Life with Rua

OK, here is the rest of the story.  It started with the 99Designs contest that I launched for the creation of our KangaRua logo back in February, for our still-yet-to-be completed website for selling collars, leashes & more!

To pick up where I left off, this is about our new friend, the design contest winner.  To back up a little, the contest was quite an interesting process.  You end up working with a number of designers from all over (in this case, the one I went with was from Croatia), working to create a custom design for you.  During this entire process, you leave feedback and the designer, hopefully understands, and makes changes.  And you continue this back and forth process.  There is no face-to-face, no Go ToMeeting, or no phone calls.  One designer stood out above the rest.  I could not believe how well they listened, how well they requested feedback, and the amount of patience they had (hey, I am an accountant trying to put into words, changes I wanted to the design).  I was pretty sure I was talking to a female, because sorry guys, most of the men I have known don’t communicate well at all.

It wasn’t until the entire process was complete and I had selected the winner, that I found out that my design winner was not female.  Not only was my design winner a male, but he was only 19, living in a small town in Croatia, working on his degree in multimedia.  Oh, and did I mention that English is his SECOND language!

Life is quite funny, because I am pretty sure that if we would have bumped into each on the street, we never would have had a conversation with each other.  We are 1/2 a world apart, figuratively and literally.  Vedran likes heavy metal music, has long, puffy hair, wears black and doc martens!  He will act like a child with his friends, having fun, goofing off, and doing things that teenagers will do.  I, on the other hand, am middle-aged (oh, that is painful to put down in words), like country music, have a type-A personality and am an accountant.

During the past 2-1/2 months, Vedran and I have been communicating via email on a regular basis.  I am enjoying getting to know this wonderful and talented young man…learning about the his life in Croatia, his family, his friends, what he likes to do, etc.  He is also a huge fan of Rua (how can I not like him for that), so I send him lots of pictures of Rua and her new California Girl adventures!  I would be so proud to be able to call this fine young man my son!

As I said before, if we would have met on the street, we would have never spoken a word to each other.  There is a singing competition on TV called The Voice.  It starts with blind auditions where a panel of 4 highly talented and successful singers pick people to be on their team strictly based on their singing abilities.

What I have learned from this experience in getting to know Vedran, is life should be more like The Voice.  Don’t judge people on their age, the way they choose to dress, or the company they keep.  You might just miss the opportunity to form a friendship with a wonderful person.

I am blessed to be able to call Vedran my friend.

I love my Life with Rua!

It was a first for Rua today.  I let her off her leash.  Finally.  It wasn’t easy.  I just kept thinking about her running with joy….straight into traffic.  We were at a DoodleKisses romp at Crissy Field in San Francisco.  Lot’s of beach, pleny of people.  It was beautiful in San Mateo when we left at 10:15.  Foggy and cool in San Francisco.

I had her on a long lead.

She was playing in the water.

She actually was not shy about telling off a dog that got in her way.

20′ was all she could go!

Finally, after much gentle encouragement from others (OK, so Rua was the ONLY dog on the WHOLE beach who was tethered to her Momma), I took the lead off of Rua!

Woo Hoo!  Free at last!

Rua – SF Doodle Romp

While it wasn’t a warm day at the beach, it was a significant day.

It was a first for me…I let Rua off her lead.  And she did run up to the beach road, chasing after her friend Izzy who was chasing after a bird.  Scared the crap out of me.  But, we all made it through.

Rua was one tired puppy at the end of the day.

We both grew alot today.

I love my Life with Rua!

Last Friday, April 13th, my brother Ralph flew out from California to drive back with us.  I picked him up at the Omaha Nebraska airport at 2:15 PM and we literally hit the road, after picking up lunch for him at McDonald’s.  Rua was safely fastened into the back seat and the SUV was loaded to the brim.  The original intention was to arrive in San Mateo CA Sunday, around 4PM.  That would put us there in time to join everyone for our sister Dawn’s birthday dinner at sister April’s house.

