Saturday, March 24, 2012

He's ok!

You know, it's been a rough year here for me.  Home life hasn't been the most wonderful for us because so many "experiences" we didn't want to deal with have come up while I was away.  When you are 2,000 miles away, it's not the easiest to just hop in a car and get there in a few hours, much less get on a plane immediately and be there in 8.  For me, it's at least a full day and about $1500!

When making the decision to come up here alone, I looked at the state of everyone at home.  Everyone included our "fur kids" too.  I didn't expect to have my husband have to put one of our dogs down in November without me there.  I knew that he was old, but honestly, I didn't expect him to get so bad before the school year was up.

When we took Ryan (pictured here) in for a teeth cleaning, we sure didn't expect him to come back with really high liver enzyme levels either.  We knew he had a mass on his leg they were going to look at and some skin tags on his elbow to remove, but the super high enzyme levels, that cancer word tossed out as a possibility.  (We know what that can mean)  This here I'm sure caused lots of worry for my husband as, well he might not admit it, but this is his FAVORITE "fur kid."  Again, when you are 2,000 miles away, an expensive plane ride, and at least 24 hours from being home, there's not a lot of comfort that can be given in a Skype hug.

Crying together doesn't help.  Words can only go so far.  I'm not sure we were prepared to deal with so many "big events" this year.

The good news though, is with the treatments, the teeth finally being cleaned and the tumor removal (which was not cancerous!), we can rest easy for awhile and enjoy Ryan and his faithful personality.  Eric and I have rescued him twice.  Once from Hopes Haven, where they had him so he would be away from the abusive situation he was in and now from some medical situations.  He in turn has rescued us many times over.  Each time he "talks back" and puts a smile on my husband's face, snuggles in close for a hug, or just protects by being close.  We know he loves us for who we are and I know he's saved my husband from being so lonely while I am gone.  

We love our Ry-Ry  :)

Friday, March 23, 2012

Ice Fishing

Smelt or smolt?  Which one did you get?  One you put back in, one you keep.  I wish I could show you pictures but the truth of the matter is, we didn't catch a darn thing!  

I could make up a beautiful story for you and talk about how they jumped out of the hole right into our bucket, but that would be a lie.  I could also tell you that we dipped our little hooks in and they hit them right away, that also would be a lie. 
What I can tell you is that I had another wonderful experience and learned how to do something I never thought I would get to do.  Ice fishing is something that was done to survive.  Now, many items can be bought from a store, shipped in and it's not a requirement to ice fish anymore just to survive.  I enjoyed getting the opportunity to see how it is done and experiencing the thrill of stepping out onto the frozen river, standing around hoping something would hit and relishing in the warmth of the jacket as the wind whipped by.  

Learning how important it is to scoop the hole so that the ice doesn't freeze over, watching the ice build up on the line as you wiggle it to entice the fish and standing there in the wind and realizing why people do build the little shacks on the ice when they are out there for days were all great experiences. BUT DANG, it was COLD!  BRRRR!
You might ask, "why make a hole in the ice in the middle of the river and then stand right next to it?"  Well to catch fish of course, silly.  That and because they have been doing it for years and I don't need to ask questions as to why it works, it just does.  Not enough of a hole to make the pressure crack the ice around it where you stand, but just enough to access the water below.  The mind tries to play tricks on you, well maybe just me, but as I stand around the hole, I swear I slid closer to it, the ice melting under my feet and edging me closer each moment.  I know it wasn't happening but the fear of a leg "post-holeing" into the freezing cold water was one that kept creeping into my mind.

To say the least, we had fun, got some good pictures and enjoyed the view of the mountains and the company we kept.  The only part that wasn't so great, my fingers got a tad bit cold.  Frost "nip" they call it when I took off the gloves to take some pictures of the mountains.  It was VERY cold!



These Mtns. caused frost nipped fingers.  BRRRRR

City Dock with the Mtns. in the background

Holding the fingers trying to keep them from hurting so much!