Someone is excited to be out for a walk on a bright sunny day!

We are walking further and further each day. His neuro surgeon is having us build up walk lengths, adding one minute per walk per day! This one in particular was rather tiring- I think buddy was feeling the altitude, and there are lots of hills in the ski house neighborhood.

We also did some physical therapy walking on snow… basically it’s really good for his paws to be walking on various surfaces- sand, pebbles, dirt, woodchips, pavement, water, snow, what have you… the variety spices it up and gives his neurons new textures to learn and send to his brain. He’s still feeling pretty disconnected- walks with a DISTINCT wobble and always seems on the verge of toppling over. He’s feeling better, though. At one this weekend, he took an enormous LEAP off the couch- really sent himself sailing- he looked like Superman or the corgi doing the corgi flop. Earl and I were both like, “NOOOOoooooOOOOO” in slow motion while he did it- I was sitting right next to him and reached over to stop him but it was too late.

Fortunately, as far as we can tell, the Leap of Death didn’t seem to do any permanent damage… and technically at this point we are almost exactly four months out from his surgery, which means he can add in “high impact” activities. However, I don’t think we’ll EVER be letting him jump on and off beds and couches or even do stairs himself anymore. Just too high risk. This one time was a fluke and we are lucky and happy that nothing bad came from it.

Btw- the above pic was taken on the camera of my new droid phone. You like? So far I am pretty happy with it! Just got it on Monday.

Our drive to Tahoe last night was quite the trip.

Chronological breakdown:

6:00pm: post school/work, meet at gym, get in a quick workout
7:30pm: Home, showered, load car
8:00pm: pick up Papalote burritos (in retrospect a bad idea, fantastically hard to eat while driving) and hit the road
8:15pm: driving across the Bay Bridge, officially out of the city
10:30pm: even though we don’t really need it, stop to top off the Jeep with gas and also pick up one diet coke to split and a small package of Reeses Pieces. THANK GOODNESS BECAUSE LITTLE DID WE KNOW WHAT WAS COMING….
10:45pm: Linus gets upgraded from traveling in the kennel in back of the Jeep to sitting on Earl’s lap in the front seat
11:00pm: downed power lines north of Placerville have us pulling off the freeway and stopping in a line of cars off the exit. We chill here for about an hour
11:10pm: Search smartphone gps for backroad routes. There are no backroad routes.
11:30pm: Dog gets dinner. Dog gets walked in blizzard like conditions along side of road
12:00pm: Downed power lines cleared, line of cars heads back on the road- driving towards Kyburtz, traffic goes slowly due to massive back logs, avalanches and accidents
1:00am: Avalanche takes out 18 wheeler, traffic stops near Polluck Pines
2:00am: Dead stopped traffic in a line of cars. Everyone turns out their headlights and “sleeps” in their cars
2:30am: Dog is like “I don’t really know what’s going on, but at least I am getting to sit in your lap and get petted all this time.”
3:00am: We move about 300 yards
3:30am: still dead stopped, due to accidents and avalanches. NOTE: at this time we are ONLY 18 MILES FROM OUR SKI HOUSE IN MEYERS!!! ARRRRGGGHH
3:45am: Dog becomes highly valued commodity for his lap warming properties in freezing cold car as we sit parked in the blizzard.
4:00am: woken from dead sleep in car to plow zooming by. Traffic hasn’t moved but man we are cold, starving and worn out. We thank ourselves for buying that diet coke and reeces.
4:30am: Get into fight about whether to wait it out or turn around and go find and check into a fleabag motel. The stubborn one of us is like “I’M NOT TURNING THIS CAR AROUND! We’ll lose our place in line! Greene’s don’t back track!”
5:00am: Rational one wins. Decide to turn around and find a place to pull off the road and snooze. Find a nice side road pull off where we can spy if and when the traffic moves.
7:00am: Cars start moving!!! PRAISE THE LORD.
7:30am: Drive last 18 miles into South Lake. Go straight to Red Hut where we both order pancakes and coffee.
7:40am: Realize that at least four other groups eating at Red Hut were also all stuck in traffic all night on 50! We all bond over the craziness. One poor couple left San Francisco at 3:30pm, only to head up 80, have that be closed, turn around and try 50 and get stuck in the same shitshow we were in…
8:30am: Powder day at Heavenly! Hit up and early chair and make tracks on The Face…. worth the crazy drive? Hmm…
4:00pm: skied all day with a bunch of friends and we are WIPED! Head back to the cabin to sleep for 12 hours straight.
7:30pm: log into email to post this writeup and find this message from our friend:
“FYI, anyone driving up or considering it- all roads to sLT are closed
as of now and things are pretty gnarly out there. Extreme discretion
advised- talking collapsing trees, avalanches onto the road, etc.”

