From Head to Foot

SUMMARY: Glasses and insoles. And hair, mustn't forget the hair.

As I reported a couple of weeks ago, I've got this annoying pain in the metatarsal/phalangeal joint.  I hate shopping for shoes. But, in the interest of lessening the pain and helping the healing, I went shopping for stiff-soled shoes. Which of course required walking walking walking around a huge mall on my sore foot. And to no avail: found that pretty much everything that was really stiff and don't bend much came in one of two flavors: Army Boot or Nurse Ratched. I thought that my brown men's Merrell's, which I wear a lot because they're quite comfy, were pretty stiff--

--until the podiatrist showed (as I reenact here) that they were merely "OK" (his word) in the bendy department.

That's why I went shopping. BUT not only were the selections not pretty,  the prices were also downright ugly. So I returned home to check out what I already have. My black women's Merrell's--a different fit, slightly smaller and tighter--but cooler looking because they're, duh, black, which is inherently cool--turn out to have much stiffer soles. Interesting. They did not want to bend at all. Score one for cool black Merrell's. Boost likes them, too.

So, what else do I already have around? Ignoring hiking boots for now, how about my 3 pairs of New Balance "tennis shoes". Worn but not worn out; dirty from all the times I wore them for hiking and agility and yard work and EVERYTHING until about 3 years ago when I mostly started wearing Merrell-style shoes most of the time. Kept them for serious walking and athletic activities that didn't involve wet grass or mountains. So I still have them.

And, whoa, they also really do not want to bend! And a sudden brain flash--that's because, back in '97 when I had a stress fracture in one foot (same foot, turns out, different toe), the podiatrist (orthopedist?) told me to always buy stiff-soled shoes, so that's what I looked for when I shopped.

Meanwhile, my current podiatrist had suggested that I take my custom orthotics--again, dating from post-stress-fracture wayyy back then--and have them covered with a nice cross-training insole pad by an orthotics guy. So I took my familiar bluies and his prescription and dropped them off last week; have an appointment for a final fitting on Monday. Who knew it was so complicated?

So, so far, foot still hurts, trying not to do any walking or hiking, but still did agility class last night and it felt OK in my stiff-soled turf shoes, which also don't bend much at all.

MEANWHILE, nearly at the other end of my body, it came time for my biannual eye checkup and glasses replacement. So, a couple of weeks back, I went on in. Left eye, which has always been pretty good, remained pretty good. Right eye, which has been very gradually getting more nearsighted and would require a very thick lens if I were using normal plastic or glass, tricked me this time around and got slightly less nearsighted and slightly more farsighted. Which is apparently typical for, ugh, "older" people.

Then I had to shop.

I hate shopping for glasses. Normally I just try to replace the lenses in my existing frames, but this time they no longer make the same frames, so I'd have to leave my old frames with them to have the lenses made. Fergit that. So had to pick out new frames for regular glasses AND for sunglasses (have been without separate sunglasses for 2 years. That's enough of *that*.)

And it's SO. HARD. Here is one of three walls of frames. They all look almost the same but they all look terrible on me.

Come on, which pair of thick black plastic frames do you want for your sunglasses?

It's hopeless. I'm probably not really crying, but I could have been.

Fortunately, the optician assisting me managed to convince me that she knew what she was talking about in terms of things that looked good on me. She did so by agreeing with me on several pairs that I tried and hated. Then she went looking for various frames and brought them to me. I'd look in the mirror, she'd look at me in person, and we'd negotiate whether they would be going home with me or not.

I finally decided on this for the sunglasses. Not black. From a distance, might look that way, but actually just dark purple. And on the inside, they're blue! If there's anything that convinces me that something is of high quality, it's that they're blue and purple. Don't look at the price sticker. I sure didn't. Gasp.

Then we agreed on these for my regular glasses. I said, "ugh, bling." And she said, oh, really, not very much bling at all, it's very subtle. And this is also an experiment; I've never before had glasses with no frame on the lower half. Yes, from the earpiece to the nosepiece, it's just naked lens.

