A stormy summer

This weekend feels like I'm in the eye of a big storm. Not necessarily a bad storm, but one that keep you on your toes. Last couple of weeks have been very busy with work and my free weekend was taken up with a two-day prenatal course. Although interesting and worth while, it was also quite tiring and let's not even start talking about the chairs we were sitting on!
This past weekend was Civic Holiday in Ontario, which means we all had the Monday off. It's become a bit of a tradition that I work that weekend at the PRF. And this year was no difference. Luckily it was pretty quiet without any crazy accidents like washed-out roads or extreme dry spells. The highlight of the weekend was probably the sighting of three river otters in one of the small lakes. Really cool! Unfortunately I did not have a camera so I didn't take any pictures.
I spent the second half of the week at the PRF as well, to host the CIF's Teacher's tour (which included some talks) and the next day a presentation for the sustainable communities with CFB Petawawa.
In the meantime Nolan lived the bachelor life while maintaining a smooth household :)
Luckily I was able to work one day at home in between as well to catch my breath, since I sometimes have a hard time realizing that I can't go the same speed anymore as I used to. I am 30 weeks pregnant now, and for the first time I actually feel pregnant. As in, I can really notice my belly and my decreased stamina. Not that I'm complaining, it's been a pretty smooth ride so far, but I guess it's starting to get real now!

This coming week is going to be just as crazy. I'll be spending a good chunk of the week at the PRF again, while we're hosting the Eastern Research Forest Managers Meeting. Since we're hosting it this year, we are responsible for everything from catering to agenda and speakers. Fun! But also challenging. I only have to present at one site, so it's not too bad. And hopefully I can sneak a nap in during some of the indoor sessions at the hotel so I can keep my energy level up!
But if all goes well, this should be the last busy week that involves travelling, and from then on it will be mostly Ottawa based work. And I'll be off work in less than two months :)

This crazy summer work schedule matches some of the crazy summer weather we've had. Lots of thunderstorms, microbursts, downpours, and even tornados (in other parts of Ontario). The town of Petawawa got hit pretty hard a couple of weeks ago with lots of damage to trees and even houses. The PRF had quite a few trees down as well, but not to the same extent as Petawawa itself. And that was the third storm in just as many weeks. The new normal?

Nolan is doing well. He just finished a Java course (computer course, not the coffee!), and is now back into running. He signed up for a half marathon in September, so the pressure is on!
The animals are also doing really well. Zora is still full of energy but a lot of fun to have around and super playful (especially with Murphy).  The cats are really enjoying the outdoors (the backyard is now completely fenced off so they're safe there), and although we have to put Fertile outside, once she's there she loves it.

So all in all things are going really well. Sometimes it's hard to imagine that things will change a lot in a couple of months, and we're really excited about it, but I also feel that there is more to me than 'just' being pregnant.

Couldn't help but share!

This is just too cute. Zora and her new-found friend!

Long time...

Since I last posted. Almost a month ago. I guess there is just not much to tell these days! Spring is still a long way away (we haven't seen our lawn since December, as it is still covered by several inches of snow). But some birds are coming back, such as the robins and the red-winged blackbirds, so spring can't be too far away. And the fact that the days are so much longer (or so it feels) also makes it a bit easier.

Nolan was fighting a nasty flu bog for a while. We even ended up at the hospital, since they wanted to take chest x-rays to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. Luckily that was not the case, and he seems to finally get over his cough (four weeks later...).

Zora is doing great. Still puppy-hyper, but also very happy and getting better at her obedience classes, although we still have some things to learn. But she'll get there. She is definitely a great addition to the family; even Murphy thinks so! They play together quite a bit and look each other up, so that's a good sign. Fertile is indifferent, but she's old and as long as she can sleep in her bed in the sun, life is good for her (so we're hoping for a bit more sunshine...).

Work is also good but busy. We're getting close to year-end (our fiscal year runs April 1 - March 31), which is always a busy time. But I'm having fun, and that's the main thing. And next week will be a short one. I get Friday and Monday off for Easter, and decided to take Thursday off as well, so a nice long long weekend. Too bad Nolan has to work Monday :)

We went to see Whitehorse last night. A band we saw play at Bluesfest a few years ago and really enjoyed it a lot. They played at the NAC last night, and absolutely rocked. Very much worth it! And a great way to start celebrating being together for six years (today six years ago we met for the first time in person, at the Chapters in Kanata. Who knew we would actually end up in Kanata!).

