Many, many thanks to all of you who contributed to our charity walk!

Linus and I walked the 1-mile Bay to Barkers walk today in Albany. We had a great time, and raised $250 to help homeless pets. The walk was a blast. Earl came to cheer us on (he’s still on crutches, so no walking for him for a few more months- uck), and we even met some fellow corgi owners during the walk.

As my computer is still broken (I’ve actually bit the bullet and decided to just get a new Mac in a few weeks once school starts), I am hogging Earl’s laptop right now to write a quick update while he takes a snooze. Here’s a quick Race Report:

We got a little lost on the way there, so were running late. We arrived and it was right to registration and the walk was starting right away!
Also, my phone was somehow set on “black and white” mode for a bit without me noticing… hope you don’t mind the lack of color:
OFF WE GO!

The walk went along the Bay and was a really gorgeous route. It was at Golden Gate Fields, which was a pretty cool park! Would be fun to come back and check it out solo. There were lots of people just enjoying the park not affiliated with the Humane Society walk. Runners, people walking dogs, hikers…

About a half mile in, lo and behold Linus met a new corgi friend. I swear, corgis flock to one another!

This little guy was Max. He is 2 years old. His momma and I walked together for the rest of the walk and chatted.

When we were done with the walk, they had lots of fun games and activities for Dogs and Humans. There were various stations set up where you could play games with your dogs. One of them was “nose hunting.” Basically, they would hide hot dogs under various boxes after the dog had a chance to get a good sniff in, and then gave him a “FIND IT” command and let him go to to work. Linus surprised me and displayed a really natural affinity for this! I never knew he was much of a scent hound. He found the hotdogs in three progressively harder set ups, all on his first try. The lady running the booth was so impressed she was trying to recruit him into a tracking class. I might try and look one up near us- seems like a fun, relatively low impact activity that he might really enjoy.

They also had a Rally setup where you could try out an obstacle course with your dog, although we skipped that one because it seemed a bit high-impact for our fragile woof. Linus, did, however, thoroughly enjoy playing “Bobbing for Hotdogs.” He hunted for a submerged hot dog bit a bunch of different depths of dog dishes. He loved it! He made it all the way to the deepest dish and got his whole head underwater to get the hotdog.

Finally, we did PAINTING!!!! This was super fun! Basically, you put your dog’s paws in the different colors of paint, and let him walk through a “canvas” poster to make a work of art. So cute

Linus wasn’t very excited about putting his paws in the paint (as soon as a sniff revealed the paint not to be edible, he wasn’t interested anymore), although with some treat utilization, we were able to create the following, which is now proudly hanging up on our fridge (so dorky, ha ha):

Check out those painted paws:

Some other dogs really got messy with the paint! A few of them we completely covered in paint head to toe. Some had it over their entire rear ends from sitting down in the paint trays. heh heh When we got home, I gave Linus a full bath and got most of the paint out, although one paw is still slightly pink.

Here’s Larry. He won the Dog/Owner Look-a-Like Contest. We’ll just say his owner… had hair like Larry. Hopefully she styled it specifically for the occasion

All in all, it was a wonderful event for a great cause. A very big, sincere thanks to our wonderful and generous donors who chipped in to sponsor our walk! The dogs and cats of the Berkeley Humane Society- as well as Linus and I- give you our deep gratitude and many tail wags of appreciation.

Cheers,
Courtney and Linus the Corgi

In a dances with corgis first, this post is being composed and sent entirely from my phone! …because- of course- my computer is broken (again) and is at hp being repaired under warranty (again)… for about the 13th time! Uck. The extended warranty expires Sept 12th…time to start saving up for a new laptop.

Anyways! Today linus and I found ourselves in the south bay between meetings with about 4 hours to kill. I brought homework and found a nice shady spot under a tree in a park to spread out in the blanket and get some studying done. However, why read boring egghead medical studies when you can get fast food and post photos of your dog eating it on your blog?? Priorities!

Actually, I didn’t even • know• in-n-out made things for dogs until i rolled through to grab a burger for myself and the nice lady taking our order suggested, “would your dog like a single plain patty for
himself?” Gee… Would he?! “people get them all the time for their dogs,” she added.
Well, then!
Hmm, something smells good all of a sudden!

