My dog Loki splashing around at Los Padres National Forest.
Category: Life
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Sunlight Through the Trees
Nature is magical to me and I find myself entranced by it every day regardless of whether I’m camping or not. The next few posts will be pictures from my week at Los Padres National Forest.
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The White Tree of Gondor
You know you’re a dork when you go on a stroll in the woods and you stop, gasp, and say, “I’ve found an ancestor of the White Tree of Gondor.” For those of you who don’t know, the White Tree of Gondor (I’m sure it has another name, I just don’t feel like getting out my books and looking it up) is a thing in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and Lord of the Rings books. Now the cat is out of the box or hat or however that saying goes. I am a BIG Tolkien fan.
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Our Campsite
We made it to our campsite… and it was underwhelming. We had to reserve a spot because we’re in an RV this time. The site we picked looked great on the map but not so much in real life. I could have been happy there, but as soon as we parked I went on a walk to scope out other sites. That’s the beauty of off-season camping, the camp isn’t crowded and you can basically choose any site you want. Sure enough, two sites down the road I found this beauty. It was entirely secluded, all you can see are trees in all directions. Also, it was right above the creek and you could hear running water no matter where you were standing on the site. I LOVE woodsy camping.
The time finally came to go on a camping vacation! I went to a creek-side, woodsy area in the Los Padres National Forest and this time took all three dogs. To prepare for the trip I decided that I should organize everything I could and put it in small plastic bins. This would make loading and unloading extremely easy. I realized how crazy I am and how crazy about the dogs I am when I began to pack their things. I made a bin that was devoted to bandaging and also contained clotting gauze packs. This bin is separate from the bin that includes the general, human first aid. I made a dog medication bin.
When I put together a doggie first-aid kit for camping, it got me thinking about what a basic kit for dogs should be. Each kit would vary depending upon the individual needs of your dog and your destination. However, I think there a few things that are essential for any kit.
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Goodbye Holidays
I took down my Christmas decorations today. If you are as concerned about the look and, more importantly, the feel of your home as I am, the process can be bittersweet.
A friend of mine said something to me just before Christmas that I thought was interesting. I was at her house helping decorate her enormous tree and she said, “This year, the tree is going to only have gold decorations. A friend of mine who is an interior decorator said that decorating your Christmas tree can be simple and beautiful if you just pick a color and forget all the mismatched ornaments and nicknacks.” The gold tree really was simple and beautiful. I loved it. I thought to myself, maybe next year I’ll do pink.
Fuck that. As I took down each of my ornaments, I remembered the context in which I purchased or received those ornaments. I was sad that I would not be appreciating these weird little things for another year but I was happy that the temporality of them made them even more special. So, goodbye vintage porcelain Christmas tree and all the other mismatched ornaments and nicknacks… until next year!