NMC021 Ziva, Wildfires and the New Puppy

Rosa Linda

Recorded: June 21, 2016
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Subject: Interviewing Ziva about first week aboard s/v Dawn Treader and getting a new puppy.

Hello friends!
Sometimes I think we are gluttons for punishment. Certainly that comes to mind when I listen to this week’s podcast episode which I recorded right after we moved onto the s/v Dawn Treader. Not only were we still moving in and figuring out all that went with this new lifestyle, we were also welcoming guests AND getting a new puppy! Like I said, crazy town.
But if you spend any time around our family, you know that is just how we roll. I am really glad that I documented that moment in time and especially that I interviewed Ziva with her adorable, still kinda squeaky, younger voice. I hope it brings a smile to your face like it did mine.
Enjoy!
Lots of love,
Rosa Linda

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Episode Transcript:

Rosa Linda Román Hello, everyone. Welcome to New Mexicast. I'm Rosa Linda Román. And before we get started, I want to share what you can expect here on this podcast. First, you should know that my family lives on a sailing catamaran, and this is my personal audio journal. What you're about to hear is an episode from 2016, when we were just starting our journey of moving from our home in New Mexico onto the boat. As a long time broadcast journalist, I wasn't sure how I was going to keep working while pursuing this crazy new lifestyle. This journal is where I worked through a lot of things, both personally and professionally. That means you will hear about experiments with new technologies like Blab and Periscope and testing out systems to make the move easier like Wild Tree meal prep and KonMari for downsizing our stuff. As you can imagine, some of these experiments were successful while some like Blab and Wild Tree don't even exist anymore. But I decided to leave even the failed experiments in this audio journal so you could get the whole story of how we went from New Mexicast to New Mexi-Castaways. If you like what you hear, please stick around till the end and I'll share how you can find out where we are now and how you can get much more content by joining the New Mexicastaways crew. Enjoy! Theme Music (00:03): Sailing away on a boat. Hailing from New Mexico. Enchanting stories as they go. Riding the tides, taking your time. Sailing away on a boat. Rosa Linda Román (00:28): Hello and welcome to New Mexicast audio edition. I'm Rosa Linda Roman and today we have a special guest here with me today. My daughter Ziva, we are heading to the airport. We're in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And that's my navigation talking. And I'm going to interview Ziva because we just went through a whirlwind adventure to come from our home in New Mexico to Florida to move onto a sailing catamaran. We'd been preparing for this journey for quite some time and we finally did it. So I wanted to say "Good Morning, Z." Ziva (01:11): Good Morning Mama. Um I think the adventure was really interesting. I am enjoying it here in Florida and now we're driving to go pick up my cousin Christina. And then tomorrow my other cousins are coming in, so it's going to be really fun on the boat. Rosa Linda Román (01:35): So that is awesome. And I love that you just dive right in. What I am excited about and, and the fact that your cousins are coming and my sister is coming it feels like this is really gonna be our home now. Right. People come visit you when you're at your house. And this boat is now our house. Now, we've had a few side adventures besides just coming here. One of the things that has been on our mind a lot is that back home right after we left a fire broke out in the forest near our home and it started as like six acres and became a 17,000 acre fire. And our nanny, who is with us on this trip, Miss Linda, her house had to be mandatory, mandatorily. How do I say that word? Had to be in the mandatory evacuation area. And so that was, has been very stressful. And see, so what's, tell me about it. First of all, do you remember what the name of the fire is? Yeah, it's called The Dog Head Fire. But what are you, what are your impressions as a kid hearing about all this stuff as we've been thinking about and talking about the fire back home. Ziva (02:53): I think that I was really worried about all our stuff there and like our glass table and everything cause we couldn't take all of that and we didn't put it in storage or anything. And Lila, I was worried about and everything. And then, our other dog, yes. And basically I was worried about all that. And then Miss Linda, she showed me this picture of where the fire was in relation to where her family was that her brothers sent. And it was actually really far, but the mandatory evacuation was closer to us. But that was more of like a smoke evacuation than the actual fire. So that calmed me down. Cause now I don't think the fire is going to reach 10 miles away or our house to burn it. I think they'll get it in control before then. Rosa Linda Román (03:51): Yeah. And it's been an interesting thing too. Obviously worry about it as like as a grownup and um in the middle of our move. Literally. We were pulling into Florida, I'm in West Palm Beach is I said, did I say Fort Lauderdale? We're heading to the Fort Lauderdale airport, but we are boat is in West Palm beach area, Riviera Beach Marina. Anyway, it's been interesting. It's been hard as an adult and I'm the one, you know, I'm able to get information on the Internet and look up the actual boundaries of the fire and figure out what I can from that perspective. For me as a reporter, it's been hard because I have covered many, many, many major forest fires in, during my broadcasting career. And I feel like there's a lot of stories that we covered that I didn't really feel like I made much difference or it was just negative because it was some crime or a terrible thing. Rosa Linda Román (04:47): But on the fire stories I always felt like I could actually impart information that was beneficial to the people that needed it. Where's the fire boundary? Where are the evacuations? Just up to the date information. So to have a fire in the area that I'm familiar with and not reporting on. It was hard just from a purely professional standpoint. But