Besides that, life is pretty much the same. Running has been pushed to the background. With Nolan sick, I walked Zora a lot, and didn't always have the energy to run as well. We finally started again today, so hopefully we can bring it back up again to reasonable distances this summer. And when Zora is old enough, she can join us. Right now we just walk her quite a bit, trying to keep her calm. But we can walk her for an hour, and then she easily runs like an idiot in our backyard for another 30 min. Too much energy!! I guess it keeps us in shape as well.

Happy Easter!

Zora

As some of you know by now, we have a small addition to our little family. Her name is Zora and she's four months old. No, we did not go out and adopt a baby, Zora is a dog!

We started talking seriously about a dog again when we came back from Europe, and we've been regular visitors of the Humane Society lately. Part of it was to make sure that Nolan would also be comfortable with dogs, and of course to see if there was anything that piqued our interest. We'd been checking the website as well. Regularly I might add... And a little puppy showed up about a week and a half ago. But of course, puppies are popular and within a few hours she was listed as 'adoption pending'. Fine, we were not too sure about a puppy anyway. But the next day, she was still there, and available for adoption.  That was Thursday, and by the end of the day, she was 'adoption pending' once again. By then we were sure that someone had picked her and would give her a good home. Well low and behold, by Friday evening she was available again. We'd decided to go to the Humane Society first thing Saturday morning to check her out, but more to reassure ourselves that she was not the puppy for us (we've thought before we thought the right dog, but then saw it in person and it was not 'our' dog. Well, Zora was different. It was pretty much love at first sight (but then, who doesn't love puppies?!?!). She was much smaller than we had anticipated. On the website she was listed as a German Shepherd/ Shiba Inu mix. So we expected a pretty stocky dog type. But she was anything but that. She was small, thin but fairly long legs and skinny. But super cute and friendly! When we met her and spent some time with her, we both fell in love with her. So when Nolan said that maybe we should look into adopting her, who was I to say no?? I really wanted to make sure that he was comfortable with it, since it's a pretty big commitment for both of us, especially a puppy. So we started the adoption process, but decided to pick her up on Monday so we would have time to get the house ready, and not rush into it by picking her up end of day Saturday (we couldn't pick her up on Sunday).

Since she's not house trained we bought a crate to help with the house training, and a pen to give her extra space when we are home, and to give Zora and the cats a chance to get to know each other without direct contact right away.

So far things are going really well. The cats are adapting, especially Murphy is very curious and spends a bit of time every morning and evening checking Zora out in her crate or pen. Fertile is a bit more shy, but she's the type of cat that if a dog is too close, she'll let them know so we're not too worried about her. They both seem very relaxed, and are doing much better than we'd anticipated. It probably helps that Zora is just a puppy (and a small one), so she's not too intimidating. And she doesn't bark or get excited when she sees the cats, so that helps as well.

The house training is going well too. She seems to be picking it up quickly. Nolan and I are taking turns being on 'puppy' duty, which really means working from home, and getting up at night, but she's worth it. And we're both lucky that we can work from home (especially me). My boss is a big dog fan, and most of the people I work with are not in Ottawa anyway, so it's very easy to work from remote locations (i.e. home).

Of course some pictures:

We had a pretty big snow storm yesterday (which was great because now all the holes underneath the fence are covered so she doesn't have to be on the leash in the back yard anymore), and by the end of the day, we had so much snow that Zora pretty much had to swim through it. But it didn't slow her down! She is incredibly fast, and loves to explore the world. My mom said that she might be (part) whippet. It would definitely explain her small paws and physique, as well as her speed and her quiet character (when she's not playing!). It means that she might make a really good running partner! Anyway, we are very happy with her, and think she's a great addition to our family.

 Talking about running... We haven't done much of that lately. It's partly the weather, travelling, busy lives, now a dog, but we're planning on getting back into it soon :)

Everything else is going well, so there is not much else to report on!