Maybe its coming from in here?

I’ve been a good boy, ivebeenagoodboy, IM A GOOD BOY!

Gone in a single gulp

Oh Linus, we love you so much and you are such a spoiled woofer!

Living the Good Life

Squeak balls + beach = fun

OMGSQUEAKBALL MUST POUNCE!!

I find it very cute how he “plays” with the ball all by himself. He actually rolls it away with his nose and then will pounce on it!

We enjoyed ze sunshine! In fact… I even got a *teensy* bit of a burn, which faded into a nice tan today.

Recently we had a birthday around these parts.

There was strawberry rhubarb pie to be eaten!

And wishes to be made

birthday cards with corgis on them!! (from e’s mom… lol!)

I made breakfast in bed which consisted of baked eggs with Irish bangers from this chowhound recipe

We went to the computer history museum in Mountainview, where E contemplated some logarithms.

This is the calculating machine designed by Charles Babbage in 1845. It is one of two in the world- on lend to the museum from one of the first executives at microsoft.

Watch the hand-cranked machine in action- extremely beautiful. Truly a work of art.

The world’s first computer mouse! A block of wood with a button

This is one of the first computers in existence, from the 1950s. Check out the “monitor” (giant thing on right) and the “printer” (typewriter!) in the middle:

Here’s the first computer game ever invented. Looks fun

There was an entire section on computer chess, where I could have happily hung around for a few days. You could play other people at the museum, various versions of chess computer games, and people over the internet.

After the museum, we went to “Weird Stuff” which is a computer part supply warehouse. It’s basically a museum in and of itself. Aisles and aisles of old computer parts!

Mid day pizza refueling

And then we went scotch tasting. I treated Earl to “whatever bottle of scotch he desired” in the store. Thankfully, he did not chose one of these two (yiesh!):

I don’t know if you can see it, but I love how the label on those bottles underneath the 8k price tag reads “Everyday Low Prices.” heh.

We whiled away the afternoon and into the evening sipping coffee and reading at a cafe (one of E’s very favorite activities) and then caught a late dinner at The Mountain House, which was romantic and wonderful. We had a candlelit corner table overlooking the redwoods- it was so gorgeous!

On this gorgeous and sunny California spring morning, my friend Amy and I met at the base of Mt. Diablo to do a 7 mile hike.  It was such a fun day!  Strenuous hike but not horribly so.  We gained about 2500 in elevation (where we started, at the Park Headquarters, is already about 2k up) total.  I was huffing but Amy, as you can see in the video, handled it like a champ.

I busted out my new flip video camera (I found it during spring cleaning yesterday) that I had won at my company Christmas Party last December.  Hope you enjoy my very first video creation!

ps- there is some surprise bonus footage at the end shot by Earl when he was testing out the camera

If you recall from my last Peak a Week writeup, I’m trying to hike at least one peak every week in 2010 to get exercise and explore the Bay Area. This week, Linus and I hiked Skyline Ridge Park. I had work meeting work down in Redwood City (going over our new county protocols), and afterward used the jaunt down the Peninsula as an excuse to explore some of the beautiful trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

There are so many hiking areas over in that area! Zooming around on Google Maps checking out where I would be for the meeting (I am still learning the Peninsula at this point), it seemed like there was park after park after open space preserve. I couldn’t narrow it down! I finally just picked one randomly. Skyline Ridge it was.

What a special hike. Linus and I did a 7 mile loop which goes by two pristine alpine ponds and hits a couple absolutely stunning views. It wasn’t too steep or too strenuous, but it was a great walk and you felt so isolated and alone in nature. This is a hike I’d absolutely love to bring Earl on sometime in the future.

