Well that week was now two weeks ago for us, and unfortunately it was a bit condensed. We arrived late – really late – Tuesday night, and left Friday morning for a beautiful wedding weekend in Western MA (more on that to come!). Still, it was nice to be there, nice to remember what running hills really means, and nice to cozy up with Mom & Dad Hedman over a game of Yahtzee.

Even their cats came out, since we couldn’t bring the dogs on this trip!

Gary’s big project right now is building a monstrous pergola over the entire length of his parents’ back deck! The home is all deck and all windows across the back, which is wonderful but also very very warm, so the pergola will provide some shade.

I also started chatting with the incredible folks at Northshire Bookstore about possibilities for a doggy-focused event in the fall – how great!

Speaking of which, when we pulled in on Sunday evening, I came home to a bunch of packages in the mail (on the table inside, thanks mom!). 300 postcards for my table at a huge Border Collie event coming up, 500 outdoor-quality stickers of my logo (want one?), and a custom rubber stamp of my logo! We’re hittin’ the big time, folks.

In anticipation of what would surely be a great hike with friends… this was us trying to dry out.

But thankfully the sun did come out and we managed to hike Pico Peak and some of the Appalachian Trail! This is Jess with her adorable little Shiloh pup.

The girls – myself, Sarah and Hannah – went off for about an 18- mile bike ride through the hills of Waitsfield and Warren. Sarah’s doing amazing, after having knee surgery just a couple of months ago! When we passed a tractor bringing hay down the road, I thought “this is a Vermont bike ride.” Little did I know, just a few miles down the road, we would be pedaling for our lives away from a galloping bull in rut!

(okay, maybe not for our lives, per se, but he really was chasing us down and breaking what was left of the fence!)

We had a great time walking around Church Street in Burlington on Sunday, meeting up with Dave & Leslie. The weather was warm enough for margaritas outside at Halverson’s, but one of those days when you put your coat back on and take it off again a million times. Either way, the afternoon set the mood for us to – yet again – bail on leaving town that night. We left at 4am Monday instead, and I was at the office by 7:30am. Well worth it!

Rich & Sarah smirking on Church Street:

Among us all weekend were four dogs, one cat, one adorable 8-week old puppy, and this little guy, Theo:

Sarah tore her ACL a couple of weeks ago, so we added lots of cozy dinners and hot tubbing to the mix instead of long ski days and dog hikes.  The skiing was great too though, and we snuck off to where the Presidents Day Weekend tourists wouldn’t find us.

Aside from our romantic dinner for four at the 1824 House, we also set out for an evening at Hannah & Steve’s new home (Sarah’s sister) – what a unique house up in the mountains of Moretown, built mostly of wood from the property itself! Their property line even extends into the Mad River. Very happy for them, and the three sisters who are now all within ten minutes of each other.

Gary dropped me off for the second half of the workday in Boston today. Things have been busy and continuing to ramp up at the office, which is great news for all. At the same time, I’m putting a huge push into my photography business for the spring, so keep your eye out for upcoming goodness at Cold Nose Photo!

On a much sadder note, Gary’s grandmother is quickly declining in health. She is 91 years old, and the toughest, most vibrant 91-year old I’ve ever met. Lee is a true matriarch. She had the kind of husband legends are made of and bore three children. Those children are still very close, with expanding families of their own (five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, four great-grandpups). She has participated in her community her entire life. Her network of golf friends, the ladies she plays cards with, the women’s group, her cookie-swapping neighbors… I know they are all keeping her in their thoughts right now. She is passing of nothing more than old age, systems shutting down. What an admirable thing that seems like these days.

We hope you’re all well, surrounded by love and pink doilies, and savoring the coming of spring.

Wordle.com

I started blogging in June 2006. Actually, it all begain with our wedding website a year prior. We had a place where guests could go to hear what we were up to and find details about the big day. After the wedding, the site remained and collected photos from the wedding and new home. Eventually, it became very obvious that blogging would be a much easier and FREE way to keep a site going.

So here we are.

In recent days I’ve found some really cool blogs. Blogs about paper goods, blogs about cool shopping finds, blogs about deals and coupons. There are blogs about music, photography, dogs, renewable energy, running and more. Some people write while on an extended trip. Many moms blog about motherhood, obviously, and now “mommy-bloggers” have become an entire customer demographic of companies large and small.

