Established 2001
We usually set up the puzzle table in the winter months, and the family works on it together (or separately!) during downtime, waiting for meals to be ready, before bedtime, and all throughout the day. This year, Jim decided to start us on coloring instead.
He ordered a nice set of pencils and a couple of coloring books (Christmas, animals) and everyone has been enjoying adding to the project.
There is a huge protected forest near our house, and in five years I keep thinking we should go there and check it out. One Sunday, I decided to take Maverick with me and walk the forest and get a little information so we can explore there some more.
I can’t wait to go back – there are miles of trails! There is also a trail map app they recommend – which is great because I was concerned I’d get miles from my car without realizing it. Next time I’ll be ready with a trail plan in mind.
I dropped Haley off at a fellow gymnast’s house for outdoor masked practice last weekend, and planned a walk with Maverick from their house to the Gig Harbor waterfront, which is about a mile away. What a gorgeous day for a walk!
I stopped to take a few photos, of course, including this one of Mount Rainier in the background on the very left. Since we were on the side of the road with hardly any shoulder at all, I put Maverick on a sit-stay and looped the leash over my toes. He sat watching the water from the other side of the guardrail.
Until he jumped. He leapt, flying-squirrel style, under the guardrail and into the water – off the six or seven foot concrete wall, into the high tide salt water below! I barely had enough leash to hold onto him without strangling him (which he did, as he hit the water below, until I squatted down somewhat). It’s a six foot leash, so… do the math.
I was like, WHAT NOW?! I couldn’t really jump down off the wall and into the water (didn’t seem like a great plan, and I’d get all wet). But Maverick started to freak out. He realized that he was separated from me by a vertical wall, and had no way back up. I calmed him down and we carefully walked together, several feet apart by leash, toward the closest privately-owned dock I could see.
Eventually we got to a place with some wet sand, and a lower wall. Maverick kept trying to scale the wall to get back to me – he even broke a nail doing it! When I thought it was a short enough wall, I jumped down with him and boosted him out. All 80 pounds. And then I let him walk on the wall until we found a public access gate, and I jumped up too. Phew! He was so muddy and wet for the car ride home (and his toe was bleeding).
When I picked up Haley, she said, “Why is he all wet?” I smiled and said, “Wait until I tell you what happened!”
We waited until Maverick was one year old to get him neutered because our veterinarian recommended that we wait. Apparently for large breeds it’s helpful to get their bones and joints all settled with plenty of natural hormones before you remove them.
One week after his first birthday, we took Maverick in for the big day. He checked in at 80 pounds! He survived the day and came home sedated and a little confused. Poor guy.
He’s supposed to spend two weeks “laying low,” only one walk a day, and “coned” to keep him from licking his incision when we can’t supervise him. Gracious!
JT started playing for a new basketball team out of Puyallup after a friend clued us in and we were able to jump on board in late September. He has been enjoying being back in his favorite sport, and his first tournament with the team was in Boise in November. Jim was working and Haley preferred to stay home with Grandma Cole, so off we went to Boise for a mother-son trip.
It was a long drive. We stopped in Ellensburg, Washington and ate our packed lunch, made it over Deadman’s Pass, and had dinner at a local pizza place JT found on Yelp in Baker’s City, Oregon. We arrived at our hotel in Nampa, Idaho at 9 PM local time – ready to relax!
On Saturday, we slept in (yay) and had a late breakfast. Then we met some of the kids from the team for lunch. Afterward, I wanted to see downtown Boise a little and JT wanted to do something fun… cue the scooters! JT thought it was pretty fun that we were breaking three rules: helmets, sidewalks, and age requirement. I explained that the reason for the helmets was for riding in the street, that the reason for the sidewalks was so as not to pester pedestrians (there were none that grey afternoon), and the reason for age was so the company could hold an adult accountable for damages. We felt good about staying safely out of traffic, away from people, and not damaging the scooters. Off we went!
It started raining, so we headed back to our hotel to rest up for game night. JT had games at 7 PM and 9 PM in a tiny Idaho town. He played awesome and got a lot of playing time (almost half of each game), especially considering he’s new to the team and playing a sixth/seventh grade combo team.
We went back to the hotel and crashed, and got up early to head to another tiny Idaho town and play another two games. His team went 3-1 for the weekend, and JT started the last game!
