Coddiwomple

(v.) to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague desination.

It’s been well over six months since my last post. This site was intended to be the anchor for me to continue my web development lessons, but alas, life found a way to distract me, and, once again, I’ll slowly attempt to carve out a sliver of time from each day to “journal”.

2018 Turned out to be a year of loss. Tiago and I said goodby to two of our fur-children, Pickles, our black Pug, and Little Miss, our black Brussels Griffon. Pickles we got from a friend of my cousin, and Little Miss I got back in July of ’09, about four months before I met my future husband. I also lost my Aunt, albeit she passed on New Year’s day, she’d suffered a heart attack (or stroke) on Christmas day. I wasn’t close to her, we had a falling out back in ’91 and I had only seen her once in the course of the last 28 years, but I have fond memories from my childhood when I used to stay at her place when I went to St. Mary’s Indian Mission outside of Omak back in ’76 and ’77. She had a lot of anger in this life and I hope she finds peace in the next.

I’ll attempt to be more prolific in posting; I need to dedicate more time to my web ed and keeping a WordPress page seems to be one of the best avenues with which to hone one’s skills. Hopefully, 2019 was be a banquet year for self rumination. 😉

Monday, July 2, 2018

The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention – John Burroughs

REBOOT

You know when you don’t have a Pug around anymore. There’s a quiet unease from the absence of their labored breathing, their snorts, their sneezes, their farts, and the clacking sound their claws make from their peculiar gait. Something had to be done.

Along came a breeder in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho, who just so happened to have a litter of Pug puppies ready for their new homes and one of their Pugs was a black female.

I told Tiago that I was taking my mom to Spokane for a doctor’s appointment, but instead dad and I drove the 4 hours to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to pick up the newest addition to our family.

I was a little worried about how Tiago would react; he was adamant that we wait a couple of years before getting another Pug. I disagreed and felt that we needed a little Pug ASAP. Not in the hopes of replacing what we had with Ms. Pickles, but because we’ve been a Pug family and we needed to remain a Pug family. In order to do that, one needs to have a Pug. Common sense to me. Thank God, it wasn’t too hard of a sell for my spouse.

Now’s the slow process of adapting to life with a puppy. We just got done with Django’s first year and that was challenging, especially for our shoes! This little girl’s not going to be any exception; she has razor sharp teeth and knows how to use them. She’s got a great personality and seems to have fit in with our “pack” seamlessly.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

SAYING GOODBYE

Last Wednesday, June 20, 2018, our little Pug, Ms. Pickles, had to be put down due to complications from a routine teeth cleaning. This came as a complete shock to both myself and Tiago and we’re learning to navigate our way without our little girl.

Even though we still have four dogs, there are dogs and then their are “dogs”. Pickles was in the latter category. She was a force unto herself and when she came into our lives back on December 10, 2010, we had no idea what we were getting into.

Tiago and I moved from Seattle to the Methow Valley on Halloween day 2010. We moved into a house in Carlton and slowly began to fashion a life for ourselves. My cousin, Marie, told us about a Pug that needed a good home. Apparently, this Pug was a real terror; she was an alpha and couldn’t get along with other dogs and the owner couldn’t keep her. We said we’d take her and drove over to Omak to meet the guy that had her.

This is the first picture we took of Ms. Pickles on the ride home after picking her up. She immediately fell asleep on my lap. Tiago and I were a little taken aback by how noisy she was. Pugs are a brachycephalic, short-nosed breed, and often have breathing problems. Pickles had more problems than most since her face was far more “flat” than most Pugs. That first night we couldn’t sleep because of all the noise she made. Gradually, we became unaware of how noisy she was and we settled into life with a Pug – Pug owners will know what we mean.

Pickles was an extremely smart dog. She was also very stubborn as well as demanding. You couldn’t sit down without her demanding to be right next to you, or on you, you had to simply give in and let her do what she wanted.

Ms. Pickles was with us for 7 1/2 years, the entire time we’ve lived in the Methow. She was with us when we moved from Carlton to Edelweiss and lived there for three years and she was with us when we bought our house in Winthrop and moved in the late summer of 2014.

There was a rhythm to our life. Get up, let the dogs out to go potty, go to work, come home and enjoy our time with the menagerie, go to bed, repeat. Our our fur-kids, but especially Pickles, had to be right next to her humans AT ALL TIMES.