Have I mentioned before that Earl sort of hates hiking? He considers it “just walking” and also “a waste of time.” That’s often the problem you run into when you date a mathematician- they tend to be so pragmatic! If I play my chips correctly I can luck out with getting Earl to agree to … oh… 1 or 2 hikes every six months. The rest of the time, I am happy to go with other friends (who actually ENJOY hiking) or don’t mind spending hours in the woods with my dog walking (or running) around solo. I just like getting out in the woods and getting exercise. To me, anything with such fresh air and such sweeping skyscapes could never be a waste of time! Conversely, reading an advanced algebra book for 4 hours straight could be a waste of time for me, so hey…

The drive up Route 35 (Skyline Boulevard) to get to this hike was an adventure itself. Such twisty, turny roads we have in California! They make the “twisty, turny” roads I grew up on in New England seem like drag strips. Sometimes we respond in the ambulance to calls up in these hills, although I have yet to go Code Three through a road like that. I think I would just put the lights and sirens on and still drive it safe and slow. You’d have to- the roads swerve and turn so much, you could never get any speed up!

Once we made it to the park, it was a very basic trailhead. My faithful buddy is ready to go.

We started with some subtle climbs through a lot of grasslands and Christmas tree “escapees” from a nearby Christmas tree farm.

Looking back you could see the parking lot where we started. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon.

Even in the “dead” of winter, the sides of the trail were peppered with wildflowers. I believe these are thistles?

This tree was even producing some fruit. I think it’s pears.

Yikes! Watch out, Linus!

A Christmas tree farm escapee.

After about two miles, we reached the first pond of the hike. This is Alpine Pond. Boy, was it silent and pristine. No wind, no street noise or other humans around. The only thing I saw moving were a couple ducks.

There was a visitor Educational Wilderness Center on the perimeter of the pond. They had some binocular stands set up so you could zoom in and look at wildlife on the pond, and also a bunch of displays talking about the area. I found out the area used to be filled with hog farming.

The setup of the pond was entirely handicap-accessible. If you are looking for somewhere to take disabled loved ones who want to enjoy the outdoors and wildness, this spot is highly recommended. You can drive to the visitor center at Alpine Pond on a dirt fireroads and the pond has several wheelchair access ramps, viewing spots and trails.

Can you tell the reflection vs. the actual?

We found some (rasp? olallie?)berries nearby. Was tempted, but figured it would be safer not to sample.

Upon leaving the visitor center, the trail climbed a but more and opened up, offering these gorgeous skyscapes of the Santa Cruz Mountains:

Linus was more interested in what was climbing around on the rocks than appreciating the view.

These poofy (germinating? Geeze I need to study up on some botany, it would really help me appreciate things on these hikes a whole lot more!) plants were blowing the puffy white material all over the trail. You could even see them floating through the air over the valley.

I also spotted two hawks circling over the valley, although they were too high and my camera not high quality enough to capture them correctly. Watching their swooping dives as they hunted was mesmerizing; Linus and I stood there for a long while just appreciating the poetic beauty of their elegant flight (flight of DEATH for some mouse… lol).

A few more miles, and we descended down to pond #2, this one called Horseshoe Lake. It was a little less picturesque than alpine pond, and felt somewhat less isolated (perhaps because it was nearer to the trailhead and also at a lower elevation? Not sure), however was still nice. I saw some fish jumping and ducks swimming.

At this point in the hike we were almost done (under a mile to go) so Linus and I attempted a self portrait. Linus was not really cooperating.




I give up!

When we got home I gave Linus a bath and thorough combing checking for ticks. I feel very adamantly that dogs should be allowed to run off leash in the woods (as long as pets are allowed off leash and also they remain under voice control), because that’s such a big part of their doggy nature, however I worry about ticks. Plus, if I ever bring Linus home with ticks on him, I get read a big riot act by Earl who despises them and thinks they’re very gross. So Woofer gets a very thorough checking in his scruff and ears, plus an all over combing and often a bath after every time I take him out in the woods. Despite his tick collar that I put on him for hikes (and also tick powder), I generally find about two buggers on him which promptly get flicked off if we’re still outside or flushed if not. Ticks are so awful. Do they have any net benefits to the eco system? Can we just exterminate them all with no negative results? I know one dog (and one boyfriend) who would be a lot happier did they not exist.

Regardless, this was a great hike and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re on the Peninsula and want gorgeous views, not *too challenging* and also seek the peaceful feeling of being alone in the wilderness.

