<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6029583285952512019</id><updated>2011-04-21T16:32:36.478-07:00</updated><category term='Musings'/><category term='Took'/><title type='text'>Smoke and Salt</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6029583285952512019/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>courtney</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12949801707848498663</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6029583285952512019.post-1629420657896898615</id><published>2008-03-24T18:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T15:24:51.159-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Took'/><title type='text'>Thankfully, Spring is already here.</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GvGUGfPz92E/R-hS8WKHK-I/AAAAAAAAACU/8FkVtL9qjPs/s1600-h/groundhog.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:center; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GvGUGfPz92E/R-hS8WKHK-I/AAAAAAAAACU/8FkVtL9qjPs/s320/groundhog.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181482567983377378" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here he is, his last known picture, unknowingly waving goodbye to his life.....he had no idea his fate included the mean and vicious, Malamute "Death Jaws" Took.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Poor Mr. Groundhog.  We're sorry.  It's not your fault Took has vision clearer than a Hawk's and a reaction time faster than the speed of light.  I know you were trying to blend into the dirt of the newest hole you just dug, and I &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;know&lt;/span&gt; you were performing your best possible statue pose.  You did good.  No really, you did.  You should be proud of your work.  But sadly, you didn't have a chance matched up against this Malamute.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I hope you had fun digging your many holes in our neighbor's yard.  I'm not so sure he'll miss you, but I'm sure someone will.   &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;R.I.P.&lt;br /&gt;Mr. B.B. Groundhog&lt;br /&gt;March 24th, 2008&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Recognized for his undying dedication to hole digging, Bodega Bay, CA"&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6029583285952512019-1629420657896898615?l=smokeandsalt.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/feeds/1629420657896898615/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6029583285952512019&amp;postID=1629420657896898615' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6029583285952512019/posts/default/1629420657896898615'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6029583285952512019/posts/default/1629420657896898615'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/2008/03/winters-will-forever-be-long-from-here.html' title='Thankfully, Spring is already here.'/><author><name>courtney</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12949801707848498663</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GvGUGfPz92E/R-hS8WKHK-I/AAAAAAAAACU/8FkVtL9qjPs/s72-c/groundhog.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6029583285952512019.post-1874593407427036562</id><published>2008-01-13T10:57:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-03-24T18:42:46.091-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Musings'/><title type='text'>Smoke and Salt</title><content type='html'>This is the thing...I moved 3500 miles to a place I knew of by intuition.  On a hunch.  Usually for something like that, there's a catalyst involved.  School.  A job.  A lover.  Something that gives you a reason, a motive.  Me?  I went on instinct.  I knew no one, had no job, no place to live.  What was I doing?  I still don't know how I managed to do it.  But here I am now, living 100 ft from the ocean, in a house with a man I love, 3500 miles from where I started.  Where when I walk with my dog once the sun has gone down over the Pacific ocean, I smell nothing but smoke from the wood stoves and the salty air from our backyard -- I'm reminded of what I was seeking all along.  Myself.  She got lost somewhere between a broken heart and a few misplacements.  But ended up finding herself where she didn't really expect.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6029583285952512019-1874593407427036562?l=smokeandsalt.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/feeds/1874593407427036562/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6029583285952512019&amp;postID=1874593407427036562' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6029583285952512019/posts/default/1874593407427036562'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6029583285952512019/posts/default/1874593407427036562'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://smokeandsalt.blogspot.com/2008/01/smoke-and-salt.html' title='Smoke and Salt'/><author><name>courtney</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/12949801707848498663</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry></feed>
