Monster Goes To Skyrim

This is home.



Quite a climb. But worth it!

Monster is enjoying himself too. While he doesn't appreciate the surroundings as familiar and comfortable (quite the opposite, he doesn't like being away from home), he does appreciate the freedom. I know the people here (I'm related to most of them), I know their dogs (I don't think I'm related to them), and I know their routines. I know where to go to be alone (pretty much everywhere, there is no shortage of "alone" here), and can let Monster off leash daily.

Hey, I'm not off leash! You're just not holding on!

Within sight of a village I just let the leash drag, but once we're a couple of minutes away I take it off completely and let him run.

Hey, are you coming or what? It's not that steep!

He does range out from me a little, but he keeps track of me and checks in regularly. He never goes out of sight. Deliberately...

Sometimes if he's found an interesting scent or heard some strange noise he'll lose focus and forget about me. That's when I turn back the way we came, or just step behind a rock or tree. A few seconds later:

MOMMMMMYYY!?!?!?!

He'll come racing back, looking frantically left and right trying to find me as he's running (we've done this before so he knows I might be hiding off to the side and he'll run right past unless he's careful), and nearly bowls me over once he spots me. After one of these little reminders he makes sure to be more attentive.

I really love being here, I miss the forest like nothing else when I'm not here. Monster is beginning to appreciate it more each day. There's lots to see.

Mom! I made a billion new friends!

The mosquitoes - and the awful black flies - are a problem, Monster doesn't have the tolerance for them that the locals do and gets huge red bites all over. But I think it's starting to get better by now...

Mosquitoes aren't the biggest problem though. Snakes are very common here, although so far I've only almost stepped on one - that I know of. They're not necessarily very dangerous, as dogs react differently to the poison, but they can be lethal. My biggest concern is the bears, however. Before I didn't really worry about them very much. You pay attention, and make sure to make a bit of noise as you're walking (not a problem for me, I'm naturally gifted in the "making noise" department, stumbling and tripping all over the place), and that usually does it. Most bears stay well away from people if given the choice, and even bears who don't run off are just a little curious. But with Monster... What would he actually do if we happened upon a bear? I have a sneaking suspicion, so I make sure to talk, laugh, and generally make a fool of myself nonstop as soon as we step outside the village. Just in case.

Nah, come on! If they live here they must be nice...

It really is lovely here, though. No way we're not going into the forests.

Hey, check it out, the ground here is like a giant cushion!

I swear, Mom, I didn't do anything! I just sneezed...

Oooooh... I thought trees generally had more ground to hold on to...

Hey, that's where we live, right?!

Come on, let's go back down again, I'm thirsty.

Huh... Even the flat roads are different here...

I'm not joking about the title, you know. One of the reasons I like playing Skyrim is the feeling that just over the next hill I'm going to find my house. It feels like home. (Although bears here don't grunt a warning at a certain distance and then attack, wolves are very rare, and I hardly ever come across a draugr...)

Monster doesn't play though. Perhaps if he did he'd feel more at home too!

Now my stolen internet access ran out several minutes ago, gotta go! Don't know when we can drop by again, but I'll try to update when I can.

The Monster Is Out

We're going away. 14 hours in the car will soon be behind us (hopefully), and then follows the ? weeks we'll be staying gone. I won't be able to update the blog, as we're traveling back in time to where the internet is a newfangled idea them scientists are fiddling with.

Have a great summer everyone, and think about Monster and I toiling away at the sawmill while you're lazing at the beach. See you as soon as possible.

Your lives will be empty without us...

Happy Midsummer!

Today has been the traditional Midsummer's Eve, with rain, rain, rain...

Monster does not appreciate the heavens pouring water on him, and objects quite strongly. Not much to be done about the weather though, so he'll just have to learn to suck it up.

This is what summer is supposed to be!

Blog Neglect

I know, I know, I've been neglecting the blog again... I was about to post all the excuses I had lined up in my head, but for once I caught myself. No excuses.

Yeah, right...

Monster is fine, we're still working on his issues. No great successes, no great setbacks. He thinks the weather is very warm, and he does not appreciate strange men changing the tires of the car when he's in it...

They were stealing pieces of our car!

Now, the thing is... There's a reason Tin Can was having his tires looked at. It turns out Monster and I have to go for a trip next week. And it's sort of a trip back in time, as there's no reliable internet connection where we're going (no, not kidding). So the blog is about to be really neglected. Sorry about that, it came as a bit of a surprise to us too. Most likely the blog will be in a coma for a couple of weeks (or more, not sure how long we'll have to stay), but I'll try to take some photos and write down Monster's adventures so we'll have something to say when we get back to civilization again.

There, that took the focus away from me not having posted anything while I still could, right?

Just how dumb are you?!

Today's Cloud

Oh, you can just forget it. I'm not complaining about anything today!

Damn straight! No one can complain with a dog like me in their life!

Today's Sunshine

Today Monster and I met two children. Oh no! They each had a dog with them. Oh no! Monster spotted them, and I started winding the leash around my hand for a secure grip while steering him out in an angle (there was no real option to turn back, and there was more space if we went forward rather than stayed put). Monster kept glancing up at them, and I kept waiting for the point when he'd fixate and no longer respond to me. We kept walking. Kept walking. And... We'd passed them!

That was fun! Wanna go again?

We met them head on, albeit with Monster and I ten-fifteen feet off to the side of the road. We even said hello to each other! Monster was fully aware they were there, but it just worked!

I can't describe to you how great that felt! I do know that I'm going to depend too much on this one situation in the future, and expect things I'm fully aware I shouldn't, but it's worth it!

Great day!

Today's Cloud

I'm getting frustrated I can't bring Monster's stress levels down and his interest in me up, when we're out for a walk. At home I'm more or less Monster's entire world.

Conceited much?

Away from home I shrink into someone tiny and insignificant. He's so tightly wound he'd twang if I slapped him (no, I'm not going to, relax!), and he won't even play with a tug toy most of the time. It hurts to see him this way, and it really hurts any progress we can make in training.

Me? Stressed? What are you talking about? *yaaawn*

I know things can be different. I know I need to change this. I just don't know how to go about it...