Week 33

 Thanks for sticking with me as I catch up.

Here are the pictures from the week 33:

Day 223- Monday, 8/11/25

 Here we are brushing that coat out.  She hated it at first but then figured out if she behaves she gets rewarded with a few treats.  Now when I say "brush" or pick up the brush to show her she gets excited and is all in. 

Day 224- Tuesday, 8/12/25

Working from home I usually use my lunch break to run to the store or get a couple errands done.  Today I needed to pick up some stuff at the pharmacy and then I worked some more until it was time to quit and play with Bailey,  Looks like I wore her out which worked great because then I could relax and decompress by watching mindless TV during her nap. 

Day 225- Wednesday, 8/13/25

 

Back for work on campus we're in the animal wing a lot this week and have to gown up and gown down when entering or exiting. They keep the rooms warmer for the animals than humans would prefer so it gets quite toasty with the added layers.  Headed back to my cubicle there was a nice surprise waiting for me with a lovely thank note from one of our student's I helped train for a trip to Colombia.  This notebook is from the vet school there she she visited for an immersive experience and I love it especially with all the animals on the cover and the nice colors.  That was super sweet of her to think of me.

Day 226- Thursday, 8/14/25

My laundry room sink has turned into a dog enrichment station and it was getting messy so I sorted it all out and organized it a bit this afternoon.  We'll see how long that lasts.

Day 227- Friday, 8/15/25

Cheers to the weekend and the start of our vacation.  We're headed to Maui on Tuesday and John made me a celebratory drink with a real peach slice added--looks pretty and is very refreshing.  We also started to watch a new series that just dropped called Alien Earth based off the Alien movies we have watched through the years.  Off to a good start and true to form so far.

Day 228- Saturday, 8/16/25

It's that time again--football season is starting which means I'll become a football widow.  Thank goodness I have another room I can retreat to with my computer where I can watch my own stuff.  He may be a fan of football but I'm not really especially when it's on so many nights every week for months.  Rusty and I will just enjoy more cuddle time in the office on game days.  Bailey likes football so she can stay with him.

 

Day 229- Sunday, 8/17/25

 

Yay! A surprise outing with Bailey's dog pack which is exactly what she needs before our trip and since she missed the last few classes due to my travels and excessive heat.  This was a fun one in Winters on a trail along the creek.  I wish I could have let her play in the water like the other pups but the creek is known to have Giardia which causes diarrhea and spreads easily to other animals. It's a low risk as long as she doesn't drink the water but I can't take that with her since we are boarding her starting tomorrow.  Maybe next time when we don't have a trip planned. 

WooHoo! Headed to Maui next so lots of great travel pictures coming up.

Week 32

 

Welcome back! 

Here are the pictures from week 32:

Day 216- Monday, 8/4/25

 Road trip to the lost coast.  Justin decided he wants to move back to the Humboldt area to look for work and be closer to friends.  Very few of the friends he grew up with back at home are still in the area so he's missing that connection and we get that and support his decision especially if that will make him happy and healthy.  He drove his car behind me so he has it to help get around up here, and for the move we had both cars packed with his stuff.  It's quite a drive so we did stop at a few places to stretch our legs here and there.  This Grandfather tree spot is one we always wanted to check out but never did so we seized the opportunity today and it did not disappoint.  What an amazing grand tree that looks like it's been though a lot!

Day 217- Tuesday, 8/5/25

This is his new place with 3 other housemates.  We finished a few last move-in details this morning and then I said my goodbyes and headed out on the long drive back home.  I arrived just in time to take Bailey for her late afternoon walk.  It's way warmer here than in Humboldt.  That sun is harsh and the pup is still in a full on molting mode because of the heat.  It's so weird how it makes the color change but perfectly normal and just more noticeable on darker dogs.

 

Day 218- Wednesday, 8/6/25

 

It's been awhile but I'm finally back to work just in time to check blood smears for Babesia infections on our latest project.  Also now that things have settled down at home I can get back into some of the TV shows and movies that were released over the past few weeks starting with this one.

Day 219- Thursday, 8/7/25

LOL! She takes the fact that this is a "Bark" Box literally and won't stop barking until I let her have something from it.  At least I caught her with a nice looking bark that is not all blurry.  She does have to stop barking at me before she gets anything though as to not reward the barking behavior.  We have to remember who is training who here.  LOL!

Day 220- Friday, 8/8/25

Cheers to Friday and having an empty house again.  Just us and the pets.  Time to put up our feet and relax.  TGIF!

