jenniferhawke.com

my day has been such a whirlwind that nothing other than a jumble of random paragraphs will fit this “Daily” category with more accuracy…

camping was really awesome. that photo pretty much sums it up.

never worry about taking your favourite shorts camping again! hand sanitizer takes tree sap off the butt faster than you can say “did i just sit in tree sap??” unfortunately, i can’t help you with holes from errant campfire ash.

on Wednesday it will be August. my brain is in Holy Crap, Am I Ready?? mode. my sleep patterns suggest the answer is “no.”

spending an hour trying on bras is worth it when you’re this comfy. [insert my own MasterCard ad with the "priceless" punch line here]

i just got over my sinus infection and Jonathan is home-from-work sick curled up in bed with it right now. is it better for a couple to be sick at the same time? or on opposite schedules so one is well enough to take care of the other?

did i mention that i’m leaving in less than a month and mildly freaking out? if you all could list what you think i might be forgetting, i just may be encouraged that i’m not really forgetting anything. or you could remind me of something Super Very Important. if the latter, i would send you a present. for real.

speaking of present, i love my new camera bag so much, i’m thinking of giving away my 5 million dollar home (black/blue interior). do you know anyone that can make good use of it?

i would like to start off by thanking my supportive family, friends, and Baby Jesus…

even though you wouldn’t guess it by my posts these days, apparently i’m a thinking blogger! i have been awarded by the ever-sunny Darlene who rocks the three Ps (photos, poetry, and prose) so freaking hard i am terribly flattered she thinks of me in this special way.

i also apparently have the power of schmooze according to Dr. K. another person i think is just so neat that i would schmooze with her any day! the fact that she says nice things about me makes me want to smooch — er schmooze — her even more.

my tags nominations for my fave thinking/schmoozing blogs are coming up… !

what’s the big appeal of camping anyway?

i mean, you basically pack as many comforts from home that you can cram into your car, drive out to what you thought was the Middle of Nowhere only to find Billy Bob and his buddies already drinking up a ruckus at your favourite spot, sleep on a bed of sticks and rocks thinly veiled by an air mattress, offer up your finest blood samples as a buffet for the hordes of mosquitos, and drive home at the end of it all with a huge pile of laundry stinking like camp smoke and a wet messy cooler to clean out.

why bother?

because in the morning, while Billy Bob and his buddies are sleeping off their binge, you will be awakened by the bright sun driving you out of your uncomfortably hot tent. or the pitter patter of raindrops on the tent fly will make you grimace as you roll over and refuse to get up. or the birds will chirp loudly. or you will hear a bear rummaging through your food stores.

whatever it is, it’s not an alarm clock urging you on to another day at the office.

and because in the day, you get to sit around the remains of last night’s fire and not feel guilty for doing absolutely nothing. or you get to go for a swim or a hike. or not. or you get to start drinking beer at 10am and not move from your camp chair until you need to pee.

whatever they are, the activities (or lack thereof) are perfectly timed because they are not on a schedule.

and because in the evening, you top off all that beer with a steak over an open flame and gooey s’mores that drip all over your shirt and make your fingers painfully sticky with hot marshmallow. or you carefully roast a hot dog, turning it regularly to brown evenly, only to have it burst into flames right when you decided it was perfect. or you figure it’s too hot to cook and just continue eating from the bag of chips you’ve been dipping in all day.

whatever it is, the food is guilt-free because calories don’t count outside the city.

and that’s why i think we drive like flocks of metallic birds out of the city and into the country. even if we bring all of our favourite foods, and have an RV with satellite TV and the fluffiest air mattress, the rules aren’t the same as at home. the ties of daily routine that tether us to our life and our thoughts and our ideas and our opinions are cut free… so you get to think and do and be different things.

this weekend i hope i get to think a lot about nothing, do a lot of swimming with Maddy and sitting in my camp chair, and be someone completely unconcerned with the fact that she is somewhat permanently moving to a different country (and climate!) in less than a month.

i hope you all have a fantastic weekend. enjoy July while it lasts!

(see? she used to be an adorable puppy with horrible manners!)

i am admittedly a supporter of a few somewhat controversial dog techniques and topics. i don’t believe that all methods of feeding or training work for all dogs and i definitely don’t believe that dog owners should walk into new territory completely blind, so i hope i’m stating the obvious when i say: i do think it’s important to research what works for you and your pup.

for example, i believe that with the correct preparation and delivery, raw meat is one of the healthiest diets you can feed your dog.

i also don’t have a problem with Cesar Milan. i think that, with the correct preparation and delivery, his training techniques foster a strong and affectionate environment for your dog to develop a healthy personality. i haven’t read any of his books, but “The Dog Whisperer” (show on the National Geographic channel) seems to be a training program based on three main premises:

1) dogs are not children. don’t treat them like little people in fur coats.