And, two weeks later, here are my old glasses:

Here are my new sunglasses--whoa, don't I look cool or what?! Just the thing to wear with black Merrell's.

And these are my new spectacles.

Lastly, a couple of weeks ago I finally got my hair fixed--something I do about every six months but it was way overdue this time. Because I hate having my hair permed. But I really like the results (as seen in the photos above) and I really like that it then becomes pretty much wash and wear. This is the really glamorous part of the process:

So now I'm all fixed up in all these various ways. Ready to face the world.

Thinking

SUMMARY: Persistence and attitude.

Years ago, when setting up this version of the blog, I subtitled it:

Surviving and even thriving in dog agility. Ex Pertinacia Victoria.

Through persistence comes victory.

Thriving in dog agility.

Seems like in the last couple of years that has all been stripped away and I've merely been surviving in dog agility. Where did that enthusiasm and determination go? Where oh where has my little attitude gone, oh where, or where can it be?

Just trying to remember the feelings that inspired me way back then.

Temperatures and Emotions Going Every Which Way

SUMMARY: So, in other words, probably a typical agility weekend.

Saturday was hot--at least, in terms of weather. I never wore my fleece at all; short sleeves all the way even at 4:30 in the morning. Probably didn't reach 94F, but most likely 90F anyway. Fortunately, a sweet little breeze kept us all from boiling away. A shower in an air-conditioned hotel room felt SO GOOD that evening! Sunday was cool--at least, in terms of weather. Wore my thick fleece until after lunch, when it finally became warm enough to shed a layer. Cool, sweet, gentle breeze all day today, too, with a couple of sudden unexpected gusts that tore several canopies from their moorings.

Saturday didn't go all that well agility-wise-speaking for us.

Tika's one run, Jumpers, was perfect up to the end, when she ran past the last jump for an NQ. But again she seemed happy, grabbed my foot to demonstrate her enthusiasm.

Boost had 6 runs:

• Gamblers: Opening was mostly nice except missed her weave entry; the gamble itself, I didn't get a front cross in that I meant to and she wouldn't take a jump right in front of her. No Q, not even very high opening points.
• Standard: Just not taking obstacles, so we left the field. No Q.
• Grand Prix: Nice parts except a bar down and ran past one jump. No Q.
• Snooker: Dagnabbit, I forgot the course, whistled off quickly. No Q.
• Jumpers: Beautiful except ran past one jump. No Q.
• Steeplechase: Ran past the broad jump and something else. No Q.

Sunday didn't go all that well...until...
well... hang on to your hats...

Sunday was Team day. Three dogs to a team, all dogs do four individual events and then a relay at the end of the day. Qualification is based on cumulative scores from all those runs compared to the average of the top three teams. You have to be within 15% of that average to Q.

Our team, Dogs Gone Wild, had some nice fast dogs, but you also have to be accurate.

Jumpers: Boost and I E'ed on too many refusals (running past jumps). Another teammate Eed. Not good. But one other team also had two Es, and our 3rd dog was faster than their third dog, so, OK, so we could at least say "We're not in last place!" (By one whole point.) We assured each other that we can make it up easily later, although the top three teams were so far ahead of everyone else that they were the only ones in Qing range so far. Mood: Frustrated.

Then Snooker. OK, we did not completely crash and burn: Two of us got all the way through a high-scoring opening and partway through the closing. But Boost was again whistled off because she was too busy looking at me to bother taking a jump, gah. And, oh yeah, that was after running past two obstacles in the opening, wasting time, so doubt we'd have gotten a lot more points anyway. Our third teammate had an excellent score, thank goodness. Still, a LOT of dogs got much farther through the closing than we two did, so we moved up... one position.   Still nowhere near Qing range. Mood: Very frustrated.

Then Gamblers, and what a disaster. Boost ran past two obstacles in the opening again, probably my fault but still wasted time, and that's probably why my carefully timed closing was over time, causing us to lose all our gamble points. One teammate also didn't get gamble points. So, even though our 3rd teammate had a very nice run, we could no longer say that we weren't in last place. 

