A new addition?

Yesterday I opened up my email to find these two pictures waiting for me:

My aunt’s black lab had puppies this past weekend and she offered us a puppy!!

When I got back from work, I immediately started talking to CP about the offer. Just a few weeks ago, CP and I discussed getting another dog; the conversation included what breeds would we consider. I had a black lab growing up as a kid and my sister and I ADORED Toby. He was a fantastic family dog.

However, CP and I are really happy with the Bernese Mountain Dog breed. Fuzzy Britches had the right amount of energy for us, she has a great demeanor, she doesn’t bark, and she also doubles as a foot warmer in the winter! :-)

We also don’t think that it is fair to get a puppy when our plans for the future are up the air. What if we move in a few months? We have no idea what kind of place we would be moving into. Fuzzy Britches is kind of used to moving and is old enough that she doesn’t particularly care….a puppy might not take to the move as well. Not to mention that money is still tight and with Christmas coming up, we don’t particularly have the money right now for a puppy.

So sadly enough, I think that CP and I are going to have to decline my aunt’s puppy offer. I may have to drive down to her house to see the puppies before they are given away though…..

Inspiration

About two weeks ago I made a snap decision to run in a Thanksgiving-themed 5K. The race was yesterday and I am really glad that I did it. Not only did I burn some calories by running a hilly course for 3.2 miles, but I supported a local charity in the process.

Little did I know that there would be a “celebrity” also running the race! A couple of years ago I remember sitting down to read one of Rick Reilly’s back-page Sports Illustrated columns. The article about Dick and Rick Hoyt made me tear up because it was just such an amazing story!

Picture from Team Hoyt website

Yesterday, Team Hoyt kicked my butt. Dick ran the 5K in 26 minutes and 30 seconds, averaging an 8 ½ minute mile pace. It was not even close to his best time of 17 minutes and 40 seconds (which is RIDONKULOUS because that means that he was running at a sub-6 mile pace!!), but then again he just had HERNIA surgery this summer….and he is 68! I was fully inspired yesterday after the race. I mean here is this 68 year old man who is pushing his son in a wheelchair up the same hills that I was dragging my fat a** up…..and his pace was a whole 2 minutes faster than me!* Dick has push Rick through marathons, 5Ks, 10Ks, Ironmans and even triathalons!! Amazing.

*My time was 32:54 which I was pretty happy with considering that I didn't run for the entire month of October! It was a 10:36 pace.

Surprised

I had a great time checking people in and serving lunch at the soup kitchen yesterday. All of the other volunteers were really nice, along with the two AmeriCorps employees that help run the program. This particular soup kitchen serves lunch every weekday and recently added dinner three nights a week.

I remember being surprised as a kid when someone would come in dressed in a suit or looking particularly clean. Yesterday no one came in dressed to the nines, but I was surprised to see the janitor from my office building. I hope that he wasn’t embarrassed to have me see him eating there….I can’t imagine that he gets paid very much although he does work really hard.

Seeing him reminded me of the book “Nickel and Dimed.” Have you guys read that book? It’s by a journalist (Barbara Ehrenreich) that decides to go undercover and work minimum wage jobs in different parts of the country to see if people can really survive. It’s a fascinating book and not surprisingly, she finds it very difficult to eek out a living on minimum wage. I would bet that the janitor in my office building gets paid more than minimum wage, but most of the northeast is crazy-expensive to live in. I don’t know if he has a wife or kids, but I truly shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was to see him eat the free lunch.

I look forward to going back next week!

Volunteering

The last post of honeymoon pictures will be up either tomorrow or Friday—this time photos of our week in Mozambique! I hope that you guys have enjoyed the pictures….

In other news, today is my first day volunteering at a soup kitchen! Weekly I will be serving lunch in a church across the street from work. When I was a Brownie my troop volunteered at a nearby soup kitchen one day and I liked it so much that my mom, my sister and I would go monthly. With so many people out of work and hungry, I hope that I can help to make a small difference in the lives of others while I am still working for my company. :-)

Big cats of Kruger

Now to the animals that everyone has been waiting for- the big cats!

