Slight Detour: Celebrations, Gabbing and Such

Chris and Marianne at Trinity Restaurant.

---Justin Dick Photo

How to start this day. Hmmm!

Well, maybe a Happy Birthday to one of my dearest friends.

Chris Moon is one of us now.

She turned 70 today.

Yesterday, we spent some quality time ushering out her 60s by enjoying lunch complete with dessert and stunning sunshine at Trinity Restaurant.

The pecan chicken salad was delightful, as always, as was the dessert.

And, of course, the company was great--relaxing, no effort in conversation and just some great moments of catching up on the slices of life of late.

When I say "no effort in conversation," that's the usual with Chris. We spent a lot of time in our Forest Service "rigs" back in the early '70s, and we were seldom at a loss for words.

After those days and maybe a spread of two or three years in between visits, we knew it was important to be in a "rig," to do our catching up.

So, we planned day-long road trips----one even to Banff and Lake Louise and back (yes, one day). And, when the day had ended, we could have gone on for more visiting.

By our usual standards, yesterday was drastically abbreviated, but it was still quality time and wonderful.

Chris is celebrating her 70th in a big way: her SHS Class of 1967 is getting together this weekend to celebrate everyone's 70th.

Should be fun.

Now, let's move on to a couple of other events yesterday. To say I succeeded in some tight scheduling after lunch with Chris would be an understatement.

It was a "take Terra to the Tibbs arena day" and a good hot afternoon for bathing Kiwi for a doctor's appointment.

Kiwi and Liam get into somewhat playful but fight-like scuffles over "the ball," but sometimes it gets extreme.

Apparently, that happened one morning out in the garage, and Kiwi (who will not back down) suffered a bite to the side of her face.

We stopped the blood and cleaned it up and figured it would heal on its own. Unfortunately, that didn't happen with home doctoring, so we planned that she would go to the vets today.

Well, after her bath and after noticing her limping, I thought maybe a dewclaw was poking her leg. So, I got the doggie nippers and apparently cut a bit too close to the quick.

More blood.

"What am I doing to this poor dog?" I said out loud while applying pressure to the dew claw. It finally stopped bleeding. Then, I called the vet hospital and asked if they could see Kiwi on Friday.

No, it would be too busy, I was told. Can you bring her over now. So, a wet dog went to the doctor.

I cannot say enough about the care given at Center Valley Vets. Dr. Kellner has spent the most time with Kiwi in the past year or so, especially helping her through her first episode of doggie vertigo.

Twas the same yesterday, as she observed, poked, felt, etc. to see what might be causing the limp and attending to the face wound. I so appreciate the time and thorough care given to our beloved by this dedicated veterinarian.

I brought Kiwi home and had about 15 minutes to bring horses up from the pasture, feed dogs and cat and administer medicine.

By golly, it got done, and soon Terra, her mom and I were off for the Tibbses, where Terra and Lefty worked hard in the arena and at the trail class gate as women gabbed away. Debbie joined Barbara, Laurie, Tricia and me, and Terra kept focus and worked on.

It was a fun night AND after dark when we unloaded Lefty.

Meanwhile off in Scotland . . . . check below.

Terra, Debbie and I did a selfie last night to give Annie a smile over in England.

After all, Annie had a bit of an unsettling day yesterday as she flew from Santiago to Madrid and then on to Manchester, England.

Her backpack with all her belongings failed to make the entire trip, leaving her with no possessions other than what was on her body.

It was especially unsettling because that backpack also housed her Camino stamps and certification, and a special reminder of a very special dog named Kea.

The Kea reminder has gone with her every step of the way on all three of her Caminos.

Good news this morning. The backpack was supposed to catch up with her today.

In the meantime, her story for today starts out with:

Four Germans, three Americans and a guy from Belgium get into a van at 4 a.m. to drive ~10 hours round trip to Scotland in a day. Must be geocaching.

Well, they did it--in the rain---finding Scotland's oldest geocache.

So, now it's back to Manchester for a weekend geocaching event and eventually back home to Seattle on Monday, hopefully with her backpack.

And, back here at the Lovestead, the sound of bawling calves and chirping squirrels is being drowned out, literally.

A nice, steady rain is falling, and our fields and the earth, in general can use it. Plus, with it comes a feeling of calm.

After a busy day like yesterday's, I'm ready for some quiet time.

Happy Friday.