Tuesday, June 20, 2017

FAT dog

I took the dogs to the vet this afternoon, time for their annual visits.  It was Bear's grand opening at this vet's and he was a big hit.  Very well behaved and charming so he got lots of treats.  Treasure was less enthusiastic about being there and I found out why when she was weighed: she's gained SEVEN pounds in the last year.  Wow, for a 50-pound-dog that is a lot, a whole lot.  I was giving Tess a lot of treats and extra food at the end of her life and I guess I hated to leave Treasure out so she puffed right up.  No more of that!  I'll cut back on her food and give her half a treat instead of a whole one.  She won't notice.

The vet told me of a study that found that Labs are lacking the part of the brain that humans have to let us know when we've had enough to eat and feel full.  HAH, who didn't know that?  These 2 dogs are the piggiest eaters I've ever had but they're wonderful.

Other than the vet visit there's not much to report.  I've been busy and visiting a lot with friends.  Still going to the gym at 6:30 in the mornings with Carol.  Actually we've been walking outside quite a bit, just recently returning to the gym.  We've walked around AuSable and around Carol's driveway, which is near here.  The other day we had a great walk on an old logging road through the woods on Carol's property.  It was wonderful.  Bear joined us and was good about being off the leash.  He stuck around for the most part and came when he was called.

It's been very hot and humid, too hot to do much.  Now it's cooler and less humid but is rainy.  Some real downpours today, a thunderstorm the other day.  I have good friends and one fixed my lawn mower then mowed most of my lawn when it was returned.  Wow, how lucky can a girl get?  I've been waiting to finish the mowing, it was too hot and now it's too rainy.  Thursday is the designated "nice day" this week so hopefully I'll get that taken care of.

I had a nice time in the boat house during the hot days.  Bear loves to swim and has convinced Treasure to go further into the water than she used to.  Sometimes she actually swims but then she acts as if that was a terrible mistake.

Book group is at the boat house on Sunday.  We're reading a Liane Moriarty book about triplets that's enjoyable.  More summer people arrive this week and it will be fun to see them.  MY SISTER comes next week!  That's very exciting.  Our family's annual gathering is on the 1st of July and we're hosting this year so Jenica, Molly and I will be busy.   Not sure how many people we'll feed lunch to but I figure maybe 20-25.  Hard to tell but not a big deal.

Life is good, very good.  I have my flowers, cukes and tomatoes planted and they all look pretty good.

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Summer at last

We've had sooooo much rain (I heard recently that we've had 18", double our usual amount) but yesterday and today were marvelous summer (or pre-summer) days.  I spent time sitting on my deck reading in the sun yesterday morning--that's a very favorite pastime.  The black flies were in evidence but the swarming didn't happen.  Deer flies were out, though, and when I did some actual gardening they were biting like mad.  I planted flowers in the ground, weeded a fair amount and transplanted the overbearing globe thistle plant so the snakeroot/cohosh/whatever it is could get more sun and have more room to grow.  That was successful.  I tried to mow the lawn but dinged the deck of the mower getting it out of the shed so the blade won't turn.  Today I dropped it off at a friend's house--he fixed it masterfully for me in the fall and I'm embarrassed to have trouble with it again but maybe he can work his magic again.

Today I went to Plattsburgh--haircut, groceries, liquor store, lunch and bought some dirt.  It IS pretty funny to pay money for dirt but I'm covering the grass-filled area that used to be a garden and am planting some annuals as well as tomatoes and cukes there.  So I buy dirt.

I slept in the boat house last night and it was wonderful.  The moon was incredibly bright.  It was a tad chilly but mostly it was just lovely.  Bear is now mine, the AKC transfer has taken place and his microchip has been re-registered to me.  He is wonderful and is very happy here.  He doesn't roam, not even when he and Treasure are out together.  He didn't much like sleeping in the boat house, yet another change of scene for the poor boy.  He whined a while but once he realized that Treasure was sleeping on the bed he settled down near her.  They get along but she hasn't endorsed him yet.  He is very fond of her and they do run around together a bit.  He's a swimmer (a REAL Lab!) and insisted of cuddling up against me in all his wetness last night in bed, to make sure I didn't sneak out while he wasn't paying attention.

I've left them together in the house unchaperoned for 7 hours at one spell and they were just fine.  I never did crate him, didn't put the crate together and he's been happy and well.  He did get into the back of the car the other day and ate a package of cube steak.  I worried that he had eaten the styrofoam so peroxided him royally and he (poor boy) had to relinquish his special treat.  I later found the styrofoam intact, he didn't eat any of it after all.  Oh well, I was pissed that he ate what was going to be my dinner that night.

Linda's docks have gone in and she had a dock day today while I was in Plattsburgh.  We had porch coffee this morning and that was nice.  I'll head down there in a little while for either docktails or maybe just porchtails if it rains, as it might.

I'm back into the gym routine now that Carol has returned from her vacation.  Man does that feel good!  We meet at 6:30 and treadmill away.  It hasn't really been nice enough to walk outside and we also know that we get better exercise on treadmills than walking.

Life is good.  Summer might come after all.