Marmot Pass

Ugh.  My muscles are sore today.  Will, one of the other Family Practice residents emailed out a couple weeks ago to join him and his family on an 11-mile hike to Marmot Pass.  I thought, no problem! I can walk on even ground with a few slopes here or there for 5+miles each way.  He labeled the hike as moderately strenuous.

He would be correct.  It was actually up-hill the entire 5 miles.  12 of us initially started out on the Quilcene trail.  Nearly 600 ft. from Marmot Pass, Jon, another resident joined us (late b/c though he had to round at the hospital, he was adamant about going on the hike too!) after running up most of the way catch up.  It took us nearly 3 hours and he made it in 1 1/2. 

My hips hurt so bad once we got to the top that I just wanted to run back down the 5 miles to the car and go home.  A couple hours later we made it back to the car.  It took around 6 hours altogether including a few stops and snack breaks.  What a great day though!

The boy in the picture is Truman, Will's son, an almost-8 year old that hiked up and down the entire way on his own two feet.  What a trooper!  He also has a little brother, 4 yr. old Henry, that spent some time being carried by his parents. I had a hard time lugging my own self up the slopes.  To see his mom and dad add 40 lbs to their back and still keep up with us was amazing!

We ended the day by pigging out at Famous Dave's BBQ.  Not much could make me ignore the constant burning of my muscles, but the BBQ chicken sandwich sure tried. 

By the way, we did see a couple marmots.  It's not just the name of an outdoor apparel and equipment company. They are much larger than I expected.  The one I saw was probably 50 lbs. or more.  My camera ran out of batteries before I could capture one sitting on a rock...but Google can show you what they look like sitting on a rock:

Photo from en.academic.ru

The boy who cried "Woof!"

So we have two dogs, Charlie and Roger.  Roger is the relatively quiet one.  He only barks when normal dogs would...when someone actually comes in our yard, or if he sees someone he doesn't like walking by.  However, he does NOT bark every time someone walks by like Charlie, the Gossipy Dachshund.

Charlie has a huge personality, some would say.  Recently, though, I've figured out that he's a total gossip.  I mean, he's a one-dog rumor mill.  And I'm tired of it.  If our neighbor has someone walk up to her front door he turns to me and "ROO-roo-Roof!" His barks have an unusual intonation and I can clearly understand that he's saying, "what does that man think he's doing in her yard?"  and "what the heck are kids wearing these days?"  "Doesn't he have anything better to do with his time."  He wants to tell me all about what he saw, and any neighbors that are out in the yard.  I hate to think what impression it's making on sweet Roger. 

Charlie is a grumpy old man sitting on his front porch in a rocking chair.  Each "woof" just reeks of disdain and judgment.  Most times his rants finish with a grouchy huff as he turns to walk back toward his perch on our front steps.  Bah-humbug, Charlie.

Eventually I'm going cease paying any attention to him...even when he has something truly valuable to say.

I would be jealous of me if I were you.

I started volunteering because I love animals and wanted to get out a meet other humans after I moved to Washington.  I continued volunteering because I love animals and met some humans.  I got a job because I wanted to meet more humans that also loved animals.  I still work at the humane society because of moments like this:

(Not pictured:  The smell she emitted right before almost pooping on my lap.)

Umm, I'll give this a try

I've really wanted to start a blog for a while.  First I thought I'd start one when I got married.  Next, I'd been married one year and hadn't written anything.  Then we adopted another dog...another great reason to start a blog, right?  Well, I finally decided to get going.  I'm not pleased with the layout or design, but hey, at least you can get a glimpse of what's going on.

May 23, 2009

Yeah, he's dreamy.  Daniel is in his second year of residency which leaves me plenty of time to explore new hobbies, the area, and try to keep up with things around the house.  In the last year I've started making cards.  It all started just before Halloween last year when I thought, "sure, I should send out Halloween cards. Doesn't everybody?"  You can check the Cards page on my blog to see some of the fun creations.

I don't want go get ahead of myself and post too much on the first try.  Check back soon for more posts from the Pacific Northwest!