Think about it. What would YOU write about if you were to pick a topic? C’mon, you don’t have to actually do it, and you don’t even have to tell me your topic, but it’s fun to think about! There are bloggers out there who live off the sole income of adverstising on their very popular blogs. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’ll admit, I don’t have a great topic – it’s just our life. Let’s test out a few:

• D.I.N.K.s doing their best to stay D.I.N.K.s
• Being the humans of two lunatic adopted dogs
• The quest for a more appropriate boat name
• The blessings of dual-climate control
• An experiment: Is Cape Cod the “other” Vermont?

We spent a gorgeous weekend in Dorset, Vermont with the Hedmans, including some sidewalk sale shopping, a hike and a hilly bike ride. The next weekend was filled with a Patriots pre-season game (thanks Em!) and the excitement of seeing cousin Kate while she was home from vet school. We also managed to get out to Sandy Neck with Kim & Kim for a beautiful lagoon-like cruise in the shallow waters at low-tide.

In keeping with tradition, this past Labor Day weekend was our annual Sarah’s Birthday Alternative Triathalon! Eight of us hiked almost 12 miles across the Monroe Skyline in Vermont – over the summits of Mad River Glen, Sugarbush and more. We camped out in the Castlerock hut at Sugarbush. What a hysterical adventure watching Brewer on his first hike. He was so proud of his backpack, and completely overjoyed at the idea of his humans sleeping on the floor. We closed out the weekend with a bike ride – most of the group on mountain bikes, and Leslie and I off for a road ride through the cows and farmlands.

I’m truly ready for fall this year. We’ve had a full and wonderful summer.

Much more to come back to, but for now I just want to say Happy Birthday to Emily and Sarah… AND a super huge CONGRATS to Emily and Anthony on their engagement!!!!

…weighing in at just about 80lbs, wearing an electric fence collar -”El Toro” AAAAAAAAAAngel Hernandezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (insert angry mommy and daddy shouting here.)

…and Ladies & Gentlemen, in this corner (under the shed), wearing the black & white stripes, weighing in at 4lbs 7oz. “The Undisputed, Stinky-weight Champion of the Night , Pep-payyyyyy “le Polecat,” (that’s right) “Polecat” (aka: Skunk or the mammal that is best know for its ability to excrete a strong-foul-smelling odor from its back end area) -not to be confused by the Yeti.

Toro, Mommy & Daddy all were knocked out in the first 2nd round. (he didn’t get it the night before.)

Good thing he’s such a loyal friend, I don’t want to miss a second of this smelly fun! He’s resting so peacefully next to me all day, everywhere I go. They say that the “aroma” lingers best when it’s humid and rainy… good thing we have that too!

Send flowers soon,
Rich

This was the first real spa experience I’ve ever had, and unfortunately I’m now going to have to do it at least once every year. We all had our massages, facials and other treatments, and then lounged throughout the facility in our robes and sandals for the entire day on Saturday. This included steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, hydrotheraphy waterfalls and a Hungarian mineral soaking pool, in addition to some sunning at the outdoor pool as well.

Thank you to Kim, and the others, for an unforgettable weekend. The next time we’re sitting in a dining room like that horrible Shed Brewery back room, it better be when we’re 80 in Florida.

Sent: Mon 4/28/2008 4:46 PM
Subject: Rubix Cube

Give a call when you get a chance to let us know how you’re all doing, unless you’re tired of talking to everyone, then just text us to tell us the latest news, unless you’re tired of texting, then just send us a good old fashioned email, unless you’re tired of typing, then just drop us note, unless you’re out of notepaper, then just lite a fire and send us some smokesignals, but they might be hard to see, so just give us a call.

Bromley didn’t make it… he had a tough time in last year’s snow with his arthritic hip, so we had to make the responsible decision of leaving him home (and by home I mean with my parents, not alone in the house with a 40-pound bag o’ dog food and a pee mat).

The weather was decent enough for some hiking and sledding – or “sliding” as some parts of the country seem to want to call it The full sun even came out long enough for us to catch some rays in this photo! …And Shakedown Street turned out to be the weekend’s theme song.

We saw a bumper sticker on the way home that gave me a good chuckle, so I ordered a few of them today: “At least the war on the environment is going well.”

Two ski weekends ahead before what looks to be an April R&R period! Gary’s on PetFinder.com daily now that the days are longer…