fussing over a pill and spitting it out! they both LOVE to do that! Plus he loves cheese!

So now he knows his schedule. He knows when it’s the “every other day”. So he will stand there and look at me like “Umm…Mom…forgetting something?”.

And he now knows the sound of the ziploc bag opening. (I keep his cheese in a ziploc bag.) He can be anywhere in the house and, if hears that, he will come running! Even if I am opening something completely unrelated in another ziploc bag.

At work, a couple people have said that he has come running when they open their sandwiches or cut up vegetables…in ziploc bags.

And over the past few days with me being injured, I’ve been leaving the door open so the dogs have in-out access while we hang out. Angelus is ALWAYS outside if given the choice. But he was inside 1 time when I doled out some cheese to Storm with his medicine. And I think he was like “Hey! What’s going on in here when I’m outside!??”

So now, when he hears the ziploc bag, he runs inside too. From the front yard he hears it and runs in. These boys have some good hearing.

They both picked up on this pattern after 1 time. So whoever says dogs aren’t smart (or that only certain breeds are smart) hasn’t met the right ones.

Since I have been injured the huskies have not gotten their AM walks and their routines have been broken. Routines they have had literally all of their lives. Through rain, sleet, snow (well duh!) The only times they have not gotten their walks is when they were post-surgery. I used to have to hike them up hills for 2 hours to get them settled. But now walks on the beach are their favorite and 1.15 – 1 1/2 hours works.

But husband is lazy. He will cite busy, and it is true he has been on the phone/on the computer/in meetings working a lot but he could have made time to walk the dogs. He could do what I do since I also have a busy schedule – get up early. That’s when the huskies want to go out anyway – before it’s warm out. To start their day off right.

I guess lazy probably isn’t the exact right word. If he was getting up to to wake boarding or surf the perfect wave he probably would get up. But he has never garnered joy from walking the dogs. On the few times he has had to do it for me (I can actually count them on 1 hand…over 10 years) he complains and treats it as a chore. Weird. But this is why I stopped asking him to come with me. I really enjoy my walks with the dogs and don’t want your complaining on my walk. Now, are there days I am super tired? Or when I am sick? Or it’s pouring rain that I would rather it be a short walk? Of course. But once I am out there and going places with them – I love it. I’m happy. It clears my head. And when your head is as busy as mine- that’s a good thing!

So last night after 4 days of no walks, Angelus was whining. So husband finally said “OK, I think I need to walk these guys tomorrow AM before you leave for work.” YAY! I say. You have to understand, Angelus *always* wants to be outside. Unless it’s actually bedtime, he wants to go and sniff stuff. But now that Stormy is feeling all better and energized again, he wants to go too! Every morning he has been at the staircase after breakfast waiting for me to take him. And I say “I’m sorry bud.” :( So hopefully this morning they get to go. I’m going to go wake him up right now and remind him. Let’s see how that goes…

This is actually the worst part of my injury. Not getting outside and exercising with the huskies. I will probably go a bit stir crazy. I’ve noticed how I can be in a crankier mood without a good AM walk. It’s my routine too! But this morning, I was seeing what huskies are like with no exercise….pacing, ah-roooing, ruffing at me, running back and forth from window to window. I have been keeping the door open to they can just go in/out to the yard but the yard is quite boring after 4 days. Unless a skunk or raccoon comes along that is :)

So I think when people talk about their high-strung crazy huskies (or any dogs really) I definitely think they must not get enough exercise and have a daily routine. Because I’m starting to see it now and it’s bizarre. I want my guys back on their routine. And happy. Definitely need a man servant…

Angelus says it is too deep in the backyard – fix it. :)

But I do think I wore the huskies out. They are both sound asleep tonight. And not even looking at the front door.

6:00am – Wake up and see it’s raining outside. Sigh…lay in bed a few more minutes. I feel like Indiana Jones when he looks down into the Well of the Souls and sees all the snakes. “Rain…why did it have to be rain?” (for the the zillionth day in a row!) (and yes..I do actually say that to myself in that voice in my head as I remember the scene in the movie – kookie!)

