The ball

About 3 years ago, we bought the other dog a soccer ball sized ball for dogs. It was covered in a blue fabric and squeaks when squished.  The other dog wasn't really into it, but we didn't get rid of it.  When kids came over, they loved to kick the ball around the yard, and the other dog would chase it.  He just wouldn't really bring it back.  Fetch has no meaning for him.

And then we got Lucy.....

Lucy is obsessed with the blue ball.  When it snows, the blue ball is the first thing Lucy looks for.  She would dig for hours just to get the blue ball.  She has the ability to find the blue ball anywhere, but she can't find a dog biscuit if you drop it on the floor in front of her!  We bought another blue ball for inside the house, but it just wasn't the same.  We have discussed throwing it away (while washable, it stinks!), but hadn't done it quite yet.  

 

We recently had a large storm.  Knowing it was coming, I picked up all the dog toys in the yard and locked them in the shed....except for the blue ball.  Honestly, I was kinda hoping it would blow away!  The day before the storm, something I ordered in a moment of weakness arrived in the mail....the yellow ball.  I didn't give, or even show Lucy the yellow ball.  I planned on throwing away the blue ball and replacing it with the yellow one, but I wasn't sure how it would go over.  When the storm came, the blue ball disappeared into the snow.  We then, unknowingly, piled more snow over it.  The blue ball was gone, and kids were here.  I gave in and took out the yellow ball.  It was like the blue ball all over again!  She would carry it all over the yard, lie down and use it as a pillow, bring it right to the door and leave it outside.  This would be my chance to get rid of the blue ball...but where was it???  Still under all the snow!

Today, over a week past all the snow, the blue ball appeared again amidst the melting snow.  Goodbye yellow ball, you are no longer good enough for Lucy.  The blue ball is back as though it were never gone.  It looks a little worse for wear, and I don't know how much longer it will last, but I don't have the heart to throw it away anymore.  The blue ball is back for as long as it can hang on.  Welcome back, blue dog ball.  Lucy has missed you!

Not quite sure

Okay,  so in a moment of indecision the other night,  I bought this dress for my upcoming vacation. I'm still not sure if I like it enough to keep it and wear it.  Any opinions?

Happenings

Things that happened this week:

Lucy treats every walk like it's a full on race.  You can't really tell from the picture,  but she is hooked up to some anti-pulling device.  It helps but it certainly hasn't fixed the issue.

Also, lots of shoveling and gym time,  the New England Boat Show, and a rest day.

Things that will be happening this week:

It is school vacation week and February,  which brings us to "make your own sundae" night tomorrow! Tomorrow is our second annual Sundae night for our niece and nephews.  We tried pushing for Dairy Queen, but it didn't fly. Thank goodness I can send them all home after, cause that's a lot of sugar!

Do you have any fun family traditions that you have started recently?

Probably not...

I ended up doing 40 minutes on the treadmill the other night while watching Downton Abby. Did I end up running 3? Probably not.  I need to do some type of headphone research.  I have a pair of earbuds by Phillips for my treadmill. For some reason, the cord comes apart in the middle, so you can have a longer or shorter cord maybe? Every time I would up the speed past the slowest jog, all I could hear was the cord swishing around.  Drove me batty! I ended up jacking up the incline and walking fast for the rest of the time.  I maybe ran a mile, mile and a half, before throwing in the towel.  Any recommendations for headphones for treadmill running?

In all honesty, the cord had always driven me nuts. When I run, I usually bring some cheesy mp3 player that has a clip and a speaker on it. If I clip it to my sports bra, I can hear the music while I run, AND the punk 18 years old who just drove right up behind me and laid on the horn to scare my dogs (funny, funny, kid. What goes around comes around). In the winter, it is sometimes too cold for my cheap mp3 player to work. I will either go without (and just talk out loud to my dogs,haha) or use my iPod shuffle. I cut one earbud off those headphones so that I could hear cars.  When I have run a race with headphones in, I constantly punch the cord and pull them out of my ears.I finally started running the cord down the back of my shirts.



