Double Dog Days

On Monday and Tuesday this week, I walked my friend's dog Maddie (and of course I walked Mocha).  I don't walk them together - that would be a challenge.  I take Maddie for a little over a mile, and  Mocha only goes 0.8 mile on her first walk of the day.  Maddie was a happy girl yesterday - she got a treat from the mailman!  Her mom said she hasn't gotten one from him in a while. 

Here's Maddie after a walk

Mocha is finally finished with her antibiotic.  She still limps sometimes, but I think she's feeling better overall.  Next week she will go to the vet for her annual check-up.  I think she's still a little overweight - it's hard to feed her fewer calories when I give her the meds in hotdog pieces!

Mocha at our friend Lyn's condo

On Monday, Mocha & I went to visit our friend Lyn.  Mocha likes it there - she makes herself right at home.  Also, it doesn't hurt that Lyn has a box of mini Milkbones and loves to give them to Mocha.  We also took a walk while we were there, and Mocha got to smell new smells and see different things.

My knees are better after my physical therapy sessions.  I'm going to have one more appointment in 2 weeks, and if I am still feeling good, I will be discharged.  Of course, I have to continue with my home stretching and strengthening exercises.

And today is my niece Megan's birthday!  So happy birthday to you, Megan! 

More Wind

It's another very windy day.  Mocha doesn't mind the wind; in fact, I think it's very exciting for her, because all kinds of interesting scents are sent her way.

One day recently, Mocha saw a cat go down a storm drain.  Now we have to check the storm drains every time we go out:

Any cats down there?

We did see a fox run across the street this morning, and Mocha was very interested in that.  She thought it might be a cat, and made sure it wasn't in any storm drains.

She is feeling good today - it seems that about every other day she just wants to sleep, and doesn't have much energy, but on her good days, she is bouncy and raring to go.

I am down to one day a week for PT.  I must do my stretching exercises every day so that my knees stay (somewhat) pain-free.

HAPPY MARCH!  

Warm February

This month has been very warm overall.  Yesterday and today it got cold again, but we had lots of warm, sunny days.  Daffodils are blooming in the neighborhood:

Mocha has been on Doxycycline for Lyme disease since early this month.  She seems to be feeling better...  she had been limping, and seemed to be feeling unwell, which is why I took her to the vet in the first place.  They did bloodwork, and found her levels indicating Lyme were 185, when normal is under 30 (don't know the measurement).

And I have been going to physical therapy for knee pain.  And I think it is helping!  I now have lots of exercises for flexibility, strength, and balance.  When I go to therapy, the PT manipulates my knees, trying to create movement of the patella.  All in all, I think everything taken together is helping. 

A Sunny Day!

Finally, the sun came out after many dreary, rainy days.  Although when Mocha & I went out at 7:00 the sun wasn't quite up yet.  We had a chilly walk, but did our usual route.  Mocha didn't find anyone to get huffy about, and we came home and she had her usual morning nap.

Then around mid-day, it was time for me to walk Maddie.  She was happy to see me, although I had to call her - she must have been upstairs snoozing.  She was nice and warm when she came downstairs.

We did about a one mile walk.  Lots of sniffing, and some bird feathers which she was tempted to sample.  I asked her not to, though, and she listened.  We also passed a half-eaten Pop-Tart which she didn't even notice.

When we got back to her house, she had her snack, and then she got on her "bridge" with her toy.  Apparently, she's not much of a chewer:

This toy looks brand new!

 Tomorrow will be another two dog day - looking forward to the warmer temps!

Mocha and the Blustery Day

What a blustery day!  Mocha and I didn't go for our walk until 9:00!  That is late for us.  As soon as we got outside, Mocha headed north - and we usually go the other way.  I think she wanted to go toward the wind - probably because lots of good and interesting smells were coming from that direction.

We passed lots of downed trashcans, and saw a dog headed down a nearby street, but nothing else was going on.  When we got home, Mocha went back to bed, and I wrapped her up - she looks like a burrito:

Yes, a dog is in there.

As for me, I have been walking quite a lot.  I just did a streak of 5 days in a row, and today I'm going to take a rest day.  I did lift weights today.  My knees have been achy quite a lot, but I'm going to keep walking and maybe they'll calm down soon.  I did ice them a couple times last week.

Glad to get back to the blog - Happy 2017!

Rain!

Well, it is finally raining.  There hasn't been much rain lately around here, and wouldn't you know, Mocha and I were out in the dark this morning for an early walk when the rain started.  We were about halfway through our walk when we started to notice a few drops.  Then the rain began in earnest, and we were totally soaked when we got home.

This picture is from last fall, but you get the idea!

Mocha got her drying, though, and now she is back in bed.  I think we're going to wait until daylight from now on for our morning walks. 













On an exercise note, I went to a race-walking clinic at the end of August.  There were several instructors there, and the attendees got to try race-walking.  The presenter said that race-walkers can go faster than "power walkers", but so far I haven't been able to do that.  I probably don't have the technique down yet.

Mocha's New Toys

I haven't written for a while.  I haven't been running since March, and since then, I've been power walking to try to keep my cardiovascular fitness up.  I'm going to start writing more about that, and other ways that I exercise.

In the meantime, Mocha has gotten some new toys.  They are from the Bark Box gift that her Aunt Kathleene gave her.

Here she is on her bed starting to work on the sunflowers.

She is standing guard over her magic bus.  

The bus is now flat and de-stuffed, but the sunflowers still have some life in them!

Over the weekend, I walked on a flat trail for 3.47 miles.  It was fastest pace since I've been walking, and I'm sure that was because there were no hills.   It felt good to walk in a different location.  Afterwards, we went out to brunch at a bagel shop to re-fuel.

Happy Monday!