6:15am – Get up, feed huskies, get dressed in rain gear, leash the boys up and go…

6:30am – Stops raining!!! Praise Bejebus! Super fun time on beach with the huskies and their friend Yogi! And I’m 100% convinced that I benefit from the walk just as much as they do. Yesterday the rain and wind was so bad, we didn’t make it 10 minutes before going back home. And I was grumpy all day!

8:15am – Home, shower, get ready for work. As I am about to leave, husband says only time to beat storms is leave by noon. Otherwise no go until Sunday. Sigh. Pack for Tahoe. Need to call boss on way to vet.

9:30am – Take Stormy to his ultrasound appointment. Stress the whole drive in and curse at the stoopid Prius and truck drivers.

10:00am – Storm’s appt. Stress in waiting room. ALL CLEAR!!! YAY!!!! Doc says how great he looks :) Why a guy. Nurses give him cookies. He is loved :)

11:00am – Post office and then home and pack up car.

11:30am – Drive…rain….rain…….80 still closed, go to 50…drive……hail….drive…overturned vehicle….drive….accident…..drive….(at least not as hellacious as last week)

4:50pm – Get to Incline Village – SUSHI! Take huskies out first and walk them a bit.

5:20pm – YUM! EAT! First meal of the day!!!! See guy walk in for dinner and comment “he looks like an 80s hair band guy” Oh..he is. Guy from Whitesnake. Hysterical!

8:00pm – Get home. Drive down snowcave of a street and driveway. Let huskies out of car and run around. Tromp through waist (yes, waist) deep snow into house to disarm and unlock. Good thing I’m not some dumb, high-maintenance girl. Feed huskies dinner. Give them a lot of extra chicken for being such good passengers :)

8:02 (or…maybe 8:03pm) Husky dinner inhaled. Take huskies back out (this time in snow gear).

Seeing huskies so happy to be in snow – a good use of a day off after all :) Excited to see what snow adventures we will have this weekend!

The weather forecast this morning said big storm tonight and Saturday but cleared out Sunday and basically clear for the rest of the week. Now it says snow tonight through Monday. Huskies say don’t mess their snow making super wonder twin powers :)

From our first walk yesterday after we FINALLY arrived.

And then after our walk this AM.

Angelus playing in the driveway.

This is our local weather guy, who has been far more accurate than the news weather guys…

“Resort Totals page updated as of 6 a.m. Resorts West of the lake reporting 18-36 inches with the highest amounts on resorts furthest West. Resorts East of the lake reporting 6-8 inches as there was good shadowing overnight due to the direction of the flow from the South.

This series of storms Wed-Sun is going to drop several more feet on top of the massive amounts we have already received in the past week. Looks like we could finally have a break after next weekend, but it may not last as we could see storms return the first week of April. Stay tuned……”

It seems to me that this spring is looking like a good one. I also believe wholeheartedly that the huskies have a deal with the weather gods :)

Took the huskies out this AM to pee before breakfast. They ran around in circles in the snow with big smiles! Stormy ran right inside for breakfast though. No keeping him from breakfast. I had to entice Angelus back in though! They inhaled breakfast and were ready to get out there! The driveway was about mid-calf on me. This was just from about 2am when the snow plow came and did our driveway and easement road. But this is belly high on Stormy.

When we got up our easement road to the street it was even deeper as the town snowplows hadn’t come yet. It was high enough for Angelus’ chest to have to push through the snow. Stormy toughed it out with his naked belly but we lasted about 25 minutes out and he wanted to turn back. The snow was coming down so fast that it was getting on our eyes and I think he was like “Mom, inside sounds good to me!” So we went back home and dropped Stormy off. Then Angelus and I went on our way….

We came across a couple with a little black doggie who had to leap through the snow. But he was having a good time. He and Angelus played for a bit and then Angelus got bored so off we went. The streets were unplowed so they are just like a giant snow field. No cars on the road and nice and quiet out. Perfect. Then we met another doggie – a standard poodle – who was as tall as Angelus but afraid of him. His Dad was like “you are the same size?!” Heh. Angelus got bored there too so off we went. We tried to find his friends the other huskies down the street but they weren’t out. Darn.