Mood: Depressed.

Don't know how my teammates felt, but I knew at that point that we weren't going to Q and I wondered why on earth I even bothered to enter team when Boost and I do so consistently poorly. It was all over, nothing to do but try to relax and enjoy the remaining two classes, although it was tempting to pack up and go home.

Then Standard. Standard has the 2nd-highest weighting of the 5 classes. Much to our delight, all three of us got through the course without E-ing! And apparently enough other dogs E'ed that, slam-bang, all of a sudden we were not only not last any more, but at the very bottom of actual Qing range! Which mean that, if we could all three avoid Eing in the relay, we might actually Q!

Mood: Almost hopeful but very stressed.

The heaviest weighting, though, is on the 3-dog relay. And now the pressure was on--we were so close to NOT Qing that a couple of faults, even if we didn't E, could possibly knock us out. And the way we'd been running, someone was probably going to E. I tried not to get my hopes up. We were almost the last team to run, and we saw quite a few teams go off course as we waited. Not a good sign.

But then something very interesting happened: Not only did we all not E, but we all had no faults, AND we all ran fast with no bobbles, and WOW we won the RELAY!  I've never been on a team fast enough and accurate enough to win the relay portion of the Championship Team event.  It wasn't by much--just a second faster than the next team, but yes indeed in this one class we beat all those teams who'd been at the top of the rankings most of the way. Wow. Just wow.

And so-- not only did we Q, but we ended up 5th overall! It was a very good way to end the weekend. Mood: Happy.

Dogs Gone Wild: Drover, Boost, and Betty, and their Humans.

More Agility

SUMMARY: Because one weekend of USDAA in a row wasn't enough.

Aaaaaannnnnnd we're off to Turlock, where the weather is expected to be about 20 degrees (F) higher than normal for this time of year. This is why this trial was moved from mid-June to the beginning of May: To avoid the excessive Central Valley heat. Ha, how's THAT workin' for us?

Ah, well, it's supposed to be 10-15 degrees cooler on Sunday, thank goodness. Plus we're going to have a grand potluck ("Pre-Cinquo de Mayo") Saturday evening, and that's always fun.

Tika's signed up for only one run, on Saturday, and not sure whether I'll run her since it's going to be the middle of the day and she's not been doing as well in the heat in the last year or so. Never used to bother her, but, sigh, it sucks getting older.

Saturday is all the usual classes and tournaments, and then Sunday is all Team. Boost is teamed with two Kelpies, Drover and Betty, with the team name Dogs Gone Wild, which should be pretty apt for our group. All very fast dogs, some of whom have been known to be a little challenging to handle at times. But all good masters-level dogs (I'll include Boost in that, yes I will).

Boost and I did OK in class Thursday evening despite the warmth--only 2 other classmates showed up (others are either off at AKC World Team Tryouts or taking the night off) so we had a lot of chances to run. Boost's weave entries were SOOOOOOOO broken! Curse it all anyway!

And of course bars came down.

But she worked hard at all the drills even when I messed up and had to keep repeating and seemed to be enjoying herself. Tika got a couple of short runs and although she looked excited, wasn't all that fast--heat?

As usual I'm trying to get a steady reading on how I feel about the weekend, but the needle is hopping all over. Good friends will be there, the trial won't be too huge, I'm working score table again so will be able to do a lot of sitting in the shade. At some moments I'm excited about running Boost (when I think of our best portions of runs) alternating with really wishing I were spending the weekend going to movies (when I think of those single moments in each run when all the hope drains away...). Looking forward to team--I think--because in team knocked bars and refusals don't hurt you NEARLY as much as in regular classes.

Maybe I'm just overheated. Hope I can sleep easily tonight... it's later than I had planned, I'm not quite all packed; looks like I'm hoteling it again because I can't bear the thought of trying to set up MUTT MVR to sleep in, although I think it'll be a perfect weekend weatherwise for it.

Guess I ought to give the usual place a call and see whether they have a room. And throw some clothes into a bag and get to bed.

Keep cool, y'all!

