Off The Beaten Path

I have to apologize for not keeping up my end of the bargain of writing three times a week. It’s just too much between owning a business, building another business, teaching two fitness classes a day five times a week and writing articles for our health and wellness blog. Check out www.AgingYouthful.com for tips and pointers on healthy eating, fitness, motivation and personal development.

To keep up the tradition, I just HAD to re-post my Off The Beaten Path “Twas the Night Before Christmas” poem. We hope you all are having an awesome winter so far and do a snow dance for us. It’s been pretty sparse and there is only two and a half months before Mush for a Cure!!!

(December 25, 2008) Merry Christmas everyone!!! We hope Santa Claus was good to you all. I had a dream last night that Mel came running over this morning with the following story:

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the forest,
not a creature was stirring, not even a moose.
The dog booties were hung by the woodstove to dry,
in hopes that another snowstorm would pass Off The Beaten Path by.

We, the handlers, were nestled in our beds,
while visions of indoor plumbing danced in our heads.
Me in my PJ’s and Rob in his tidy whities,
had just settled in for a late night cup of coffee.

When out in the dog yard there arose such a howl,
I sprung from the futon to see what was a-foul.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the door and fell on my a#%.

The moon on the breast of new fallen snow,
gave the luster of mid-day objects below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a giant dog musher and tiny sled dogs so dear.

With a giant driver, so tall and so dark,
I knew in a moment that it must be Mark.
Faster than Fast E Streeper dogs his sleddogs they came,
when he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

Now Tucson, Zena, Amber, Bree, Calvin, Caribou, Carstenz, Cassie, Falcon, Lily, Maggie, Matty, now Denali.
On Deuce, Devil, Elbrus, Foreman, Hercules, Mons, Moon, Moon Pie, Murphy, Ophir, PJ, Rose, Skittles, Spock, Stealth, Star, Takum, Trout, and on Worf.
To the top of the outhouse, to the top of the garage beam,
he said “hike away, hike away, hike away team”.

As light and fluffy snow with snow-devils fly,
when met with an obstacle the team mounted to the sky.
So up to the cabin top the sled dogs they flew,
with a sled full of dog snacks and Mark in it too.

Then in a twinkling, I heard on the shed full of straw,
the trotting and loping of each little paw.
With coffee cup in hand, when I turned around,
down the stovepipe Mark went, with a bound.

He was dressed all in beaver fur from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with Buster fur and soot.
The bundle of dog snacks he flung on his back,
he looked like a sourdough opening his sack.

His eyes how they squinted, his hair how gray,
his cheeks were all frost-nipped, his nose peeling away.
His mustached mouth was drawn like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as new fallen snow.

The butt of a smoke he held tight in his lip,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a ship.
He had a shot of whiskey to warm his belly,
that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was a tall drink of water, a crabby (but with a big heart) old elf,
and scowled when I saw him, in spite of myself.
With a sh*#-eating grin and a twist of his head,
I knew I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, went straight to his work,
and filled the dog booties then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger on the side of his nose,
and giving a nod of his head, up the stovepipe he rose.

He limped to his sled, to his team gave a yell,
and away they all flew like angels from He#@.
He gave out a shout as he took off down the trail and went out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”.

Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us at Off The Beaten Path!

For some of you, this may be sad, please don’t let it be. Yesterday, we made the choice to have Tucson go to the sled dog race in the sky as she had been slowly failing. When the weather would warm up to the 30+ unseasonable temperatures, she’d do great, when it would get down toward zero, not so much. It was hard seeing her slowly losing her hearing and sight, especially when she’d go great on the warm days. We’d take her for walks and when the harness came out she was screaming to go, would pull like it was a race, but for the next two days, she’d have a hard time getting around.