2) dogs need a lot of exercise.

3) dogs need a “leader” in their pack (your house). establish rules, boundaries and limitations.

that’s it. the rest of the show is about his charisma and personality in dealing with the dogs. all three of those points involve changing the mindset of the owner and have virtually nothing to do with the dog.

just because i think Milan’s techniques have some merit (properly delivered), doesn’t mean i disagree with other positive reinforcement techniques like clicker training. Maddy is clicker trained. and just because i occasionally see Milan using a choke collar (properly) as an aid to rehabilitate a dog, doesn’t mean i ran out and bought one for my dog. Maddy wears an ordinary flat collar.

as some of you already know, i’m also a big proponent of Brenda Aloff’s book on dog aggression. some of her techniques could be seen as “controversial” because she chooses to speak to dogs in their language instead of imposing our human language on them.

but the bottom line is this: just because i have researched and use techniques that work for my dog, doesn’t mean that they are ideal for YOUR dog. and just because something isn’t ideal for your dog doesn’t mean it has no merit for OTHER dogs. there should be no “controversy” unless you think you know what’s best for every dog out there.

… and i’m a little less sniffly.

last weekend was spent celebrating Jonathan’s 34th birthday (with a basketball game and shopping), avoiding the rain, unpacking and repacking, taking long naps, and enjoying NyQuil-induced comas.

this week will be spent looking forward to sunshine and camping, brushing out more mats from Maddy’s ever-shedding fur, cleaning and repacking, doing laundry, napping off the last of a yucky sinus infection, looking into yoga in this ‘hood, booking Maddy (and my) last vet (doctor) appointments, and dropping more clothes off at the local thrift store.

i’m not even going to comment on how amazed i am at the time FLYING by because i know it’s pretty redundant by now. however, i *will* mention that i think i’ve noticed the first (ultra-scary) physical sign of me turning 3-0 in 42 days: my triceps are jiggling.

yes, jiggling.

i’m absolutely mortified to have old woman arms. and it seems to be happening overnight!

well, it’s taken less than a week for Maddy and i to get back into our Vancouver routine. the weather, the apartment, and the boyfriend, are all almost exactly as we left them (rainy, cozy, cute). making it feel like we haven’t really been gone at all… in fact, things are so dreadfully familiar, i can’t think of a single thing to write about.

i mean, there’s no way you really want to read about how Maddy has the runs as she adjusts back to a high-protien* diet. and why on earth would you want details of the irritating throat infection that has me curled up with the intewebs in bed this morning? and you don’t really want to hear how fascinated i (still) am with the Planet Earth HD DVD series. or how i made banana muffins the other day just because i wanted the smell. i also don’t think i need to babble about packing plans for Nevis (for at least another month) or the (three!) new plastic film cameras i bought.

see? not a thing to write about…

if i was brutally honest with myself, i would admit that i should take a break from writing and spare you from this random boringness. but (and there’s always a but when being Brutally Honest), i am well aware that in less than two months the ONLY thing i’m going to have to write about is school. and i guess i want to get as much of my Last Summer of Freedom down for posterity as possible. i may need something to read to cheer me up when feeling particularly overwhelmed. plus, writing is definitely a skill you lose if you don’t use.

did you catch that? in less than two months i’m going to be in med school. holy freaking crap. i think it’s starting to sink in…

must stop thinking about it before i totally wig out. which makes this The End of this post because my brain has just shut down completely. mmm – banana muffins.

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*as opposed to sugary-cereal stuff she gets at grandma’s. : ))

i took Maddy to the vet yesterday to have the last of her necessary bloodwork drawn. at one point the vet asked me, “this must be so exciting for you. aren’t you excited?” and i sort of answered, “well, i guess so. i just came back from Africa and this hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

“well, i think it’s very exciting,” he said. and i felt chastised. like i wasn’t enthusiastic enough.

so, i’ve decided to get excited. which means i’m looking up information on weather and food and currency and snorkeling and looking at satellite images of the area of the island i will be living on. in the process, i’m also getting sucked into looking at incredible island villas that rent for $3000US/night(!). Nevis looks gorgeous and perfect. and yes, i’m getting excited.

i already researched a lot of the island when i decided to attend MUA, but here are a few of the new things i learned today:

size
i had read somewhere that Nevis’ 36 square miles were inhabited by 10,000 people, but had a hard time imagining how small that really is. another website informed me that the island is only 7 miles long and 5 miles wide! definitely no need for a car, although a bike might be nice!

food
hot sauces, fresh local honey, plantains, and breadfruit are just a few of the local goodies available at the City Market in Charlestown. i’m also looking forward to the (fresh!) seafood, classic West Indian, and Creole dishes.

weather
just came in from a walk with Maddy and Vancouver is dripping all over the place. how much does it rain on Nevis and when??

apparently, most of the year is dry and hot, with little variation between seasons. summer runs from May to October and temperatures range (day to night) between low-30s (Celcius) and mid-20s. winter is a few degrees cooler in November to April, but there is still very little rain. apparently one day per month is considered “rainy”. sounds more like “ideal” to me.

June through November is hurricane season, but they seem to be relatively few and far between. and it looks like there is a great weather network available. no storms today!

beaches
Pinney’s beach is along the west coast just north of Charlestown and reputed to be the most beautiful beach on the island. it seems to be an all-around perfect spot with shallow waters safe for swimming, decent winds for windsurfing, and a bit of a party scene for celebrity-spotting.

i will be living on the north end of the island and remind you that even though the Mount Nevis Hotel and the Nisbet Plantation Beach Club are nearby, i will have a spare bedroom in my house. : D

just about 5 weeks till we leave. yup, excited!

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*photo and some info from CaribbeanWay

i just glanced over and Maddy is stretched out on the floor in front of the air conditioning unit. it’s a little too tall for her to be directly in the path of it’s air flow, but she knows a cool spot when she finds one. her fur has been coming out in large matted tufts and she has a new microchip implanted near her left shoulder, but she’s the same dog i shipped to Saskatchewan six weeks ago.

as noted in the post below, i drove 20 hours to my mom’s house this week to pick her up. the option of flying her back to Vancouver was obviously available, but my mom had just moved to a new acreage and i wanted to see her and the house and (again, as noted) the drive in mid-summer is positively irresistible. my mom did an excellent job of looking after her and (for me, emotionally) it was surprisingly hard to remove Maddy from such a wonderfully outdoorsy and loving environment.

i hugged my mom. cried. hugged her again. watched her hug Maddy. cried a little more. and drove down the lane feeling positively selfish. how on earth could i provide a better life for my dog than the wide open spaces and smells of such a beautifully safe acreage?

we turned from the gravel lane onto the highway. i looked in the rearview mirror and saw Maddy curled up in her kennel. she slept straight through to Calgary. i found myself wishing dogs had some sort of concept of past and future, so she could say “goodbye” and reflect. then i realized how ridiculous i was being. it was me who needed to learn a lesson from her.

i was busy feeling sorry for myself. i had some regrets about setting up a life and choosing paths off the beaten track that required me to constantly say “goodbye” to people i loved. i wanted to turn around and sit on my mom’s acreage for a month. for a year. forever. i wanted to move toward people i loved instead of away from them. i just desperately wanted to stop leaving people behind. no matter how open the invitation to join me in Africa or on Nevis or any other place i have been and will be going to, everyone i know and love has commitments and responsibilities and careers and a life of their own. i wanted my gravitational force to pull them permanently into my galaxy and take them with me like planets to whatever universe i needed to go to. but you can’t do that with people. and maybe that’s why people get pets.

i guess what i’m saying is that while it feels selfish to subject a dog (a creature preferring and prospering in routine) to my ups and downs and whims and wobbles, Maddy is one being in my life that i don’t have to say “goodbye” to just yet. the opportunity to bring her to Nevis has opened and i have jumped at it. while i think i am a very attentive and damn good dog owner, i don’t harbour any sentimental delusions that Maddy needs to be with me. or that i can do a better job of taking care of her than my mom. i’m bringing her with me because i need her. because she is my dog. i signed up for all the responsibilities that job description entails, so i want to reap the benefits it implies as well! : ))

so here we are. back home and already preparing for the next adventure. after posting about the house on Nevis, there were a couple of comments and emails asking about quarantine and Maddy. we have yet another vet appointment on Monday and i thought i would bring you all up to speed with what’s going on.

things to do before we leave:
- get certificates for rabies vaccinations (done)
- microchip implant (done)
- send import permit application to St. Kitts (done)
- two official rabies titre tests (in process)
- health certificate from Canada’s Veterinary Authority (after July 23rd)
- health certificate from our vet (after August 20th)
- internal/external parasite treatment (on the day we leave)

our appointment on Monday is for the second “official” (RFFIT or FAVN) rabies titre test. blood is drawn at the vet and then sent to the USA for analysis. since the tests need to be done 30 days before arrival and 4 weeks apart, my mom had the first one started in Saskatchewan while i was in Africa. ideally, i should have done all of the tests before i left, but i hadn’t even fully decided to bring Maddy until that house became available.

