Doggie Dental

The dog went for a major teeth cleaning. They had to be sedated (I needed sedation after they gave me the bill!!). When I picked them up Cheyenne was pretty alert but Tex seemed to be a little hungover. I felt bad for him but couldn't help laughing as he was having trouble walking straight.

In the car on the way home.

Cheyenne followed me around but Tex immediately went to a sunny spot and stayed there.

He was back to his old self before I got home as evidenced by the shredded food package I found in the kitchen.

Carnaval

Dutch Carnival is celebrated on the Saturday through Tuesday preceding Ash Wednesday (per wikipedia). It's a little like halloween in that everyone gets dressed up and there are parades. There is no trick-or-treating, though. That's done on a holiday in November. Here are some pictures from a little parade that went past my neighborhood as I was out walking the dogs.

Me. At the Carnaval celebration at work.

The Centrum

There's a small shopping district down town. There are a few bakeries, a butcher shop, some clothing stores, some cafes and restaurants. That sort of thing. It's basically closed to traffic so everyone is walking or riding a bike. I usually walk down there Saturday mornings (nothing is open on Sundays). It's about a mile from my house. Everything closes at 6pm except on Thursdays, which is shopping night. Then I think it's open till 8.

In the morning before anything has opened.

The Turkish grocer. So many wonderful things in there!!

Dog Walks in the Dark

I get up at 0500 to walk the dogs before work. This particular morning it was raining (go figure).

Wandelen in Gulpen

Communities all over here like to organize walks. There are marked routes and you can usually pick from a variety of distances (5k, 10k, 15k...sometimes up to the distance of a marathon). I went to one in Gulpen last weekend. It was cold and windy and raining and muddy. But the people are friendly and the scenery is nice. The friend I went with was dismayed by the mud and didn't want her shoes getting messed up so we only ended up going 5k. Here's some of what we saw along the way.

A shop window with decorations for Carnival. The village reflected in the background.

I guess that explains why there's no meat in the butcher case.

Progress

The project has officially started. The Notice to Proceed has been issued which starts the count down clock on the construction contract. It will take about a month of preliminary paperwork and submittals before they actually start with construction activities but we are finally underway.

It's Raining

It does that a lot here. So it's nothing unusual.

The Dutch are firm believers that dogs need to be walked multiple times/day regardless of the weather. I'm all in favor of walking dogs and usually do it for 40-60 minutes/day; but all at once. Right now, though, it's raining. And my dogs don't like rain. Frankly, neither do I.

I guess that's why I buy fresh flowers...to cover the smell of wet dog.

Bulgaria

I found out there is a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Bulgaria, just over the border from where I was in Romania. I paid a visit. We did some hiking along the Black Sea coast.

Greg, my host and guide.

Martenitsa - The Bulgarian wish for good health, strength and happiness.

Romania

Sorry it took me so long. But here are some pictures from my trip to Romania. The base is pretty far outside of town and there really isn't anything else around.

Landing during a snow storm.

Looking out my office window.

Snow + razor wire

Walking from the hotel to the base.

The snow clung to absolutely everything.

Evening on the base

Neptune was a little further up the road in one direction and Saturn in the other. No joke.

My super wonderful Romanian hosts.

But...But...

I leashed up the dogs this morning for our usual walk. They were, as always, extremely excited. We stepped outside and after a few steps I started sliding on the walk. Uh oh. I took a few tentative steps to the road and started sliding there as well. Clearly, there was not going to be a dog walk this morning. The dogs, however, didn't see a problem and were visibly disappointed when we started back to the house. Then, even after I took off the leashes and took off my coat and hat they still danced eagerly at the door. It didn't seem to sink in until I sat down at the computer. Now they look despondent. And I feel bad. But not as bad as I would have had I fallen on my ass out there!