then to think about what that must be like for a child who is listening from the back seat of the car, while you know, her beloved nanny is worrying about her home and then it becomes, is our home going to be evacuated? And yeah. So this whole process has been a a very trying time for everybody. And luckily for us, we had done this Konmari system, which is if you go back and listen to past episodes, it's basically a organization system that you go through each item in your home and you determine what sparks joy and you only keep the things that spark joy. Rosa Linda Román(07:16): Well, we did that as we were prepping for the move to Florida to the boat. And so all of our special treasures like baby books and my journals and things that we couldn't replace were all consolidated in one room and basically a locked closet. And I was able to tell my friend or ask my friend to go to my house and just take those few special treasures out of that room and not put themselves in any danger. They were able to just go and get what I wanted out of there and didn't have to worry about all the rest of what was in the house. Cause everything else is replaceable. But the people were out safely. And so we felt good about that. And knowing that I had my special treasures, which aren't, you know, valuables per se, but they are valuable to us. To be able to get all that out of the house was a relief. So that was going on with the fire. And then we had another major event. Yeah. Ziva wants to tell you about much happier, exciting event that happened during this. So basically we've only been out of our house for a week in New Mexico for like guess two weeks, maybe not even. Right. So like Ziva is going to tell you about this exciting other events. Ziva (07:19): So this event is a lot more exciting than the last one and it's really happy. So well, the first part's a little sad, but we were looking at puppies because you have Lila there, but we still needed a dog. So we looked at this puppy and it was really expensive, but we got to go meet it and it was really good. But then we were all sad because we couldn't get it. It was really expensive. And then the guy was doubling the price for it then the breeders would have. And then we went to this. Yeah, we kind of sad but then my dad talked to me and I got over it and then we went and we saw this other puppies the other day there was a boy and a girl in these litters from a breeder. Honestly, the breeder was pretty annoying, but she was like talking, talking, talking, and then we were like, can we just meet the dog already? But we went and we saw this puppy and it was like half of more than half the price of the other one. She's so cute. And she would play with us and everything. So we decided and we got this dog. And I, and then, was it that day? Did the day we got her? We took her to Peanut Island? And then the day we got her Samuel and everyone wanted to go swimming but we didn't want to go at the marina. So we dingied over to Peanut Island with the dog after the dog and the dog went swimming and everything or my dad or she slipped in and was in and then she was playing in the sand and she had fun I think. But she was worn out that night. And we have a, we have a chart, me and my sister, we have to work, we have to do all the dogs chores and stuff. And it's honestly not that hard. But now the dog, she like, she's so cute and everything and you take it for walks and she's a purebred German Shepherd. We didn't say that cause we, and she's female. I keep saying she. Also, we are having fun. Me and my sister, whenever, whichever day we get to do the chores we get to snuggle with her that night. She's a good snuggler. She's really cute too. Rosa Linda Román (09:45): So we did get the dog and it has been an up and down cause like she said, she was really heartbroken about not getting the first dog, but it was a ridiculously expensive mound and we weren't going to pay that. So anyway, we ended up with this dog. She does not have a name yet. Right? Yeah, that was the other thing, Ziva was going to tell you. She does not have a name yet. We're waiting to kind of figure out her personality. Um sure. And here's a, Ziva's got a few, we've had a few thoughts. What do you think Z? Ziva (10:19): I think my favorite thought name that we thought of, we usually stick to Hebrew names with the dog. So I think the name I've really liked that's kind of stuck is Tikva, Tikva Tova Goldfien. That would be her full name. And also we, cause Tova was a great dog that just passed in the family. She was 11. And so that would be her middle name instead of calling Tova Two. So also there was T2 either Tikva Tova or Tova Two. I'm going to tell them that. Also since of the fire that we told you about and her face is kind of a reddish brown. We were thinking Esh is fire in Hebrew. So maybe we named her that and my dad likes Peanut cause we got her at Peanut Island and she looks like a peanut. She's just small and cute, cuddly. And that's some of the names we've had. But I really, I think Tikva was really stuck for me. Rosa Linda Román (11:24): Tell us a little bit about some of the negative side of owning a puppy. Like yeah, the, the, it's not all fun and games. She's adorable. Don't get me wrong. We, we are gonna, she's going to be a great dog for us. We can already tell, but it's not easy is it. Ziva (11:46): So, first of all, one last great thing about this dog. So it was funny cause last night it was my turn and I sleeping with her. Right. But you got to get up. So my dad, he had to leave early this morning on a short trip. So we took, so my dad came out like maybe 5:30 in the morning and the dog she had just waking up and she didn't know who that was cause it was all dark. Right? And so she starts barking at him barking and my dad encourages because she wants to bark at people she doesn't know. Right? And then he comes in and he turns on the light and she stops working cause she can see him and it was just, and he was encouraging it and it was all really happy. And then, but the downside about having to do all the work with all the puppy is she does it just snuggle. She's like, she poops, she pees and you have to clean it up, you know, and she chews things and whimpers all night. Ziva (12:47): You put her in the cage, well what we learned is that we want, we were doing it where we'd lock the