Check out those teeth!!!

This lion decided that he was tired after his big roaring session (to be posted later when CP finishes with the videos), so he decided to lay down on the pavement.

Two female lions walking in unison.



We came across this male lion and a female lion (not in this picture) together. Our guide told us that if a male and female are separated from the rest of the pride, it means that they are mating. They do this for 4 to 5 days EVERY 20 MINUTES. Wow.

CP takes good photographs.....

We came across this bunch of mothers and cubs laying down by the river. Adorable.

This adolescent male lion decided to play with a stick he found on the ground. He and Fuzzy Britches would be best friends! :-)

We came across this pride as they were trying to chase a giraffe. Sadly they lost....as that would have been really fun to see.

The cubs of the pride recovered well by playing with their mothers....as this one is doing.

We spotted this former impala hanging in a tree. When leopards kill something, they haul it up a tree so that lions and other animals are not able to steal it. There wasn't much of this kill left, but often a leopard won't eat the animal in one sitting.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see the leopard that killed this impala.

However, we did get to see this hyena at the bottom of the tree waiting for the former impala to drop so that he could eat the leftovers. He was a very patient animal....




We also came across this hyena a different day....he ran into a hole and let out his hyena cackle....which oddly enough DID sound like a crazy laugh.

Although we didn't get to see a leopard, we did spot two cheetahs. They weren't doing much because it was hot and the middle of the day, but cheetahs are usually harder to see than leopards, so we were pretty psyched to see them. I kept calling them "Chester" and asking if they had any Cheetos. Yes, I am 10 years old.

Heavy animals of Kruger

This is the last week of honeymoon pictures....then we will be back to our regular-scheduled programming. :-)

CP used his fish-eye lens for this picture. Gives you an idea of what we looked at while searching for animals. However, within a mile the terrain could turn into red soil with no grass on the ground.

This elephant was in the middle of shaking water off his head. To the left of him (not pictured) were hippos and he was having fun throwing water and mud on them. Why? Simply because he could.

This is a man-made watering hole and as you can see, elephants get pretty desperate when they need water. The two biggest killers of elephants? Humans and drought.

This herd of mothers and babies just crossed the river (which is why the lower half of them is darker in color). The babies had a bit of trouble getting up the slope in the middle.

Black and white close up. Check out those eyelashes!



A ridonkulously large elephant- with a broken tusk!

Baby elephant

We came across this white rhino just as he was finishing marking his territory. Basically, they take huge poops, then step in it and walk all over their territory. Lovely.

Rhino close up

Mother and baby rhinos running away from us.

It is VERY rare to see a black rhino- there are only 350 in the park. Unfortunately, we came across this dead one with a crocodile getting ready to eat it (a rhino's butt is the softest part of its body so the crocodile starts there). :-(

Larger animals of Kruger

On to some of the larger animals of Kruger....

Female Kudu.

Male Kudu- their horns are so cool!

Reedbuck- another rare sighting in Kruger.

Impala. They are ALL OVER Kruger. Our guide called them JAFIs (Just Another F*ing Impala). LOL.

Waterbuck.

Zebras.

Buffalo. I kept wanting to call them "water buffalo" for some odd reason. I really liked their ears.

Blue wildebeest. CP did not mess with the color of this photograph at all.

Baby hippos with birds on their back.

Hippos fighting in the water. Hippos are actually the number one killer of people in the park every year. People don't realize that they are fast (at least in covering short distances).... and then it's too late. They also have ridonkulously powerful jaws.

Giraffe just hanging out. Giraffes have horrible eyesight so they actually walk towards you to figure out whether they should be scared of you or not.

Giraffes are hilarious. Gotta love the black tongue!