Adventures

Today Wood and I decided to brave the 45 degree lunch time weather and eat outside so Jenny could spend some time chasing flys. (she has been our visitor for the past couple of days). Well Jenny sat right of the feet of the lunch eaters and forgot all about flys, BUT Wood and I were rewarded with our first sighting of a Bald EAGLE in Georgia. He/She was flying over the lake hunting I guess. At first I thought it was another vulture, because we have LOTS of those, but then I caught sight of the white head and white tail feathers, ran inside for the binoculars and VOILA! there she/he was! What a beauty! Yesterday we took Jenny for a 2.5 mile hike at the Lake. She was in heaven. At first she went at a fairly reasonable pace because she stopped to sniff every once in a while and wasn't pulling at the leash the WhOLE time. Then we passed too close to a stream and she had to jump in and explore. Then we got within sight of a little inlet of the lake and I think she decided she is a water dog or something. Mind you it was about 45 degrees so we kept her on the leash and didn't let her go hog wild. But I think we're taking her back when it is warmer (with Bry and Kim's permission) so her true water dog nature can come out. On the way back, she was tugging on the leash the whole time. Wore Wood and I out keeping up with her... whew. This morning when we got up and started to come over and up to the office she ran right in the garage and over to Wood's truck- I want more she said hopping up an down. (one more trip this afternoon before she goes home tomorrow). Oh by the way, the ungrateful cur rewarded us for this wonderful adventure by ripping up kleenex out of the guest bathroom while we were away entertaining the cats at Bry and Kim's later that afternoon. I was going to scold her thoroughly with the evidence, but for some reason Wood thought I must have had trouble throwing away one of my kleenex's and he picked it up before I could get to her (why I would shred a kleenex two feet away from the trash- I'll never know, but he is a very proactive picker upper) Anyway Jenny knew she was guilty and I didn't need the evidence to convince her that she was very bad indeed. Saturday night Wood and I went out to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant in downtown Atlanta and then went to see Lord of the Dance. To tell you the truth the Ceasar salad was good, but Wood's spaghetti is better and I thought the dancing was amazing BUT the choreography stunk. The dancers had amazing moves but the way it was put together seemed a little amateurish choreographically.... hmm. Anyway those are our recent adventures. I must say I am jumping up and down with excitement for our upcoming trip to Portland. Can't wait to see everyone.

Hiking at Lake Allatoona

I went hiking a couple of Sundays ago when it was about 40 degrees on the 5.5 mile hike around Allatoona. It was gorgeous, but after about 1.5 hours I was beginning to think the sign that said it was a 4 hour hike, was really telling the truth. Cowabunga was I sore, but did do the hike with lots of rests and enjoying of birds in just under 3 hours. It truly is amazing when you stop just how many varieties of birds there are just flitting from tree to tree. One time when I stopped, I thought a small child was beating on a tree trunk with a stick, but it was a HUGE woodpecker. My head hurt just watching him work for his supper! This weekend Wood and I decided to take the hike again (we are saving the 5.5 miler for the weekends and doing the relatively shorter, 3.5 miler a couple of times during the week). Oh my goodness! There were some minor spring like changes...some of the trees are beginning to bud, but the biggest change was that it was about 80 degrees and let me tell you we both thought we were going to die!! Needless to say we both took Aleve when we got home and have decided to work on the shorter hike until we have that one a little more under our belts. I did feel good though that several other people stopped us going the other direction on the hike, asking desperately how much further it was to get back :-). Made me feel a little less like a wuss. The funny thing is, even though we were hurting and probably fairly dehydrated- this morning when I woke up I felt great and started wishing I could go again right then and there!!! It really is a beautiful hike and in a week or two when all the dogwoods are blooming it is downright gorgeous!