Oh my...

I don't earn a TON of money, but enough to pay the bills and put a little aside each year for three trips: (1) some adventure with Jerry, either camping in the PNW or traveling in a foreign land; (2) an annual sojourn to Seattle to see the latest production from Jake's group, Handwritten Productions. I travel to Seattle a lot, and can usually do it for less than $250, but the trip to see a Handwritten play includes (shhh... this is a secret) sneaking the bill away from the young people and paying for the Opening Night Festivities. This usually happens at a great pizza joint, with plenty of libations and a long night of youthful energy. This requires saving... and (3) a trip to Ashland with Jake and Sara to catch some Shakespeare or other great play. This last has not actually been an annual trip, because we have to juggle three busy schedules to do it, but I save for it every year, just in case.

I did not save enough this year. Because my transmission blew up just outside Roseburg on Sunday on our way down. We were going to catch a Sunday play (either Tempest or Two Gentlemen) and then spend Monday enjoying the town and catching up with Jeremy Thompson (one of Jake's friends, also essentially Ashland Royalty), and Wrinkle in Time on Tuesday.

A wasted day in Roseburg, finally got a rental car and headed to Ashland mid-day on Monday. And then the trickle of bad news to worse news as the wonderful Carol of C & S Transmissions, Roseburg called and texted to update me.

A thingy that houses ball bearings failed. The ball bearings turned themselves into tiny ball-bearing-bullets and shrapnelled throughout the transmission, damaging pretty much everything. Carol's Parts Team spent several days finding all the little bits and pieces for my 12 year old Tundra, and are shipping them down today. Then Carol will rebuild my transmission.

She checked with the Toyota dealership on buying an already assembled re-build. Toyota's cost is $1000 more than her cost. F*ck Toyota. So, sometime next week (hopefully), I will be able to return to Roseburg and check Big Bertha out of the Auto Hospital, with her newly transplanted transmission purring like a Maine Coon cat.

That gives me a week to juggle my budget around and figure out how to pay for this...

But, since money is a renewable resource, I'm confident I'll find enough spare change in the seat cushions to reclaim my truck. And I really love that truck.

One down. Three more to go...

I am done with my first year of law school!! Since I am on the part-time plan, I have three more to go. Most of my colleagues have only two years left. Except the poor misguided souls who have opted to also get an MBA while pursuing a JD.  They also have three more years. But, who needs all those letters after their name, anyway?  

Oh, wait. Pot.. meet the kettle. Kettle... Pot. 

Anyway, this has been without a doubt the busiest, most engaging, most stimulating most exhausting year of my life! 

Give me more of that, please! Well, maybe I don't have to be QUITE so busy... 

Grades come out in the middle of June. I am not going to think about that. I have already earned what I earned, worrying won't change it. And there is too much other stuff to do, now that finals are over. The biggest things on my plate now are a Planning Meeting in Juneau Thursday and Friday where we will set the scope and sequence of our work with the Alaska Alternate Assessment. And ANY DAY NOW, we will hear from OHSU that we have been granted Human Subjects Approval for our autism research. 

Those two big "To Do's" are added to the normal farm clean up and management, puppy training, dog shows, a little travel for fun, and continued work to ready the "Big House" for rent. 

Summer will be spectacular!

And hello, fuzz-face...

This little guy is 4 months old. Yes, you read that right...  
4 months. But still a lap dog, apparently. Trying to crawl into Sara's lap.

Lisa and I started the process to find a little studly dog in December, and when this guy came available, we got busy! He's from near Dublin, Ireland.

He came with the name "Jackson" which didn't feel very special at all. And since Jake and Sara and I are all Tolkien Nerds... well, what do you call a HUGE beastie with a heart of gold? 

Yes, that's right. 

Meet Beorn.

Goodbye, furry friend...

... Maggie Rose is pictured here on her first day at Cooper Hollow Farms in May 2007 (at about 11 weeks old). Not quite six years later, and Maggie Rose is gone. Cancer. She'd been off her feed since late November, but every time I got close to calling for a vet appointment, she'd start eating well again. She lost weight, maybe 10 or 15 pounds. Then suddenly, in the last week, she lost a lot of weight. 

Now I know why. 

I fell in love with Irish Wolfhounds when I was 18 and went to a dog show (my first) with a friend, Holly. Holly had an Akita, and I ended up with two Akitas in my 20s. I will be owned by Akitas again. 

But, at this show, I watched a gimongous male Irish Wolfhound being shown by an 8 year old girl. At one point, the girl tripped and dropped the lead. The dog continued on his path around the show ring. When he realized that he had lost his girl he slowed down and looked over his shoulder. When she had picked up the lead and was by his side, he nodded (!) and continued on the circle. 

I met several other Irish Wolfhounds over the years, always searching them out when I was at a show with my Akitas or later with the Jack Russells. 

Then Dave and I met for dinner in December 2007 (I thought we were working on our "homework" from counseling, in an effort to not be divorced). And he told me he had contracted with a divorce attorney and I should, too. I will admit that my first thought was: What? What about our homework? You were supposed to tell me what you appreciated about me!! Then my second thought can't be repeated in polite company. But my third thought was NOT who will I hire for a divorce attorney. My third thought was: Good! NOW I can get an Irish Wolfhound!

I liked the look of Lisa Blanchard's dogs from Washington. When she had a litter in March, I visited. Once to the puppy home in eastern Oregon, and twice to her farm in Washington. And chose Maggie Rose. When Sara and I went up to collect Maggie Rose in May, Sara liked the looks of another puppy too. And Lisa kindly (and against her long-standing tradition), allowed us to take two puppies. So Maggie Rose and Miss Molly came home with us. 

Thirty years after I first saw an Irish Wolfhound, I finally had... TWO! 

I knew going into this adventure that I would adore these dogs. And that their short life-span (about 8 to 10 years) would mean that I wouldn't have much time with them. But I am a farm girl; Life and Death are just the same thing really. And if one believes that one can only have X number of dogs at a time (a silly thought), then a shorter life span would mean the opportunity to meet more dogs during MY life span. 

But oh wow. Maggie Rose was such an amazing animal. Smart and kind and silly and loving and goofy and ... and wonderful. I miss her. Already. RIP Maggie-doodles. 

To Infinity ... and BEYOND!

Wait, what? How can it possibly be 2014 already? And paradoxically, how can it only be January 1?

Isn't that the way life goes, nowadays? ZOOM a year is gone. FLASH it will be June 1 any second now... and yet the sum of my years seem long and slowly measured. 

The first half of 2014 will see many dreams fulfilled:

(1) Sidney and I will have collected all our COAST data and analyzed it by June 1;

(2) I will have completed building my Tiny Cabin and will have rented out my house to a family by April 1;

(3) I will have completed my first year of law school by April 23;

(4) I will have completed the print-ready draft of my "Greeting Book" (like a hallmark card, but longer, and book-like) by March 31.

What will I do for the second half of 2014? Rest on my laurels... Nah, I'll find something interesting to fill my time and keep me out of trouble!