Project Pooch Paunch – Initial Report

My dogs are fat. They aren’t disgustingly fat, but they’re fat.

Milo and Mina in 2009

Mina and Milo are my brother and sister duo. They’re litter mates but I suspect their hussy, trailer park mother was taken advantage of by at least two separate males. At first I thought Mina was just the runt because she is smaller than Milo, but upon further inspection, one would notice many more differences than just size.

Her ears are flat. Her nose is shorter. Her chest isn’t as full. Her eyes are buggier. I think her daddy was a Chihuahua or Chihuahua mix. Milo apparently looked just like his mother and the other pups in the litter. Or so I was told.

But I digress.

They’re fat. The vet says Milo should way about 27lbs. She also said Mina should weigh about 17lbs. Currently Milo is about 31lbs and Miss Mina is about 20lbs.

I thought it would be interesting to figure out the percentages. Why? Because I’m a dork. Also, I wanted to see how that would relate to a human so I could wrap my brain around how seriously overweight they are.

SO! They should both lose about 14% of their body weight. That’s HUGE. Especially for a little dog. (Are you beat down by the details yet?)

Okay, so the plan is to get these pups into shape. First we’ve made sure that we aren’t feeding them too much. Fortunately we aren’t but we did decide to split their food into two feedings per day. My husband, Mark, feeds them in the morning before work and I feed them in the evening after work. So far this is working very well. We also don’t give them any processed human food. Never have, never will. Occasionally I’ll toss a carrot or banana or pear their way, but never more than a random raw fruit or veggie. We also don’t overly treat them. So the food really isn’t the issue.

The issue is lack of exercise.

So here’s the plan. I need to walk them for at least 30 minutes every day. SHOCK! What a concept. It really is that easy.

We have a great area where I can let them off leash too, so they get mega exercise running instead of pulling on the end of a leash.

2 weeks ago I was doing very well taking them out but these past two weeks I’ve fallen off the wagon. Today it is storming. I kinda don’t want to be struck by lightning.

So weather pending, from this day forth, I shall walk my dogs on a regular basis!

I will post puppy weigh-ins once a month until we’re at goal! LOL.

Now this is where I ask you, why should you care about my dogs and their fat butts? Well, you might, but you certainly shouldn’t. This post isn’t just about my dogs though. It’s about YOUR dogs!

That’s right. Are your dogs fat? Do you need to be better doggy parents and walk them regularly? If so, then I challenge you to do so. Take care of your pups. They depend on us!

I Wish I Had Blog Traffic

How does one get blog traffic?  I see and or hear about these great blogs and they have thousands of followers and those people go on to write books, or get on TV or other neat things. I wish I had something to say that appealed to people.

I don't even get comments. Well, not very many. Maybe I just like my posts way more than anyone else does.

Sometimes I'll put together what I think is a really fantastic post and it just sits here in cyberspace all alone.

I guess if I had something to offer it would be better. But what could be new and different? Something that would really get peoples' attention.

Just about everything I do is average at best. Sometimes I wish I weren't so average.

I need a theme.

Project Noah

While reading about black widows on the Texas Park and Wildlife website yesterday, I saw this beautiful banner ad for a site called Project Noah.




Those big, basic, colorful badges made me want them. So I clicked it. Turns out they're electronic badges, but that is okay. They're still cool.

Anyway, the site is pretty neat. You upload photos of nature you've taken and add information about the organism you've photographed. The site explains it better:

"What is Project Noah? Project Noah is a tool that nature lovers can use to explore and document local wildlife and a common technology platform that research groups can use to harness the power of citizen scientists everywhere."

Can you say nerdy modern day photo journal insect collection? Can you say it 10 times fast?

Despite the fact that I love the idea of this, I'm also feeling warm and fuzzy about the way the site looks. A good website is always something to appreciate.

I have a TON of photos of critters and plants. I plan on uploading, identifying, tagging, and geo-tagging some of my better shots.

Here is one I uploaded earlier.



