Exhausted

Good exhaustion: Getting back to the real world after a good visit with family.

Bad exhaustion: Tired from the constant go! Go! GO! from a good visit coupled with a (possibly rainy) weekend with a puppy who can’t go outside for a walk and who hates the rain.

That’s where I’m at right now.  I had a great visit with my parents.

We started out with a trip to North Shore to see some of the awesome waves that everyone has been talking about.  But we must have missed the time of year when they’re really big.  They were still breaking really close to shore and it looked pretty dangerous, but they weren’t as huge as I think they get.

We stopped at a beach that’s supposed to be known for turtles just chilling in the sand and in the water, but they weren’t out when we stopped.  Instead we saw a pit bull roll around in the sand and watch his frustrated owner wash him off in the ocean only to have him roll around in the sand once he got out.

After that we headed over to the shopping center in Haleiwa and enjoyed shaved ice.  Instead of taking pictures of the shaved ice we took pictures of this:

While we were in Haleiwa we got the news that our friends in D.C. had just gotten engaged.  I won’t lie: I squealed a bit when Brette told me.  I love when a couple gets engaged and it’s pure excitement because you know it’s right.  I think I smiled as much as I did for them as I did when Wes and I got engaged.

After the shaved ice we headed to the Dole Plantation.

We didn’t make it to the maze, but we did try the pineapple sorbet, feed the koi, and take pictures of all sorts of pineapple.

And just when we thought that we would be able to head back home we decided that we needed to see the Pali Overlook.

And that was only the first full day.  The rest of the trip was just as full, just as fun, and just as exhausting.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take an already-sleeping puppy out to pee then put her in the kennel while I shower.  And then probably take her out again and get all muddy when she steps on me because did I mention that she hates the rain?

It Runs in the Family

Remember that time I forgot to buy my ticket to Portland?  And then when I forgot to get on the flight when I actually bought said ticket?  Well, apparently it runs in the family.

Our first house guests, my parents, were scheduled to arrive yesterday.  After realizing that they weren’t going to spend a fortune on our wedding they decided they wanted to be the first to visit us.  They found a great deal on tickets to the island.  The only problem was that they were out of Portland and my parents live in Boise.  So they scheduled another flight from BOI to PDX on another airline.  There was some question about whether or not they should fly out the night before to make sure that they got there in time, but they decided not to.  The flight out of Boise was the first one in the morning and the airline is usually on time.

So I think that we can see where this is going.  The usually-on-time airline wasn’t on time.  They were on the runway when they weren’t sent back to the gate for mechanical problems.  They didn’t leave for over an hour.  By the time they got to the gate in Portland they had missed their Hawaii flight by a mere 15 minutes.  Luckily Wes’ family lives in the Portland area so they had a place to crash instead spending 24 hours in the airport.

The caught the flight the next day with no problems and arrived safely in Honolulu 24 hours later than planned.  And we’ve been enjoying their trip ever since.  Pictures coming in the future of all our adventures.

If She Could Talk

I started my new part-time job on Monday and the only thing worse than not being able to take a nap at 10 o’clock was what was going on at home: Tsunami pooping and peeing in her kennel and barking pretty much all day long.  Lucky for me that I work in Honolulu and Wes works 15 minutes away from home.  So when our neighbor wasn’t bathing Ms. Urine McPeesalot, Wes was.  In two days Tsunami had 6 baths and even though she hated being covered in her own waste, she hated being in the kennel more.

Well, that’s not entirely true.  She doesn’t hate her kennel.  She enjoys it.  She goes in there willingly at night and when we brought it downstairs yesterday morning she jumped right in.  So it’s not a fear of being in there.  It’s a fear of being left alone.  Being in the kennel during the day means that Wes and I are gone and who knows if we’re ever coming back.  Since I’m only working two days a week I am spending the rest of the week and weekend training her to love the crate – when we’re here and when she’s alone.  Which means that she is going to be spending a lot of time in the crate getting desensitized.  Yesterday was a little rough for her, but she worked through it and this morning she’s been great.

