Running With Dogs

Mordecai died last night. He was looking quite rough when I went to bed, and he was gone when I got up. At least we gave him a chance. I worked again for a few hours this evening. My last appointment was to euthanase an old Pomeranian with liver disease owned by the most beautiful old man. The dog was his late wife’s, and that always seems so sad. On a happier note, the 16 year old Bichon Frise with the abdominal mass had an ultrasound and surgery at the specialist centre, breezed through the anaesthetic in spite of the horrendous heart murmur, her spleen was removed, and she went home the next day and is doing great. Can’t pick ‘em sometimes.

I’m having an easy week - last week I ran 43km which is a lot. I need to figure out some running goals, but haven’t really been doing this long enough to know what’s realistic or what’s too easy and won’t be a challenge. Will have a look at a running calendar and see what catches my eye.

Check this out!!!! Sport Kilts! I think I want one!! Imagine doing a fun run in a kilt, LOL. I reckon that would be a real laugh. I wonder if they chafe?

I’m all ready to rage the night away with a couple of DVD’s, a bottle of champagne, some camembert and my lovely Hubby. I’m such a party animal - not! Have a good night, all, and stay safe.

I figured out how to set the alarm on my new clock radio today and woke up to the skirl of the bagpipes played by Battlefield Band - we’ve seen this band about 3 times - twice here in Brisbane and once in Scotland. They always put on a good show and it was a good way to wake up. I went into Redcliffe and there was quite a large turnout today. I started my run with a girl new to the group, she was only doing 5k or so, and we started out nice and slowly. When she turned back, I ran with Muz, who really pushed me along. He was good company and we had a pleasant chat, but in spite of the slow start he got me to the 10km mark in 57 minutes and something, including 3 water stops. That’s around 5 minutes faster than I’ve ever gone. We finished 12km in 1 hour 11minutes and some seconds, and my legs were knackered after that. It’s good though to stretch myself, I’m not sure I would have done that, loping along listening to Andrew Denton, and I’m pretty pleased with the run. The obligatory vanilla latte afterwards went down really well.

I had the choice of tidying the house for the in laws coming for dinner, or going out geocaching with the dogs and the family - needless to say, the housework lost. We picked a couple of caches to find up in the Glasshouse Mountains. I figured there was a lot of state forest up there so it’d be safe to take the dogs for a walk. Unfortunately both caches turned out to be in National Park areas, no domestic animals allowed. We ended up going to a patch of forest in Wamuran and just going for a hike for an hour or so. We found a dead cicada with its wings intact, such a perfect pattern of veins in gossamer.

Master 5 is a Transformers fan, and loves to watch a DVD from the library - he sings along with the sound track, and we couldn’t figure out what he was singing. “Transformers, automistyprime” was his interpretation, but we’ve just figured out they’re actually singing “more than meets the eye!” I guess when it’s a robotic voice singing, it could be anything, but it had us chuckling.

Unless you don’t mind not knowing what they’ll bring home from work!! Today I brought home a young cockatiel, he was found on the ground by a client, and he has cat bite wounds on his head, wing and rump. He also has no top beak, and is quite lethargic. Emily and I didn’t have the heart to euthanase him, he’s so cute. We’ve called him Mordecai. He’s being fed by syringe because he doesn’t seem to be able to eat seed, which the kidlets just love. I’ve clipped his wings, and he’s okay about being handled. I’m not sure if he’ll survive, I don’t know if his beak will grow out. At least we can give him a chance.

I’m set for my long run tomorrow. I downloaded some podcasts from the ABC site - some of Andrew Denton’s interviews from his Enough Rope site - there’s a real variety there to listen to, so it should be enjoyable. Don’t know what the weather will be like in Redcliffe, it’s pretty wild along the coast at the moment.

Guinness has eaten the vinyl top of a card table on the patio.

 

I’ve been recently speaking to breeders of working kelpies, they’re of the opinion that a 9 month old should easily cover 10km and show great improvement in distance and stamina in the next 3-6 months. Here I am treating him, to a degree, with kid gloves to avoid any orthopaedic problems. I also hear on the grapevine that a prominent veterinary orthopaedic surgeon owns a working kelpie, so I think a phone call is in order there too. Based on that, I took Guinness out for a slow and steady 10km run this morning. Easy! He was still trotting on in front of me when we finished and wasn’t puffed at all. He has developed a couple of new tricks. One is to run with his face along the ground to try and rub off his gentle leader, then he drops to his chest and rolls. Pulls me up quick smart. The other is a little less amusing. He will trot along in front of me, then decide he needs to poo, so stops immediately and starts dumping - if I’m not watching him, I’m pretty much stepping  in it, LOL. Hubby had Sinner out for 15km before I took Guinness out - he reckons that Sinner was in the crate, and when Hubby put Guinness in to take Sinner out for the run, Sinner growled at Guinness - “For God’s sake, you go with him!!”. Nice that both the dogs got their exercise early today, frees up the rest of the day for other things.