We played in the snow, Angelus dug in a lot of snowpiles and then we got back home. He is resting up for our next outing. I-80 is closed. Some of the resorts are even closed. Snowed in! Time for me to make some Star Wars pancakes!

That was the worst drive up to Tahoe EVER. I was dumb and left late. You wouldn’t think 7:30am is that late but it is. Especially when there is one snow storm clearing out and another coming in so this “break” in the weather was the time to go. Plus the highway was closed yesterday from 2pm to 1am. So people couldn’t go yesterday. Between the traffic, the snow, the idiots driving up in their non-4-wheel drive cars who need to put on chains the highway was a parking lot.

They should NOT allow vehicles up to the mountains during snowstorms that are not properly equipped. Vehicles that need chains create traffic jams for the chain on/off procedures, create traffic due to their having to go SLOW the entire way AND destroy the roads in the process. JACKASSES. I HATE YOU.

THEN, after you FINALLY get past chain control, which took 5 hours. Yes…FIVE hours of sitting in traffic due to m-fers who drive stupid cars and create stupid traffic jams and then the stupid CA Department of Transportation puts up chain points for no good reason (you would needed them for MAYBE 5 miles…MAYBE.) Anyway – after that, you get a free and open freeway of snowy highway with no lane markings (because of the snow.) So people just create their own lanes. And create their own non-lanes to pass trucks and other cars. Passing on right, left doesn’t matter. And then cars just stop in the middle of lanes to remove chains, or fix their chains, or whatever. Just stop…right there in the driving lane. Idiots. Hate you. So much. And as proof they are idiots, half of them (you could see them as they got out of their cars to deal with the chains) were wearing shorts, or jeans with flip-flops or sweatpants and flip-flops and t-shirts. And standing there shivering. Hello? It’s 25 degrees and snowing out. Plus it was 40+ degrees and raining wherever you started your journey from today so WTF? You have no sense. None. You are idiots. Please do not breed.

Anyway, got here at 3:30. Almost 8 hours later. I say almost because I stopped to get gas and a coffee on the way. But basically an 8 hour drive on what should be a 3 (4 with snow) hour drive. The amount of anger I have towards people who think driving up to the mountains in a snowstorm in cars without 4 or all wheel drive and for the Department of Transportation is unmeasurable today.

Luckily, I have 2 awesome huskies who patiently drove with me with no complaints. Who jumped out of the car when we got here and ran around in the snow, big smiles on their faces. Who let me inhale a glass of water and taco (hadn’t eaten anything today and was getting punchy) before taking them out on a walk with still no complaints. Who then took me on a jog through the snow down our street and back and then around in various driveways where the snow is currently belly high for them and then running all around our easement road, neighbors driveways and our driveway. Angelus and Storm were BOTH (yay Storm!) running around and chasing each other through the snow. Dummy me left my phone in the house in my rush to get them out so missed some GREAT video of them. Dangit!

So yes, I still HATE the above mentioned idgits. But thanks to 2 fluff-monsters my blood pressure has been restored to normal and the steam has stopped coming from my ears. The amount of snow here is crazy. It’s lightly falling now but another big storm is supposedly coming tonight and tomorrow. YAY! And then snow is forecast every day for the next week. Wheeeeee! But I shall be staying out of my car and off the highway and away from the real world of annoyances and will be here in the forest with 2 fluffy beasts. Better for my health :)

Took the huskies to the beach this morning and they had a GREAT time! It was super low-tide so there was a ton of open beach to run on. I let them off-leash when they saw their friend Marley (ginormous black lab.) Actually Marley saw them first and he took off running full speed down the beach to meet them – he’s pretty darn cute. I let them off so they could meet him half-way! They ran around and had fun. Then we met a border collie named Maverick. This dog was FAST! And the huskies were tearing around chasing him as he chased his frisbee. Then he would drop his frisbee and chase them back.