Sunday

SUMMARY: Well, that's over.

We had a rare zero-percent Qualifying weekend-- 0 of 12 for Boost, 0 of 2 for Tika, which has historically been rare for her in Jumpers. I try to focus on "dogs are happy, friends are good, weather is beautiful, exercise is healthy," and so on, but still especially with the aches and pains I felt old and incompetent by the end of the day Sunday.

With Tika's Jumpers today, she ran well--too well, and I didn't get in a front cross that I had planned, and while I hesitated because the course looks different when you're standing in an unexpected place, she took an off-course jump. She still exhibited joy, lunging in and grabbing my foot. Wish she'd waited until AFTER the last jump, not before it, though!

And it's not that Boost and I didn't have some nice bits, and I LOVE running a fast dog, I really do! The adrenaline, the split-second timing, the speed--

But still.

Jumpers: A very nice, smooth run with a decent time of 24 seconds (the three or four fastest dogs in the entire event were just under 20 secs). Even did a rear cross nicely and a couple of push-outs to jumps farther away from me beautifully, no refusals or spins or wrong turns. Time would've been faster if I hadn't missed that same dang front cross with her as with Tika and our last four obstacles were run in a VERY unconventional and time-wasting way. But a bar came down on the double jump in the middle of the run. Happy with her run but sad about no Q.

Snooker: We had a glorious awesome opening involving crazy running and pull-throughs and things. Kept her bars up, did her contacts perfectly, sent out to jumps--and then when we got to the easy part--the last obstacle of the opening she refused the tire and then crashed it, and then knocked the first bar of the closing, so we were out. LOVED the part that we did well, it felt so good, but really, refusing a tire RIGHT IN FRONT of her? I had the sudden revelation that maybe she does her best when I'm acting like every obstacle is difficult and challenging and if it's too easy, she thinks there must be something wrong! SOOOOO--

--oooo--- in Gamblers--picked a fairly challenging opening that required ME to do a lot of hard work, and I worked every obstacle as if it were challenging, and we nailed it, every bit of it, including the "jump right in front of her" that I thought was easy but instead I worked it like crazy and although she hesitated a moment, she got it, and she kept all her bars up, and she stuck all her contacts even though I released her early repeatedly, and we were in EXACTLY the right place when the whistle blew, and she flew over the first jump in the gamble without knocking it and into the tunnel and I was in the right place to call her to the weaves and she changed direction and ran right to the weave entry, slowed like she was collecting-- and ran PAST it! Not just the first pole, but the first half dozen! Then wove around one pole and popped out to come to me. I mean, really? Ran past them???? Argh.

I loved our opening, felt so great to get through it without any flaws--once again, we had the highest opening points of all 69 dogs entered in the class with 35 (tied with Fireball, who lives up to his name; 3 dogs had 34, 3 had 33... so, yeah, we had an awesome opening). But still, that final aggravation. Pff.

Standard was 90% beautiful. Great contacts, nice start-line stay, AWESOME table-down for a dog who's had problems with slowly rising during the count--I put her into a down and moved quickly about 25 feet away to get in a front cross after the following obstacle, and it worked beautifully. Beautiful lead-out to a back-side front cross. Somewhere int he middle, Knocked a bar. But sadly it was an E because she missed the weave entry and then popped out... or soemthing--I actually don't remember, just know that we didn't complete the weaves and I didn't want to go back and muck with them since we already weren't Qing. So, another run that had some brilliant bits through most of it, but still no Q.

And the other gamble of the day--knocked a bar in the opening, did a "what, this jump?" dance wasting time getting to the area of the gamble, so that was 2 points that we didn't get. Therefore had an opening total of 33 rather than 35, which was not bad. But then pulled off the first gamble obstacle for a refusal, so no Q. (For comparison--I love looking at gamblers point totals because it's both strategy and speed and I thrive on seeing what's humanly--or caninely--possible: One dog out of all 86 entered had 38 opening points! (Wings, aptly named) Two dogs had 36 (Dash, also aptly named, and Rowdy, a Boost half-sibling); 5 had 35. So, yes, we did pretty good, except dang the bar and the refusals.)

