Archive for ‘March, 2021’

A perfectly awful week

There is no way to sugar coat it.

It was an awful week.

The “good” news is that Emmett is ok. He looked for Auggie the first 2 mornings, but has not seemed morose or otherwise disturbed.

For Emmett’s sake, I have focused on him and a varied routine to include some new games and new training/teaching. But that helps me as well.

And I also focused on getting my work done. My “boss” told me to take time if needed, but I know he is under some pressure and I wanted to deliver … plus, it helps me to stay in the work routine.

This weekend, things kind of fell apart for me.

That says it all.

And

Yes, well … I’m dealing with some emotional knots, but working on being more like my dear dog!

And enjoying some spring-like sunshine …

Right, then.

***Edit 3/15 7:30 a.m. The source of the quotes: Jean Grainger’s “Last Port of Call: The Queenstown Series”, is a wonderful and uplifting book. Although, it is the start of a series, the book stands on it’s own without a cliffhanger ending, but allowing for the series to continue. The characters are interesting and intelligent. The above quotes are just a few of the gems that were very comforting to me this week. A little about the plot: Queenstown, Ireland, was the final port of call for Titanic in 1912 and the story starts there, but the port was a port of call for many Irish, immigrating to America to escape the unrest and devastating economic conditions of that time.

Auggie: sad news

On Monday afternoon, Auggie was hit and killed near the road.

A neighbor witnessed the driver of a large pickup swerve to intentionally hit Auggie.

She went immediately to see if she could help Auggie, but he was dead. She called another neighbor, who called me and they all waited for me and were with me as I recovered Auggie’s body.

All wanted to camp on the road and wait to “catch” the person. I was certainly ready to do murder, but another part of me knew that I did not want to act as bad as the person who killed Auggie.

Everyone stayed with me for a bit. I had wrapped Auggie in his blanket. There was little visible trauma, which I am grateful for.

I am also grateful that the incident was witnessed and I was called immediately so that I did not go through the looking and finding on my own.

I called my vet, who is only 15 minutes away and they handle transport to a crematory and return of the cremains. As they all know and love Auggie, this gave them a chance to say goodbye. They cried with me when I dropped him off.

When I got home, I let Emmett sniff my hands and the Jeep and a towel that had held Auggie. He looked up at me … I think he knew … He has not seemed down or anything other than his normal loving self … happy to go for walks and play. He has looked on top of the chairs where Auggie would often nap. He typically stays close to me and that has not changed.

So.

I have been up and down the anger spectrum and written murderous, hateful notes and scenes in my head. I think I am past that, recognizing it as a waste of time both for me and my well-being and with the knowledge that a person who would do such a thing has issues that a confrontation would not touch.

At the current moment, as I write this, I am grateful that Auggie did not lie near the road for very long. If the person drove by even fairly soon after, there would be no satisfaction in seeing anything. I think that is the best thing for me and for Auggie’s dignity in death and also for Emmett who I am sure picks up my emotional states.

I did report the incident to the Sherriff’s office Animal Control, so a description of the vehicle is logged.

Now, Emmett and I move forward. We are doing a bit of extra walking and playing, primarily because it helps me when I get feeling bad or disoriented/distracted. I’m working as that concentration is helpful as well as there is a work commitment … and the mortgage, etc. :)

I spend some time looking at photos to help me get to the “remembering Joy”.

Auggie was a special cat: affectionate, playful, beautiful, companionable and I miss him so very much.

***a note about comments. I closed them for this post. It is for me. At this moment, I cannot … I just cannot … I needed to write this post for me but I need to be still in my own space with Emmett for a bit.

Vendee Globe 2020: Finnish finish!

Ari Huusela, the “super happy sailor” … 58 years old, Finnair Airbus 350 captain … finished the 2020 Vendee Globe in 25th place: 118 days and change.

He is the first Finnish skipper and first Nordic skipper to finish the race.

Ari worked for over 20 years to be able to take the start in an IMOCA 60 that he and his wife took out a personal loan to buy … and he sailed the boat un-insured. His primary sponsor, Stark, a Finnish construction company, signed on only 6 months before the start.

From the start, Ari’s objective was to finish the race with his boat (and himself) in good condition.

Objective OBTAINED!!

He routed conservatively and yet … he stayed with the back of the fleet until the doldrums on the home run up the Atlantic, when he got stuck and lost 900 plus nautical miles to Alexia Barrier, who he’d been close to for most of the race.