Mangrove Swallow


Part of the fun is figuring out what you've photographed. That is if you don't already know. Until today, until I chose this photo to research and upload, I didn't know what this beautiful little bird was. Because of this site, it made me want to find out. I suppose that is part of the point. So I did. Neat huh?

You should try it too!

Irises and Waxwings

Our local Botanical garden sells plants to the public in the fall and spring every year. Last fall I bought a grab bag of iris rhizomes and two specially identified irises. I have a small patch in my front lawn of yellow irises and along the side of my house I have black ones that have never bloomed. I’ve concluded they don’t get enough sunlight.

When I returned with my newly purchased grab bag I proceeded to thin my yellow ones and move my black ones, planting in the others I had purchased. Being the plant nerd that I am, I could.not.wait. to see what shapes, colors and sizes would show up this spring.

About 4 days ago I saw the first bud. Today it is in full bloom and GORGEOUS. What a treat to have one of the grab bag irises bloom first!!!

click to enlarge
While I was outside drooling over my wonderful new iris I heard a more than normal amount of rustling in the trees behind me and turned to find a flock of Cedar Waxwings descending on a Cherry Laurel and Holly for their, apparently, wonderfully tasty berries.

What a show these beautiful birds gave me. Swooping from tree to tree, resting, keeping watch, and feasting.

If my Chemistry class hadn’t finished lab and lecture early, I would have missed this. What an incredibly beautiful day!

The Dallas Arboretum Tulip Show

One of my nieces stayed with me over spring break. I only worked 2 days last week so we had plenty of time to do lots of fun things. Last Thursday we decided take in the Tulip show. Neither of us had ever been to the Arboretum and we thought this was a great way to see it first.

It actually turned out better than I anticipated. We were there for 3 hours! I of course took lots of photos. Below are some of the better shots.

Enjoy!

It was wonderful! I highly recommend a visit!

Lent

I wasn’t raised observing Lent. Several years ago a friend of mine suggested our circle of friends should participate. No one in this circle is particularly religious but we decided we felt we needed a bit of a self-check in certain areas so we all agreed.

This year I’m inspired to participate again. I’ve contemplated it over the last several days and I’ve concluded that for me, Lent is a period of time to deny myself something that I’ve overused or taken for granted.

For me this is normally food. This year I’ve decided to straighten myself out in a few areas I feel I’ve let get out of hand.

I don’t drive through much but lately I’ve been doing it more than I want or need. So no fast food. I’ve also been a bit loose on chocolate. So no chocolate.

One last area is a habit I need to break. I’ve trained my body to crave something sweet immediately after something savory. I, for a very long time now, always grab a sweet after I eat lunch and dinner. A cookie, a pudding cup, an ice cream sandwich, a hunk of chocolate. I feel like Pavlov’s dog. Sometimes I even think about what sweet treat I’m going to get before I even eat the meal. Sometimes the meal is just my justification to get to the sweet treat.

This needs to stop. I’ve decided it is doing me no good. It’s about breaking the habit, not denying myself dessert. So after a meal, I will wait at least one hour to maybe have something sweet. As long as it isn’t chocolate. Those little vanilla Jell-O pudding cups are good!

I bet after 5 minutes I won’t even want something. What are you doing for Lent?

Organization

I wonder how many blogs have been written about organizing. I wonder how many of those I've written myself. Well, here's another to add to the list.

Despite the fact that I had this idea come to me in January, it isn't a resolution. Although it very much looks and sounds like one. I decided this was the year to clear out, weed through and organize my entire house. I, like most of the country, have too much stuff. And I, like most people, have categories of crap.

A few of my categories are:

Belly dance costuming
Crafts
Dishes
Toiletries
CD's/Books
Plants
Clothes
Home Improvement Junk

The idea is to focus on an area at a time and deal with it. I so wish everything in my house had a place. That is the goal. An organized place. Not just a drawer in the kitchen full of nuts, bolts, pens, twisty ties, clothes pins, duct tape, etc.

Normally when I take on a project like this, there are charts and plans involved. Time lines, Excel spreadsheets and the like. But somehow I've managed to get a few areas done without planning anything. It's March already. If I had planned this I would have wanted to get at least one area done per month.