After we got back home from the trip to Duluth (we used the vet that had taken care of her in her racing years), I wrote I guess what you could call a eulogy on my Facebook page. I was told I should share it on the website from a couple of people that were regular readers here. So here it is:

I found it fitting when we pulled back into town that there was a “moon dog” tonight. It was a sign from the Princess that she’s in a great place:

For those of you that are still checking in here, I am committing myself to writing again at least twice a week. I LOVED documenting what was happening in our lives and found it cathartic when things seemed overwhelming. While we are no longer full-time “off the beaten path”, our hearts are still there and we consider it our home. Living in town is temporary, even though it has already been a year.

It has now been three full weeks of being a full-time gym owner and wellness coach, specializing in transformations! It has been such a freeing experience, but I’ve been having a hard time adjusting back to not having structure in my work life. Prior to my taking the job with Cook County almost 9 years ago, I was a REALTOR and had a similar situation. I could work when I wanted to (and HAD to for closings, etc) and played when I wanted to also. In the beginning the playing part is minimal because you have a business to build. Being that we have the gym along with building a business of helping people, I tend to be scattered in my thoughts and have a hard time focusing on the task at hand. It’s getting a bit better each day and I know I will be back to getting a schedule down soon!

What I really love about this life is being able to work when it’s best for me. I’m really enjoying my early mornings. I take Takum for a walk to see the sunrise over Lake Superior, stop at the gym pick up and work out, head home have breakfast, do dishes, do food prep, take Hercules and Tucson for a walk all before showering and heading back to the gym to the office. I’m usually in the office no later than noon and stay there until somewhere around 10:00 at night or even later. I love doing my flyer designing and similar things late at night!

I hope there are still a few fans out there! I would love to hear from you if you are. Our kennel fan page is still up on Facebook so check out Black Magic Kennels!

I’ll be back soon!!!

Well, it has been a LONG time since I wrote a post and I’m not sure how many readers we have left, but for those of you that were loyal readers and may have subscribed to our blog, I thought I’d share with you what is happening this time.

On Tuesday, July 10th at 2:30 in the aftrenoon, I turned in my letter of resignation to Cook County. This has been the most freeing experience of my life! From the first day I started in the assessor’s office, I knew I was in a place that I didn’t belong. I came from selling real estate where I was constantly on the go and talking to buyers and sellers all day long and went to sitting at a desk by myself only occassionally talking with the others in the office. Being a very social and active person, sitting at a desk, isolated took some adjustment. When I did get a chance to get out in the field, I was again alone and when you did show up at a property where the taxpayer was home, they generally weren’t happy to see me. The phone calls that came into the office also generally aren’t  pleasant either. For the last eight years I toughed it out, feeling trapped by earning good money with county provided health insurance.

About a year ago, I wrote a blog post about nutritional cleansing system that we had found that had us feeling better than we had in years. At the end of that post, I mentioned that our passion was wanting to share this with as many people as possible because we feel everyone should feel this good. Also in June of last year, I attended some training for the company because I had so many people asking us what we were doing because we had lost weight, our skin was glowing and our eyes were brighter. That training in Kansas City changed my life. While sitting in a room with 400+ other people, I knew sharing these life-changing products was what I wanted to do, not sit in an office 8 hours a day, cringing every time the phone rang.

This company not only has the best supplement line on the planet (IMHO), but is also has one of, if not THE best, compensation plans in the business. As we’ve gone along in the last year, we have been buiding a solid foundation of people we have been helping to lose weight, lower their need for prescription drugs by getting the body back into balance and letting it run like the miracle it was intended to be. With the solid foundation built, we are ready to take it to the next level so we are taking a leap of faith and going “all in” and seeing what happens. We have set some lofty goals and know with hard work and dedication, they can be reached. If you are tired of being fat, sick and tired, contact us. We will make you lean-fat…we’ll make your body lean and your wallet fat!

If you would like to find out more information, give us a call at 218-370-9063. We are NOT  salespersons, we are information conduit. If you decide the time is right for you, we will support and coach you. If not, that’s fine too. We’re not going to “convince” you of anything. If the time is not right for you, you won’t be successful and we want to set all our clients up for success!