Still.

It is an amazing story of perseverance, dedication and daring to live one’s dream.

Ari’s story is only 1 of the 33 skippers who took the start and 25 who finished plus 2 who completed their circumnavigation after stopping for repairs, thus “hors course” (out of the race/ranking).

I followed the race, all of the skipper’s videos and blogs, the official broadcasts and videos … from the November 8 start until Ari’s finish on March 4.

For me, it was an incredible journey! I learned so much: geography, the technical elements (some!) of sailing a 60 foot racing machine around the world single handed, around the world wild life and ocean health, how the Vendee Globe Race Direction supports the skippers and monitors the race … it is truly mind boggling how much capability each skipper must have to maintain their boat and themselves.

During the race, I felt like I came to know each skipper via their video posts. I laughed and cried and cheered and prayed for all of them.

It was heartbreaking when each of 8 were forced to abandon for issues that were not able to be fixed at sea … and 5 of them were due to hitting UFO’s (Unidentified Floating Objects). I had no idea that there was so much destructive CRAP floating in the ocean.

But, back to Ari and Friday’s finish. Ari posted videos at least daily and sometimes 2 or 3 times. He was not always “super happy”, but he focused on getting there. His technical/shore team sent him off with an Advent package that had various items to be opened … a sea-faring Advent Calendar. He share them all and they brought joy to him as well as to me and all of his followers.

The race, covered by a VendeeGlobe team of French and English commentators, technical experts, Race Direction … I have no idea how many folks … but what a stellar job of making a remote sailing race, an event described as “Everest of the Seas” … available to all of us who are “at home” all over the World.

I am so very glad that all sailors are safe and home. But, I also feel a bit bereft that my new “friends” are not currently on the water. BUT… they are resting and recuperating and sharing some of that, so all is not lost :)

Meanwhile, I am re-watching the videos in my quest to learn French before 2024 … the next edition of the Vendee Globe … so… au revoir (“goodbye, until we meet again”).

Thank you Ari Huusela for sharing your grand adventure. May your post race go well!

A great article on the IMOCA site about Ari: Huusela: An Exemplary Voyage by a patient mariner

Melting…

March 1 (yesterday) and keeping with the calendar, it was warm, sunny and spring like.

Everything started melting fast, but the air felt wonderful!

For a short reprise of winter … another video short … this is from February 13, 2021.

Our week end

It was a Winter week end after a warm and sloppy week. We enjoyed fresh snow and mild temperatures.

It was mostly gray skies with off and on snow squalls, but still great to get outside!

I thought I was smiling a little when I took this … guess I hit the shutter when I was concentrating too hard on getting us all in the shot … rats!

A new service, that I am VERY excited about …

A local family started a milk and dairy delivery service … not daily like the milkman of yesteryear, but a weekly service. There was an article in the paper a bit ago and at the time, they were not delivering to my area, but I signed up to be notified if/when they were … and YEA … my service starts this Friday.

The box above was dropped off on Saturday. It is a “front porch” box, but with the state of my driveway, I contacted them and mine will be an “end of the driveway” box until the snow melts! (***they text on delivery so Emmett and I can trot out and collect our stuff when it arrives!)

AND!!! … in addition to dairy products from Kalispell Kreamery, there are other items available: eggs, bacon, ham, beef, honey, coffee, hot sauces … these are all local made/grown products. The beef and pork are from local farms that are hard for me, as a single person, to buy based on typical quantities required for purchase … not to mention having to drive a distance to those farms. I am thrilled that this is available and FWIW, the prices and delivery fee are VERY reasonable.

Although, they started the business shortly before COVID-19, their timing was great. I hope, hope, hope that the business does well!

Naps after snow play … and lest you think that Emmett is sad that Auggie is in the dog bed…

There are plenty of comfy spaces for a dog to have a nap!

And … I found the gray dog blankets … in the back of the Jeep!! I forgot that I had them. They were the bottom layers of cushioning in the back of the Jeep covering the lumpy stuff that allows a back seat to be installed. So, I swapped what was on the little sofa with the gray and while not “House Beautiful”, we are slightly more color coordinated.

And Emmett is happy, which is the important thing :)

Ok … a movie. Not THE movie. THE movie was longer and I worked on this short bit of clips to troubleshoot my upload issue. Upload issue resolved, but out of time to do the longer movie… so, a few snippets from a walk we took two weeks ago: