I told you I had something special planned for Halloween!
a preview:
Robe & Wizard
Disgruntled
I love how mad at us she looks! Oh come on, Lucy… it’s not like you are going to the park or anywhere outside of the house in that costume.
This morning we packed all of our things into two 5x7x8 crates to be shipped across the country, and tomorrow we head out on the roadtrip!
We had such a nice going away party at the Carlyle Hotel this evening, and it was so great to see all of my friends. Two photos:
I love how you can see the Madeline drawings in the background!
Tomorrow we are off towards Wisconsin.
Talk about a harrowing experience.
Today my friend Lauralea kindly offered to come over and help me pack. We decided to kick off the day getting bagels and taking Linus to the dog park at Carl Schurz. While he’s running around and playing with other dogs, I notice a bunch of bloody paw prints spotting the “deck” of the platformed dog park. I quickly look to Linus, and there he is, sitting in the middle licking his paw, which is bright red and covered in blood!!
I rush over to him, quickly check although it’s hard to tell exactly what is wrong because there is blood everywhere and it’s rapidly covering all the fur. So I scoop him up and frantically search my purse for something to help stop the bleeding. The only thing I have on me is a receipt from the bagels, which is flimsy at best. I tried to wrap it over his paw and carry him out of the park, down the stairs to the street and we hail a cab. It was frantic and scary. Lauralea was very calming and helpful, I my heart was racing. While we were in a cab, I called our vet, who thankfully- 1. I had on speeddial, 2. is located close by and 3. was available.
Linus bled quite a bit in the cab as well. 
Poor guy. When we got to the vet, we put him on the operating table and muzzled him so Lily, our vet, could clean the wound. He was VERY squirmy/scared and it took two vet techs to hold him down so she could clean it. Once she put numbing solution over the wound, he was a little more calm, and let her shave the skin around his wound.
Effectively, what we think happened was one of his nails got caught between some tiles at the dog run and ripped it off. The cut where the nail used to be was BIG and raw and open. Our vet said it was a freak thing and could have happened anywhere, even in our apartment. She cleaned it, put a flour-like solution on the wound to stop the bleeding and put him on an antibiotic to stop infection.
He’s going in for a followup tomorrow and sadly we had to bow out of tomorrow’s Herding Aptitude Test, which we had been looking forward to since the day we got him. His instructions were to “take it easy” which he seems to be doing… he’s been pretty bummed out all afternoon just sort of resting and seemingly confused as to why he can’t reach to sniff everything because of his Elizabethan Collar. Heel up fast, Linus!
Bandaged up
We couldn’t leave without visiting my parents one last time, so Earl and I packed Linus in the car and make the trek up to North Conway, NH… a cool 7 hours from Manhattan.
Despite being worn out from the drive (figured it was a nice warmup for the cross country roadtrip, right?), we had a fun time and also were blown away by the crisp, clear weather and also the stunning foliage. When I was an undergrad at UNH, we used to mock the all the “leaf peepers from New York” but now I am one!
A few photos:
View on the Kancamagus Highway, while driving from Lincoln, NH to North Conway:
the Kanc
The first morning we were there, we decided to see how Linus liked hiking. We took him up to this gorgeous waterfall complex called Diana’s Bath, which is about 100 yards down the road from my parent’s house. My mom runs up to the top of it every morning!
Linus loved hiking and didn’t seem too tuckered out, so the following morning we set out, puppy in tow, for an even harder hike up to the top of Bald Cap mountain. The Bald Cap trail was also nowhere as popular as Diana’s Bath, so we were able to let our guy off leash, which was fun. I was surprised at how good he was off-lease! He would run up the trail about 10 feet, and then turn around, look for us, and run back to us.
Come on guys, hurry up!
The trail gets steeper towards the summit, someone looks tired.
Tuckered Out
The one and only spot he needed a little help. Not bad for short little legs!
stuck
Stopping for lunch- almost at the top!
Lunch
Made it! The summit of Bald Cap was a gorgeous 360* view where we could see Maine, some mountain lakes, the Presidential Range and Mount Washington, and of course lots of foliage. There were some other dogs up top as well- mostly Labs and bigger more athletic ones. We did see one pug coming down, however I think he was carried a bit! 
Definitely was proud of short-legged buddy for making the hike.
Summit
The rest of the weekend consisted of playing with my parent’s elderly springer spaniel, Zippy, who is 14, but still pretty active and peppy.
his new friend, Zippy
We also had a firepit in the back yard and make s’mores.
Throw another log on
Saw the fabulous Mount Washington Hotel, which served as the inspiration for The Shining (but was not filmed there).
Mount Washington Hotel
On our final day, my mother took us on a hike through their property down to the Saco River, which runs behind their house. Even elderly Zippy made the hike!
Hiking with Mom and Zippy
Zippy, a natural waterhound, wades right in and splashes around
Even Linus jumped in and swam! He did a good job swimming in the stronger current parts. Look how hard he is frothing.
Short Legged Swimmer
The bend in the river behind their house is just gorgeous. I told my mom I would be down there swimming and sunning almost every day. Apparently in the summer people tube and kyack the river constantly. My father told us something pretty funny- people go down the river in innertubes and tow an extra tube full of beer behind them! ha! That is so awesome. I told him if we come back in the summer we would absolutely be down for that… how fun! 
Saco River
All in all, it was a great visit. Very hard to say “goodbye” when we packed up the car and headed home, particularly because I don’t know when I’ll be back on the East Coast! (Thinking sometime around Christmas, but not sure). I teared up when we drove away and was snuffy for a bit of the ride home. New Hampshire is just so beautiful, of course, there will be many reasons to make it back for a visit.
One of the below corgis is real, and the other is fake. Can you pick out which one?
