New digs, my dog, and me

Nadia and I are very excited about our new place.  While we miss our long time previous "roomies" we are happy to be residing in Minnetonka, MN.  It is a super quick drive in to work for me, which also subsequently means a super quick drive home.  Nadia is still adjusting to all apartment noises and currently working on having a "quiet voice", and not waking up in the middle of the night with ear piercing barks because the neighbors slammed the door.

I kicked my human off the computer... What she doesn't realize is I am only trying to protect her so she'll just have to live with me alerting her at 1 a.m. and at 5 a.m. that someone is up and walking around the house.  And I don't know what this "quiet voice" stuff is because when she sees other humans she says "hi" or talks to them.  It'd be like me telling her to "stuff it" or "be quiet" when she saw other humans.  Anyhow I digress...  she is right about one thing, I am getting used to being the one and only dog.  I like it so far...

Our new digs:

The Kitchen.  My human made wild rice soup today.

The Living room- if you can see I like to sit on her lazy chair!  Well, and I leave my toys on the floor for my human to pick up after me.

The Bedroom.  My human still has lots of stuff to put away or store.  BTW, my human is currently ready "Out of Our Minds" by Sir Ken Robinson.  She is "out of her mind" but then again you probably knew that.

Yes... she color coordinates her closet!  Like I said, 'out of her mind'!

The Lavatory

As you can see... I sometimes sit here looking sad.  I makes my human feel bad for me.

And sometimes I stand at the door and whine, so my human will take me out for a walk.  It works!!  :)

And lastly, this is the window I sit in front of looking for other like minded species.  I let my human know there are others by barking.  :)

A walk on the beach...

could look like this:

Large Aloe Plant

I was trying to capture sometime entirely different... but ended up with sports on the beach.

I don't actually know what this is.

Some sit and ponder

And some people go to the beach to sit under tree shading.

On the path to nature observatory...

Made it to the "observation look out" where supposedly I could see whales.  Sadly no whales were seen, but seals were heard.

I was serenaded while I was looking for whales

At the look out but I see no whales. #sadday

As seen at the look out...

Back to the beach for the rest of the walk

Sometimes the sound of the ocean is deafening

Lobster shell?

Some surf and don't realize someone is photographing them..

This little critter popped up to say hello

Sometimes when you walk on a beach you return to a place like this... The St. Regis.

And complete your walk in the Botanical Gardens.

It's not often...

that I cry.  Although, I cried last night and I cried multiple times today.

As one who is understanding of much and many, it is a difficult lesson to learn when those you thought were friends who care about you and understand you, don't, and most likely never will.

Nadia, my little 8 pounder, understood my tears more than I would have ever expected.  She looked at me with concern in her eyes and attempted to cheer me up by sporadically wagging her tail.  Her attempts were not lost on me, although I didn't cheer up then.

I am...

genetically mutated.  Or, perhaps better said, is I have a genetically mutated gene.  More specifically a MC1R mutation on the 16th gene.  This making me a...

well I'll let you guess.  A person with a MC1R mutation on the 16th gene are stereotypically known to be: fiery-tempered, opinionated, evil, crazy, ill tempered, sassy, ugly, strong willed, aggressive, smart, fun loving, free spirited and the list goes on.

• As a child I was teased but never because of this, perhaps because the mutation isn't as strong on me as it is for my sister Leah.
• Because society encourages it, I blame my temper on this mutation.
• Having this genetic mutation makes it difficult for anesthetics to work
• This genetic mutation is also related to those with fair skin giving them an increased risk of skin cancer.
• This mutation happens naturally in less than 4% of the world population, and less than 2% of the US population

Some may question if having this mutation really affects anesthetics?  From my personal experiences I can say, "Yes, it does."  For example, during one dentist visit I informed the dentist that it seems to take more Novocain shots than most to get me numb.  To which he responded, "Oh this is a easy place to give a shot, it'll only take one or two."  Thirteen shots of alternating Novocain and Lidocaine later, he conceded and said, "I should have listened to you."  

Having now had more than 20 skin spots removed all of which are "atypical" or in some words precancerous, I can say, yes it is difficult for anesthetics to work with a person with this mutation.  Once while have four skin lesions removed the dermatologist suggested to the medical assistant that she numb all incision sites prior to her making the cuts.  The MA did as she was instructed.  The dermatologist waited a few minutes to return to the room to start the lesion removal.  She stated, "These areas look nice and numb."  As she started her first cut, I nearly knocked her over because, I FELT THE CUT!  After this incident she graciously explained to me that "there is research that suggests tall thin redheaded woman metabolism anesthetics much quicker than the regular population.  I guess this research was right."  From here on out she gave 3 times the amount of local anesthetics to each incision site.  I think it was the safest route for her so she didn't have to worry about getting the wind knocked out of her.

A MC1R mutation on the 16th gene = being a redhead.  I am, a redhead.  I do have: a temper. I am opinionated.  And, I am sassy amongst a list of other positive attributes.

I dare you to know me for who I am, rather than my hair color.