… now he tells us! Haha… turns out he sent that at 7:00pm last night- too bad I didn’t see it then, we could have avoided the whole debacle!

A few photos:
On the ski lift:

All that for… this? The level of snow at the ski house:

Can you spot the corgi?

One more of Linus in the snow- he had fun prancing around! I like letting him play in fresh powder because I feel like it’s nice and supportive of his back, and let’s him sort of “romp” which we don’t usually let him do because it’s too high impact:

Here’s a photo of us on top of Sonora Peak, where we hiked and spent this past weekend:

L-R: myself, E, and our friends Mattius and Andrea. I’m really psyched this photo came out- it was so windy up there, and we had the camera on a timer, balancing on a rock. We were worried it was going to blow away!

Isn’t it a gorgeous view from up there? A few more photos of the hike:
A little over halfway up:

me hiking- the first two miles were up, up and up. We mostly walked in the snow- it was about 60* and sunny. Walking in the snow kinda got us all excited for ski season!

Interesting gnarled tree stump:

All these photos taken with Andrea’s camera, as mine still has no battery charger (working on that….).
Linus made the trip as well, however he sat out the hike as he TORE HIS ACL a few weeks ago! He’ll be having surgery tomorrow- I will keep you posted on how it goes. Here’s to a speedy recovery for the little guy.

A few from Lake Tahoe.

Linus by the lake:

We were done with skiing for the day and checking out Tahoe City. It was cool how you could run around by the water!

Check out Earl’s beard:

Someone was a Good Boy and got a “cookie” at the upscale pet shop in Truckee (he also got a new dog bed!)

There was some drool happening

Finally!!

We skied with our friend Dom for a few days at Squaw (myself in yellow, Andrea in the middle and Dom in red)

Dom splits his time between Truckee and SF, and knows Squaw really well. He led us down this pretty scary slope called “The Attic.” Being… not on my best ski game this year, I was just happy I made it down!

Near the top of Granite Chief, our friends Andrea and Mattius who live down the street from us near UCSF. Mattius was REALLY FAST on his snowboard. We played Chinese downhill to high camp and he creamed everyone by about … 20 seconds! His strategy was to go straight and not turn. They must breed ‘em fast in the Alps. Then again, this is the same guy who got ticketed for speeding on the autobahn, so…

And finally, here is Linus running in the snow just south of Carson Pass. We were stopped by CalTrans waiting for the pass to open that morning, so decided to have a romp!

Oh, and just so she doesn’t feel left out, here’s a little video I shot of Lucy chilling in her box:

and are contemplating never coming back

Our gander down the California seacoast over New Years was so special and so dear to my heart that I almost feel it would be crass to share too much. Sometimes with blogging I have to remind myself to keep certain things earmarked as just for me- instead of braying them all over the internet. On that note, I am simply going to post up a few photos from our adventure and leave it at that. Earl, Linus and I had an amazing time exploring the shoreline and rang in 2010 in an unforgettable manner.

I hope you all had a stupendous New Years.

One of the many beaches where we stuck our toes in the sand on a foggy grey morning.
The way the waves were crashing into these rocks and sending ocean spray flying- not only was the air perfumed with salty goodness, but the visuals were absolutely stunning.

We sat for a while watching the tide flow in and out from in between this rock gully.

Interesting looking erosion on this seaside rock. Apparently it has an interesting smell, as well!