Guinness hasn’t eaten anything inappropriate of late, probably because we’re careful to lock everything away.

Doing a few extra shifts at work this week, working tonight and again tomorrow night and Saturday. A few extra $$ will go down well. I find it extraordinary hard to allow an elderly lady with a 12 year old dog who is really ill, has a severe heart murmur and has a large mass in its abdomen to spend several hundred dollars on an abdominal ultrasound to get a handle on what’s going on. I guess it’s up to her, but I’m doubtful there will be a happy outcome.

We’re going away for the weekend next month, which will be nice. Hubby offered me a new Garmin, but I said not now, not really within budget. I’d been thinking of it after reading the specs with Roseanne, but thought it was a bit overkill for me. I think he wants it anyway because of the better GPS reception under trees <G>, so maybe I will plan for it. He likes his toys.

I don’t think I have ever eaten so many prawns as I did yesterday at lunch! Miss 7 doesn’t like prawns, but she likes to peel them, so I had a constant supply of peeled prawns hit my plate - can’t see them go to waste, can I? After eating too much for lunch at the in-laws house, we went to my mum’s place to eat too much again.

Miss 7 and Master 5 were given gift vouchers as gifts, because the relevant family member didn’t know what to get them. While it’s appreciated, and they’d love to go shopping, they really missed ripping paper off a toy and playing for the rest of the morning. I felt they perhaps could have tried a bit harder - a Barbie, or a Transformer, or just about anything like that would have gone down a real treat. Perhaps I’m a bit ungracious here, but as someone who is totally over the commercialisation of Christmas, it doesn’t really show a great deal of thought.

I often think I’m a bit relaxed with my kidlets and they don’t really cop any hard discipline. We spent Christmas evening with their cousins who are of a similar age, and are very harshly disciplined and under the thumb, and my kidlets don’t behave any worse than they do. Sure, they can be naughty, but considering we’re quite a laid back household, they’re not bad at all.

Yes, I did go for a run this morning with Guinness, only 6km as my legs were still weary from Monday, it took around 34 minutes I think. Planning a bit longer tomorrow, will do maybe 10km, as Hubby will be out on Friday morning so I’ll miss out there, and Saturday is a rest day for me and I’m off to work again. In-laws for lunch today, more food, and I so don’t want dinner tonight.

Oh, I was right about the present - it was a Caboolture Road Runners club singlet, so I’ll really look the part. Nice running shorts, some Road ID and a Patricia Cornwall book were also very much appreciated. Poor Hubby was tired of me leaning across him to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock when I was trying to wake up for an early run, so he gave me a clock radio of my own. Unfortunately for him, it also plays CD’s, and I can choose a CD track to wake up to - I’ve already got a bagpipe CD in there ready to go -  he’s going to regret this!! LOL.

Since I missed my long run yesterday, I went into Redcliffe this morning. It was overcast and quite pleasant. I did 15km in 1 hour 32 minutes and some seconds, that’s my longest run ever and I was pretty stuffed after it. Legs were knackered for the rest of the day. It still surprises me how far I’ve come, considering 6 months ago I was struggling to do my 8 reps of 60 second jog and 90 second walk in the Couch to 5k program. Sometimes I feel pretty darned pleased with myself.

I was listening to some podcasts on my mp3 player about the Law of Attraction and having a good mindset. It’s certainly interesting listening and I don’t doubt that one’s mental attitude has a lot to do with one’s success, but this was silly, even to my open mind.

Came home, got myself sorted and went to work for our Christmas lunch, which was really enjoyable - I do so like the people I work with. Hubby and I spent the afternoon wrapping Christmas gifts, I shouldn’t leave it all to the last minute, we were still going at 11pm! Ran out of wrapping paper for the kidlets’ presents, I’d warned them we’d possibly have to resort to newspaper, but ended up getting fed up and just leaving them under the tree unwrapped.

Christmas is a hectic day for us, visiting two lots of family on the one day, two massive feasts and a bit of driving leaves me quite weary. Still, we’re lucky to have family who want to see us. Merry Christmas, all, and stay safe!

I had a really good couple of shifts at work this weekend, not too busy, nice clients and pretty relaxed really. Finished the Christmas shopping, and all’s under control. This morning was Caboolture Road Runner’s 4km summer series run, and it was nice and close to home. The course was two laps of a 2km loop, and the kidlets did one lap with Hubby and I went out with Anja. Did the 4km in about 19 minutes 45 seconds which was pretty fast for me, and I felt quite off colour after it, but not for long. Recovered well enough to enjoy a sausage sizzle for brunch, and the really good news is that the Griffins are going to make up a team with us for the Kokoda Challenge. They’ll be great company.