Pickles was always a grump getting up in the mornings and often had to be taken out of her kennel to to potty.

Often times, the first thing she would do is drink some water.

Ms. Pickles was a very affectionate dog; she gave us so much love and we loved her in return. I’m thankful that for the years she was in our lives we did our best to give her a good home.

We were fortunate enough to both be there when Ms. Pickles left us, but it was one the hardest days of our lives. Ms. Pickles, wherever you are, thank you for being a part of my life; you brought me so much happiness and joy that I wouldn’t trade anything for and I will always love you. XOXO

Saturday, June 9, 2018

I just learned that someone who was an important part of my life back in the late ’90s died last January. Even though it’s been close to 19 years since I last saw him, he always made me smile and I considered him a friend.

When I first me Stephen Bertrand Kittrell (1956-2018) he lived in a one-bedroom apartment a block off Alki in Seattle. We met at a coffee shop called “My Friends” back in 1995 and became fast friends. What I remember most about Steve was his rapier (and often vicious) wit and humor. When I came to his small apartment for the first time it was decked out in antiques and artwork hinting at a privileged upbringing, which he said he had. Steve said his family had fallen on hard times after the oil crash hit Texas hardest in the ’80s and these were all the possessions he had from his past life. One thing I remember in particular was a large pastel drawing that hung in his dining room/living room; it was a portrait of Marie Antoinette dressed as the goddess Athena…or Diana, I can’t remember. Steve claimed this picture once hung in Versailles.

Steve died in hospice care on January 31, 2018. I Googled his name and what I found was his last years were that of a troubled man. I don’t know what happened to Steve. I don’t know if he hurt those he loved. I knew Steve struggled with addiction back in the ’90s and that was one of the reasons we grew apart.

What I remember most about Steve was his charm, his self-depracting humor, and a marrow-deep sadness he hid well most of the time. We were friends for many years and as I got to know Steve I also was privileged to see his vulnerable side and he was a man that battled a lot of demons and who had endured a lot of grief.

Steve loved the over-the-top love tragedies of operas like La Traviatta and La Bohème and there was a book that he loved to quote ALL the time, so much so, that I can almost recite verbatim one passage in particular over 20 years later:

“It’s a bright, sunny day in Dallas and I’m happy to be wearing my pink Channel suit and matching pill box hat. I pause for a moment to put on my kid skin gloves to protect my hands from the thorns on these beautiful red roses. But we better hurry, we don’t want to be late, we have a date with destiny.”

Steve, my friend, whereever you are, thank you for your friendship and I hope you and the man you loved are together again and the difficulties you endured in this life have been washed away. You were always the consummate gentleman with me.

2017 – Day 128

Monday, May 8, 2017

My tendency to procrastination is becoming apparent with my half-hearted attempts at maintaining a blog. I seem to vacillate between really wanting to keep an online journal and wanting to binge watch “Big Little Lies”. 😉

I’ve let my studies go to pot over the last month and decided that I need to keep the distractions to a minimum and get at least 3-5 hours of studying in daily. I’ve still got the ambition to complete my B.B.A. before August 1st.

Last Saturday and Sunday were gorgeous in the Methow. Boo and I went bike riding both days. On Saturday we biked a little over 12 miles around Bear Creek Rd. and Pearrygin Lake and Sunday I biked 15 miles to Mazama while Tiago met a friend in Mazama and they biked 20 miles up to Rainy Pass.

2017 – Day 120

Sunday, April 30, 2017

The close of another good weekend. Last Friday was my mom’s 70th birthday and Tiago met me in Brewster to take my mom and dad out to dinner. I had dad called family members and around 14 people showed up to help celebrate mom’s birthday dinner at Los Comparos. My dinner was great, but mom said her vegetarian enchiladas kept her up all night.

Our friend Shane, who used to be a Marshall in Okanogan County, but now works for a Harley Davidson dealership in Renton, has a police dog, Bosco, that’s been at his house in Pateros. Tiago stopped by to pick up Bosco and we’re going to take care of him for a bit.

On Saturday morning we took Bosco down the street to Heckendorn park to let him run around a bit. We decided that he probably needed a good hike so we packed him up in the truck and headed outside Winthrop to climb Lewis Butte.

Today, we relaxed most of the day and then took Bosco to Big Valley and hiked 5.5 miles. Bosco ran around so much that we finally made a dent in his energy level and he finally got a little tired.