So, in all, a day of 85 to 90% brilliance and yet no Qs. Couldn't we have, like two runs of 100% brilliance and then I'd be glad to just have 50% brilliance in the other classes?

But, yes, loved the sunshine and mild temperatures and good friends and I really do enjoy seeing other people and their dogs and all that they can do and all the distances they've come in training themselves and their dogs. And I love the agility community--this weekend, on a couple of very challenging courses, everyone cheered when anyone got past the rough parts without faulting, even in snooker where most people are hoping for super-Qs which depends on you doing better than other dogs. All the people who asked for suggestions on the courses and got them, or who were noticed to be walking the course wrong and someone quickly pointed it out to them. I love that sense of community and mutual support.

I would surely miss that if I stopped agility.

And Here's How Saturday Went

SUMMARY: Beautiful day but not so much in the agility ring.

Alarm didn't go off. Actually figured it out this evening--alarm did go off but somehow the volume had been turned to zero.

Barely made it in time for briefing and walkthroughs, thank goodness, but took most of the first class to haul all my stuff and set it up. Didn't get a morning frisbee session in with the Merle Girls.

Jumpers: Boost knocked the first bar, so it was all over for Qing. Ran past 2 other jumps in various places but I kept going and she had actually a really nice time and the rest felt good.

Jumpers still: Tika's only run of the day. Ran PAST the first jump--what was it about the first jump? And it was all over for Qing. Had some other bobbles, but she was very happy, grabbed my foot with great enthusiasm and growling but BEFORE the last jump instead of after it. OK, she was happy.

Steeplechase: Tried to have Boost run with friend Karey whom she knows fairly well. Actually got four trotting jumps out of her before she beelined back to me.

Snooker: Almost everyone crapped out. *Almost* everyone who even Qed got a SuperQ; one superQ in 26" was left unclaimed. We couldn't even do 1-5-1-5-1-5 to the closing successfully -- knocked one of the reds, knocked a bar on one of the 5s, refusal on #2 in the closing so whistled off, oh and several refusals during the opening, too, just wasting a lot of time. We were not alone. Actually anyone who even GOT to the closing was often cheered.

Grand Prix: Wheels fell off. I'm not sure that we  successfully did even half the obstacles.

Standard: A really gorgeous run on an tough course where fewer than 20% qualified... until the very last jump, where the leash runner had dropped Boost's leash off to the side, and she drove forward to the leash, PAST the last jump. The rest of it was just about perfect, dad rat it.

Gamblers: Decent opening although one jump she repeatedly wouldn't go over both times we got to it, so wasted a lot of time and hence points weren't super high. Wouldn't send out to the gamble jump on a wrap around me.

Pairs: Ran UNDER the tire, what the hey?, and hit the dogwalk before I could bring her back, so an E for that, too.

0 for 8 Qs for the day. OK, the weather cooperated beautifully--sunny and shirt sleeves but not too warm. Friends all fun to hang with. Lots of successes among the competitors. But, really, sigh, 0 for 8.

Knee and foot held up OK although I did walk carefully and not too fast most of the day. It didn't *feel* as though running aggravated them. After being home for almost 3 hours and sitting at the computer, they don't seem any worse, not like Thursday night after much less activity.

Soooooooo on we'll go, tomorrow morning, for another full day.

One of our members makes these amazing photo backdrops, a different one for every trial! Here's this weekend's, with you know whozzz. Thanks, Erika, for taking the shot.

If It's Not One Thing, It's Two...or Three...

SUMMARY: Where's that youthful body I had JUST the other day, I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I started having an occasional twinge in my left foot. I'd stop immediately, because that was about how I remember my 1997 stress fracture starting, but then it wouldn't reappear, so I kept going. Before Haute Dawgs (April 5-7), it made itself known more frequently. Seemed OK over the weekend, but Monday morning, walking around the house--quite tender. So, in gradual progression:

• Saw a GP; diagnosis "foot hurts."
• Got x-rays.
• Discussed x-rays, which showed nothing interesting, with my regular GP.  Diagnosis: "foot hurts." Ice, wear stiffer shoes.
• Saw podiatrist yesterday.

