Life As A Moore...: Unexpected trip to Tolmie...

So, here we are...hopefully less than 2 weeks until James gets home! It feels good to know that we're into the single digits -- considering the time frame surrounding his flight out of that awful country. With getting so close, I've tried to stay as busy as possible so as to not spend my days staring at the calender.

I had originally planned on meeting with a friend up in Tacoma this afternoon, but that unfortunately didn't pan out. I suppose with having only gotten about four hours of sleep, it was probably a blessing in disguise. With the cancellation came a nice long nap! By that point, I fully intended to just be lazy and bum around the house for the rest of the day. However, the later it got in the afternoon, the nicer the weather got and I realized I had better take advantage of it. So I grabbed another friend and went to a local park on the Sound. I figured it would be a good way for us to hang out and enjoy the nice weather. Not to mention, I could toy around with the new camera!

With knowing I was going to take the camera with me, I had to figure out a way to keep Oba under control. That crazy basset doesn't do too well with the leash -- at least not with me! You'd think he had no manners at all when we go on walks. With all the pulling, choking, stopping in his tracks to sniff, etc., taking Obadiah out can be quite an adventure. Knowing that in advance, I searched through his rubbermaids (yes, he has that much junk to his name) for his old prong collar or something else that would keep him in line. Unfortunately, I couldn't find his prong collar, but I found one of those gentle leaders instead. It's one of those attachments that goes over his muzzle and helps control him a little better. I've only used it once before (several years ago), and got a complaint from a jogger claiming that I was abusing Obadiah -- he has a way of making himself look like the victim, doesn't he? Even though I had it on him correctly, the comment was enough to make me never use it again...until today. Wow...what a difference that thing makes! Oba didn't pull me once during the entire trip! Unfortunately for that poor pup, it will now become a staple when taking him out.

So with Oba decked out in his gear and ready to go, we headed to the park. I don't know if it was the time of day that we chose to go or what, but the park was nearly empty. I was relieved to see that after having experienced a baby convention the last time I went (when my sister was in town). I mean, the friend that came with me has a daughter and it's sometimes hard being around her, but with the way my friend handles our situation, it's doable -- especially when it's just her and not tons of other little kids surrounding us as well. The only thing that's hard is that at times, I can't help but look at my friend's daughter and think of Livy and how she should be here interacting with her. I suppose that's just part of it though. I'm just glad that her daughter doesn't cause the stabbing pain that some do, so that's one positive point. The more we hang out, the less the painful aspects of all of this consume my mind, and the more I can just enjoy her sweet little girl. In fact, she ended up being in half the pictures I took today. It's too bad Liv's not here to be in them as well...

Oh well. We had a good time, and I came away with lots of pictures. I still don't know exactly what I'm doing with the camera, but I'll get there as I use it more often. Here are several pictures from our afternoon... (Click the image for an enlarged view)

Poor Oba wasn't too keen on using the gentle leader...