No more fetch

We had the privilege of watching the two dogs that Bob walks for a week and a half while the owners were out of town. Fun until something goes terribly wrong, which it did. The dogs love to play fetch with sticks and we spent many days watching them play tug of war and fetch the sticks that were thrown to them. One morning Bob went outside to play with the dogs and came back shortly after as I was headed out for work. I asked him why he had come back so soon and he told me the awful accident that had happened.

He threw a stick for the dog and it landed upright in the soft grass, sticking straight up. The dog went at it full force and started whining. Blood was dripping from its mouth. It had cut its mouth or throat really bad, but we could not get it to open up its jaws to look. He called the owners and had Bob take it to the vet. The vet was awful and slow moving. They kept the dog for the entire day, cleaned its ears, x-rayed its hips, and gave it a pedicure (which they actually called it). Can you imagine going into the hospital for a bleeding mouth and them doing this to you? Then at the end of the day they called Bob and said he needed to take it to the emergency pet center. Nice. Bob and I were incredibly worried about the dog since it had been hurting and bleeding for so long. We checked it into the hospital which was great. They did an endoscopy on the dog and found a three inch gash in its throat.

After performing surgery, we got to take the dog back home and nurse it back to health. The owners were so kind to us, encouraging us that it was a fluke accident that could happen to anyone. They were originally going to come back from their trip early, but allowed us to take care of the dog instead. The dog is healing well and the owners have asked us to watch them again next weekend (I know, surprising, huh?). We are so excited. We had so much fun having these dogs in our home and have missed them after one day of not having them. Needless to say, we will not be playing fetch with them again.

Unexpected canoe ride for Bob's birthday

Let me just precede this story with an apology for not having a picture. During the mishap I am about to explain, the camera was out of commission, which will probably spare me some embarassment, but would have also made you laugh a little harder. Bob's birthday was October 20 and he had been sick for a while, so at his request we were just going to lay low for his birthday and he was going to decide that day what he felt like doing. Very difficult for someone like me who wants someone's birthday to be extra special. Anyway, it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day, and being that we had just purchased our canoe, we decided to take it out for a spin. Little did we know what a spin we were in for.

First of all, we live on the second story. And our stairs turn in the middle. Meaning a 14 foot canoe absolutely cannot fit down them. Meaning that we had to find a way to get the canoe over the ledge in order to get to the ground. My brilliant idea, which surprisingly turned out to be the one that we used, was to tie a rope around a pillar and to the front of the canoe and lower it down. It went better than expected. Bob and I each grabbed a side of the canoe and walked it down to the river. He was very patient as I had to stop about every 30 seconds to adjust my hand or take a break.

We both decided to wear jeans and tennis shoes, since the day was a little cool, but beautiful nonetheless. We were excited when we got into the water and the sun was shining on us. We relaxed, Bob fished, and I took pictures with the spare camera (the one Bob dropped a couple years ago and we only take on yucky trips in case something happens to it). We paddled upstream and came to a point where the water was flowing a little harder. To save us from embarassment, I would like to label it some sort of class rapid, but it was not. Bob and I tried multiple times to paddle up it to no avail. Looking at it you would think it were simple to get up if you just paddled hard enough. That was our first mistake. We decided to take one last stab at it before giving up. I mean really, how hard could it be. So I, sitting up front, dug my paddle in as hard as I possibly could and was paddling with my might. Bob in the back was doing the same, or so I thought. This is the part where the story gets fuzzy and might be told a little differently from each of our perspectives, but since I am the one telling it, this is the way it goes. I am leaning a little to the right to really dig the paddle in because Bob keeps saying, "Paddle harder Jamie", to which I reply, "This is as hard as I can." (As a side note, I never understand why guys say things like that in these sorts of situations. As if it is not obvious enough that I need to paddle with as much might as I can muster. Like I didn't understand that before and I needed him to say that to give me the extra umph.)

Well, apparently while I am using every ounce of strength I have to paddle up this little stream, Bob decides we are pulling out and sticks his paddle in to turn us around. This immediately takes the canoe for a spin, jutting the boat sideways and we both spill out. When we emerge from the chilly water, I cannot stop laughing and Bob is heavy breathing, yelling at his phone to turn off. Then he freaks out that our boat is going to sink because a lot of water has gotten into it, but we are standing in the water. A funny sight indeed, water up to our chests, guiding our canoe back to the shore. I looked around to see if anyone had seen, hoping really, because it was too funny a sight to be missed. Apparently it was just a moment to be enjoyed by the two of us. By the time we got to the shore even Bob was laughing and we giggled all the way home in our sopping jeans and tennis shoes. The bad camera and Bob's cell phone both stopped working, but I think it was worth it for the funny birthday memories. Happy birthday Bob!

It is so awesome to watch the leaves change color around here. Some trees are partially green and partially changed. It almost looks fake to see all these crazy colors on the foliage. The other day Bob and I were driving and came across this tree that looks like it's on fire. We hurried to get out the camera to catch a shot of it as we were driving by. Although fall here brings colder weather, which is hard for me to get used to, it also brings amazing beauty I have never witnessed before.

Apple Orchard

About two hours away there is a place called Elijay that has many apple orchards. Bob and I set out with some friends for the day to attend an Apple Festival, which ended up being a dud. After paying 5 dollars each to walk around in the freezing cold and hardly finding anything that represented apples--although we did have some great gyros, ate fried oreos, and watched clogging (yes, clogging)--we decided to head a little further to the apple orchards to make our time worth it.

We grabbed some hot cider inside and then paid a very small sum to fill a bag with apples that we picked. The variety offered at the time was Rome Beauties, known for their cooking appeal. We picked to our hearts content and then could go inside and fill the bag with other varieties that we chose. Now we are eating apples like there's no tomorrow. Who knew that half a peck would be so large?

Georgia County Fair

We felt like since the fair was in town, we had to attend. But really, it was no different than any other fair I've been to. Corn dogs, funnel cakes, crazy people and animals. What would a fair be without elephants and tigers?

This guy was the funniest. We called him the kissing camel. He would come at you to get close to you, then turn his head away like he was rejecting you.

Pumpkins!

A couple of friends of ours went on a hike to some waterfalls nearby and there was a pumpkin patch on site. My friend Josh took these pictures, and because they are pumpkin, I fell in love. Isn't he a good photographer? I love pumpkin season!

A boy and his dog(s)

We didn't really plan on having Bob get a job, but when you get paid to do something you enjoy, why not? One day when I was getting the mail I saw a sign posted to hire a dog walker. While Bob is not officially credentialed in this specific area, he was the first to call, thus receiving this glorious job. He gets to take out the boys (which is his endearing title for them) at least once a day and is paid (pretty well, surprisingly) to play with them. Occasionally when I am working from home, I even get to tag along too. We feel that we have the benefits of owning a dog, but don't have to deal with the difficult parts --although Bob might say otherwise when he is "picking up" after them. Isn't my husband cute?

Happy Fall

I got in a creative mood yesterday and decided to make these little Happy Fall goodie bags for our neighbors and friends. I made these popcorn treats that I got from a recipe in Real Simple magazine. They are like rice krispie treats but with popcorn--really not that tasty, but they look festive. Then I got sad because I can't give them to my friends in California, so I thought I would post some pictures and send them to you that way.

Row, Row, Row your boat

Bob and I bought a canoe yesterday. We have been looking for one since we got here, and finally found a good one at a good price. As you can see though, it is the main feature in our backyard. Sort of impedes the view, but I guess we figure that it will ultimately give us better views of nature when we take it out, thus decreasing our frustration with its monstrosity. You should have seen what we had to do to get it up to our 2nd story apartment. Not fun, but thankful when we finally got it situated. Now if only it will stop raining so we can go explore!

2 buck chuck or not?

Two buck chuck here at Trader Joe's is actually somewhere around $2.50, which I was outraged at when I first discovered it. Something having to do with taxes from shipping. Well, after being encouraged by a Trader Joe's clerk to try something different for a few dollars more (she guaranteed I would be a lot more happy with the wine and wouldn't really notice the extra two bucks), I decided to buy a Malbec wine, which was supposed to be very good. The wine was very good. The one glass of it we had, that is...

After finishing dinner, we put the wine on the top of the fridge. Which we don't normally do. And which wouldn't have normally been a problem, had I not decided I wanted tea, which we keep in the cupboard above the fridge. All was fine until I put the tea away and went to close the cupboard door, and my elbow knocked the red wine off the top of the fridge. I watched the bottle flip in slow motion down past my side, but did not have any reflexes to help me do anything about it. Red wine-- all over the kitchen floor, wall, counter, appliances-- and broken glass too. Luckily none on the carpet.

It soaked up into the wall right away and we tried to use 409 to scrub it off, which actually made it turn turquoise. I don't know what I was more mad about, the fact that our wall looks like the picture above, or that I bought a more expensive bottle of wine and broke it after the first glass.
Pretty soon we will have a painted over wall, but I will still have wasted over $4.

The truth was that it was better than 2 buck chuck (Sorry Charles Shaw afficianadoes), and I am not even a wine snob. But I am wishing it was the $2 wine sitting on top of the fridge instead of the Malbec fancy one.