Storm even went into the water to cool off! He has not done that in a long time. I guess with so many missing fur spots, he doesn’t get as hot as Angelus anymore. But he was chasing Maverick and they both just ran into the water and then a small wave came up and they were both belly high in water and Storm had this HUGE smile on his face. So, so cute.

Angelus wanted to play with a little dog who wanted to say hi to Angelus but then got scared and ran away at the last second. Well…to Angelus this means “Chase me!” Oops. He chased the little dog into a small alcove by the bluff and was like RUFF! Tail-wagging and smiling. But the little dog Mom saw it more as a “he wants to eat her!” No…he doesn’t. Little dog people are so funny. I grabbed him so she could grab her dog (Francesca…of course) and even as she did Fracesca was leaning out of her arms to sniff Angelus. See – everyone is fine. Then Angelus got bored and came back to the chase game with Storm and Maverick.

We were down on the beach for 2 hours playing! Angelus started getting warm after about 1.5 hours. The sun was shining so even with ocean dips, he was getting hot. He was making it clear he was done and wanted to head back. But Storm kept wanting to play!! I finally had to say enough when I saw Stormy’s back legs shaking a little. I think with everything he has been through this past year, he muscle tone is still not at 100% and he gets tired. But after 2 hours of running and chasing – I’d be tired too!

While we were out there, everyone wanted to talk about the tsunami. Was quite the event here. Maverick’s dad told me that they had an evac area set up on top of 92 (at the highest point.) I did see a bunch of cars and the state police there when I drove to work but apparently the news showed it as basically a parking lot with tons and tons of cars parked there and along Highway 35 too?! Who knows if the news exaggerated (as they like to do for drama and effect) but when I drove by the area there were about 20 cars and the cops. So I’m sure between 7-9am, there were a lot more. I do know they evacuated the houses on the west side of Highway 1 as well as the beaches and harbor. I guess safe is better than sorry but seeing how the tsunami was when it hit Hawaii, I was pretty sure anyone not actually standing on the beach would be just fine. But on my way home from work around 8pm last night, there were STILL cars parked there with people just milling about. Really??

I tend to not worry about most things. I think I keep all of my stress and worry focused mostly on the huskies. So as I was walking around yesterday AM and the highway was closed, fire trucks and cop cars lining the highway with lights flashing, cars and trucks just parked on streets and people walking around, helicopters buzzing around…it was a bit eerie. I thought to myself “Am I not as concerned for our safety as I should be?” But I figured the huskies didn’t seem concerned. They wanted to go to the beach. And animals have much better senses about this type of stuff (notice how all of the animals in Indonesia ran AWAY from the coast as the tourists walked towards it..) so I was taking their lead.

Even this morning, while we were on the beach, there were tide surges. It was super low tide but then all of a sudden, like ALL OF A SUDDEN, the tide has come up right to the bluffs. I managed to jump on a rock both times to avoid wet feet! And the huskies like wet paws! But it was SO fast, that I can’t even imagine it at that same speed with much more powerful water/waves. And it goes out just as fast. Very cool effect to see in real life. But I am totally OK with that and yesterday’s wave and tide viewing being the extent of my tsunami experience.

It’s a gorgeous day here today. Sunshine and a light breeze. Angelus argues much too hot but even he is lying on his lawn right now with a smile on his face :) He loves, loves, loves the snow but Storm tends to get cheesed a bit when we are in Tahoe as he gets cold faster so gets shorter walks. I was all packed and ready to go to Tahoe last night but I was SO tired after 2 nights of very little sleep. So I bagged the idea right as I should have headed out and decided to stay here. Plus the weather said it might rain up there. Yuck! I think I made the right call. The huskies had a BLAST on the beach today and Stormy got lots of playing and running in which he probably wouldn’t have in Tahoe. I think Stormy likes the snow and loves the beach. Angelus loves the beach but loves the snow more. So I need to make sure both are happy :)

So last weekend we spent in the snow. This weekend we are chilin’ at the beach and next weekend we will head back up to the snow as a new storm is expected to drop another 2 feet!

Snowy mountains, tsunami warnings, sunny beach…just another week in California…