Dog's are like potato chips, you can't have just one!

Ok guys! I know its been too long! Lets just say I've piled a little more on my plate than I can handle right now ;)

Where to begin... School is going well, I am taking 12 hours this summer. Huge mistake. But oh well, just that much closer to graduation. I'm also working full time. Lee and I are doing wonderfully! We have started planning the wedding and I just can't wait! June 2nd cannot come quick enough! We have narrowed it down to two venues, so we will probably be making the decision shortly! I have gone shopping for dresses, but haven't found one that I just LOVE yet...

I was finally able to take some time off from school and work and go down to visit my family in Texas, but I feel like I never stopped! Lee and I drove down on a thursday night and drove through the night, we got to Texas at 8 the next morning, took a nap and left for my cousins wedding in San Antonio at noon. We pretty much didn't stop from that point on until we got back to Montgomery. We went and played Fish Creek. Claire, you will be glad to know that I have not lost my golf game completely! It kind of suprised me as well! I shot a 41 on the front, and then kind of fell apart on the back and shot a 45. But I'm still pretty darn happy with an 86 after 8 months of not playing. Lee and I won ten bucks off my parents that day ;). Then I went to visit Cameron in Galveston and see his new apartment. We went to the beach and took Maddie with us so she could play in the ocean. She loved it so much! That dog just lights up around water! Lee and I are thinking that for our 3rd anniversary, we may take a trip to a dog friendly area at the Outer Banks of Georgia.
It was so nice to finally be able to see my family! It's hard to be away from them, not to mention plan a wedding from 900 miles away. Kelsey, you have any tips for me? lol

June 9th marked Maddie's 6 month adoption anniversary :) It is so incredible how much she has changed as a dog since we first adopted her. She is happy, smart, confident, and sometimes even obnoxious:) which I love. This dog is so damn mellow that I actually get excited when she starts acting like a normal crazy lab and knocks something over with her tail or shakes her butt so hard that she knocks me over, or starts to bark. You can see the difference in her face.


Maddie at Floyd County Animal Control 12/5/2010, and Maddie at the Canine Ranch 06/26/2011



It's because of this picture that we will be doing Frisbee once dock diving season is over lol

June 4th and 5th, Maddie entered in her first Dock Diving competition at The Canine Ranch. It was a ton of fun, we got to see all of the really big jumpers and Maddie was so excited. She did not jump to her full potential, but I did not expect her to. It was very overwhelming even for me and so I knew that with all of the distraction and dogs barking and what not, it would be hard for her to focus like she does in practice where there are only 3 other dogs. But she still did awesome! Here were her jumps!

Wave #1:

1: 16'4

2: 16'7

Wave #2: The second jump got Maddie into the finals where she placed 5th!

1: 16'8

2: 17'1

Wave #3

1: 16'6

2: 16'8

Catch It: Maddie won 2nd place in this! The dog must catch it for the jump to count, and Maddie caught both throws!

1: 16'6

2: 16'8

Combined score of 33'

Fosters: I am sad to say that Lee and I decided to put Ande up for adoption. It was an extremely hard decision in which we both cried for hours. I'm still not sure it was the right one, but we have to live with the decisons we make. We decided that with all of the dogs that we want to have and all of the plans that we have (we are getting one more lab for Lee's hunting dog and eventually a border collie or australian shepherd for me to compete in frisbee and agility with) we just don't have room for any more dogs. Ande went to a wonderful family who keeps her involved in everything they do. Which is exactly what I wanted for her. But I still miss her every day. Her mom is friends with me on facebook and so I get to see all of the pictures she posts, but I still wish that I could be the one watching her grow up everyday.



Ande at the beach with her family




Ande and her brothers!



The day after Ande left, I was contacted about a border collie who needed to find rescue, and in my weaker state, I agreed to take her in. This is Sammie:

She is absolutely insane, obnoxious, annoying, crazy and stubborn but she is so damn sweet and super smart. With some manners, she'll make an awesome dog for someone.