Yesterday, I took the day off, besides some light shoveling. Today, I did 30 minutes of weights and 30 minutes of cardio at the gym.  Looking forward to my Chobani bites for dessert tonight. I thought I loved the coffee one, but the pineapple one was so much better once I found them!  Try them if you see them...great flavors and only 100 calories.  

Things that make you go hmmm

Yesterday, while I was outside shoveling the deck stairs for the dogs, the normal one started barking, quite emphatically.  I jog over to the other side of the yard to see just what it is that has him so worked up.  It was just a guy walking past the house.  Just a guy walking past the house carrying a flat screen tv.  Maybe it needed some fresh air?

I run back to the other side of the yard, up the deck stairs, and attempt to take a picture of the guy...for whom, I don't know! It seemed like a good idea! Mind you, he didn't even look over at me.  Then, I started a mini panic....while I was out back, I had left the garage door open out front.  Is it my tv?  So, I proceed to fly into the house and check any room that may have a tv.  I'm good, they are all in the right places. I grab the home phone ( does anyone still have one besides me?) and run outside.

As I stand in the driveway getting ready to call the cops about the man in the black jacket with yellow trim, I see a cop car.  I attempted to flag the guy down, but he didn't stop. Maybe he thought I was just an overly happy shoveler at 6:40 am? Then I notice him slowing down and turning 1 street over, where a fellow snow cleaner upper is nodding at the cop.

Today's paper included a lovely snap shot of the tv thief, who had apparently snagged it from a local motel.  I knew he wasn't just taking it for a walk! Seriously though, at 6 am, it is light out...did he think no one would call?  According to the paper, two people did call, neither of which was me.  My family thought my neighborhood watch skills were pretty poor, but come on, the cops were right there!

Anyway, yesterday's exercise was shoveling for 45 minutes.  Today, I was the first one at the gym. Did 30 minutes of weights and 15 of interval on the treadmill.

Question: would you have called the cops? I did feel guilty that I didn't, but the cops WERE there already anyway!

Have a great day!

Getting back in the swing of things

A little history about me today...a long time ago, I hit my head, and ended up hurting my neck somehow. I have had problems off and on for years now.  Sometimes I can't turn my head at all, or even lift my arm.  All my X-rays and MRIs show nothing on the side that hurts (but a surprising amount of things on the side that doesn't) so no one has really been able to help.

I have been to multiple drs and ended up at a pain clinic. The Dr. asked me to take a break from working out to see if that triggered it at all.  While I assured him it didn't, as I was having issue from before I ever started running, I took said break.  I was running about 25 miles a week, and doing some weights 3x a week before the break. I got what I believed was a miraculous steroid injection, but it only lasted 8 days. 3 months went by, and we attempted it again.  The second time, there was no relief, AND my neck got stuck a few days later.  I was still stuck at my follow up appointment.  Some manual manipulation was attempted, but no relief was found.  It came unstuck about 3 weeks later.   I decided I had enough for now. I told the Dr. I would call him when my neck was stuck, thanked him, and left.

I decided that I needed to get back to my routines.  Unfortunately , it was zero degrees out.  Really, who wants to start running outside again when it is that cold??  Not me! A few outdoor attempts were made, with horrifying disgust at myself for wanting to quit so soon.  Back to the gym I went! My gym uses little keys in the machines.  The keys store your routine and weight amounts, which I love! I have never liked bringing my little notebook along with me with my routines in it.  I got my key updated and started with my weights again.  They also have a few treadmills and ellipticals to do quick little 15 minute cardio routines.  It makes it nice and easy to get in and out.  Ideally, I would like to do my weights and some easy cardio, come home and run with my dogs.  I'm not there yet, but I will be soon!