Today is my day off, and Linus and I are heading out to suburbia to play a little social call on my Aunt Mimi and Uncle Terry. I’m excited because it has been far too long since I’ve seen them, and Linus is excited because they have a penchant for giving him all kinds of snacks, particularly his beloved CHEESE (ohboyohboyohboy).

One of my favorite recent memories of my aunt is her munching on some cheez-its as Linus sat afoot. She asked me, “can I give him a chip?” “Sure,” I told her. She tossed Linus a chip and as he inhaled it, she was delighted. “Oh boy, look! He liked it!” ….. as if there was ever any doubt??! Lady, ye know not my dog. To this day, she always gets a thrill when she’s eating something, gives some to Linus, and he “likes it.”

ha ha. You could give Linus a rock, and if you pretended it was edible, and he would eat it.

Another funny thing Linus does at their house (now that we are wise to this, we don’t let him do it anymore) is wait until we are all distracted, then wander into her flower garden outside near the driveway AND EAT HER STRAWBERRIES OFF THE VINE. I find this hilarious. I’ve never seen a dog eat strawberries directly off a plant before. Guess he learned how to forage well during his time in the wild!

Additionally, while out in Pleasanton I have to run the thrilling errand of arguing at the Verizon store to get a new phone for free because the one I have now is a total dud which has been shutting off randomly and giving me a very static-y connection.

Finally, I’m hoping to sneak in a little hike/run up Pleasanton Ridge, time permitting.

Friday night I did something exciting. I was about three hours into a six-hour stretch of studying when, taking break to peruse the internet, I stumbled across this post. Inspiration hit- I had to make that bread! Dubbing it a “welcome home from work” present to Earl, I figured it would be nice to have fresh-baked bread smelling up the house when he walked in. Deep down, however, I was guilty of really making the bread for myself; *I* wanted the honeyspice bread, Earl be damned. Funny, the silly reasons you use to justify that which you desire.

I say “exciting” because I’ve never attempted to bake bread from scratch. It was a fun project which weaved nicely into my studying- make dough, let it rise for a couple hours while read another chapter, take a break to punch down and knead dough, do another chapter while letting it rise again. Then bake for an hour while finishing the reading. It was a wonderful incentive for me to power through the (tedious!) studying.

Kneading bread is harder than you’d think! The recipe I used calls for you to knead in increments of 5 and 10 minutes. Phew. I was tired after about 2 minutes! But, the results were stupendous- the bread was SOOO good. We had it with butter, more of it with cheese, I brought a bunch in to class on Saturday to share, and then this morning E and I killed off the last bit as toast with jam and butter for breakfast.

Waiting for the yeast to activate

the name of the bread is “honeyspice” … it has a lot of spices- cloves, coriander, ginger and cinnamon. I’ve never really cooked with coriander before, but man it smelled GOOD.

adding spices to the bread base

the dough:

knead, knead, knead

cover and let rise one hour (lol- just noticed my naked lady napkin here…haha… it’s from the Strip House in NYC… ah, days as a banker when I used to eat there all the time. heh. life is so different now!)

the chef is NOT above sampling the dough!

or, for that matter, licking the spoon (the chef is, apparently, above cleaning the mirrors)

after rising for 1 hour, you “punch” it down once. I don’t really get the point of this. Why do you need to punch it if you’re going to knead it again for another 5 minutes? :shrug: After delivering punch and more kneading, you let it rise again. I had the dough rising in the (turned off) oven because it was the warmest, un-breeziest place I could think of in the apartment

ta da! thar she is! while this was baking, the apartment smelled incredibly delicious. i don’t have a round baking pan, but this casserole dish did an adequate job. Bread came out a little funky shaped, but still edible.

we noshed it straight out of the oven with some butter… absolutely scrumptious

Leftover bread made for some yummy toast Monday morning

Monday am breakfast

Saturday I had class all day, then met Earl at the gym for lifting, after which we headed to Dolores Park to watch The Dark Knight under the stars with some friends. Because we got there late and due to the MASSIVE CROWD, we couldn’t find our friends. We set up a picnic with Linus, and were caught unawares when the sprinklers turned on. Aye!! Sadly, I spilled about half of my beer jumping away. This was not as bad, however, as the homeless guy near us who knocked over his ENTIRE CART filled with empty bottles and cans. They all rolled down the hill, making an enormous racket. I was somewhat surprised to see 20 people sitting around watching the movie get up and helped the homeless guy collect all his cans that had rolled away. Faith in humanity restored? Very nice gesture.