I drove the first 3 hours or so partially across Nebraska.  If you have ever driven across Nebraska, you know it seems to go on forever.  The plan was to drive to Sidney NE and spend the night.  But, as we got close to Sidney we decided we could go further than that so we decided to go to Cheyenne WY instead.  Well, Ralph didn’t mind driving, and I was a woman on a mission, so before we knew it, we arrived in Rawlins, WY at 11:15 PM (gained an hour).  We drove approximately 630 miles on Friday.  Rua was such a great little traveler, sleeping quite a bit of the way.

We spent the night at the Days Inn.  I didn’t sleep very much, excited about arriving in CA and trying to keep Rua from barking at every little noise she heard.  Her kennel was packed at the bottom of the pile and I didn’t want to have to unpack the entire back end of the SUV to get it out.  We got up about 6AM, and after the nice hot breakfast the motel provided, we got back on the road at 7:04.  We encountered some snow and slushy conditions during the first 1 or so of the drive on Saturday morning.  About 40 minutes into the drive, I noticed a semi ahead of us with Arpin written across the back of the trailer.  I announced to my brother that my stuff was on that truck!  As we passed the truck, I read Holiday Van & Storage – Omaha, NE on the side of the cab.  We did indeed pass my belongs.  What a small world!

Based on the amount of road time we had done the day before, we knew that, while it would be a long drive, we could reach San Mateo late that evening, so we went for it.  We had 1050 miles to travel.  It was a really long ride for Rua and come late afternoon, it had taken a toll on her.  The poor little thing was so darn tired she was sleeping sitting up.

I had hoped to be able to use my little Toshiba Netbook, tethered to my cell phone accessing the internet, but the vast majority of the trip we had no cell service.   Everyone was expecting us to arrive on Sunday, and it wasn’t until 5:30 that we were finally able to tell everyone we were going to arrive later that evening.

We finally pulled into sister Dawn’s driveway at 10:07 PM Saturday evening after 16 hours of travel.  It was such a long day but so well worth it to finally arrive in California and be here with family.  It was nice knowing we could get a good nights sleep and be able to spend the whole day with the birthday girl.  Here is our first picture together as California Girls!

Rua and I were both pretty tired and both of us slept pretty well on Saturday night.  I was sleeping on a blow up mattress and I put Rua in her kennel since I didn’t want her barking should she hear strange noises.

Over the past few days we have been getting settled into sister Dawn’s house and our “room”.  Our stuff arrived yesterday and last night, for the first time since March 27th, Rua & I both slept in our own bed.  I was a bit concerned Rua might bark at strange noises, but she was a good girl.

Today, we truly embraced life as California Girls.  I needed to pick some food up for Rua and chose to drive to Pacifica to get it (about 25 minutes on the California coast).  It was a beautiful day for a drive, so Rua and I took off, with the GPS guiding the way.  We encountered no traffic to speak of, thank goodness.  I can’t even tell describe the feeling I got when the Pacific Ocean first came into view.  Looking at the ocean made me feel so incredibly happy.

After we picked up some food for Rua, I drove up the road a bit towards a pier and found a place to park.  Rua and I took a little walk and then decided to walk down to the beach.  Here are some pictures of the beach and of Rua playing in the sand!

Rua really, and I do mean REALLY, loved the beach.  Here are a couple of videos!

Rua at the Beach

Rua – In the Ocean

It was a wonderful day!  We are truly California Girls now.

I love my Life with Rua!

I am happy to say the packing is done and most of my remaining furniture and belongings (sold most of my furniture, went through 95% of my stuff…purged, donated or kept) were loaded up on a truck on Wednesday, March 28th.  And, most thankfully, the sale of the house closed on Friday, March 30th.  It has been quite a physically and emotionally exhausting ordeal, but that phase is now over.

