zero days remain!

our much anticipated trip to costa rica will begin tomorrow with a trip over the pass to the portland airport, then with a flight to denver and a ten (10!) hour layover.  during the ridiculous layover time a friend of ours from high school, andrew, is going to pick us up and spend the time showing us around boulder, aiming all the while to convince us to move there. 

we arrive in costa rica early in the morning on saturday and will have a day of recuperating before we take off into the jungle on a rafting trip (our big splurge of the trip!).  we plan to post pictures of our adventure along the way when possible, so keep checking back to check the progress of my tan!  :)

last month's pics

at the end of march, i got in the car with my brother ross, his friend christian, and harvey.  we made the rounds through parts of oregon we rarely frequent: ana lake in the klamath basin, diamond lake gas station (which is open through the winter thankfully), the umpqua river, newport, and lincoln city.  i had a lot of time to kill as ross and christian fished their hearts out.  the only photos i managed to get were at ana lake though as it rained everywhere else.  

ana lake has its own kind of beauty: the eastern oregon, unpopulated beauty of a place i might like to explore but could not realistically see myself living.  a place i could however take lots of pictures.  here are a few...

prior to this trip, harvey would not could not step foot in water.  when ross and christian were out in the lake though he HAD to be with them, so he put his anti-water policy aside in favor of being near these two.

a random spiraling plant that made me long for the silver ferns of new zealand.  

there were quite a few old, dilapidated structures in the area around the lake that made for interesting angles and shots.  i could have spent the entire day taking pictures, but harvey was interrupting the boys and their fish so i had other obligations.

darn those salmon

so it's not really the salmon i guess--i love salmon!  but the verdict from the vet was that harvey had/has salmon poisoning disease, which if left untreated can quickly become fatal.  ross and his friend and i took a trip over the mountains to go fishing along the umpqua and in lincoln city.  while we were along the umpqua harvey found two salmon skeletons and went nuts--the thought he had woke up in heaven with all that fishy goodness.  likely, it was these remains that caused him to be so sick.

i felt like brandon disapproved of me taking him to the vet, but he wasn't home with harvey looking at him with eyes that pleaded for relief.  the vet asked the right questions and got down to the bottom of the situation quickly.  apparently the incubation period is about 7 days, which has been exact for harvey.  the vet was also surprised that we identified that something was majorly wrong so quickly; therefore, this time my overreacting paid off because we spared harvey from undue misery and potential much worse.  he is starting to feel better and back to his ball-chasing, tail-waging ways.  thank goodness for antibiotics!

one sick puppy

something is up with harvey--in a bad way.  he mopes around the house, collapses on his bed, ignores his toys and our pleadings to "come here", and refuses to eat.  he won't even eat peanut butter!  he only wags his tail if we take him on a walk, but he hasn't ingested anything of substance in 30+ hours so i can't take him on too many walks or he is going to waste away.  

he just looks at me with these sad, lifeless eyes that make me feel panicky and scared.  where is my energetic little aussie?   

... and the envelope please

brandon's trip was eventful, particularly on the tail-end as getting out of laramie can be harder than anticipated. however, it was also eventful in the most positive way and while the ballots for us were cast last week, the envelope containing our decision has only recently been opened. we have accepted the offer at the university of wyoming and we will begin making our life in southeast wyoming late this summer.

were are excited about this in many ways, including some of the following: being close(er) to rowan as he goes through the toddler years, having the chance to climb with doug and liz, thickening our blood with the cold laramie winters, going to school for free (make that get paid to go to school!), letting harvey chase antelope, and for me to avoid taking on a minnesotan accent with my overly mailable language. indeed, life in this true wild west town will be good for us.

brandon also verified that there is a store selling gluten-free food and a thai restaurant. these two bits are essential criteria for our success in any town. therefore, in laramie, it's bound to be good. visitors welcome...