We have canceled our Mexico trip officially. We were traveling on frequent flyer miles and if we use them again before May of 2014 we won't forfeit the mileage so that's a plus. We still don't know about the first deposit  on our casita and have asked them that if they rent the house out despite us, could they apply it to future rental. We still don't know the outcome of that.

We talked about all the issues and we both came to the same conclusion: that we should cancel and go at another time. It would have been a nice get-away for us, but other than that we don't have any real reasons for going at this time. Yes, we are considering San Miguel as a winter  residence in retirement, but we are still at least three or more years away from that particular phase of our lives. I think in any scenario that we have to contend with, either putting Alex up at the uncomfortable vet clinic, to the more familiar kennel, or even someone being able to housesit for us, it still boiled down to our comfort level with any of those choices. Alex, although feeling physically good at this point, is still a bit challenging on the eating end of things. I can't put that on anybody else but ourselves.

The upside is that Rick will have more vacation days to spend, either tacking on another few days to our Colorado cabin visit (see? more vacation time!) or just a few three-day weekends and more time at the holidays. 

You might do things differently than us, but our dogs are our kids. Alex has been a phenomenal part of our family for 10.5 years and we just don't feel right leaving him while he is still undergoing chemotherapy with all its ups and downs. 

As far as frogs are concerned, we still fish out seven or eight every morning. This is getting a bit old at this point. We have had a lot of rain over the past few days and rain does seem to factor into the frog problem. Friend Carolyn suggested we collect them in a bucket and take them down to the pond. I have no idea if it's the same stupid frogs each day or different ones (and I know I aided the demise of at least one the other day by mistake) but if we are dealing with the same situation tomorrow morning with no additional rainfall, then we'll collect them and take them down to the pond with us and release them as we set off on our canoe trip around the pond. It's either that or frog legs for dinner tomorrow night. 

Photo: Cherubic fountain at Skylands.