Monday's, I am up particularly early.  Today, I made it to the gym at 4:50, did 30 minutes of weights and 15 cardio.  Tonight, I will be walk/ running on the treadmill during an episode of Downton Abby on the iPad.  I would like to run at least 3 miles. Here's to getting back in the swing of things!

Snow dump!

Overall, Nemo left us with about a foot of snow.  Thanks to super high winds and snow drifts, power was a much bigger issue for friends and family.  We lent our generator to a friend that was still out of power 24 hours later.  Sorry, Mr. Postman, I can no longer shovel the walkway, but I cleared what I could!

The scent of stupidity

I recently had two perfume samples, Paco Rabanne One Million and Lady Millionaire.  I fell in love with the One Million.  I loved the way it smelled when I put it on, or even if I could smell it of clothes when I was doing laundry.  I decided to order some for myself, but was having a hard time locating it anywhere.  Everyone only sold the men's cologne, but not the perfume.  It took me three whole days to realize I had been wearing men's cologne the entire time!

I truly don't care that it is cologne, but it is still making me laugh

Blizzard style

No running or gym for us today! Just lots and lots of shoveling! Lucy mistakenly thinks she is a sled dog and never wants to come in!

The "normal" one

I actually have 2 dogs...but the other one is normal. By normal, I mean many things: he walks properly in a leash, he has never eaten a half of a boxwood bush, he gets along with my cat, he can sit AND stay ( at the same time!)  My normal dog is the reason I started running. He would get a little hyper at night if his walk wasn't long enough. How could I make him get more exercise if I didn't have more time? RUNNING! I could cover more ground in the same amount of time!

After many different leashes, collars, etc, I settled on a Lupine martingale collar, and a Ruffwear leash that I can wear around my waist.  I love that leash! People stop me and ask what kind it is all the time!  The normal one and I worked our way up to 8 miles this way.  Not anymore, nowdays he is hard pressed to reach 5, but he has run 8 very happily.

Anyway, forget running, maybe take away the normal one tag. Yesterday, the normal one comes in from outside at about 7 am. He starts hitting himself in the face with his paws and rubbing his face on the ground.  What could be wrong?? I run my fingers around the outside of his teeth, look inside his mouth: nothing! Weird. Then, while he is  lying down, I look again and spot it: the stick. It had somehow wedged itself against the roof of his mouth!  The stick was removed, and all is good again!

I would like to think this will curtail his stick eating habit, but I know better.:-(

The cardboard chronicles...

Several months ago, Lucy ran into an incident. Said incident involved her eating enough cardboard(industrial, not pizza box variety!) that she required surgery.  She came out looking a little Frankensteinish, with a foot long incision running across her belly.

2 weeks go by with no running, jumping, etc., and I return to the vet to have her staples removed. She wasn't very happy about this, but seemed cheerful enough.  Back to the insane Lucy that we know and love! Still no running with me, as I had some neck issues going on AND didn't want to push my luck with Frankengut.

A month goes by, with me checking her belly every few days.  All looks good...until the day it didn't. One Sunday, a month after the surgery, I rolled her over to find several pink welts and a couple cuts. 2 visits to the vet later, I was told that her body was rejecting internal stitches.  There were 3 layers to her incision, with 2 layers stitched shut and 1 stapled. Lucy's body didn't like the material they closed her up with, so it was forcing it out of her body. Antibiotics, here we come!

Now, all the pills are gone.  When I rolled her over yesterday, she now has a few clear pieces of string coming out. The vet has given me the ok to just cut them off.  I will do just that, as soon as I figure out how to get a maniac 2 year old golden retriever to sit still long enough for me to go near the softest part of her with sharp scissors!

She isn't wearing the inflatable cone anymore...she popped it shortly after getting her staples removed!

Welcome to my blog!

I love to read other people's blogs. There are so many funny and kind people out there that are willing to share a part of their lives with you. I decided I would like to be one of those people as well!

I will use this blog to share some of my favorite things with you, and of course, Lucy.  Lucy is always good for a laugh.