Well, I've pretty much done that, without any forethought. It is happening organically! It's pretty great!

I've gone through all of my dance costumes and put everything that can be repaired/altered into one box. The rest is hanging in my closet. I also went through all of my clothes and have a large garbage bag full for donation. This past weekend my husband and I went through all of our bathroom cabinets and threw away a multitude of expired medications/vitamins and unused lotions. I've also cleaned up and moved all of my indoor plants back to the outdoor porch.

That's 4 things! That's progress!

I think I'll tackle magazines/books/cd's/DVD's/VHS tapes next. I've done some of this within the past year so it shouldn't be too big of a job.

Onward and upward to my perfectly organized home!

The Grand Canyon

On October 31st 2009 my dad, brother, sister, a niece and I set out on a journey to Arizona. Our plan was to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and back out again of course. We’d spent months upon months preparing for this trip. Equipment buying, stair climbing, website resource research, book reading, etc. We were ready.

We spent November 1st exploring the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. On the 2nd we went to the Grand Canyon to explore the rim and we also went to Wupatki and Sunset Crater.

On Tuesday the 3rd we began our decent down the South Kaibab Trail. We hiked all the way to Phantom Ranch (the bottom) the first day. It took us ALL day to get there and we were exhausted and sore by the time we made camp. It was worth every single step. I remember thinking, before we began the hike, that our destination would be camp. However, the very first step into the canyon made us all realize that WE HAD ARRIVED!

The next day was spent in the bottom. We hiked a few miles up the North Kaibab Trail which in that part of the canyon runs along one of the river inlets. It was a wonderfully beautiful, sunny day and an easy hike.

Thursday brought our bottom of the canyon camping to a close. We headed up the Bright Angel Trail to Indian Garden for another night of camping. I think we all might agree that this part of our trip was one of the best. Although it isn’t easy hiking, it is absolutely incredible visually. The aspen trees were in fall foliage and BRIGHT yellow! The afternoon sun beaming through the leaves made them look extra bright and wonderful.

That night we discussed whether or not we’d walk out to Plateau Point in the morning to watch the sunrise. It would add another 3 miles to the hike that day and some of us weren’t sure we could handle that on top of the remaining ascent. My dad and brother decided it would be worth it and planned to get up before dawn. My sister, niece and I decided we weren’t sure we could do it.

Friday morning I heard the guys get up and shuffle off in the dark. A bit later I needed to pee so I got up and hiked up to the restrooms. The sky was just starting to lighten and I could see this very pale pink in some wispy clouds. I thought “Oh man… this is going to be an incredible sunrise. I can’t miss this!” Almost frantically I hurried back down to camp and grabbed my tennis shoes and hurried out in the dark to find the trail to the Point.

I wasn’t sure how long the guys had been gone. I wondered if I’d catch them or if I’d make it out to the Point before the sun first hit the top of the canyon walls. I was trying to hurry while looking all around to take in the scenery. It was hard to watch the trail and try not to miss anything at the same time. About halfway out I looked up and the clouds were really beginning to change color. Shortly after that I glanced back up and the change was so incredible it stopped me in my tracks. I gasped in the glory of the beauty and tears filled my eyes. Just the memory of it makes me teary.

I couldn’t have hurried any faster after that. I HAD to get there before the sun! And I made it. When my dad and brother saw me, dad chuckled. I suppose he thought it was pretty great that I couldn’t resist coming out there despite what the day would bring. And let me tell you, pretty great is hardly a good enough description.

It was too beautiful. I still can hardly comprehend what I saw that morning. Sure there are pictures and they do a decent job of reminding me of what I saw that day, but I don’t really need them. I will always remember. It was so powerful it only takes a second of reflection to transport myself back to the edge of the world where the beauty was too great to comprehend. I know I had never seen anything so incredible and I can’t imagine anything ever being more incredible.

After the sunrise we hiked back to camp and prepared for our final ascent. It took us the rest of the day to reach the rim. We got back to the car and drove to a hotel for showers and a real bed. The next day we headed home.