Diagnosis is capsulitis of the second metatarsal/phalangeal joint

Short description--there's a membrane (capsule) surrounding the joint between two  bones ( in my case, the metatarsal and phalange (and no, I didn't have to look up either one to know how to spell it) of the 2nd toe). This capsule can become inflamed from overuse or abuse. That's capsulitis.

There's actually an entire article titled Capsulitis of the Second Toe because it's so common.  (The article makes it sound much more dire than the podiatrist did.)

Who knew.

Cure? Six weeks of no use. Practical solution? (Per podiatrist, what my GP said plus more) Stiffer shoes. Better padding (gave me specific recommendation-- Spenco gel something Crosstrainers--and, wow, they do make a difference). Avoid hard or rough surfaces and twisting of foot if possible. Try to reduce activity. NSAID (already taking one--wonder if I'd have noticed it sooner if I hadn't been). Ice.

I mention this because I'm planning on two weekends of USDAA dog agility in a row here, and I'm uninclined to withdraw and lose my entry fees, plus I'm on a team with Boost next weekend so don't want to leave them in the lurch. Plus I'm not too bright sometimes and will run my Human in worse condition than I'd ever run one of my dogs. (But I have a choice and they don't really.)

Before the diagnosis Thursday morning, I went hiking with the Sierra Club Wednesday evening. Didn't bother me much on the uphill, but definitely noticed it on the downhill.

Woke up Thursday morning with one of those sore necks where you can't turn your head to the left without it hurting like crazy. Throb throb throb. Didn't mention that to the podiatrist when I saw him that morning, although it would've been interesting to see what a foot doc had to say about a neck.

To celebrate the capsulitis diagnosis, Thursday evening I went to agility class. Boost and I did mostly OK--I was late as usual on various crosses, more because I'm not moving soon enough. Boost knocked a few bars, refused a couple of incoming jumps on serpentines, missed one weave entry on her *good* side. But the rest felt lovely and fast and pretty smooth.

Knee bothered me a little, foot bothered me a little, but not enough to make it uncomfortable to walk or run as fast as I could manage.

Drove home, sat at the computer for half an hour, stood up, and WHAM both my right knee and my left foot hurt so badly that I could barely move.  Hobbled miserably to bed; so painful I couldn't get comfortable, and the pain in my neck really was...a pain in the neck. Couldn't sleep. Iced all three of them again. Hunted desperately through my cabinets for maybe some Bengay--used to have some around forever that I never used, hmmm, must've gotten rid of it.  Finally fell asleep from exhaustion about 2 a.m.

This morning--remnants of soreness in all three places, but much better than last night.

Do I really want to do this this weekend? Hey, I *am* cutting back on my activity--running only one dog (plus one a day for Tika) instead of 2 dogs.  Guess I won't plan on doing any pole setting or leash running...  and I am scheduled for the score table both weekends, so that involves lots of sitting down, which will be good.

See you all on the other side of Weekend.

Short Hike Involving Excessive Sweating

SUMMARY: Pulgas Ridge Open Space with dogs and Sierra Club.

(Already posted photos on Facebook.)

Haven't been able to hike with the Sierra Singles Wednesday evening group in a while.  Managed to make it to this one, Pulgas Ridge. OK, it's a 40-minute drive (w/out traffic), and it's 500 feet elevation gain, but it's only a 4-mile hike and the uphill isn't really steep.

Turns out traffic was a mess on the peninsula, both on 101 (several miles north, paralleling I-280) and on I-280, where I was. Usuallygoing north at this time of day, a piece of cake. Except everything was jammed up. Southbound at a standstill, northbound seldom getting over 35MPH and usually less. Drat.

Looks sunny, but look at that fog bank pouring over the coastal range.

Turns out that I was NOT ready to get back to a hike like this with avid hikers--I lagged the whole way and they spent more time than they probably liked, waiting for me. Even the dogs were faster and more energetic than I was. Downhill for the return to parking not so bad, but that steady 2 miles of up starting out took all my energy. Gah. Must do more.

