Sorry for the delay

It's been awhile for sure! E's been home now for 3 weeks! It's been so great. He is currently waiting to go for IOE, which is "initial operating experience." Essentially he has to observe the pilots flying the jet he will be flying before he can be put on line. SO...he is home. He got a call last wednesday that had him scheduled for a trip to Chicago leaving last Sunday for the week. But at 630am on Sunday, crew scheduling called and cancelled the trip. I swear if he doesn't get called soon, I think he is going to go nuts. He is getting a ton of yard work done so that's been really helpful.

I am going to try to fix the slideshow of Poppy. We are having so much fun with her. She has totally become one of the family. Tonight we took her to Point Isabel. It is a dog park near the bay. There are a ton of doggies and you have amazing views of San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. We were so proud of Poppy as we took her of the leash for the second time. She did so well!! While I am so happy she is with us, it literally breaks my heart when I stop to think about the family who left her. Whoever this family was they did an excellent job training her. She will only sleep on her doggie bed. When I tell her to go lie down, she immediately trots to her bed. She has not had an accident in the house. I could go on and on.

Will promise to catch up here soon with everyone.

Pictures of our girl

Here are some pics of our new doggie. Over the last few days,we started to notice that she doesn't respond to Truffle. Since she was a stray, I think Smiley Dog just gave her that name.With her now 4 years old, whatever name she had before it doesn't seem to register with her as sounding anywhere near Truffle. So my colleague suggested that I just call her puppy. Wouldn't you know it, she is responding! So we altered it to be Poppy (which is the california state flower) and she is REALLY responding to it. So I think we will change her name to Poppy. Overall, the adjustment is going really well. I think its helping that E is home now. He is waiting to get called for is in flight training. Poppy is instantly becoming a part of our family. I am so happy we have her in our life.

We got her!!

Truffle is ours!! She is here tonight! I already can't imagine our lives without her. Hearing her clomp on our wood floors and slurping her water it literally brings tear to my eyes. I am so happy we did this. My camera died as I was taking pictures of her. I promise I will post pics as soon as possible

40 miles & vineyards

Our Sunday morning started at 6am. Why I agreed to get up at 6 am on my Sunday morning was proved to me when I got on my bike at 830am in Napa aka wine country!
E, our dear friend Ursula and myself got up this morning to do a bike ride in Napa. This was all Urs's idea. A grand idea it was! E and I hated getting up so early on my weekend but we knew it would be well worth it. I can't begin to describe our scenery, which is why I am including a link to pictures.
We started out in Napa and rode into St. Helena for some breakfast. This was 20 miles later. After breakfast we started our trek back. With a full stomach we just had to stop and taste test what wine country had to offer. Our first stop was Mumm Winery. Hello! Champagne!!! We each sampled their classic offerings. My favorite was the Brute Prestige. Even with a full stomach the 3 glasses of champagne each went straight to me and Urs's head. We got back on our bikes and rode for another 15 miles. We then stopped at Pine Ridge for wine. My camera died at this point so I don't have pictures of this stop. We all shared 8 glasses of wine. We tasted 2 whites and 5 reds. All 3 of us voted, our favorite was the Oakville and Stags Leap Cabernet.
We left there and biked the 6 miles to our car. I'll be honest, my legs were jello from breakfast on. I am so sore but it was so worth it! As we were making our way back to the car. Urs and I noticed a "fresh strawberry" stand. We both agreed that we have to go back and pick up some fresh strawberries. E was way ahead of us so he was back at the car first. Urs and I biked in and immediately were chatting up the fresh strawberry stand we saw. We went back Urs and I got our 4 pints of strawberries and we were happy. As soon as we got home, I made strawberry shortcake. Our total mileage today was indeed 40 miles. It's been quite some time since I have rode my bike for that long.
As a tribute to my friend Linds and her capturing quotes. Here are two. The first one was said by our winery person as he was listening to our conversation about wine. The second was part of the description for the Oakville cabernet. Both at Pine Ridge Winery.
"100% delicious"
"firm and silky upon entry"

The next newest Robbins....we hope!!

Keep your fingers crossed. We put in an adoption application for this big bundle of fur. Her name is Truffle. She is a Bernese Mountain/Newfoundland mix. She is one big love bug. I just found out tonight that she is ours but we have to pass the home visit. We are adopting her from Smiley Dog Rescue. She is 4 years old.

I am in love!

The next newest Robbins....we hope!!

"This is your husband speaking..."

Hello to all blog friends,

This is Eli writing. You know-- the husband who left his lovely Heather alone for seven weeks to fight boredom, broken cars, stick shifts, bills, weeds, gardens, and cleaning the dishes all by her self-- yeah, THAT Eli.

I'm not normally one for logging into other people's accounts without them knowing, but one benefit of being married is you tend to know your spouse's passwords to all their accounts. And if you don't, then your home computer remembers them for you, as is the case in Heather's blog. But I've hacked into her blog for a good reason:

I just wanted to send a big, huge, "THANK YOU" to all of you in her blogging world! You seem to be an incredible source of support for my wife and she loves sharing with all of you. Though Heather got through the last seven weeks without me (and she did impressively well, I might add), she could not have done it without you. So thanks again for making sure I didn't come home to changed locks and a middle finger staring me in the face!

love,
Eli

P.S. Here's a photo of the plane I'll be flying!