door, put her in the cage and locked the door and then sleep by her. But what we found out is that either you should put her in the cage, close the door and leave or take her out or have the cage open and have her be able to be out and everything and sleep there because then you could like snuggle with her out of the cage. Cause the cage we're using it for more like when we have to go somewhere. Like now, she's in the cage and then that also I think we have to when you, so when it's your day, me and Ahava were rotating days of having to do the puppy's work. You have to take her for walks, even if you don't feel like it,. You got to pick up her poop, feed her, give her water, um clean up her pee. And then in the middle of the night, even though you're just going to be snuggling with the puppy. Right? You still have to do the work that night. So if she starts whining, which it's good that she whines cause it warns you before she actually does it. We have a peepee, a potty place on the boat and we take him. So in the middle of the night, if she starts whimpering, we take her there, then she goes to the bathroom, we'd go back and we can have to go back to sleep. And we learned that the ladies said that if you give the dog something to chew, whatever that thing is, she'll chew anything made of that same thing. So like if you give her raw hide and then she eats then don't ask and the couches you made of leather, then don't wonder why she chewed your couch, you know. Cause you taught her to, to that kind of stuff. So we're giving her mainly bones to chew, beef bones only. That cause then there's not, yeah, not chicken bones but like not breakable beef bones and then because you're not going to really have stuff in your house made of beef, beef bones. Okay. So that's what, but she's still a fun little cute puppy. Oh and my brother, she loves, he, she, he, it's funny cause he like plays with her and runs and stuff. And then he's terrified of her when she actually starts chasing him and playing with him. It's so funny. Rosa Linda Román(15:17): And that's because she has needle sharp teeth and needle sharp claws. But yeah, in general it's been interesting to have a puppy on the boat again. The first time we had a puppy like that, we were the one that lived in on another boat with us, Tova, that Ziva told you about. We had Tova as a puppy in New Mexico in an apartment and I had newborn Ahava, she was like four months old when we had a puppy this size, when tova was this size. And I'm having all these flashbacks of how exhausting it is to try to teach the puppy and comfort the puppy and whatever. But she is sweet and we put her in the crate and she did cry, but Nathan and I were in the other room. We were home, but we put her in the crate. We've never really crate trained a dog before. She did like really cry and yelp and I thought, oh, I got to rescue her. But within 10 minutes she was done, she went to sleep and she was fine. So it was a good lesson for us to know that if we go rescue her, she's just going to keep crying and crying cause then she thinks that it works. It's kind of like a baby. So let me describe a little bit in the forward part of the boat on deck. There's a seating area that by the feet. It's kind of like a, well where the feet go and yeah, it could be gross, but nobody uses that space that much. And we were looking for where we were going to have the dog go to the bathroom on the boat. You have to pick one spot. Ziva, Ziva wants to talk, hang on. Ziva (16:56): We picked that spot because no one really sits up there. They either sit in the helm or they're crisscross. They don't really put their feet down there, and/or they're on the tramp. And then, so we picked that spot cause it's got a little wide area, you can fit a grass pad there and it's got two drains. That's helpful. Rosa Linda Román (17:14): That's the critical part is that it's got drains and you can just what?. Ziva (17:18): Hose it down, the pee. Rosa Linda Román (17:23): So, we are trying to get her to go in that, that spot because it's easy cleaning. It makes sense. It's a place that we can put a grassy patch. When we had Tova on the first boat, we, it literally was an epic 4 day battle to get her, and she was a grown dog by the time we moved onto the boat, and she would, we, I kept trying to get her to go in a certain spot and she wasn't having it because she was very private about her business and didn't want anyone to see her. And so she was very stressed about having to go on deck. So it's actually much better for us because this puppy doesn't, she'll just go anywhere. She doesn't, she has no shame. And so we're trying to encourage her to go in this one area that's easily hosed off. And because here's the thing, we can take her for a walk and we do, there's grassy areas all the way around the marina. But what happens when you're away from shore? We know of, we've heard stories of many people who, who ended up not sailing or not cruising the way they really want to because their dog is too stressed to go to the bathroom on the boat. And so they only sail as far as they can be, you know, half a day and still take the dog for a walk at some time that day. So we don't want to do that. We want to teach the dog that this is her home and this is the spot to go potty. And that way we can sail and go long distances. So that's the goal. It seems a little strange, but that's why we're doing it. Rosa Linda Román (19:07): So there's enough that's enough about dog and potty and all that. We just wanted to share a little bit of the event adventure. And yeah, we'll continue to share as much as we can along the way. I think this audio podcast is a lot more practical than trying to put together video stories. Of course we'll have anytime we have a chance to do some visual live shots or live streaming, you can find that on New MexicastTV on Youtube, or look for New Mexicast on Facebook. It's facebook.com/NewMexicast. So for now, thank you very much for listening and a Z you want to wrap it up? Ziva (19:59): Thank you guys for listening and have a great rest of the day. And yes, this is Ziva Goldfein from New Mexicast and bye. Theme Music (20:03): Sailing away on a boat. Hailing from New Mexico. Enchanting stories as they go. Riding the tides, taking your time. Sailing away on a boat.

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