On July 24th, Lee and I will be picking up the new addition to our family, Drake. Drake is the product of an awesome breeding. The father is Lee's dad's dog, named Doc. He is a white lab with amazing hunting talent. He is busy earning lots of hunting titles. The mother is also a great hunter with quite a few titles. We are incredibly excited about Drake, he will officially be Benton dog #2, and Maddie will finally have a permanent little brother! He will be Lee's hunting dog, and we will definitely do dock diving with him as well. We are hoping to get some seriously big jumps out of him!



Drake at 4 weeks and Lee's dad

It's been so nice to read the recent posts, and I'm so glad everyone is doing so well! I miss you guys and hope I get to see you soon! I'll try to make sure that I post more often!
Bri

Culture Shock

Hey Ya’ll –

Yes, that’s right, I said ya’ll. I think it’s appropriate and all since I am in Houston writing this blog (Rowan’s dorm room to be exact). I got back yesterday from my 6 month adventure in Nicaragua. It has definitely been an adventure, and I have learned a lot, changed a lot, and grown up a lot, oh and had an absolute blast.

But, I have hit “culture shock” really really hard. I was crying last night just thinking about life back in the States and all the memories I left behind in Nicaragua. Life is very different there – it is less materialistic, a lot simpler, you can walk or talk public transportation everywhere, there’s more time for family and friends, everything is so cheap, and the food markets are amazing!

First a funny story that started the tears here in Houston – the Houston Airport. I bought some Nicaraguan Rum for Rowan in the airport in Managua and was bringing it back. I had this guy that I met on the plane carry it through immigration for me, but he gave it back to me before customs and I hadn’t declared it. I was scared that they would take it away before I was 21. So, I had that in my bag, a couple of mangoes that I couldn’t bear to throw away that I hadn’t eaten on the plane, cashew nuts to roast, and raw cacao nuts in my bag. So, I get my bag and I’m walking towards customs and just as I am getting to the line, the K9 dog comes out!!! I’m terrified when I pass it because I think it might smell my mangoes. Turns out I didn’t get in trouble for my mangoes, but the dog sniffed my bags and apparently found a narcotic odor on my hiking backpack!! I was detained and everything in my bag was gone through and tested. The were pulling off country cow shit from my bag and testing it with their bare hands…I’m like – you really don’t want to be touching that (but, I can’t say that, of course because then they would be suspicious so I was kind of giggling to myself) I was freaking out. They asked if I had any prescription drugs, pills, marijuana…I was like, I’m an athlete, I’ve never even touched a cigarette. I even told them that I had been on the beach the past weekend and some people were smoking pot, but I have never touched it IN MY LIFE.

Well, I got away and they never did say anything about the alcohol or all the other stuff I was freaking out about. I think that I probably got the scent on my bag from all the hostels that I stayed at where there are people that use drugs.

And now for what I’ve actually been doing in Nicaragua:

My last weekend there, I spent on the beach just outside of Leon. It was amazing. I went with some other volunteers that were working for the same organization as I was. Lots of sun, salt, and delicious fish!! For dinner one night, I found this hut on the beach that this family lived in and cooked in, and they cooked us up a huge plate of 4 freshly caught red snapper, salad, plantains, rice, and tortillas. Oh and did I mention this cost us $3.50!!! It was the best meal ever and then we went for a midnight dip afterwards.

 Sunset at the beach in Leon with the other volunteers and friends we met

Hitchhiking to Esteli with truck driver

Besides vacation, I heard about these really rural communities in the region where I am based at the Solar Center. The local government installed solar panels instead of extending the electrical grid because the houses were so remote, so the solar panels came out much cheaper. So, I took off to find them with another volunteer that I met working at the Solar Center who has a lot of experience working with solar systems. We took light bulbs, distilled water, extra wire, tools, cleaning equipment for batteries, and took off walking.

The first day, we walked about 1.5 hours to get to the community – Samaschunda. That was the closest one – we walk around 2.5 hours one day straight up hill to get to this one house at the top of the mountain! We asked the families questions about their usage of the electricity, how the system is working, what life is like now with light, etc. The most important thing we did, in my opinion, was hand out a brochure for the Solar Center that we created that had contact information for when they have problems with their system. They were left with no information about where to find replacement parts (batteries and light bulbs), how much they cost, where they could buy distilled water to put in to the battery, and how to properly maintain the battery.

We ate beans and tortillas and mangoes and slept in hammocks in exchanged for light bulbs and distilled water. One family even offered us their two sons to serve as our guides – Jefferson, a 6 year old and his brother, Wiston, 10. We laughed together, they showed us the way, and we taught them about solar panels. Oh – and they always made sure we had a stash of mangoes in our bags. Mangoes were falling off the trees and 40 bananas cost you $1!

 The 6 year old carrying the tool bag

 Our Two Guides and the family where we ate about half of our meals and slept in hammocks

Trading distilled water for coffee and crackers - this whole family lived in a 2 room house!

What an adventure! And, it opened my eyes to what is necessary to really make rural solar electrification in Nicaragua sustainable so these people have light for more than a couple of years.

The 2 guides and the other volunteer that came with me. His name was John and his dad runs a PV installation system back in Rhode Island, so he was super handy to have around!!

I did some other stuff with the Solar Center, but I’ll save that for another post. This has turned out to be really really long.

After my 2 day visit in Houston (yesterday and today), I am heading to Davidson to pack up my house there and go through my stuff and get rid of almost everything. I realized in Nicarauga that I have so much junk that I just don’t need and there are so many people who would actually wear those t-shirts that are just sitting in my closet. My host dad, for example, has a Powderpuff Pink T-shirt that he wears at least once a week!! Then I head to Pinehurst with my parents until July 5^th when I start summer school at UNC-Charlotte for Physics 2, but I will be living in Davidson with a family that I nanny for. And then that’s July and some of August and then Senior Year!!! Yikes. But, I will post again very soon to let you know how the culture shock is going.

Keep on posting! Also, I will be in Pinehurst, NC at my house from July 25^th-July 5^th and any one of you is invited to come and take a dip in the lake, play some  golf/darts/pool/ping pong and BBQ. So if you’re around give me a holler. If not, I hope to meet up with all of you at some point this summer.

Hasta pronto!

p.s. The last time I cried before I cried yesterday on the flight home and in Houston was at Kelsey’s wedding J

Why is it so hot here?

So I think this is only my second blog post ever. I apologize but I assume for y'all, me talking about school can only be just so interesting...
But now it's the summer and I'm actually doing stuff worthy of a blog post (and Claire and I are both writing posts at the same time. Guess who's idea it was).
Of course I'm still living in Houston. Apparently it's impossible for me to leave this city, but this is where the jobs are. I think by the end of this year, this will be the longest length of time I've ever stayed at one address. But that's ok, because if you've got to live in Houston, Rice is the place to be.

I got a fellowship for the summer to do environmental research with the Houston Independent School District. Essentially I'm developing a conservation program for them that won't require any initial capital. Schools would be rewarded for reducing their energy consumption through behavioral changes only. So say if Bastian Elementary use 1000 kWh per month in August of 2010, and they only used 900kWh during August 2011, then they would receive additional funding based on that savings. Say 50% of it back. And then they can spend that additional money on whatever they want. Basically we're bribing people to conserve. It's a really interesting project (for me at least, for most people it's probably as interesting as watching paint dry) and it has the potential to save the school district a ton of money. The main Philadelphia school district implemented a similar program and its saved them seven million dollars a year.
Otherwise it's been a great summer. I've got a bunch of friends in town, so we hang out on the weekends and go swimming. I'm 21 finallllllllllllyyyyy so I'm discovering all the great bars in Houston (my liver and stomach are hating me right now).

Other than that though, life is pretty much the same as it has always been. Claire is visiting right now on her way to NC. And in about a week I'll be up visiting her and then on to DC to visit my sister. Millie is working for the State Department and is getting shipped off to the DRC in September. So this is my last chance to see her before she heads out. After that I'll be in Houston for the rest of the summer finishing up my research (It's hopefully going to last for years after this, so finishing probably isn't the right term). Then the crazy mess that is senior year begins. As sad as I am to leave Rice, I really can't wait to get out into the real world.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Robo

P.S. Sorry I don't have any interesting pictures... Stalk me on fb instead.