walk

Late in 2014 I started using the Google Fit App to track how much walking I was doing. After a few months I had enough data to get a decent baseline. From that I learned that I walk three to eight miles a (working) day. My average total walk time is roughly three hours where I also average 14,000 steps. So just for fun I decided to track the year of 2015. In that year I walked a total of 1040 miles. This is based on a conservative estimate that I walked at least four miles a day. It also doesn't take into account all the weekend hikes that I'd done as well as the occasional mountain biking excursions. The actual mileage is probably closer to 1500. Like a mailman I walk regardless of weather conditions. This terrain here is made up of soft sand and/or rocky ground during the warmer months, but hardens in the winter until it snows. Walking in sand/snow makes you work harder which equals better health benefits. I've also worn out three pairs of shoes, not that this helped my health per se but I felt it relevant. I really need to find something more durable to invest in for the warmer months. During the winters I break out my Muck Chore boots which have held up beautifully after two winters. I'm not sure how much I'm in the sun, but I know it's more than the recommended 30 minutes per day to get your daily vitamin D dose.

All of these things add up to a very healthy year for me from the simple act of walking. Wow!

california screamin'

 "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The drive in wasn't too bad. I mean up until we crossed the state border. I drove through the Mojave Preserve instead of camping there for the night as planned. Turns out the northern route into the campgrounds I was headed for was closed off. This wasn't posted anywhere on or offline so I drove in most of the way before discovering this. My only other way into the campground was to go through the entire preserve drive eastward and then back north again. I opted for plan A because the detour costed us a little over an hour. Plan A was Joshua Tree. I was too tired to bother setting up camp and opted to just sleep in the truck.

Driving into OC we were greeted with the first of many stark reminders of why we loathe and left the state years ago. By we I mean myself. Bridgette could care less about where she's at so long as she's with me. She has been far more emotionally expressive about seeing the people/dogs/places that she's familiar with. I didn't expect how much I would want to leave after only just arriving. I don't mean to sound like a total shit. I'm insanely happy to see my nephew/select family members/friends (soon), and am already partaking of the foods I miss most dearly. 

My sister informed me today that she and my nephew are officially sick and contagious. His birthday party for this weekend has been postponed until next week. I feel bad for the little guy because he's been looking forward to this. 

This place has already started to damage my calm. 

can't find my way home

In a few days I'm headed to CA for my nephew's sixth birthday. This is going to be the first time I've gone any further than Vegas in almost two years. I'm thrilled about getting to see the little guy, select members of family, friends, all the food I can't get here, but it's balanced out by how much I hate large cities (especially one as large as Southern California). Bridgette, as always, will be accompanying me on the trip. She loves her visits with cousin Oreo and they're ever so more important now that they're both golden gals. The route is all planned out and I've even managed to sneak in a night of camping in a place I've not yet been to.

Quick update on B's hardened lipoma. The hard parts are being reabsorbed by her body and the lipoma is starting to soften up. The scar tissue from her biopsies are also fading away as her coat grows back. Bridgie has been her usual happy go lucky self. She's back to spending time in the staff runs and having playdates with various coworkers kids.

Something occurred to me recently. When talking to coworkers/friends about my trip I realized that this was the first time that I didn't refer to it as "going back home". It's not that I'm fully convinced that this town is now home to me so much as it's where my home is parked in. Funny but I don't recall when I turned that corner. Growth. Yay me! I'll let "home" work itself out as I continue down the path I've set myself on.

Speaking of work. Work with my kids and project kids has been moving along. The ante is being upped and I will be working under the wing of some of Dogtowns longest term Caregivers. This is on top of all the things I've already learned and use daily from my coworkers and the Trainers.  My newest project kid (Lego) has been coming along nicely. He's still terrified when meeting new people, pulls when walking on leash, and tries to chase cars when they pass. He now knows that he has choices to make when any of those things happen. Also, my first blog post about his progress was published (Click Treat). Take a look at this first entries to see just how terrified this poor guy was when he first arrived and compare it to this recent picture.