Almost bedtime (7:47 PM). I’ll be getting up at 4:00 AM to head back down to Moses Lake. We came back after our hike and watched the last two episodes of “Big Little Lies”. We were hooked from the beginning, but instead of binge-watching, we only watched a couple episodes each weekend. Now Tiago’s gottem me into watching “Naked and Afraid”. I dunno if I’m really getting into it, but it’s fun to watch these butch guys that brag about their “survival” skills tap-out after a couple of days, while the women hang in for the entire 21-day ordeal.

2017 – Day 114

Monday, April 24, 2017

My Monday morning routine is waking up at 4:00 AM, showering, putting on my work clothes, gathering my remaining loose items not already stowed in my Jeep, namely my toiletry bag, computer bag, my cooler with my frozen prepped meals, and my two co-pilots, Little Miss and Buddy, toasting a bagel and be out of the house around 4:30 AM to begin the three-hour drive down to Moses Lake and be to work by 8:00 AM.

Fridays are somewhat similar; I generally gather my dirty laundry at lunch, close up my fifth-wheel and take the dogs with me to work around lunchtime. I’m usually able to get off work around 6:00 PM and then it’s a three-hour drive home to Winthrop.

I don’t mind this situation for the most part. What I dislike most is being away from Tiago and our other two furry-children, but I’m back in school and all I do Monday through Friday is go to the gym, work, study, and sleep – that’s it. No social life down here in Moses Lake whatsoever. And, since I plan on going onto get my MBA in the fall, I expect this to be my normal routine for the next two years.

2017 – Day 78

Sunday, March 19, 2017

What a wonderful weekend. It started with meeting my folks for dinner at Mi Pueblo in Brewster.

Last weekend, Tiago and I were in Seattle for the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb at the Columbia Tower Club, but before coming come Friday night, I stopped at Costco and got 20 boxes of flooring to do our family room and hallway, and yesterday, we pulled up the old carpet, trim and prepped the concrete with a moisture barrier.

Next came the fun part – laying the new flooring.

Is was all fun and games until Tiago got his shoe lace caught in a run.

We stopped around 8:00 PM. I didn’t know I could ache so much!

It only took two days, but we finished everything before 5:00 PM. Now we can relax and enjoy the labor of our work.

2017 – Day 71

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Today’s the big day! Tiago and the other firefighters from OCFD #6 are at the Columbia Tower participating in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Here’s Tiago and Thor at the Columbia Tower.

It’s been a whirlwind weekend. After getting off work last Friday at 6, I drove home through Wenatchee so I could stop and pick up another 20 boxes of flooring so we can replace the carpet in our family room with wood floors. I also found out that an old friend of mine, who I hadn’t seen in a coon age, was going to be in Winthrop on Saturday.

Tiago I up got up early yesteday morning and got all our things put together for the trip (and I got my clothes washed and ironed for the workweek). Our dog sitter (mom and dad) couldn’t get their car out of their driveway because of mud so Tiago scrambled to find someone to watch our fur children. Lucky for us, Kavi was able to come over and house-sit for us while we’re in Seattle.

We meet my friend Ron Ulrich, his squeeze, Andrew, and a couple of his friends that also live in the Methow Valley, at Three Fingered Jacks for breakfast.

We were able to get on the road around 11 and had a very pleasant drive to Seattle and checked into our room at the Silver Cloud next to the stadium.

Happy hour with Thor and Anya at Jimmy’s on First.

Dinner with the group and the Alyessian Fields.

Breakfast before the climb.

I decided to walk down to Starbucks and do a little studying while my Boo is off on his climb.

2017 – Day 31

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

I took a couple of days off from blogging, and I found that, as a result, I stopped studying my HTML course material. No bueno. Even if I just have to come on and jot one or two sentences down, I’m going to do that. 😉

Little Miss was my co-pilot last Sunday on the drive back down to Moses Lake. Buddy was riding in the back; he likes to perch himself on my laundered clothes and stare out the window. Little Miss, however, is content to just sit next to dad. She’ll be 12 this May; hard to believe we’ve been together for almost 8 years. Time flies by.

Saffron Cow. I mentioned in an earlier post about purchasing the domain name of a business I patronized back in the early 2000s. After doing some research I don’t think there’s any business associated with the name anymore and I went ahead and purchased the domain. Now I have to work on a logo and website.