Training Log Archive: Yukon King

afternoon walk - G does everything as usual but all a bit damped down - a few sniffs, some distance dog-watching, a dig at a mole hill, lil walk-walk, alotta sitting - I am hoping w enbrel at dose 6 & my appt next week, maybe I can use this quiet time to also break the inflammation cycle in my feet - they don't hurt today! Let's keep it that way - elevate!
Also, scallop/parched corn w lemon & dill ravioli expt (OK AND butter) - D is the Exptal Rat as usual, so brave!

after dropping G off at the vet's (really touched me to see her happy little powderpuff tail gaily wagging as she trotted trustingly into the back of the office w the vet assistant) we had a quick breakfast & then D left me at the station to go pick up some marrowbones to distract G-dog over the next few days. I hope she will be fine. I feel a bit jittery.

G-dog got out of surgery sometime before 12:45 & seems fine thus far. We get to P/U 2:30-ish...
7:30PM - G's home & groaning ("vocalizing" - apparently a common r(x) to post-anesthesia grogginess) - got home pretty limp around 3:15. Pretty soon we'll take her out for a pee attempt & then try a snack & a fragment of a T-3 before bed. Whew!
Elvis dinner - vegan baked beans, three-times baked sweet potatoes, southern-style greens, waldorf salad, & some tres-english cheese to go w/ some homemade crackers. Ya gotta do sumtihn while yer dog is groanin'...

C • good luck and big g hugs!!! 2

evening toddle w/ G - pretty unenergetic, but we got the "job" done...

slept well again. icing & elevating, braced L wrist. Getting antsy re G-operation tomorrow, tending to gerbil about - carmelizing apples for apple cobbler tonight, started white-trash yams for tomorrow. Thai tofu tonight to celebrate New Year. Polished kitchen, deployed plant baths, cleaned up the coffee table, vacuuming, rearranged patio for the bulbs to show off. going to stop and rest joints a bit before the G-walk. stop stop stop !

C • benchmark 2

over to the park to bask in sunshine (albeit in lotsa fleece) & watch planes on approach. No dogs.
Considering playing freerice every day (it is mentioned on UN food program website so seems to be for real) and joining kiva to celebrate D's promotion/raise. Share the joy!

C • I like that game! It is co... 4

unlike some dogs when confronted w a "post-operation" collar, Gypsy runs TO me when I show it to her & actually drools (I can hear her slurping her spit) while I put the collar on her. Boy, does that dog like duck-bits.

evening walk as well

out in a light sleety rain, met Cassie The Toughest Yorkie Ever, Bilbo the Amorous Pitbull, & Nicky the Fat White Mop. Down the top bit of stairmaster, thru woods & back (bikepath still wet slick ice) & then over to Green construction & home in a hail-like snow that turned to a heavy fluffy snowfall before tea even got made. Feet generally much better today, still being pretty aggressive on icing & elevation. Crawled on floor on hands & knees - haven't done that in years. (Is this real? or am I just imagining not being able to do knees?! I'm sure I'm not)

sleeping really well the last two nights.
started on '08 gardening, fertilized everything, cut back the tamarind, put it out in the hall for a few weeks' rest along w amaryllis & one plumeria (which may have bit it). tidied alot of foliage & dead flowers, checked the bulbs on the patio which are coming up, considering koas & remaining plumeria. Maybe I need some rooting hormone & take cuttings...
last meat tonight, chili casserole topped w/ cornmeal dumplings, side of broccoli & green beans, sliced mango, orange-juice sailboat-popsicles...

slushing like crazy out there...
finished Muir, about one third thru W&P, good stuff. Roasted chicken legs for D tonight, garlic rosemary sage under the skin. Gonna try this idea for stuffing-influenced savory bread pudding-ish thing (tried the banana split bread pudding from Goodtime Girls book & it was insanely scrumptious so I am all over bread pudding inventions right now. Plus I got alotta bread cubes.) Gotta ice & elevate this morning. Today G-dog is gonna wear her Stylish Inflato-Collar in prep for her "operation" on Friday - she gets duck-bits when she wears it so she is quite pleased w/ it.
Incubating hi-tech-O, I can tell something is on its way. Quite apart from my old ideas of Dog-O - historically accurate AMERICAN version w/ stripey uniforms & baying bloodhounds erupting from certain points on the map, to lend complexity & urgency to the outing - and Texas-O, another American sport involving all-white uniforms, paint-ball technology for everyone on all the courses, terrain-specific snipers (to complicate your route-choices - "dang, I'd like to cut across this meadow, but it's a "Hilltop-Sniper Map", so it's pretty likely there's a sniper up there"), & a moderately complex penalty system for the number & color of splatters you collect. Am I White Trash at heart or what?

carefully chosen shorter route to conserve joint resources & try to give enbrel a chance (?!)
fabulous sun & wind, up to grocery & back in the woods along the creek to minimize wind. Met a cute baby havanese, played w/ Tiffy & Dallice, Freckles, Buster, Yollick, & stared at a barky Dalmatian. Ice & elevate.

averaging almost 3km per day the last few days - could definitely feel it n the feet last night, but today seems pretty much normal. Also, ( & this is SO NOT AP) last night, most bizarrely, I was able to floss all my teeth in one go - usually hands need to rest at least twice, & it's almost impossibly painful to get at back teeth. This is another bizarre f(x)al benchmark - I sure didnt think that enbrel-assoc. improvements would show up in quite this way. Plus the above implied apparent ability to abuse my feet & get away w/ it. Almost (not quite) ready to admit to seeing some improvement. Am gonna ice feet this AM.

C • cool stuff...... 3

this may have been a bit much but it was fun - snow, down the creek & back up thru the woods, just me N Gyp. Icing feet, ow ow. (Oh, maybe this is why it's a bit much, forgot trip to corner groc., add that as well, 1.2 + 0.6...)
Tex Mex calzone for dinner, also taste-testing cream-bread vs water & oil bread - plain, buttered, & balsamic dip. Green beans on the side, & an apple-pear after...

another great walk in the sunshine w/ Shelly & Su-Jane. Up to the train station, traced back along the ravine bike-trail, down to the parkway & halfway across, & then home, oof, we are all tired! Shelly did some obedience work, turns out when you only weigh 18 pounds, yer not ALWAYS in charge. Who Knew?
In other news, I now have to admit I recently bought & (successfully) used some high gluten flour, which is the first step into a slippery slide deep into the infinite-Barbie-accessory zone of bread-making...am considering purchasing a baking stone. arggghhh....luckily I have not a clue where one would buy such a thing.

evening walk as well - met Tisha & Leo, Nina & Rocket, saw the Lab Twins, heard about Shelly, played w/ Jack. Wow. Barely had time for the requisite pee.