I see I have neglected to blog anything for nearly a month. I could offer many excuses, but being an adult is not really one of them.

My ancient dryer broke this week. Because I’m paranoid about running appliances when I’m not at home, I was luckily in the house when this dramatic event took place. Dramatic due to the screeching metal-on-metal sound it made as it was attempting to perform what was no doubt its last job.

So I need a new dryer now. As luck would have it, I really had no plans this weekend. Sears isn’t that far away.

Yeah. This is a picture of me not adulting.

I decided purchasing a new dryer this weekend seemed too overwhelming and instead I hung out all my laundry today. I even purchased another $9.99 rack to assist with the job.

Okay, well, I am sort of adulting during the weekdays. I am finding I definitely enjoy being my own boss. The lack of a safety net at times is sometimes scary, but as I’m not prone to being terribly adult, I try not to think of that too often. Being as it’s scary and all. Yet, it’s also rather exhilarating. I’m one of those sorts that find the thrill of the unknown basically pretty fun. Scary, immature perhaps, but fun.

I did adult a little bit, and gained some new business as a result. I’m thinking I should be adulting more come early fall. But only after August is over because summer.

One thing I’m not doing much of, in addition to being much of an adult, is agility.

Camm being broken took the wind right out of my sails.

That sounds like I am sad and disappointed. I was a tiny bit the week she broke her foot, but I was also planning on an agility break with the boys anyway. Originally, I was just going to play with her all summer. But she got broken and was ordered to be basically inactive for eight weeks.

How’s that going you ask?

Surprisingly well actually.

This photo was taken by a friend and was one of three occasions in the past nearly eight weeks where Camm left the insane asylum that also serves as her home.

I’m extremely lucky in that all of my border collies understand the concept of being chill and seem to have some innate sense that healing is taking place and being dull and boring is good for them. Notice I said border collies. Lord forbid if Jasmine ever needs some extended downtime.

It does make me very sad though when Camm gives the other three dogs a very thorough once-over when we return from a hike and then leans in to me and offers hugs and kisses. I try to assure her that soon enough she’ll be running and playing and going on all the fun adventures too.

This week will be eight weeks since the break and I’m hoping the x-rays will be positive and we can start rehab work.

In the meantime, the break from agility has been downright wonderful. To make the break even more complete, my relationship counselor has been traveling to exotic locales and offering her sage advice to others. This has allowed me to spend time and bond with Brady and Youke on a more organic level. We’re still doing once weekly agility classes, at least when not interrupted by Camm’s vet appointments, but oddly, I’m feeling zero compulsion to really do agility. Conversely, this has resulted in what dawned on me a few weeks ago as the first major breakthrough in training I’ve seen for a while.

I’ve fretted for some time about the exceedingly slow pace at which I accumulate Chances qualifications with my boys, despite having the apparent skill set. Yet in the last few weeks, I’m seeing the boys do some very cool stuff distance-wise that makes me so happy. This translates to me having more confidence in what I’m signaling, which in turn translates to them having more confidence in me as a handler. And if one or the other of us fucks up, who cares? It’s just training – basically play – and I can’t take it that seriously. Plus, the most marvelous thing of all is that I feel no real desire to trial and see if the skills translate into a trial setting.

I was actually super happy that I gained a new client this month who required service over the weekend, thus preventing me from possibly arising at o’dark thirty to trek up north for a few hours and enter a trial. Yeah, we went on a hike instead.

Hiking. Back to basics with Jasmine, Youke and Brady and back to old haunts that I haven’t taken them to for the past couple of years. Also, back to late day, almost evening, hikes.

Last night I took Jasmine, Youke and Brady up a trail that was gloriously free of other hikers. It was the second hike this week for the three of them. That’s down from three hikes the prior week.

We haven’t really done anything epic this summer as my work schedule revolves around morning and midday hours, thus limiting our jaunts to late afternoon if I’m feeling energetic, or evening if I’m not.

Of course, I should be doing grown-up things, like grocery shopping, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, doing paperwork, maybe even updating my blog.

Eh. So overrated.

I was so happy the other day when I discovered a bag of tortilla chips in the garage. They weren’t even that stale and made a great dinner with leftover salsa from something I can’t remember but at least wasn’t moldy.

Even getting my oil changed seems like  huge commitment of time these days. Time that I could be spending with my dogs out on a trail somewhere. or time I could be planted on my couch or in a chair on my deck, reading.

I did at least use one of my agility free weekends to vacuum my house and tidy up a bit. Two weeks ago.

I find it very hard to adult when I’m not working. Woods and books are just too appealing.