Routine

Well, Nicola might have been right, I haven't been blogging too much sorry. It's all been a little hectic, and to be honest, other than the humdrum I haven't had too much to say. I've been back a week and a half and things are, as usual, somewhat hectic at work catching up. Barkley has been here a week now, so we're still working out what our routine might be. Routines are hard things for me to get into, I seem to function in a sense of constant motion, with a million things going on until i'm totally fried, fall over, then pick myself back up and start all over again. I seem to work best that way and get a lot done, and that's okay in a way, but now with Barkley here I need to get back into a daily routine, maybe it's more for her than me, but i'm pretty sure i'll see the benefits too.

Barkley is a special girl who needs a little extra care and attention, she belonged to Jenny and Doug, who with #2 just arrived (welcome Sam!!) already have quite the brood on their hands! She's 11 for a start, so an old girl, and is prone to anxiety in stressful situations. She'd become quite the Houdini in Hawaii, and the same tendencies have started to come out here, so it's time for a routine to hit. The thought behind her move to Maine is that I can bring her to work each day, which so far, she is adoring. As soon as the car pulls into the DMC driveway she pops her head up. As we go down the corridor to my office she veers off and visits her human friends (of which there are many, she already has a good reputation at the center, such animal people here, I love it!) and then we enter my office, she tucks under whichever cubby she's decided is hers for the day with the bone or toy of the day. And there she slumbers until midday, when we walk up the hill to check the mail and say hi to the ladies in the office, then walk back down for another afternoon of slumber.

Just getting outside at midday is already a great thing for me, there have literally been too many days when I haven't been outside all day, let alone got any exercise. Though we have drugs to help Barkley get over the worst of her anxieties, exercise, i'm hoping, will help her a lot. Not to mention help me a lot - I have an Independence Day 10K in a week and literally haven't run since March! So tonight we mapped out a 2 mile route, and tomorrow the "Routine" begins. We'll start each morning with a brisk 2 mile walk or run (tonight she happily jogged with me!) before work, followed by some quiet time in the crate while I shower and get ready for work, breakfast and then head out the door. I'm hoping not only that this will help tire her out, but it'll get her used to her crate again, so those few days when I can't take her (like when I have to go to Orono), she'll be okay and not too anxious at home.

It'll take time, and i'm sure some modifications, but hopefully we'll get there together. A 2 mile a day run is not going to hurt me, that's for sure!

In other news - on the 30th of June my work visa runs out, so i'm stuck here in the US until my green card comes through (who knows) or I break down and trek to Canada to renew my visa. The later i'm not excited about. And I had a big proposal rejected on friday. Which means poo poo to house buying this year and time to start applying for jobs again. I'm really not excited about that. I'm still writing proposals like crazy though, I definitely want to stay, just need a lot more luck than i've been having lately to make that happen. So luck fairy, if you want to show your head, now is the time.....

Better photo....

I unpacked the camera for this one. While I was on the phone she gathered her possessions on her bed and is right now snoring away. She's such a sweet girl, and i'm so happy to have her in my life!

She's here!

Here is Miss Barkley (sorry for the poor quality photos - they're from my phone, need to unpack my camera!). She arrived on Saturday and has just about settled in, i'm loving having her around already.

I'm back!

I'm back! I got back on wednesday and it's been a bit of a blur since I got back. I hope you all were following the work blog, we had some fantastic contributions by our science party, and then I wrote some too....:0) I'll do a good catch up soon I promise, but today is an exciting day. I'm going to pick up Barkley from her flight to Boston, so i've got to scoot. She's been in Oregon for a week and all went well on the flight from Hawaii, so in just a few hours, she'll be an east coaster! I'm excited, best birthday present ever!

Until then the above photo sums up things nicely from the cruise - incredibly hectic, twinged with a fun group and some good humour. Having fun catching up with all your blogs!

R
xx