With this program not only do you start to feel better, you start to look better too! We have lost count of the people who have been making “wow you are HOW old” comments to us. From gym members to family and friends we haven’t seen in a while, they all say the same thing “you look so much younger”. Maybe that’s why I secured the domain of www.AgingYouthful.com and linked it to our wellness website. Yep, we’re turning back the clock and are aging youthfully! Want to join us?

I know, I know…it’s been over two months since I had my last post. Writing a blog about living off the beaten path doesn’t seem right since we are now living ON the beaten path! We are all adjusting OK. We love being a minute or two from work, the gym, grocery shopping, etc. Still not the happiest about being in such a tight little neighborhood, but we are so rarely there.

What have we been up to? Working. Mark was laid off from his job with Valentini Property Services in mid-November so we are having him staff the gym from noon every day. I go from the courthouse to the gym and then we usually workout together sometime around 7:00. By the time we’re done and showered, we head home sometime after 9:00. We are enjoying working with the people and last month I got my group exercise certification certificate so I am trying to figure out when would be best to hold off-site fitness classes (like boot camp classes).

To keep up the tradition, I just HAD to re-post my Off The Beaten Path “Twas the Night Before Christmas” poem. We hope you all are having an awesome winter so far and do a snow dance for us. It’s been pretty sparse and there is only two and a half months before Mush for a Cure!!!

(December 25, 2008) Merry Christmas everyone!!! We hope Santa Claus was good to you all. I had a dream last night that Mel came running over this morning with the following story:

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the forest,
not a creature was stirring, not even a moose.
The dog booties were hung by the woodstove to dry,
in hopes that another snowstorm would pass Off The Beaten Path by.

We, the handlers, were nestled in our beds,
while visions of indoor plumbing danced in our heads.
Me in my PJ’s and Rob in his tidy whities,
had just settled in for a late night cup of coffee.

When out in the dog yard there arose such a howl,
I sprung from the futon to see what was a-foul.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the door and fell on my a#%.

The moon on the breast of new fallen snow,
gave the luster of mid-day objects below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a giant dog musher and tiny sled dogs so dear.

With a giant driver, so tall and so dark,
I knew in a moment that it must be Mark.
Faster than Fast E Streeper dogs his sleddogs they came,
when he whistled and shouted and called them by name.

Now Tucson, Zena, Amber, Bree, Calvin, Caribou, Carstenz, Cassie, Falcon, Lily, Maggie, Matty, now Denali.
On Deuce, Devil, Elbrus, Foreman, Hercules, Mons, Moon, Moon Pie, Murphy, Ophir, PJ, Rose, Skittles, Spock, Stealth, Star, Takum, Trout, and on Worf.
To the top of the outhouse, to the top of the garage beam,
he said “hike away, hike away, hike away team”.

As light and fluffy snow with snow-devils fly,
when met with an obstacle the team mounted to the sky.
So up to the cabin top the sled dogs they flew,
with a sled full of dog snacks and Mark in it too.

Then in a twinkling, I heard on the shed full of straw,
the trotting and loping of each little paw.
With coffee cup in hand, when I turned around,
down the stovepipe Mark went, with a bound.

He was dressed all in beaver fur from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with Buster fur and soot.
The bundle of dog snacks he flung on his back,
he looked like a sourdough opening his sack.

His eyes how they squinted, his hair how gray,
his cheeks were all frost-nipped, his nose peeling away.
His mustached mouth was drawn like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as new fallen snow.

The butt of a smoke he held tight in his lip,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a ship.
He had a shot of whiskey to warm his belly,
that shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was a tall drink of water, a crabby (but with a big heart) old elf,
and scowled when I saw him, in spite of myself.
With a sh*#-eating grin and a twist of his head,
I knew I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, went straight to his work,
and filled the dog booties then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger on the side of his nose,
and giving a nod of his head, up the stovepipe he rose.

He limped to his sled, to his team gave a yell,
and away they all flew like angels from He#@.
He gave out a shout as he took off down the trail and went out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night”.

Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us at Off The Beaten Path!

Daylight Watch: Tomorrow will be 18 seconds longer than today!!!