Now, the ‘living in limbo’ phase has begun.  Rua and our SUV full of stuff moved into Rua’s Papa’s apartment on Wednesday where we will stay until Saturday, April 14th.  I failed to appreciate how protective Rua is of me (all 17.4lbs of her).  A door slams…Rua barks.  A door opens…Rua barks.  A person walks into the apartment building…Rua barks.  I think you get the picture.  OMD (Oh My Doodle)…my poor Bella Rua.  The first 2 days, she alternated between growling and barking…with me trying to assure her Momma was OK and to get over it.  The first 2 nights neither one of us slept much.  I was so exhausted and my body was aching and my heart was broken, but I couldn’t sleep because the room was too light, the bed hurt my back and Rua kept growling and barking.  I tried to keep her quite as I didn’t want to get kicked us out of our temporary living situation!  About 11pm on the third night (Friday, 3/30), after repeatedly trying to keep Rua from growling and barking, I had a brilliant idea…put her in her crate (she stopped sleeping in her crate quite a while ago and I only use it when I leave her alone)!  She settled down and slept for the rest of the night.  Thank God.  So, as much as I will miss my little cuddle bug for the next few weeks, she must feel I am safe and secure when she is in her crate.  I also must say she is getting a bit better during the day and the evening and not growling and barking at every little noise.  Rua will be in daycare during the day while I am at work during my last two weeks at work so I am sure to have a nice, quiet, tired girl during the evening.

Living in Limbo doesn’t mean we stop having fun, though.  Yesterday was a beautiful day out and the Three Dog Bakery (here in Omaha) was sponsoring a fundraising event for the Nebraska Human Society, a Easter Begg Hunt!  In a little open park, they had thousands of plastic Easter eggs, filled with doggie treats and had a best Easter/spring outfit contest and a little cake walk.

While it is hard to believe that Rua didn’t win the prize for Best Spring outfit, she enjoyed the treat-filled eggs and meeting MOST of the other doggies.  As we were leaving, a local TV station reporter stopped us and asked if he could film us for a segment they were doing for the Humane Society.

Another beautiful day on the horizon, with temperatures getting up to 88 degrees today!  So, my Bella Rua and I are going to pack up her carry bag, grab the camera, and go find a park to explore somewhere.

Only 13 more days until we will be leaving Omaha Nebraska for good and hit the road to California.

I love my Life with Rua!

OK, so there is lot’s going on right now.  Rua & I are making the big move out to California starting on Saturday, April 14th.  Brother Ralph will be flying out on Friday, April 13th (I know, but what can I say) to help drive us back to California.  Actually, he said he would take the first 25 hours (26 hour trip…how lucky am I). 

I can’t even tell you how many lists of things to do I have.  Get 3 quotes, obtain boxes, schedule final reads, sell stuff, obtain new email (won’t have same provider in CA), plan packing (purge, toss, donate, take), arrange storage in CA, figure out what goes on the truck (further sorted by what goes into storage, what goes to sister Dawn’s), what goes in my vehicle, etc.

Fortunately, my house has sold, with a March 30th closing date.  I am going to miss my house.  I designed the layout and had it custom built on a beautiful golf course lot.  Moved into it on May 29, 2009. 

The moving truck is coming next Tuesday 3/27 or Wednesday, so the past few weeks have involved much preparation.  Since most of my stuff (hardly any furnishings left since I sold stuff off) will end up in storage since I am temporarily moving in with my sister Dawn, I am cataloging what is in each box.  It will make finding things much easier should I need something while it is in storage.  I have been doing a major purge while I am at it.  What complicates things is all my stuff will be loaded up on a truck next week but I still have a commitment to work until April 13th.  So, Rua and I will be guests at Rua’s papa’s new apartment for a little over a few weeks, living out of our suitcases!

Rua seems to be taking this pretty well.  The only things in the living room right now are a couple of patio chairs, boxes and my “packing” station.  She will plop herself down and watch (OK, she falls asleep…packing is that boring)!  Right now “drop it” is the phrase I seem to be using the most.  I have a small box with paper garbage, empty tape rolls, etc., and she can’t help herself…she keeps getting into it.  Actually, I just have to say “Ruaaaaaa” in my “what are you doing voice” and she quickly opens her mouth and releases her prized possession. 

It is also taking me a long time to pack up because several weeks ago I threw out my back, picking Rua up, of all things.  I was sitting in my office chair, twisted to the side and picked her up.  I was flat on my back for 3 days. I am at about 70% right now, so I am really being careful since I don’t want to go backwards.

Rua and I visited my stylist, Christina, last Thursday.  I actually started going to Christina over 6 years ago when I first moved to Omaha and I am going to miss her when I leave here.  Rua will come with me on occasion, since I don’t like leaving her alone!  (I am going to look for a job in California that allows you to take your well-behaved dog to work.)  Well, Rua & I both got a salon treatment on Thursday night.

