Size 12 by St Patrick's Day!: Raffle Dog

Showing posts with label Raffle Dog. Show all posts

149.6 Spokane Fall Leaves, Raffle, and Oreo Picture

I love the beautiful fall leaves! This is me out in them with Raffle and Oreo, about two weeks ago. It was sunnier and warmer then. Now, I wear my snow coat whenever I go out; it's that chilly and windy out. The sky isn't blue anymore, either. It's once again cloudy every day. Believe it or not, I actually prefer the clouds. I had the sun in my eyes for 45 years down in California.

I just adore this huge maple tree that I pass under every time we go on our walk in the park. No one lives here right now, and so none of the leaves have been raked. They are two feet deep in places! This is the spot where I first realized it was too autumn here in Spokane as early as August, when the leaves started crunching under our feet.

Most of the trees here in Spokane are evergreen pines, but we do have a smattering of Maples and other picturesque deciduous trees that people have planted in their yards and in parks. Even the pines get a bit brown in early fall, though, because we don't get rain all summer. There are pine needles all over the ground, mixed in with the fallen Maple leaves. It is quite pretty on the green grass.
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My weight got up as high as 152 yesterday, because of all the Halloween candy I ate on October 31 and November 1. I also awoke with a migraine Nov 2, and I blame all that sugar. I have learned my lesson: I can indulge for one day, but I get a migraine if I stretch it to two days, as well as terrible weight gain. I lost 2.4 pounds yesterday, though. I was in bed all day with a migraine, so I didn't get any exercise. Here is what I ate:

Half a packet of plain instant oatmeal, handful of raw baby carrots, four slices of wheat toast with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter, 1/4 can Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup

148.8 Raffle Guarding Our Campsite

Raffle dug himself a bed where he could guard the main entrance to our campsite. This nice firepit was already built, including a grill we could put our pot on. We set the pot in the dirt to cool after boiling the water, and then poured the water into plastic canteens such as the one in the photo.

We decided that next time we camp in this area we are choosing a different campsite, though. We were near water, but we had to hike up this hill in the middle of the night to get far enough away from the water to relieve ourselves. We think it would be more convenient to sleep away from the water. Only a third of the hill made it into this photo. It's a nasty hill, especially in the dark.

I lost 1.2 pounds yesterday, and am back inside my weight-loss goal of 145 to 149.9 pounds. For exercise, we walked the dogs our 1.3 mile circuit down to the local park, around three times, and back. I also did random housework for my usual 30 minutes daily. Here is what I ate yesterday and managed to lose 1.2 pounds:

Special K and organic soy milk

2 slices Costco combo pizza
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
El Monterey bean and cheese burrito with salsa
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms

147.8 Out-Smiled by a Dog!

I lost .6 pounds yesterday. I walked the dogs 1.3 miles in the park. Now that we have our new Garmin Montana 650T GPS for backpacking, we know our usual daily walking route is 1.3 miles.

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost .6 pounds, along with walking 1.3 miles:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
1/2 a raspberry walnut chocolate bar from REI
1/3 of an apple
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
Chili Dip
3 eggs scrambled in a pat of butter with half an onion, sauteed
1/2 cup peanut M&Ms
10 corn tortilla chips

Raffle is better at smiling for the camera than I am! Look how smug he is, too, kind of chuckling as the sun makes me make that squinchy face. Can you guess what breed of dog Raffle is? It is not a common breed here in Washington State, let me just warn you. Well, he is a mutt, but can you guess what breeds contributed to him?

148.6 New Dog Aliens 1 Cover!

What do you think of the cover that Scarlett Rugers whipped up for me on a dare! I posted this photo of Raffle in the backpack because I thought the reflectors and his red eyes made him look more like he was from outer space. I painstakingly got rid of the grassy background in the photo. She told me "Well done!" and she was encouraging, but others said this photo would never make a convincing book cover. Less than 30 minutes later, Scarlett posted "Challenge Accepted," along with this cover!

So far, the book is 19 5x8 pages. Guess I had better get busy making it closer to 100 5x8 pages pretty fast if I want it released by the beginning of December!

In case you can't quite tell by the cover, this will be a series called Dog Aliens. This is book 1, the story of how Raffle got his name and came to live with us.

I gained .2 pounds yesterday. I walked a mile twice, first in the morning with both dogs, and later in the evening with just Oreo and with Scott walking Raffle. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
2 slices of wheat toast with 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
Chili Dip
2 1/4 cup servings of peanut M&Ms
Salmon patty with 2 tablespoons Robert Rothschild Farm Roasted Pineapple Habanero Sauce
Steamed broccoli
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms

148.4 August is Not Fall

August 22 is mid summer, not fall! I know school starts for many in August now, but summer starts on summer solstice toward the end of June and continues for three months until the later days of Septemer.

The entire month of August is firmly in summer, despite what a local DJ said the other day about it now being early autumn. No, no, no, it is not!

Here in Spokane, though, you can already feel the air getting cooler. Late July was definitely hot, in the 90s every day and over 100 some days. August is not as hot, especially in the mornings when it can be in the 50s, but it still gets up into the 80s by each afternoon.

Let's not rush fall! It will be here soon enough.

I think this is a great shot of all three of us: Me, Oreo, and Raffle! It's from our walk this morning.

I gained .2 pounds yesterday, but that is fine. I am well within my goal weight range of 145 pounds to 149.9 pounds, at 148.4 pounds. For exercise yesterday I walked a mile. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
Sliced Gala apple candied with two tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Chili Dip
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms

Contact Info / Pack Photos

Cherise Kelley
cherisek52 at gmail.com

Here is a photo of our whole "pack." :)

Our real dog Raffle inspired my Dog Aliens novels. We adopted him from the animal shelter at five months old. He was the most obedient dog I ever met or heard about. One time, a cashier at the pet supply store tried to give Raffle a dog biscuit. He looked at my husband for approval before he took the treat!

Oreo really was a little rascal at first, too. It took him a few years to settle down and decide to stay with us. The book I wrote about him is my speculation on why, on what happened to him before he came to us that made him distrust humans so much.

I hope you enjoy these photos of Raffle and Oreo.

Raffle was a very serious dog. Very intelligent, too. This photo shows that a bit.

This is my favorite photo of Raffle! There was no one at the camera. It was sitting on top of a cinder-block wall, on a timer. Raffle looked at the camera and smiled because I did! Oreo is doing his own thing, as usual.

Below is Mommy Raffle, taking his duty to help care for Oreo seriously. This comes out in Dog Aliens 2.

148.4 Raffle Dog

Here's a portrait of my dog Raffle. He is so smart and so eager to please. He knew just what I wanted when I took the camera out to take his photo! He posed so seriously. I think you can see in his eyes that he is an old soul. I think it's cute that his name is showing on his blue tag, too.

This is in an alley near the house we rent. The grass is dry now because it hasn't rained in awhile. Unfortunately, it makes the scene look really Western / cowboy, instead of like the Pacific Northwest. Oh well.

I gained .4 pounds yesterday. I did an hour of gardening at our church in the morning and walked twice, once with both dogs and once with my dog and Scott leading his dog. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, blueberries, and organic soy milk
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
2 El Monterey beef and bean burritos with salsa
Salmon patty with 2 tablespoons Robert Rothschild Farm Roasted Pineapple Habanero Sauce
Raw baby carrots
1/4 cup peanut M&Ms
10 corn tortilla chips
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips