We landed.

B and I (and the plants I bought instead of a bed, a couch, chairs, kitchen table...) made it to our new home: The Farm.

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More soon. :-)

Hoppla!

I have 14 minutes till I have to wake up the client who then has to do a couple last minute things before jumping into (T)rusty and head to the place where we start our 100 km canoe trip on Klarälven. Naturally, I have a million things still to do. Catching up here is an inmportant one.

Ready? Here we go!!

First a few photos of the last adventure:

Huts we reached after a 25 km hike.

Once B was with us my smiles increased by... well, a lot.

Photo credits go to A who hiked with us in week 3.

A taking in Helag.

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Life is full.

Our time at home was mostly nice and sometimes tricky. I am clearly more prepared to do crazy expeditions with youth than to have them at my home. My home life really isn't as active as say... a farm life or some other good place where a troubled youth can untrouble his or her self.

Accordingly I have to work more. Meaning I have to create ways to keep us busy to keep some one from getting into trouble (for once not myself or the Beef-ster).

Over these past 2 weeks we did quite a good job at just that.

And at picking blueberries (hurray, they're back!), cooking scrumptious meals, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, doing paper work, catching fish, providing Beefy Panify with daily adventures and:

SEALING THE DEAL TO MOVE TO A FARM!!

Yes, you heard right. Yours truly will spend the next week canoeing the Klarälven 100 km towards the south, then see some friends in the old stomping grounds and spend the last week prior to being FREE AS A BIRD (after working for 7+ weeks nonstop) on the islands of the St Anna Archipelago and then - move to the sweetest rental opportunity in all of Sweden per September 1st!

It's a farm that...

... is fully functional in case I want some additional four-legged ones...

... is located beautifully on the outskirts of a sweet little village...

... has trails (snowmobile, bike, hike, ski) basically going through the back yard...

... an incredible flat in it for the rascal and I...

... tons of space for all the things I can come up with...

... work spaces for wood work, art, repair, etc. ...

... a humonguous garden space that just kind of transitions into the forest...

... a wood stove...

... freezer, dishwasher, washer, dryer, environmentally sound appliances...

... lots of light...

... mountains and streams right outside my door!!

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Ups, time to wake the client....

... anyways, I'll be back to move my stuff there and keep things more updated around here.

-- Skipping away :) --

One healthy dog.

I only learned recently that Buford's tumor wasn't malignant. With that, B is decidedly ONE HEALTHY DOG.

We'll take it.

He continues to be a wonderful cuddler, a keen antler'n'hoof-hunter, and a surströmming smell lover.

Thanks for the support.

Alive, well, and, ... well, busy.

Yes, we made it back in one piece.

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Even though Beefy didn't get to come for the first two weeks due to his paw re-opening.

And despite mosquitos who fought us several times like an army of warriors.

Or the swamps... did I mention the swamps yet?

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We also enjoyed powerful moments when we made it to view points, when we saw rainbows, reindeer, or were invited to eat freshly caught fish with some strangers.

Additional highlights were the B and A inclusion, playing cards, and making scrumptious food.

I got hundreds of photos however limited energy.

Am still on the job and will stay on the job till 8/20. Looking forward to floating down Klarälven on a raft that we will build and ride "a la Huck Finn style" starting next week and to some seakajaking in the Skärgård east of my old stomping grounds down south. Then 3 weeks client- free and on it goes again. In September we plan to hike from Sweden to Norway's fjords.

Yup, life is good.

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca

I am few days away from hiking 350 km with my first client.

My days are filled with concrete preparation. I can be found buying, organizing, packing, and agonizing over food. Testing my stove with Swedish Rödsprit instead of my trusted white gas. Saving receipts so I can mark my investments for my future business account. Gathering details about trail conditions, client insurance, and GPS. What still was a dream a few months ago has become reality: I created myself my dream job (life) and now I am living it.

Gone are the days I had to "construct my challenges". Gone are the days I dreamed up ways to live my life to the fullest potential. Gone are the days I worried about the lacking income.

It's all real now.

I got a young human being to take out into the Swedish Fjälls. I get to lead him through unknown territory, hopefully both inside and out. I get to be "wowed" by him. I get to be silent with him. And I get to listen. If I am lucky he'll tell me some of his story.

B will be on our side. He will make us laugh and inspire us to be gentle with ourselves. I will ensure that his paw continues to heal and that he stays well fed and safely away from the reindeer and the moose and the bear.

I will take photos. I will write notes. Work related ones and private ones.

I will get to ponder.

We are planning to hike 350 kilometers. In 3 weeks. Through some amazing territory. There will be mosquitos. We got spray and head nets, a tent, a bivi, and a mosquito net for B.

We are prepared.

We got a few days left to soak up some pre-trip bliss and continue to put the remaining ducks in a row. Maybe there will be another post before we're heading out. Maybe not.

Either way... have a wonderful shift into the second half of 2010!

Two Years of Furballin'.

Today it is two years since these sweet eyes have found mine for the first time.

I will never forget that moment.

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I had arrived at the Animal Rescue Foundation near Fossil a few minutes prior, full of anticipation. My trip into the beautiful canyon in the Ochocos in Eastern Oregon had one purpose:

Meeting Buford, to find out if I could adopt him.

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Taking a dog into my life had been a long time coming. And yet, it came to me as quite a shock when I realized about a year before meeting the rascal that I am... and this may sound weird... old (or, mature? stable? committed? responsible?) enough to finally fulfill this longheld dream of mine. It felt incredibly empowering to shift from "I cannot have a dog due to... school, the house, money, blahblahblaaaah" to... "holy shit, if I am actually serious about this I can make it happen".

That shift is/was hands down one of the key moments in my life.

And it continues... it seems as if I have been stumped in my development somewhere... I often feel as if I have to "ask" someone else if I can go forward with something. Particularly when the "go forward" seems solely for my pleasure; like, for instance, getting a dog.

Turns out that getting Beefy wasn't just for pleasure.

Taking Buford into my life has made me - and continues to make me - a more whole human being.

I laugh more.

I move more.

I am calmer.

I touch more.

I look more closely.

I am more understanding.

I giggle more.

I am more playful.

I relate more.

I feel more at home, wherever I am.

And I take more photos. :)

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Back at ARF I met Sandy, who later became a treasured friend of mine. We had been emailing. I had asked her if that clown-like looking dog that I had seen on Petfinder may be a fit for my needs. Meaning if I could take him along on Wilderness Therapy Expeditions. And that I lived in a van (and couldn't provide a fenced backyard, however was going to live a life in and about nature with my future dog). Her response had sounded as if she had waited for someone like me to inquire for Buford. (Which differed greatly from the response I got at the local Humane Society. The people there didn't understand my lifestyle. I also didn't really connect to any of the caged up dogs, bless their hearts.)

Nonetheless, I was nervous.

It felt like such a leap.

Buford wasn't around upon my arrival. But there were tons of other dogs swirling around me.

Sandy told me that Buford was up at the nursery with Jerry. They were about to come back.

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Eventually the white van made it's way back to us. Several dogs were running behind it.

My eyes searched for the dorky face I had seen online.

"Will I recognize him?" I wondered.

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There! "Buford!" Our eyes met. That split second was it. Sandy later said that Buford and I "velcroed" right away. I didn't know at the time, but felt that something big was happening. When we took a walk with Buford and some other dogs he kept making eye contact with me and staying close.

It felt like coming home right then.

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I have felt that way uncountable times in the meanwhile.

To this day I whisper to B on a regular basis: "I cannot believe that I have a dog in my life...".

Even though my life has been crazy over these last two years I feel I have been more grounded than I ever have.

I remember worrying that I couldn't provide B with a life as good as he's had at ARF.

Now I understand that he needed something that he couldn't have had at ARF.

He needed a person the way I needed a dog.

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To many more amazing and adventurous years Little One!!

Start Eget.

Peacefulness... captured a few hundred yards above our home.




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Slowly but surely my business is being born.

One of Mr. Moose's favorite things to tell me is to "slow the *f* down and be patient".

As I have alluded to here before..., patient I am not. At least not when it's about me securing myself a future. In the end I have to be.... and eventually, things work out. May as well stop stressing over the little bits and pieces.

Here's what's been happening on the business front recently.

I have gotten confirmation that I will receive government support for the first 6 months of my business venture. Yay for being 'let in' to the Swedish world by having gotten a personnummer a while back. So, I, like most other people who 'start eget' (= start their own) will be supported by funds as entrepreneurship is understood as a positive way to not fall into the ditch of unemployment. For me that means that I will receive approximately US$ 850 (brutto) per month for free starting July 1st. In order to be granted that money I had to meet with a free (!) business consultant a few times, deliver her with a business plan and register my business (which I did today... horray!). They will take away approximately 30% in taxes (yup, that's how we roll here) and still: I get an income no matter what. Brilliant! (Particularly as I plan to create a financially secure business.... meaning I don't actually depend on this support.)

I am also a mere 10 days away from going on my first 3-week hiking expedition with my first German client. I know, I know, I announced here that I had my first client already - and I did. But this, you guys, is the real thing.

The next 10 days will be spent setting myself up for a (mostly) unsupported backpacking trip west of here. We will hike on the stretch between Sälen and Storlien, the so-called Södra Kungsleden. The distance between the two places is 349 km - obviously there are tons of ways for us to log more or less miles depending on how things go and what we encounter. I get a feeling that it will be rather mindblowing... you'll certainly hear all about it.

Parallel I am working on a web presence for the business venture... aie aie aie... so much excitement!

Recently, I was also able to make an initial connection with a local photographer who is looking to work together with others. It's rather exciting actually... she does nature photography trips with groups and is eager to collaborate in creative ways. When I shared my interest in doing so she sounded at least as intrigued as I feel. She has lived on Grönland before and done some other incredible stuff. We are planning to have fika together on Monday... am curious how that little seed will develop.

So, for now... I get to plan, prepare, and nurse Beefy back in shape. I'll still have to wait for the results of the tumor analysis... We should know by the end of next week. Either way we need to get the rather substantial cut from the surgery to grow back together seamlessly... not an easy task with us two who are movement junkies.

Better listen to Mr. Moose and be patient, huh?