Sadie Lady

I've had Sadie for twelve weeks now! Time flies!

She's still a lot of work, but we've settled into a routine and I don't feel so stressed all the time anymore. She hasn't had an accident in the house in a really long time. And she lets me sleep through the night! She starts her loud dinosaur yawns before 7am, but will usually quiet down a little more after that. She's getting much better at walking, and is a great little hiking buddy. And she's been an excellent dog out in public so far! That's what I wanted: a dog to take on walks and hikes that would also hang with me at wineries or on the Downtown Mall. So far so good!

We've been working on obedience training at home from the get-go, but are also starting a puppy obedience class in a couple of weeks. And she attends doggy daycare once a week for fun socializing (and to give me a little break).

Now for pictures!

Cruising the Downtown Mall

Chilling on the deck

Checking out Sugar Hollow Reservoir

Dipping our toes

Sitting pretty at King Family Vineyards

Quenching thirst on the go

Off leash at the tennis court!

Best buds

Checking out Secluded Farm by Monticello

Fourth of July hike at Walnut Creek

Ready to accept her award for Cutest Pup!

So much has happened.

Time for some long due updates!

After spending the past several months working hard to meet draft deadlines for my dissertation, that whole thing is finally over. It's strange. I wrote a lot. I edited a lot. I worked hard. I looked forward to being done so badly. And now I am. After my advisor okayed my third draft I sent it to my two other readers. Made a few more edits based on their comments. And on April 22 I sat here at my dining table and defended my dissertation via video conferencing. I was so nervous. Not because I didn't think I would pass, but because I wanted to do a good job and appear competent. Which I guess I did, because sure enough, they said I can be a doctor. It's a huge relief to be done, but also strange how it ended so nonchalantly. No driving to Fairfax to defend. No shaking hands. No ceremony. No party. I wasn't planning to attend the graduation ceremony, but I did want to have a party with friends and family to celebrate. It took ten school years to get my PhD. That's a long time.

Anyway, that brings us to Covid-19. I've been working from home, finally using my office upstairs! I also started using my living room more because in April I did yoga every day. It was a great way to get through the end of dissertation and defense preparation days. And I started to take long walks and discovered new parts of the neighborhood. All those walks made me sad I didn't have a dog to walk though.

And that brings us to my next big update. I got a dog! A puppy, to be exact. I've been obsessing over adopting a dog for a long while now but knew I needed to wait until I finished grad school. And sure enough, a mere three days after my defense, I brought home a 10-week-old puppy from the SPCA. I never had a puppy in mind before, but since I'm home all the time now a puppy was actually a possibility. And I guess after my dissertation I needed a new project? I must say, getting a puppy sure didn't give me a break!

Anyway, her name is Sadie, and over three weeks in I can say she's settling in great and doing well with training. My walks have been cut drastically short (and slow), but some day she'll be a great walking (and hopefully hiking) buddy. It'll be fun to watch her grow.

Meeting her at the shelter!

Our first "walk"

Still thankful for Thanksgiving

I am aware that many moons have passed without a post. (Let's blame my dissertation.) But I still want to remember my 2019 Thanksgiving, so here's a quick recap several months late, mostly in pictures.

I went to Santa Fe! We hiked Tent Rocks and did touristy stuff downtown. 

Lookin' at rocks.

Loretto Chapel

Hot chocolate!

 (Not pictured: visiting the cathedral and several art galleries, mariachi music with our dinner at Tomasita's, visiting a couple of museums on Museum Hill, and walking to the cross of the martyrs at sunset.)

We also visited my brother and sister-in-law in northern New Mexico on the ranch where they live and work. It was very pretty, but I was disappointed we didn't see any bison.

Green chile burritos and guacamole!

 

Old charcoal kilns.

It was very cold.

Mom made lots of great food for Thanksgiving and we had family over to visit. We did not, however, run the turkey trot 5k because it snowed!

 And we saw the "lighting of the Plaza" to help kick-start the Christmas season.