Day 221- Saturday, 8/9/25

This tree bark caught my eye as we started our walk today.  It's a cool pattern and has some good  texture to it as well.  Speaking of texture, Bailey's coat is looking a lot better. now  I've been intentionally brushing her on a regular basis to encourage the looser fur to fall out more evenly and it seems to be working.  Plus it the brushing help lessen the amount of dog hair floating around the house.

Day 222- Sunday, 8/10/25

Rusty is missing Justin.  They were great nap buddies for the past year and now he's got to try and find me at a time when I can allow him to nap on my lap.  Bailey's nap buddy is John and she doesn't like it when he actually has do something besides nap especially if she's not allowed to "help".  At least she can still usually watch though.

I'm getting closer and closer to being caught up--must keep pressing on!

 

Week 31

Hello and greetings from Canada while traveling for work.

Here are the pictures from week 31:

Day 209- Monday, 7/28/25

 Greetings from Victoria, BC, Canada!  I'm here for the Wildlife Disease Association conference and the weather is amazingly perfect. After I arrived and checked into my hotel for a quick refresh, headed out  on my short and scenic walk to the conference center.  There I picked up my badge at registration, found my fellow UC Davis peeps and then boarded a bus to a nearby castle where we had a wonderful picnic dinner on the beautiful grounds which were fun to explore.

Day 210- Tuesday, 7/29/25

I'm starting conference day 2 with coffee and a scone on my room balcony with the most amazing view of the harbor. After as I walked to the center I took a little detour to see more of the harbor discovering this wonderful "Welcome to Victoria" greeting spelled out in flowers.  This is city is full of wonderful flowers and landscaping.  The conference center is pretty cool too and I sat in on many good talks and viewed some great posters.  Later we all had dinner at a local pub with a silent auction.  I was till walking distance to the hotel so it was great to do the walk at night and see how cool the Capitol building and harbor are lit up in the dark.

Day 211- Wednesday, 7/30/25

 

 Day 3 was only a 1/2 day of meetings and then everyone got to pick an excursion to go on.  Most chose the whale watching boat tour but since I had done that before here in Victoria on a trip with John I wanted to try something new which lead me to this SkyWalk.  It was pretty amazing with a nice gentle walk through the woods and an easy ramp up to some amazing views plus a slide down!  The slide was made for all ages so I went for it and it was a blast.  Dinner was on our own tonight so I had room service and ate looking out at my amazing view.

Day 212- Thursday, 7/31/25

 

Today is the last full day of the conference and I woke up to the best sunrise.  It was a busy day with a lot of talks in different rooms so I really had to plan out what I wanted to see and be sure I was in the right place at the right time.  I also had to present our group's poster in an afternoon session which went really well. Later, while walking back to the hotel, I made sure to swing by a cool whale sculpture made of live flowers I saw from the bus to my excursion yesterday so I could grab a photo. Later we had a semi-formal awards dinner to attend so I refreshed and headed back out for cocktail hour and a nice fancy dinner with all my amazing colleagues.  The walk again back to the hotel was so nice at night especially near the water.  One more thing!  Today is Brandon's 21st birthday and so happy we were able to celebrate in person with him and extended family last week.

Day 213- Friday, 8/1/25

The closing ceremony was this morning and now it's time to head back home.  I'm going to miss all the lovely views of the harbor.  I had 2 flight today with a large layover in between so during that downtime I recharged my electronics and grabbed some dinner at a really nice artisan pizza and wine place in the airport.  That was perfect and just what I needed to get me through the next flight and eventual back home. Oh, by the way, happy August!

Day 214- Saturday, 8/2/25

It's great to be home but no rest for the wary.  My parents are finally cleared to fly back home.  John was kind enough to take them this past week to the post-op appointment and my mom is healing well so stitches were removed and flights were booked.  I dropped them at the airport near the crack of dawn and heard that they made it back to Texas without incident later today.  Otherwise at home the pets were very happy to see me and had been well taken care of.  I wish I had more time to chill with them and John but we're packing Justin up so I can help move him back to Humboldt Monday.

Day 215- Sunday, 7/3/25

Thrown into the mix of my crazy scheduled life is another musical with my retired boss.  We had a nice lunch first at Paesano's and then very much enjoyed the show after. It was fun to compare and contrast the two similar shows we saw together.  Now back to packing and loading up my car and Justin's car for our road trip tomorrow.

Moving on to week 32 next.