I knew going into it I was gonna be really busy but holy cow!   

Sunday was tricks class for Teddy in Bozeman and we lucked out yet again with the weather which was crappy up till well, Sunday.   I took Tinker along with us just to get her out and about and was thrilled when Nancy asked Maggie's Mom if she'd stay and let the girls "play".   Well Maggie was all about it and did her best play bows and pokes to get Tinker to engage all to no avail.  Little bugger was so busy sniffing around looking for dropped cookies that she barely even acknowledged Maggie.   Teddy meanwhile after class lounged in the car thankful to get some time to just rest.   An hour full of learning and physical activity is tough on a 13 year old but he did great.   He picked up a couple new tricks in his paw touches to hands which was fun.   He just loves to train fun stuff and work with me so this is great fun as there is no pressure whatsoever.

Tuesday was surgery day for Louie.   I knew he had nasty teeth issues so a dental with pulling, digging, drilling and cleaning was required.  Little did I know he even had teeth that were broken down below the gum line.   Ouch!   I so love and trust our vet Dr. Davis and she did a smashing job getting 6 teeth pulled out, 1 that fell out it was that bad and then cleaning up the rest.   He's got stitches in his mouth but is dealing well with it and other than being super pooped out seems to be doing well.  Of course he'll finish up  antibiotics and pain meds which will help a ton!   He is gonna feel SO MUCH BETTER!   

Tuesday night Epic and I made it to our first obedience class after missing week 1.  We are going mainly to brush up on stuff before competition the end of May (or so I hope).    Boy oh boy we both are super rusty.  Him in his focus and remembering what is up (or rather down) and me in what cues and rewards I should be using and when.   We love our trainer Kim for letting us kind of "freestyle" it in class as the others are learning the finer points of obedience.   It really is what I need though to motivate me and  is extremely helpful in that we have a great large space to work on his heeling and others to work on distractions.

Wednesday I was scheduled to get a new computer at work.   Quote "Need a couple hours of your time".  Okay, my old  computer has been getting slower and slower and frankly was a hand-me-down when I got it 5 years ago so is  really out of date ALTHOUGH it still was able to get the job done.   Six hous  later, the new computer hard drive crashes and I lose the 6 hours of work I did getting everything set back up because oh no, we don't just image off the old  computer, we as the users (not the desktop people) are handed the computer and told WE have to reload and reconfigure all of it.   So guess what?  I got to do it all again on Thursday.  Grrrr.    I was never so happy to be able to go get my chiropractic adjustments and Rapid Release.    I hate work days that feel "wasted".

Thursday back to the office and thankfully a much better new laptop switch over.  The other was toast but since it was round 2 things went as planned.   What didn't go as planned was the weather.  I took lunch at Walmart to pick up groceries and as I left it was raining by the time I got back to the office big freaking wet snowflakes.  It just got worse as the afternoon went on, snowing about an inch an hour and you couldn't see anything.  So by 2 I left thinking I didn't  want to risk the roads any later than necessary and not sure I'd be able to get up my driveway with the car as it had been snowing at home all morning as well.    Never fear new tires appear - well they appeared a week ago and thank goodness.   Made it up the driveway although the drive home took 45 minutes with the really bad roads.   I brought home the new laptop AND the old one as I was not driving the nasty roads on Friday to the office.   Happily the new laptop seems to be working well and Friday I worked from home.

Snow melted pretty much all the way on Friday as the winds picked up on the back side of the storm THANK GAWD!    I actually refused to shovel anything more than the back deck and stairs for the pups - I am just DONE shoveling!   I have never had a winter here in MT where it seems like it is constantly gray, snowy and never ending.    Maybe we will see Spring oh in August.  Friday afternoon I came in from the garage and as I did heard a bird up back - a shrill like a hawk bird.   I looked back up at the snag and there sat a hawk of some sort.   I quietly came into the house and got my camera and the minute I got it focused  on it, of course it took off.  So I took the  blurry shots (below) and put it out to friends for id and  we finally figured out it is a broad winged hawk.  A new one for me!   I've had a hawk around this winter preying on the feeder birds but this wasn't that one and I did finally see enough to figure out THAT was a coopers hawk (when I saw the flash of the red chest).  These little hawks are so freaky and very fast.  Of course I know and see often our red tail and rough leg hawks and the eagles of course.

Over the course of the week I continue to practice my new instruments - a mountain dulcimer that I bought for my birthday a few weeks ago.  I am really enjoying it and love  that it is portable.   I've never played a string instrument before (my experience is clarinet, flute and piano) so it is really outside my zone.   I am learning songs as I go and figuring out the best way to play.   There are about 3 different styles that I'm playing with and will probably sign up for one of the online schools at some point so I don't get too many bad habits.   Really enjoying it and as I visited with my friend Robin (who plays uke) I said it isn't that it puts me into a "zen" kind of relaxation but rather puts me into a different "zone" - that isn't spinning stuff around in my head and helps me shut down the work brain.   So far I have 2 songs memorized and although not 100% or fast still enjoyable, started learning 2 more this week.

The weekend is busy, helping friends take care of another  friend's dogs (I got morning shift), coffee with another friend, errands, a yoga/soul class and of course our tricks class.   The weekend will be gone before I know it - again!