After the movie we grabbed more beer and hung out at our friend Matt’s house off the park. My tolerance must be low because of my diet and exercise kick, because man, I became kind of bombed after only a couple beers! We ended up staying out shooting the breeze until 2:00am, which was… not the smartest move because we had to wake up at 8am to head to the beach the following morning. Oof.

The crowd at the Dark Knight

The Dark Knight in Dolores Park

our little picnic… pre-sprinkler soaking

Linus getting comfy at Matt’s. Matt’s place could stand a woman’s touch some … decor :p

Sunday we headed to Gray Whale Cove with a two car loads of friends. I recruited two of them to come running with me up a mountain by the beach. Our “run” turned into more of a “hike” as it was basically straight up the mountain! I’d say we ran about… eh…. 30% of the time. Two hour hike, great views. Hanging out on the beach after the run was SO NICE. Fortunately, I wasn’t that hungover but I was enormously tired. I powered through some of my flashcards for school (about three chapters worth) and then pulled my Chugach Powder Guides hat down over my eyes and eagerly dove into a delectable two hour nap.

Something about falling asleep on a beach: plant the tired old dogs in the sand, listen to the waves crash, feel the caress of ocean breezes… so relaxing and indulgent. Easily one of my all-time favorite things. My nap was sadly disrupted when Earl woke me up with a scolding for not putting sunscreen on the back of my legs. Whaaaaa…? Huh?? I sleepily waved off his chiding, flopped over, and resumed snoring away. That is… until he decided to teach me a lesson by STUFFING ICE FROM THE COOLER DOWN MY SPORTS BRA aggggGGGgggghhhh

Kathleen and Julie check out the view on our run

Looking over to Montara State Beach from the mountain

we headed up, up, up to North Peak

Julie, looking out over towards Pacifica. It was so clear, we could see Sutro Tower all the back in San Francisco.

the three of us at the summit- we are sweaty and gross, but psyched! it took us just over an hour and a half to get to the top, and only half an hour to get back down

heading back down- a nice view of the trail we came up

there were so many wildflowers along the trail. these ones were as tall as us!

I have no idea how she did it, but when we got back to the beach, Julie still had enough energy to play frisbee AND smashball… whereas I opted to impersonate a log.

Kathleen caught up on her magazines

Linus, who did NOT come on the run/hike (I wasn’t all that sure about him handling the mileage- he hasn’t been running with me all that much lately other than short neighborhood jogs) did get plenty of exercise running around on the beach

we buried him in the sand! it’s so funny how he loves this

sand dog gets buried

look at this grin. Julie snapped this great shot

corgi smile

gee, being the center of all this attention sure makes me thirsty!

we also kept giving him ice chips as a snack and to help him stay cool

Linus LOVES the beach. Isn’t this a happy looking dog?

hugs at the beach

he kept digging in the sand trying to get his ball. so cute

dog vs. ball

i attempted to get artsy and take a self portrait in Earl’s sunglasses

Back in the city on Sunday night, still very gross from running and the beach (by this point I reeked and my hair had morphed into one giant dreadlock), we noshed at Big Mouth Burger which was FANtastic. Best burger place we’ve found in San Francisco, and TOTALLY worth getting off my diet for!

Scrumptious burger put the button on a great day

Big Mouth bacon blue-cheeseburger

Today I had my volunteer interview with another ER in San Francisco (I love the “little ER that could” where I currently volunteer, however it’s a very low-level trauma center and we do not have ER Technicians. As I’m hoping to become an ER Technician within the next year or so, I think it’s a good idea to gain some experience where I can work alongside them… and perhaps start making some contacts at a place where I will potentially be applying for a job). I passed my interview, which is a relief because I’ve heard it’s very competitive to get in there… and they are having a massive influx of volunteers- probably the economy and also everyone switching career paths into healthcare. Once my background check and TB Test results (again! agh… they wouldn’t accept my March TB Test results as it has to be within three months… blegh) come in I’ll be set to start.