Nothing says spring time like a new purple feather and her favorite spring dress!  And she was so happy….it still fit from last year!

I love my Life with Rua!

As many of you know, last summer when I decided to start this blog, I reached out to some of my Doodle Kisses (DK) friends for help picking out the URL for this blog.  I had a list of 5 possibilities.  A few were ‘BellaRua’ and ‘Life with Rua’.  I knew I also wanted to end up selling collars, leashes & more.  While ‘Life with Rua’ really seemed like the perfect name for a blog, it just didn’t seem to fit when it came to selling products.  

Kona & Owen’s (Doodles) mom, Bonnie suggested KangaRua, since I sometimes call Rua that.

I need to digress just a bit.  It all started on March 26, 2011 (Rua was just 8 months old).  I was working on training Rua, when I noticed a baggy on the living room floor…chewed open and EMPTY.  It contained a good handful of prime, cut up training treats.  For the life of me I didn’t remember leaving it anywhere Rua could reach it.  But, a few minutes later, I heard a sound and low-and-behold, I caught her in mid-jump.

Note the action of her ears as she was in mid-bounce!  My sweet little girl was countersurfing!

 As you can see, she isn’t a big puppy.  She has short little legs and probably only weighed about 15 pounds at this time (she is only 17.4lbs now).

Then, a few months later I walked into the bathroom and found the remains of my scrubby ALL over the shower floor.

That was June 28th and I started calling her KangaRua every now and then!

So, KangaRua just seemed like the perfect name, since not only did I want to sell collars & leashes that I made, but eventually agility equipment also!  So last summer, I purchased the URL’s ‘Life with Rua’, ‘KangaRua’ and ‘BellaRua’.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with ‘BellaRua’, but I just loved the name.

I obviously got the blog started and then life took over and temporarily got in the way of moving forward on collars and leashes. 

To make this even a longer story, less than a month ago, I started getting things going and made a few collars and leashes.  I decided that I wanted to put a small flat woven tag on the collars and leashes I was going to sell, so, I did what I usually do when I need advice, I reached out to my DK friends.  Well, what I ended up with was a number of ideas and examples for a KangaRua logo from my DK friends J & Camilla. In fact, the KangaRua logo started out as a combination of this picture and a silhouette design.

After 78 comments going back and forth in that DK discussion, I decided I needed to do a logo contest.  I used 99 Designs (DK used it for their logo) which is based on crowd design.  It was a fantastic experience.  One week later I had 88 designs from 15 designers.  During the process I did 4 separate polls.  In each and every poll, the results keep confirming my choice of design. 

So, without further ado, here is the design for KangaRua:

I have much to tell you about my new friend, the winner of the logo design contest, but that is for another time!

I love my Life with Rua!

Many, many years ago, I left the beautiful state of California, and for the past 35-1/2 years have called the Midwest my home.  Most of my remaining family (siblings, nieces/nephews & cousins on my mom’s side) still reside in sunny CA. 

I didn’t think I would ever move back to CA.  Yes, the weather is much better (OK, that is an understatement) than the midwest, and, of course that is where my family is, but there is traffic (ick), commutes (worse) and the fear of an earthquake (nightmare).  I could also add the fact that every time I ever looked at moving back to California, the only thing I could have bought was a garage to live in.

As I have said before, all things happen for a reason.  As I find Rua and myself about to embark on a new adventure in life, I made the decision to do so back where it all started – California.   Rua’s first airplane adventure in January of 2011 at the ripe old age of 6 months, was to visit my family in California.  She loved the fact there was no snow and enjoyed staying with her ‘Auntie Dawn’ and playing with her cousins Mogie & Remy.

I decided that the fastest way to get to California was to just quit my job (just gave a 2+ month notice), and since my sister Dawn has a spare room, make the move.  Rua and I are going to arrive out in California around the 18th – 20th of April.  From there, I’ll look for job.  While it would be nice to have my house here sold before I go, I’m not going to let that stop us.  I would rather live in a spare room surrounded with loving family and pay for a mortgage in a house that I am not living in, than live in a house far away from my family.