A hiking friend offered to use my camera to take our photo at the top of the ridge. She said she'd been sick for a while and was completely out of condition. Still, she managed her usual dashing back and forth and up and down taking photos everywhere and not even breathing heavily. She was NOT lagging at the back of the pack, and I most definitely was.

But everyone was nice--it's a good group--at least they didn't complain where I could hear them, and lots of people asked nice questions about the Merle Girls. One fellow who also has a border collie (actually got her as a rescue via Jim Basic, my agility instructor) has to leave her at home these days as she's too old for vigorous hikes, offered to take Boost's leash and did for a while. It was good training for mama's dog Boost, trying to get her to be a little independent of me and go ahead on the trail with someone else. She wanted repeatedly to come back to see me, but with encouragement from both of us at the right times, she went for longer and longer stretches and greater distances between insatiable needs to go back and touch Human Mom. She liked it most when he ran a bit.

I mostly didn't want to stop to take snapshots, but had to hesitate for a moment to snap the view from near the ridgetop. Southish, looking across at the Edgewood Open Space park.

Saw quite a few wildflowers scattered here and there--lupine, sticky monkey flowers, blue dicks, white ones whose name I don't know, and a few others. Interesting red California bee plant, another native, which showed up long after it was too dark under the forest canopy and in the shade of hte hill to be able to take a photo, but I did again hesitate in my rush downhill trying to catch up, to snap a blurry shot of these really nice globe lilies, yet another native.

Watched hte nearly full moon rise in front of us among the trees in the home stretch; i could go faster downhill but so could everyone else, so no photos of that, either, but I assure you it was lovely.

Wore out the dogs, which is good. Wore out me, which might be good, too. Every mountain is a step back in the direction of being able to keep up with these folks again.

Painting the Park in Blues and Greens

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday

>>  Visit the Wordless Wednesday site; lots of blogs. <<

Checking In On Tika

SUMMARY: She's doing fine, but what about that eye?

Can you believe that it has already been just about six months since Tika's heart problem surfaced?

We visited our vet today for these reasons:

• Time for a check-up on how she's doing from the vet's perspective.
• Why is she now eating her meals very slowly?--used to finish in half the time that Boost did, now takes twice as long.
• What's the deal with the red lump on her 3rd eyelid?

You can hardly notice the lump at a quick glance, but up close it looks yucky.

I first noticed it sometime the week before the Haute Dawgs trial--so about 3 weeks ago. I don't think it has changed any since then. First question every vet tech asked was, has she had any trauma to the eye? Same from the vet. None that I know of. So, we're going to watch again for a few weeks. Doc says looks like a benign hemangioma (means it's a bloody lump, basically).

Eating--her teeth look great, no sign of pain in her gums. No loss of appetite--still eats everything and is interested in food. Could be any number of things, but without other signs or portents, yet another thing to keep an eye on. Could be her meds, but vet doesn't think that any one of them is more likely than the others.

How's she doing over all? Vet says GREAT! Heart doesn't sound any worse, heartbeat is still strong and slow (despite her frantic terror of being at the vet's) like an athlete's. He said, considering her diagnosis, she's doing very well indeed 6 months later. We'll do a follow-up blood test on general principles in a couple of months.

After that, we bipped across the freeway to Los Gatos Creek Park for a tiny stroll in the sunlight among the Canada Geese and their omnipresent poop. Not too long a walk because Tika was on a sedative, although I gave her only half a tablet this time 90 minutes before the vet.

What a lovely day and what a lucky Human Mom I am.

So many good smells before we even get around the fence to the percolation ponds.

The water fountain has a height just for dogs. Although both Merle Girls thought it was fascinating that water ran into it while they watched, they didn't drink from it.

The gorgeous day called many other people out with their dogs. The one nice thing about a little sedative on the Craussie is no on-leash frenzy about other dogs.

Plus--we have THE best poop bags in the universe. How could the day be any better?