There was this one time

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Remember these dogs?

These are, from left to right: Sass [mine], Rita, Ninja [mine], and Tetris.  I love my own pups, of course, but Rita & Tetris are just as darling.  Devilish, but darling.  They do tons of cute things that entertain me, like Rita wriggling in my lap to get petted, or Tetris & Sass constantly tugging on their respective ends of a rope.  But this isn't a story about them being cute.
I've watched the ladies on top of my two multiple times before.  I've walked them all a couple times a day, have learned to wrangle them in and out of a vehicle, taught them that it's not polite to fight over food.  Walking is the hardest part, but since mine can be let off leash while wandering through the woods, it's not as bad as it could be.  Only issues I usually have, and they're not even large ones, is when they all have to be put on leashes to allow another human and/or dog to pass by on the paths.  I find that it's easier to leash mine and step off the path and into the trees completely to let the other person walk by instead of trying to pull four dogs past another canine.  They've always done really well at listening to my commands, too.
This one time, though, not so much.  I pulled all four pups off the path to allow a woman and her American Bulldog look alike to walk by.  N, S, R & T were behaving exceptionally well that day, and would have continued to do so if the bulldog had minded his own business.  Instead, he decided to growl and bark at the four I'm holding onto, and lunge against his leash.  Owner drags him along, caught up in her own world.  Know what I was caught up in?  Leashes.  Completely tangled, looped around legs and arms and hands.  Four dogs that hear a strange dog growl at them?  They decide to do something about it.  So they take off.
My feet are immediately pulled out from underneath me, causing me to land on my back and get carried along.  The four now sled dogs pull me through the underbrush, mud, dirt, leaves, and who knows what else in an attempt to catch up with Mr. Bulldog.  German lady is swearing at me, running ahead on the path trying to stay out of reach, glancing back over her shoulder to yell incessantly and check on my status...I didn't quite catch what she said since I was completely bewildered at what was happening.  Oh, right.  Pulled along on ground, no way to stop dogs, please keep yelling at me, it'll help!
After a few heart racing moments, I manage to get my feet underneath me and pull three of the four dogs to a stop.  Sass got loose and terrorized the woman some more before heading back with a very cocky tilt to her head.  I'm standing in the middle of the path, bruised, battered, and caked in mud...and decide that it's probably in my best interest to just head home.  The dogs didn't fight me.  I think they could tell how shocked I was.
Lesson learned: German women with bulldogs won't help you sort your shit out.  Oh, and don't walk four extremely strong and protective dogs at the same time.

2.5 weeks later

The title reminds me of that movie 28 Weeks Later, which was no where near as good as its predecessor 28 Days Later.  Have you seen it?  A zombie apocalypse [or something similar to it, at least].  The main star of the film, Cillian Murphy, is one of my favorite actors.  He was stunning as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins, but my favorite role is Jackson Rippner in Red Eye.  Admittedly not a great movie, but I did like his part in it.  Anyway.  None of this has anything to do with the point of this blog.

I left for the States 2.5 weeks ago, and wasn't really thinking much about getting back home.  But, here I am, and I'm amazed at how much things have changed it just the couple weeks I've been gone.

This was taken in a field near the house, maybe a month ago.  We walk to the field every day so the dogs can run and play, then head back up the path to go home.  When I left, the grass/weeds were only as high as my waist or so...now there are parts that are easily as tall as I am, and it all completely covers the dogs.  They used to kind of jump over everything when they chased each other through, but now, I have to watch the tops of the stalks in order to figure out where they are.  However, every once in a while, Ninja [who can easily jump at least 8 feet] will come bounding over the top of the grass, funny little ears flapping in the wind like wings.  It cracks me up.

The path we follow is equally as grown over.  Hard to navigate at times, I feel as though I should carry an old sword to chop through the undergrowth.  In all honesty, I've contemplated carrying a weed whacker through to help the worst parts back, but it seems like a lot of work...I don't like work.  I can still spot some familiar landmarks, such as my bench, a couple oddly placed clearings, and the most sinister looking gates I've ever seen.  Not this gate; another set that is mysterious and forbidding and completely creeps me out.  Kind of wish the forest would swallow it up so I wouldn't have to see it so often.

The dogs were ecstatic to see me, wiggling their little butts so much I thought they would fall off.  Ninja even kept his chin on my shoulder the entire drive home, licking my cheek whenever I turned my face.  When we got home, there was a lot of unloading/unpacking/resetting up their stuff, but as soon as I sat down, they were both instantly right beside me.  I know they thoroughly enjoyed spending time with their best puppy friends for so long, but it's also nice to feel so loved and welcome.  Dogs are pretty good at that, ya?

The house was exactly the same.  Every single thing right where I left it, windows shut, yard overgrown, rooms cold and lifeless.  That's when it hit me; I'm home.  I have left behind the vacation world of always having other people around, always having something to do, things to see.  Now I am back in my own house, which is quiet and lonely and empty, waiting for my husband to come home and breath some life into it.  I wish so badly I could go back to my family; of all the things that had to stay the same until 2.5 weeks later, it had to be the loneliness.