Spot the Fake
Okay enough tomfoolery. I’ve got an apartment to pack, aye!
Part of the reason I couldn’t get going yesterday is because I am just overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things that need to be done in order to move across the entire country. Pair this with planning a crazy fun three-week roadtrip/tour of the country adventure, my obsession with researching a zillion guidebooks and learning about EVERYTHING before we go see it, and you have Ceej going nuts.
Here’s the schedule for the next few days:
but most likely will be pulling an all-nighter finishing packing because the movers are coming first thing Monday morning!And here’s the “To Do” List of items which haven’t been added to the schedule yet:
So, tonight, when Earl and I realized we have a shit-ton of stuff to get done, I asked him if he wanted to skip dance. This is how it went:
earl: agh
fucking printer is hugeSent at 10:10 AM on Tuesdayme: oh yeah?YAY!printer!
do you need help getting it home?why don’t we skip dance tonight? since we are just so busy?earl: nome: i will call margaret and tell herearl: I want to go dancingnodance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance dancedance dance danceme: okay okay okaySent at 10:13 AM on Tuesday
straightjacket?
Earl came home from work yesterday to find me in what could be called “a state.” You know how when you have SO MUCH to do, but you can’t get going? When you can’t get any traction to start? That was me… paralyzed and overwhelmed and frustrated.
Before we had decided to move to SF, I was feeling pretty good about the plan here in NYC. I’d found and registered for a wonderful therapy dog training class at St. Vincents. It started in March, and basically was $50 (the rest of the class subsidized by the hospital). You went every Saturday over four weeks, and at the end of the training are certified to do therapy work in St. Vincents. I had spoken on the phone to the director, who was helpful and kind. It was also the most straightforward program I found.
I was also set to start my EMT training in November 2nd at a program on Sundays in the Bronx. Literally, the day before we sat down and had a talk about moving, I had my registration all filled out, check in the envelope, sitting and waiting to be mailed. The only reason I held off from sending it out was because we decided to wait and see what the offers were in SF. It’s an odd feeling now, looking at the unmailed envelope sitting here in front of me.
Yesterday, looking for similar programs in the bay area found me striking out, again and again. Some EMT programs I had already missed the deadline for and weren’t starting again until June. Others I was overqualified for and only took people with GEDs. Another one started January 6th, and sounded perfect, but you have to be there to sign up in person, IN TWO DAYS. Many others seem to require First Responder Certification before you can even sign up for the EMT training. Garrrrgh. I guess I should just wrap my head around the fact that going into any medical profession is all about hoop-jumping and I should just strap on my Nikes and get ready to leap when they say jump. I’m used to finance, where nobody really cared about certifications as long as you were working your ass off and making the company money.
Next, while searching for a therapy dog training program in SF, I was getting nowhere just as fast. It seems like a lot of dog training organizations offer classes, but really they’re just a front to make money, not really help you get qualified to work in hospitals. I ran into similar problems- the class had just started, or we had missed the signup. I left messages and sent emails to almost every Bay-area group on this list and have yet to hear back from anyone. The requirements for each program seem completely different. Some require extensive classes, others just observations, some want to meet and greet your dog, and others require formalized seminars or testing. All seem to require handler medical background checks and shots, another hoop which I already jumped through in order to start volunteering at Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital in September.
The therapy dog infrastructure is poor at best. From what I have gathered in my research, there are two competing main organizations, the Delta Society and Therapy Dog International. TDI does not work with local affiliates and discourages overlap, whereas Delta Society will pair you up with a local training group. Then there are a bunch of smaller programs (like the St. Vincents one I was so excited about in NYC) which aren’t affiliated with either, and have their own qualification process. Finally, there are the non-affiliated “training programs” you have to look out for which just seem designed to just take your money while you attend expensive training programs and never actually certify or place you for any real hospital work. All of this muddlement seems designed to discourage the well-intentioned potential volunteer who has some free time, a kind and friendly dog, and a will to enrich the health and lives of patients.
This morning I am a very proud to announce that Linus graduated from obedience school and also passed his Canine Good Citizens Test!
Receiving his diploma
Our final session with dog trainer Frank Cahill was an evaluation/test and also a “graduation ceremony.” After the test, Frank was kind enough to bring Linus a new toy, diploma, and even had a CD Player which played Pomp and Circumstance (lol) while he presented the diploma! Very cute.
Canine Good Citizen's Test
I’m particularly excited that Linus is now a certified Good Citizen because it is one more step towards doing Therapy Dog work with him. I have to mail in his AKC CGC form (above) and should have his actual registration certificate within a week or two.
diploma
As I mentioned before, we had a wonderful time working with Frank during our once a week training session. If you are in the Manhattan, Queens, or Long Island area and are looking for a dog trainer who is kind, patient, knowledgeable and has a great manner with the dogs, he comes very highly recommended!
During the CGCT
I am so proud of Buddy, I am going to have to restrain myself from fawning over him all day/spoiling him with treats so that I don’t completely undo all of our hard work getting the obedience down in the first place!
Are ya tired?
ole toothless wonder
Are ya reeaalllly tired?
big yawn
Or just wanting to lick them choppers?
lick
In this economy, I keep hearing how comfort food is all the rage these days. Makes sense.
Earl and I made a little comfort food for ourselves while lazing away a rainy Sunday afternoon.
These banana nutella sandwiches were not only easy and scrumptious, but filled us up for a good 8 hours!
Ingredients: Bananas, nutella, a cinnamon-raisin loaf from Orwashers.
Ingredients
Step 1: Slice bread, spread nutella
Step 1
Step 2: add sliced bananas
bananas
Step 3: enjoy!
nom nom nom
The End of Overeating by David Kessler
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