Then, it will be find a job, hopefully have the house here sell, and save towards buying a little house that Rua and I like.  Rua has requested a fenced-in backyard and a pool.  I would like to add a hot tub to Rua’s list.  Odds are we’ll only end up with the fenced-in backyard, but, I can always add an above ground pool and a hot tub one of these days, right?

I love my Life with Rua!

There is a country song playing right now that reminds me of how I feel about Rua.  Can’t remember the exact words, but it is something like “used to leave home early and get home late and now I leave home late and get home early”.  While I know that Rua most likely can make it from 7:30 until 5:00 PM in her crate at home, I just don’t want her to have to spend the whole day in her kennel (she is a big girl now so the only time she spends in her kennel is when she is at home and we are at work or gone during the evening – which rarely happens). 

Rua has a schedule, of course.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday, she is home and she is in her kennel.  Tuesday, Thursday, I take her to day care (she loves going to Bark Avenue www.barkavenueomaha.com).  That way, she is never home all alone two days in a row.  And, on the days she is home, either me or her papa comes home at lunch time to let her out to go potty and be with her.

Typical M-W-F morning…Rua observes pink Kong being filled with Peanut Butter and she runs into her kennel to wait for her treat.  She is like clockwork.  The past couple of times I have come home for lunch, I have noticed that Rua has been less interested in ME and more interested in a treat.  I arrive home and let Rua out to potty, and then back inside we go.  I usually will take the opportunity to try to eat something (microwave something frozen or find something leftover in the refrigerator).  All of a sudden I realize that Rua is not in site.  I start looking for her…and where do I find her…in her kennel.  Who cares that I came home to spend a few minutes with her…all she is interested in is her afternoon cookie from www.doggiebgoode.com (the cheesy bacon bites are her favorite). 

I have to say that it makes me feel a bit better about the fact that she does spend part of her time in a kennel.  On the other hand I feel a bit slighted that she really cares about those afternoon cookies.

I love my Life with Rua.

On Friday, I found out that one of my Doodle Kisses “sisters”, Joanne, had lost their precious girl, Starlit, to a brain aneurysm earlier in the week.   Starlit turned two in October and was a beautiful, big Old English Sheepdog/Poodle mix.  She was rescued from a puppy mill and Joanne’s little girl…her baby.

My heart hurts for Joanne, her husband Roger, and Starlit’s older Doodle brother, Spud.  It isn’t fair that Starlit was taken from them so early in her young life.  I can only believe that God has special plans for Starlit.

You have touched so many lives Starlit.  You hold a special place in my heart.

This is the start of a brand new year, and with that, this year will bring many changes to our lives.  Like many people, I sat down with pencil and paper in hand to create a list of my New Years Resolutions.  Then, I realized I really wanted to start a “Things To Accomplish” list.  So, instead of just putting down a few things for the year, I decided I was going to create an on-going list of things I wanted to do.  It is a combination of resolutions, to-do’s, and a bucket list.  As I cross things off, I am going to add new items.  My list is now 20 items long.

I will share a few:

1. Become a NICU Rocker (have wanted to do some volunteer work and when someone mentioned this to me last Friday night, I realized this is exactly the kind of thing that I would love doing).
2. Make one new recipe per month
3. Learn how to use Photoshop Elements more
4. Save for a trip to Ireland Summer 2013
5. Improve photography skills
6. Lower my cholesterol
7. Yeah, the normal…eat healthier and get more active

I also realized that Rua needed to have a few ‘Things to Accomplish’ also, so here is her list:

1. For my Momma, learn to sit to accept petting from a friendly stranger (I can’t help it, my butt doesn’t stay on the ground)
2. For my Momma, learn to walk on a loose leash (something about passing a CGC test)
3. Spend more time swimming (need Momma to buy me a pool)
4. Cuddle with Momma
5. Don’t chase kitty sister as much Scratch that…that one’s too much fun
6. Road trips with Momma to visit Doodle friends

And, what would a Life with Rua blog be, without a few new pictures of Rua.

In trying to work on improving photography skills, I was working with a portrait lens:

Rua                                 Dori

Here are a few panoramic shots from my deck (these are actually a number of pictures ‘stitched’ together with a software program – it was quite easy, actually):

And finally, Rua in the new little Hoodie I made her (yes, that does say “I love Mommy”).

Happy New Year everyone!

I love my Life with Rua!