It's actually a little easier today.  It helped to sleep in my own bed with the pups cuddled up next to me. All the windows and doors are open, which means I'll have to chase out the bugs later on, but it's perfect for right now.  The thunderstorms that haunted us yesterday kept us inside in the dark, which made everything a tad worse.  And I only have to think "2 more months" to help cheer me up.  I'm over halfway to the hubby coming back; I can do this.  Although, I'll admit, I put extra tags on the dogs' collars just so they make more noise when they move about.

Trying to break through

The weather here in Germany has been a tad depressing lately.  Take the fact that we had a morning of snow on Monday...I'm used to a possibility of snow in April for Minnesota, but here?  After almost a month of wonderful sunshine?  Seems as though winter drear is here to stay forever.  But, every once in a great while there is a break in the clouds and the sun pours in.  The pups and I run out the door in these moments to take full advantage of the rare rays of light.  And while the gloomy weather takes up a good portion of our days here, there are still signs that spring is trying to break through to join us.

This pretty lady was waiting for me when I walked outside this morning.

The majority of my routine path is still a drab brown, but this little section brightened up my walk considerably.

My favorite bench.  Not a huge change from fall, but quite a big difference from winter.

I managed to get Sass to sit still for two seconds for a quick picture.

And of course Ninja puts on a huge smile.  Proof he's the best dog in the world.

So there's a little taste of an early German spring in my life.  How is the weather treating you in your part of the world?

I know...

...I've been MIA.  But since we still don't have internet in the house [supposedly getting it on the 21st...not getting my hopes up], I find myself more and more reluctant to make the drive to use internet.  The gas, the time, the effort to look presentable to the public.  I'd rather just not be on the internet and stay in my pajamas.  Not that I don't get out; here are a few pictures from the past couple weeks since my last post, and there's plenty of outing and abouting.

**I apologize in advance for some low quality photos.  My point & shoot is much easier to break out sometimes, and I don't always feel comfortable lugging the DSLR around when trekking through the woods.**

I drink coffee on the patio

I break out spring colors

I make sandwiches.  Tomato, mozzarella, and basil on ciabatta!  My favorite

I let my hair get shaggy

I put together packages to send to Timmy

I find abandoned farm equipment

You may ask, what about the dogs?  What do they do?  Well...

They pretty much go with me everywhere

So they're in the car a lot

But we also take a ton of walks

And we watch the clouds

And we discover nature.  This is NOT something I enjoy

Other than stuff like this, it's homework homework homework.  Oh, and getting ready for my mom to fly here in ONE WEEK.  I'm pretty excited to show her some of this [except for the nature bit...that's just gross].

Winter Wonderland

We were finally blessed with snow that stuck around for a few days, so of course the dogs and I immediately headed out to take advantage of it!

The dogs had some amazing snow mustaches.  Sass' was better, but she never sits still long enough for pictures.

I made the worst decision in the world right here.  Couldn't feel my knees.

We stopped to visit the wooly ponies.

My favorite bench.

View from our patio.  Love the snow!!!

Snow topped evergreens.

A peek at the house, and some things I don't quite get

Not furnished at all, and random things here & there, but here is a gander at our new house.  Please excuse the clutter, I don't have anywhere to put "things" yet.  And sorry this post is so long...I just can't help but take tons of pictures.

View from our bedroom

Garage & driveway.  See that ledge?  Definitely already busted my butt off of it already.

Master bedroom.

Bedroom 2, aka the walk in closet

Upstairs hall.  Left door, walk in closet.  Right door, bathroom.

Left: bathroom.  First right: Walk in closet.  Second right: master bedroom.  Straight ahead: 3rd bedroom, currently storage room

Stairs looking down from top floor to bottom

Living room from entry way

Pantry #1

Tiny oven :(

Living room from patio.  Kitchen on right, entry way & stairwell on left

Downstairs looking into laundry room (right) & bonus room (left)

Laundry room.  Before you ask, I do miss my amazing washer & dryer from the States.

Bonus room, door to back yard

Back yard.  Puny, but good for late night potty outings

My house!  Not too pretty, but it works.

Entry way, stairs leading upstairs

Entry way.  Right: half bathroom.  Left: stairs up & down

I just don't understand some German things...

Okay, tub is there.  But why is the shower head in the middle of the wall?  Weird. 

Door.  Shut.

Door.  Open. 

Door.  Open from the top?  All doors & windows are like this.  Why???

Toilet a foot from the wall.  I'm the only person short enough to use this toilet.  What's the point?

My front door.  I can't leave the house without a key.  You HAVE to have a key to open it...very much a hassle.

Just a few more things...

Sass & Gloria the Hippo.

First meal in our new house.  Spaghetti!  

Sass being a cutie

One of the paths I walk with the pups

Lonely old bench

The End.