I would rather be hiking

Lately I have been a wild streak of adventure and hiking. It's a collaboration of being active, being outdoors, and getting Stella some exercise that makes me enjoy it so much. I grew up in the middle of literal no where, so the woods is something that I am quite familiar with. One of my best childhood memories involves a patch of palmetto bushes! When I was younger (probably around 8 or 9) my stepdad created a series of tunnels through the insides of a large patch of palmetto bushes on our property. This isn't something that's easy to describe, but just try to imagine a bunch of children crawling around on their hands and knees in the bushes. It's something that I don't think any child is experiencing today with the surplus of technology and the lack of outside playtime. To say playing out there was fun is an understatement. I also have very fond memories of my dad and I walking a few trails when I was younger, we even got lost a few times as I do recall; but anytime spent with my dad was fun for me and still is today. So my history with nature is very much entwined with who I am. When I moved to Orlando in the Fall of 2011 I found myself concerned that I would never see a cow again, yes that was a real thing... yes I did cry about it, but that's how women are for some reason (it probably wasn't about the cows). It might not be that nature is such a big deal to me, it may just be that I want to have some serenity and sense of ruralism in this metropolis. Sometimes the city can be a wonderful place and then other times you just want to know that there are still places where the birds sing proudly and the wind blows without the background noise of a freeway.

With the discovery of nature trails here in Orlando came the spark of desire to hike them all! (Or at least the ones that Stella is allowed to join me on.) So far I have hiked six different locations, a couple of them I've gone a few times and always with Stella. My favorite so far has been Wekiwa, and that's simply because of the vastness of the entire park.

Go outside! (And bring Fido, too!)

Lately one of the things I enjoy doing the most is taking Stella on hikes here in Orlando; every time I have energy and free daylight hours I take her somewhere to run. I can honestly say though this new found hobby was only discovered through the use of a running app: Nike+ Running.

A friend and I had gotten our dogs together a couple of times to go for walks and we would unknowingly walk as far as seemed fit and turn around to return to our cars, that seemed fine to me. I mean, why do I need to know exactly where I'm going and where I've been, it's just dog walking right? Yeah that's what I thought too until I tracked my walk using the Nike+ Running app. 

I first discovered this app from a photo that was posted on Instagram and honestly thought it was cool because the map of the walk was overlaid onto a picture from the actual walk, making it a super easy way to share a cute picture as well as your fitness accomplishments. After downloading the app and testing it out for the first time I was disappointed to realize that it doesn't work that way on Android, it's just an iPhone update, so every time my phone updates apps I anxiously await to see if that's one of them, alas it hasn't yet happened.

Despite the lack of sharing abilities I still use the app and do so quite frequently. Not only does this app show me the exact path I walked/ran, it tells me my fastest mile times, my pace, calories burned, and it keeps track of total miles. So far, using the Nike+ Running app we have hiked a total of 28.30 miles! There are also accomplishments that it gives you for different things and this is motivating to me to see how I've been doing. 

When we go hiking I like to take the map of our walk and overlay it with the map of the trail, it's usually an almost perfect match (except for that time we got lost at Wekiwa, but I'll save that story for later). I don't know if I would've found my hiking hobby if it wasn't for this app and I know that Stella enjoys it far more than I do. For now I'm simply walking on these hikes, but I think soon I will start to try and run them too. If I were to rate this app I would give it 4 out of 5 stars and that's only because of the missing Instagram sharing option, whenever that comes out it will be a perfect match for me! I'm sure from the images below you can see how much Stella enjoys our adventures.

Stay tuned for more about our hiking adventures and my nature bucket list!

DIY Braided Dog Rope Toy

I love Pinterest. I can spend hours searching DIY home projects and recipes; I mean the pages are endless so anyone can spend countless amounts of time on there! In one of my searches I found a DIY dog toy. The concept of the dog toy is similar to those braided key chains every child knew how to make in the 90's. It seemed easy enough to make. The tutorials I saw online used pre-cut fleece fabric but I also saw one that used t-shirt strips- that one though didn't include a tutorial. I planned on making this toy. It was going to happen.
And then it didn't.
One day while I was at target I passed by a dog toy that was strikingly similar to the one I previously saw online. They were selling it for five dollars. FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS for something Stella would destroy in two days. I decided then I needed to make the toy.
Ricky wouldn't let me use any of his shirts for the first one I made so I dug through my drawer and found one I could use to make this trial toy. Using the same method used for the key chains I made the toy.
First I cut the shirt into four pieces and then cut those pieces so they weren't connected and became just long strips.

I then tied the end of the strips together tightly and began the weaving/braiding process. I followed this method:

When you pull the strips tightly together make sure you're pulling the top and bottom together and then the right and left, this ensures that it's going to be straight and all loops are tight. When I finished the weaving I tied all of pieces together in another knot.

Stella absolutely loved this toy! I was thrilled considering it was easy and free! She kept it around for three or four days before it was completely destroyed. I went on to make another one this same way. Then Ricky came around to donating a couple of his shirts to the "Free toys for Stella fund." Both of these shirts happened to be black polo shirts so I decided to try to make a larger one. I cut each shirt into a single, long strip. I then cut each of those strips in half. I used the same process from there. The final product could use some work. The width was larger, almost double the size, but the length wasn't much longer. It was hard to tie the ends off, so they aren't as uniform. I think this might be because the material of the shirts, not the length or size. Nonetheless Stella loves it and free definitely beats out any store bought toy prices. 

Owning a Pit Bull

I've owned animals all my life, anything from red-earred sliders to ponies. Never have I been criticized for the type of animal I own. Growing up in the country, I guess it doesn't matter to people whether you have a poodle or a doberman; they're all the same there. Living in the city, it's a tad different.

Meet Stella

(I probably could have chosen a less vulnerable picture, but it serves its purpose.)

Twice I have taken Stella to the dog park. Only Twice. Both times I've left with the same feelings. Ashamed of people's feelings towards my dog. Stella is a puppy. She plays as puppies do: frantically, wildly, and without any reserve. She's also a growler; not in a mean way, in a "vocal puppy" way. When she runs up into a group of labs and collies and starts to play, all is fine until she growls. Then the owners freak out, labeling her as a "mean dog" and pulling away their dogs, all looking with distaste at the "troublemaker." If a "nicer breed" were to do the same thing no one would think twice, but because Stella is a pit bull people automatically judge her for her looks. I don't understand how you can't see through the breed and see her for what she is: a playful puppy.
Before I owned her I was never an advocate for any breed, I didn't see the issues as anything that was too pressing- now I realize I was wrong. When I'm walking my dog people shouldn't veer to the other side of the sidewalk (sometimes even in the grass!) especially not when I'm already making sure she isn't near you. Children are afraid of her because of what their parents have taught them. This isn't okay. Any dog, any size or breed, has it in them to be mean. It's in how they're raised, not their bloodlines. I rescued my dog from the streets, I gave her a better life. She is part of my family and I'll be dammed if I allow for people to continue looking at her in this way.