I don’t know about the rest of the crew but I am forever changed from this experience. I really can’t wait to do it again! We’ve got plans to go this fall if our back country pass is approved. However this time, we’re hiking rim to rim. YES!

for more photos, please visit my Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadirah/sets/72157622653946771/

My Weekend: Catagorized!

I went bowling!
I took a half day trip to a small ‘town’ and ate BBQ!
I bought a new car!
I went bird watching!

Okay bowling first. My Uncle and I have a standing date every Friday to bowl. Sometimes things come up and we don’t go, but I’d say it is rapidly becoming a thing. We like it. It’s fun.

After a few games we met up with my Aunt and the 3 of us took a little half day trip out to Natty Flat Smokehouse. It’s this great little BBQ joint out in the middle of nowhere. Next to it sits the Texas Hill Country Furniture & Mercantile. I had a chopped beef sandwich and then bought a few little items for my nieces in the mercantile.

With typical hill country charm, in the parking lot sits “The World’s Largest Cedar Rocking Chair.” There’s even a certificate from Guinness in the smokehouse.

On Saturday I bought a new car. Buying a new car wasn’t in the plan. I didn’t expect to need a new car this weekend. However, on Thursday night, my old car decided it was time. Sure it was fixable, but it was hardly worth it at this point. I’ve been limping it along for a while now and since the current problem required replacing the engine, we decided to let it go. So now I have a shiny new car! And a car payment!

Saturday night, after 4 hours of haggling at the dealership, my husband and I took the new car out to my folks’ house to show it off and stay the night. We played games and watched TV as usual.

On Sunday morning, my father, mother and I went out on the boat to see the migrating water birds. As far as we can remember, there have never been so many birds at the lake!

I suppose the area isn’t usually a stopping place. This year however, it most certainly is. There are gulls, terns, cormorants, coots, and pelicans! We even saw an osprey. The pelicans took the cake though.

What a COOL bird. They’re like pterodactyls! We were in awe.

Horticulture

Since I’m returning to my blog from a very long hiatus I feel like I should make a series of posts to update some items mentioned in previous posts. That is of course assuming someone might read back through them. Or maybe it’s just for my benefit since this is my life journal. Anyway, first I want to update my work and school situation.

Some of my last posts were about quitting my job due to a long commute. The plan was to save some money to take a few months off at the beginning of 2009. By May, I’d start looking for work and hope to land something before July. I wanted something close to home. I wanted something different. I didn’t want to learn a new software program or be responsible for things no one else knows how to do. I wanted something I would like. This is a pretty tall order. However, miraculously it worked out just as I had hoped.

My last day at my previous job was Jan 30th 2009. I sat at home soaking up much needed downtime for 4 months. I landed a job in early May and started June 1st 2009. It is 4.5 miles from my house. It is something completely different. I didn’t have to learn a new software program. It is exactly what I was looking for and I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for.

I take care of plants. I work in the Horticulture department at a nearby hospital. It’s awesome. I love it. I love it so much I’m going to school to earn a Horticulture degree.

This leads me to my school update. In 2005 I went back to school to work on my basics. At the time I thought I wanted a career in the psychology field. Since then I’ve taken several core curriculum classes and figured out that I really love plants. Fortunately all of the classes I’ve taken since high school add up to 1 shy of being done with the basics. At this point I’m in that last core class and also taking my first Horticulture class. I dig it.

I know sometimes people go to school for things that pertain to their work, and that makes perfect sense. In this case, not only does that apply, it is also something I want to learn. If I get fired tomorrow, I’m still going to earn this degree. It isn’t just about the work. My point? I’ve finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up.

Back Again

I've decided to start blogging again. I had a hankering a few weeks ago and then today it just hit me like a ton of bricks. It's time to blog. As you can see from my archives, I've done this off and on for quite some time. When I felt the urge earlier today I almost started a new blog. Then I decided I would rather just continue on here; however I did change the title and URL.

I'm often called The Plant Lady at work, since I water plants and all, so I've officially adopted it as a title. It seems endearing, sort of like Lunch Lady. But I like it better.