If she was human I would picture her as a little girl who just got sent to her room and is trying to talk her way out of it.  She understands that being in the kennel isn’t a bad thing, but she also wants to come out and play.  “Look, I get it,” she’d say.  “I understand why I have to be in here Monday and Tuesday so let’s just forget that you’ve been keeping me in here for four days.  I promise to be good when you leave, but right now let’s just play.”  And obviously I can’t have that because, really, you should never trust a puppy.  They lie all the time.  So I’m not falling for this one at all.   Which means I’m spending a lot more time out of the house to get her used to being alone and she’s doing fine.  I, on the other hand, feel pretty awful for having to do this.  I just have to keep remembering that Monday and Tuesday weren’t fun for anyone, especially Tsunami, and this will help to make all future outings a little easier.

This crate training has also gotten me back to running.  Slowly, and for short distances, but it’s a start.  Instead of going straight to the treadmill I decided that there’s no time like the present to train myself on running outside.  If Tsunami can learn to enjoy her crate, I can learn to enjoy running in Hawaiian weather.  Once Tsunami gets her final shot and heals from her surgery (yes, we are cutting her lady bits out as soon as we can) I’ll start taking her running and that means I need to be able to run or risk getting dragged on the street behind a puppy who has basically never been outside.  One time that actually happened to me.  I was much younger and the dog was much bigger and the whole experience is not something I’d like to repeat.  Which is why I will never walk Tsunami in dress shoes.

Scared

The things on my Life List that scare me the most have to do with writing.  It terrifies me to think that if I try for something I’ll fail.  I don’t take failure well and being a writer (in any capacity) has always been this dream of mine.  If I never do anything with it I will still have that dream.  I can always believe that I could have made it.  But if I try and fail then what?

All this is to say that Sheila has a friend who is in charge of her school’s architecture publication and is accepting submissions and she asked if I was interested.  Of course I’m interested, but I’m also scared to death.  But that’s part of what this Life List is about, isn’t it?  About trying to accomplish things that might seem impossible.  About facing things that scare me and realizing that the worst that can happen isn’t so bad.  If I never make a living at writing my life will still go on and I will still be fulfilled in other ways.

The worst that can happen is that my piece doesn’t get picked for publication and I can’t cross that particular item off the list.  I have to be okay with that.

It’s All A Learning Experience

The next few weeks are going to fly by.  At least, that’s how I hope that it will go since I’m dying to get out of the house and take Tsunami out for a walk.  I’m ready to explore the island and get back to living a life that doesn’t revolve around whether or not we need to get home to take the puppy out to the bathroom so that she doesn’t poop under the table (not that she’s ever done that) (oh, wait, yeah she did.  today).  It will be nice to tire her with a walk or a run or a visit to the dog park rather than throwing her wubba kong down the hallway or letting her run laps around the kitchen and living room, and then gluing our eyes to her to make sure that she gets outside to pee before an accident happens.

But these next few weeks are full of visitors that I’m hoping will make the days fly by until Tsunami can actually go outside.  This weekend we take her to the vet for her pen-ultimate shot.  Which means another ride in the car and hopefully getting her used to being back there and not freaking the fuck out.  The following weekend my friend Sheila will (hopefully) be here with her sister and niece, who live on the Big Island.  The Wednesday after that my parents come for a week and then Wes is gone for a weekend and then her last shot and we can finally (FINALLY!!!!) take her outside.

My mantra these days is, “She’s just a puppy” and I have to repeat it many times throughout the day.   She’s just a puppy and while she’s adorable, she’s also a terror.  But that’s what puppies are.  I definitely wasn’t prepared for all the ways that puppies are awful, and I paid for that the first two weeks.  Now that we’re a month into I’m more prepared for her bouts of misbehavior and it doesn’t ruin my day.  Instead I look at everything as a learning opportunity.  I’m just hoping she understands that’s what it is, too.

Trapped

Wes has been working in the yard. Which means Tsunami has barely moves from this position all day. Only 5 more weeks until she can enjoy the great outdoors.