5’ in front of the picnic bench where we sat sipping our coffee, this was going on:

Oh, joyful way to wake up on a lazy morning!

One of the state parks we visited had this placard about how it used to be a butter and cheese mecca. Sounds like my kinda family empire

We took a tour to see Elephant Seals!

An Alpha asserts his dominance.

They looked like big sea slugs just lying around! We were about 25ft from them at all times. Moving around at a surprisingly fast clip, we saw them undulating like big eels.

Slapping sand over themselves to stay warm and ward off bugs

A little further away, we saw a mother seal give birth, and a swarm of gulls descended to eat the placenta. There was also a very brave coyote skirting around hoping to get some placenta and dead seal pups.

Nerd vs Elephant Seal

This is Ano Nuevo Island. It used to be a Peninsula, but has since eroded into an island. Also, this house was built in the 1920s from redwood planks. It has been abandoned since 1950, but still stands true despite being zero maintenance and constant beatings from ocean waves and winds. A testament to the strong redwood boards and old-style craftsmanship. It is also entirely inhabited by seals, sea lions and gulls! Humans do not set foot on the island.

An Alpha and his “harem.” Bow chica wow wow….


This guy found a spot all to himself! Must be an exiled beta.

We whiled away an afternoon noshing cheeses (and cheeses, and cheeses) at a goat farm

Hadley Farms hosts ornate gourmet, locally grown dinners in the goat farm in this charming old barn. We’d love to come back for one, although at $150 per ticket (for a 5-hour “experience”) they are a tad beyond our current budget.

Hullo, ladies

Hadley Goat Farm

Our stowaway! We did not drink champagne on the balcony at midnight (we were erm… in bed!) nor did we utilize the outdoor hottub, but E and I have avowed to return and take full advantage soon.

We cozied up with a bottle of this

Oh hey! You’re eating brie on a rosemary olive oil rustic loaf? I’d like some if you’re feeling kind.

CJ + couch + corg

Oh, hello there! Our co-habitant, Ivy in all her glory.

Canine and swine bond over their love of carrots! Linus was *very* scared of Ivy. He was curious, and went up to smell her, but then was skittish and backed away whenever she would stick her nose through the fence. Ivy was SUPER friendly- very personable!! She was such a sweet girl and completely charmed us for the days we stayed with her. The pig makes a hard case against eating bacon.

Sniff, sniff. You guys got anymore carrots out there?

We happened upon this pumpkin field of sheep. I wish I had a polarizer, because this photo does not do the colors we saw justice! Think very bright greens with striking oranges.

Wouldn’t be a complete trip without a burger and a beer!

Earl has been instructed not to read this (seeing as he’s the administrator of this site, it’s impossible to keep secrets from him if I want to write about them here).

But, I will let you all in on a surprise, as he’s promised not to read.

Guess what? Over New Years, I am taking my beloved away on a romantic trip! Our first real vacation in over a year and a half!!! This is very exciting because it punctuates the end of my period of “unemployment” and “career change” and “being broke” and all the sad, empty wallet and second guessing/soul searching side effects that come with that decision.

We’re heading down the coast to a bed and breakfast Pescadero and Ano Nuevo State Park to see elephant seal mating season. Star watching, oceanside picnics, mountaintop hikes, bottles of champagne, wine tasting and potbellied pigs are all on the agenda. You heard right. The bed and breakfast we’re staying at has a pet pot bellied pig! So cute, right? We’re even bringing Linus, so I wonder how he will react when meeting the pig, who is apparently housebroken and lives in the main house, using his own piggy-sized doggie door to come and go at his leisure.

Here is the “room” (it’s a 2-story tower! we get the whole thing) where we will be staying:

We shall be sitting on that balcony at midnight on New Years Eve, looking out over the ocean, sharing a snog and toasting to the new decade!

and here es le oinker:

I am so, SO excited for this trip and all that it represents. It fills me with joy to be able to pay for us to do something like this myself, FINALLY. Even though this trip is just a small weekend, it makes me very happy to do something special for Earl after all of the love and support he has given me over the past year and a half.

Here is to a marvelous start to 2010!