our departure date is August 23rd, so the dates noted in the list above are based on the fact that some things have to be done within 30 days or 72/48 hours of arrival.

things to do after we arrive:
- keep Maddy in the fenced yard for 30 days
- have the premises inspected/monitored 4 times

and that’s it.* being stuck in the yard for a month will totally suck, but is at least possible and not totally unreasonable. unlike rumours of the 6-month quarantine i heard when first looking into the whole process.

and having Maddy with me confines me to the island for the full 5 semesters that i’ll be in school. no flying back on my 3-week break between semesters. again, not totally unreasonable. whatever extra i’m spending on rent for the house will be saved by not flying home.

besides, i’m definitely expecting a rotating roster of visitors!

please feel free to drop me a line if you are considering importing your pet into the Caribbean and i’ll do my best to pass along any resources that i know of. i owe huge HUGE thanks to a vet student on St. Kitts that read a previous post on my reservations about exporting Maddy and offered her help. she imported her two dogs two years ago and it was very helpful to know someone else that has successfully done this before. thank you so very much, Candace. i really appreciate your support, both factual and emotional.

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*detailed description can be found here (PDF download).

“Passing through unconscious states.
When I awoke I was on the highway.”
~ Death Cab for Cutie

Jonathan is so awesome. he let me take his car all the way to Saskatchewan even though i haven’t been behind a wheel for over 5 weeks. i haven’t even been in a country where they drive on the right side of the road. i’m a huge fan of highway driving and it really felt good to be on the open road.  on my way to pick up Maddy.

my brain is a jumble. driving has always been an ideal time for me to sort out unresolved thoughts and emotions. but my time in Zambia is remaining an enigma. every time i start thinking about it, my mind recoils as if from a hot stove. so i’ve backed off to let the stove cool down a little more. i listened to old favourite music and 17 chapters of an audiobook.

as i paid the Coquihalla toll, i realized Jonathan’s Mazda 3 is the 6th vehicle i have driven in at least a dozen road trips from Vancouver to southern Saskatchewan in the 8 years since i moved to the west coast. the first trip was in a friend’s brand new Pontiac Grand Am. all of my belongings made the relocation move in a 1984 VW Jetta. i borrowed both a Corolla and a Jeep from my good friend Rob. then, of course, the beloved 1987 Nissan truck. and finally, the Mazda.

i’ve had a few breakdowns and more than my fair share of windshield chips and cracks. in fact, i would say my windshield karma is definitely out of whack. i drove my Nissan truck with a crack along the bottom for almost the entire time i owned it. i replaced the windshield in Rob’s Jeep when i got back from the long haul route to Dease Lake two years ago. and it looks like i’ll be buying Jonathan a windshield for his birthday in a couple of weeks. : //

safe to say, Highway 1 East-to-5 North-back-to-1 East is a pretty familiar route to me. i love driving it in the summer and sharing the road with packs of cyclists and long haul touring motorbikes. unfortunately, in the summer you also have to share the road with huge RVs and camper trailers.

today’s drive was sunny, dry, warm, fast, and simply gorgeous. i love rolling from the smelly Chilliwack valley into the jagged peaks that get sharper and higher over the hours. suddenly there are summit and elevation sign posts all over the place. then you’re past Golden and into 15 kilometers of windy curves with SLOW warnings, hugging the shoulder to make room for wide semi trailers. hours drop like minutes and the sharp triangles are behind you. you’re looking at hills rolling into repetitive suburban developments. then, Calgary.

everything after Calgary is always a blur to me. the horizon stays flat in every direction, stretching into the curve of the Earth. the repetition is meditative and there is more sky than land in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. if you’re lucky, you might be treated to a lightning storm show in the distance, seen for miles even if you’re not getting rained on yet.

in my younger days, i’ve done the 20-odd hour haul in one complete fully caffeinated stretch. tonight i’m crashing in a Ramada Inn in Medicine Hat, less than 5 hours from my final destination. i can’t wait to see Maddy tomorrow. i have a feeling she’ll be sad to leave summer camp with my mom behind. : (

i wonder… since the price of a WestJet plane ticket is comparable to the number of tanks of gas it takes to get out here and back, which is more environmentally damaging?

… i have arrived safe and sound back in Vancouver. hoping to catch up with some of you for coffee or breakfast, but maybe not as soon as i would like because…

… i am off to Saskatchewan on Monday-ish to pick up Maddy and have a super duper extra looong coffee with my mom. should be back late in the week or by next weekend. and in the meantime…

… i hope to start a trickle of photos back on flickr. should be slow, but steady. proving i’m back online, but…

… i still need a little time to catch up on your blogs, photostreams, comments, emails, and everything else. : ))