Then things got interesting. All the families knew snow was coming to Oregon and Idaho, and everyone hit the road right at noon on Sunday. We figured we’d stay ahead of it. No such luck. In La Grande, Oregon, the department of transportation closed Hwy 84 – in both directions – due to accidents and ice. We sat at Starbucks for a couple hours, booked a hotel room, and realized we were staying the night. I’m so grateful we booked a room. The entire town sold out in less than 2 hours! Thankfully, we were stuck with friends from the team (and JT’s team last year, and they go to the same school). We all went to dinner and a movie before playing Among Us at the hotel and going to bed in our Schitt’s Creek style motel room.
In the morning, we got up and out bright and early (7:15 AM departure!) and made it over the pass just fine, arriving home at 2 PM – a full 24 hours after we got stuck. I’m glad we spent the night, because the families that took alternate routes (the ones who left after us didn’t get stuck in the highway closures and could make it around to another highway) got home in the wee hours of Monday morning after driving for 12-18 hours!
We were so excited to have Maverick turn one year old. He got three new toys and we sung him happy birthday. Really. Haley said she could see why people can spoil their pets – it’s just so fun to see another living being so.very.happy with something simple like a new toy (we didn’t give him all his new toys at once… spreading out the joy).
At one year old, Maverick weighs 80 pounds and knows about 53 words or commands. He loves to swim, hike, go for walks, play with a frisbee or ball on a rope, snuggle, and eat treats. He is an absolute joy to have around the house. He hasn’t had an “accident” in the house since the first week we had him, he hasn’t damaged anything that wasn’t his (okay once he tore a page in a book that a child left IN THE YARD OUTSIDE), and he barks at all abnormal things like cars parked where they shouldn’t be, people visiting, and squirrels.
Maverick’s commands:
If you feel like it, compare that to Slider’s 5 Year Old word list. It gives us some new ideas to try with Maverick… although he knows some that Slider never got!
Haley got to have a costume dress-up day at gymnastics, and she chose to be a panda. We painted her face, stitched puffy material on a black shirt, added panda ears and a tail, and off she went!
The kids decided they would not trick-or-treat this year, but would pass out candy instead. We set our basket by the front door with a mask, and passed out candy to maybe 20 guests – about a tenth of our normal door bell ringers!
Instead, we watched football, carved pumpkins, and hung out with Preston and his roommate. Grandpa and Grandma Cole even judged the pumpkins – and JT won!
Jim arranged for the kids to take their hunter’s safety courses online during last spring’s school closures, and JT finished his course. So Jim bought the kids a rifle and got it sighted in with JT, and then they reserved a weekend in Cle Elum with a bunch of other guys for hunting deer.
While they were gone, Haley and I had fun, too. She had a private lesson at gymnastics (always a highlight), got her ski gear sized for the winter season, popped into Mercury’s Coffee for treats, and watched Anne of Green Gables. We also started BBC’s Victoria and had plenty of “me” time to do whatever we wanted on our own. It was fabulous! Haley said the boys could go away any weekend. 😉
We had a little different situation for our work retreat this year, with 5 of our team members joining virtually from home and 5 attending in person on Whidbey Island. It was a really useful two days and two nights of team planning, team building, and team eating.
Last August, I felt a pop/pull/pain in my left hip as I finished the Lake Meridian Triathlon. I got medical care, did physical therapy, and found out that I had a labral tear. The labral tear was likely caused by the fact that my hip has some extra bone in the joint that comes to a point, making a pressure point in my labrum from the time I started walking as a child. I got a steroid shot in December to “make it through” ski season, and by March had hip pain again, as expected. I taught myself to sleep on the other side and mostly stopped running because I compensate in my knees, and I’ve already had two knee surgeries! My surgeon and I agreed that it wasn’t lifelong sustainable to continue with this level of hip pain, and it also puts me at risk for arthritis. We agreed to schedule for September, with a six month recovery window putting me ready to enjoy the end of snow ski season.
We had a slight delay in surgery timing based on our COVID-19 diagnosis, but two weeks later than planned I was in surgery!
Everything went “perfectly,” and I’ve been home recovering ever since. Maverick has been very concerned and hovers nearby the couch. My family is doing a great job of bringing me food, keeping me hydrated, stocking the ice machine that keeps my hip comfortable, and doing most of the things I normally do to keep the home running smoothly.
The Keene Family