After a power nap, we went and looked at some Christmas lights - some people have invested a ton of $$ on lighting, and we really enjoyed it. Other than that, a quiet and uneventful weekend, which is always nice! I now have a couple of gifts for me under the tree, I have my suspicions as to what one of them is, but I’ll have to wait and see! Patience isn’t my best virtue.

Took a day off today, and thought I’d get on the elliptical trainer for a low impact workout. I was only there for half an hour before Miss 7 came to me in hysterics. Guinness had eaten her brand new pink sandals, I swear she’d only had them for less than a week. The dog is sending me broke. In her usual way,  Miss 7 blew it all out of proportion and started packing her bag, as it was her or the dog and we obviously weren’t going to get rid of the dog. After much discussion about puppies and how they chew things, and they’re not always easy to live with, she decided she would stay with us. Seems like every time I hop on the elliptical trainer, some drama happens with the kids. I may need to use it when hubby’s home and stick it out on the back patio where they can’t see me, and pretend I’ve gone out for a run.

It’s my sister’s birthday today and to my amazement, the plant I bought her a week ago has survived. I have a reputation for having a black thumb. She’ll probably get her birthday present at Christmas.

A more notable occasion - I met my hubby 22 years ago today. Pretty amazing - I think it’s not too common for people to stay together that long these days, and while we’ve had our dramas, it’s been good. Love you, Doll.

Miss 7 woke early this morning and as I was only going to do a slow 5k with Sinner, I invited her to grab her bike and come with me. She jumped at the chance. I figured if I was going to be chatting to her all the way, I may as well take both dogs, so I grabbed Guinness too. We had a really nice time, she did really well, got a bit weary just over the 4km mark, but was keen to finish the 5km. The dogs decided to try macrame with their two leads and my legs, so it wasn’t particularly fast, but I wasn’t at all worried. We had fun. Now all I have to do is get Master 5 to be able to ride without training wheels and I can take two kiddies and two dogs on my runs. Argh, the mind boggles.  I could score $500 on funniest home videos with that one, I’m sure.

Got an email from 2xu to say the shorts and singlet I requested with my Bribie Beach Bash voucher have been posted. Woo hoo. They should arrive today or tomorrow, which will be a nice surprise. I so need another pair of shorts or two, I’ve been thinking of borrowing Hubby’s but I don’t want to leave him short.

I’m going to try and get Hubby’s presents wrapped today, as well as the little items for my work lunch on Monday. I’m not game to put anything under the tree until Guinness gets over his depraved appetite, would be a disappointing Christmas for some to receive a half chewed gift. The kids are keen to make a caramel marshmallow rice bubble slice, which sounds like it’s pure sugar. Then there’s a juggling show at the library this afternoon. Should be a quiet day.

It’s not like I don’t appreciate the pretty area in which I live, but after so many months of running around the lake, it was a bit jaded. I headed out to do a loop that Hubby suggested. A few more road crossings which, at peak hour, had Guinness a bit apprehensive, but it was refreshing to go a different route. The 8k was covered in just short of 50 minutes which included 2 poo stops, 3 trees to pee on, and a couple of waits for traffic to clear so I could cross a busy road. That’s the big disadvantage of a new route, Guinness has to claim ownership over the trees and lamp posts. Never have that problem with Sinner, he has no testosterone producing bits any more. There are no bins on the route, so I had to carry two little baggies of smelly stuff all the way home. A small flock of galahs flew over me, it was amazing I didn’t get dumped on, and a yellow tailed black cockatoo flew so close its outstretched wing nearly touched my shoulder! Not a bad way to start the day.

Been reading an interesting thread on a doggie forum I read occasionally. Has the ANKC ruined the working breeds by adapting them for show? There are such discussions on how far to safely walk a 12 month old Siberian Husky, and the replies are “oh, no more than half an hour a day or you could injure him”. Hehe, if Guiness was to only get 1/2 hour of exercise a day, he’d be going berserk, and destroying things. Hang on, he already is….

Sinner has started hiding when Hubby gets his running gear on - either sneaks away under the dining room table or goes back into his crate. Maybe he needs a few days off, dogs probably get similar running niggles to us, their physiology isn’t that different, but of course they can’t tell us. Perhaps I’ll take him out tomorrow, I don’t go as far or as fast as Hubby, so he may enjoy an easier jog. He still needs the exercise, he’s a very stocky muscular dog, but he looks like he could easily go to fat.

Have made a bit of a dent in getting a couple of gifts for the kidlets. They spent a couple of hours with Sarah yesterday while I went to the shopping centre. I was dreading it, but it was really quite civilised. Tons of parking, not busy and no queues at the checkouts. Won’t be like that on the weekend, I’m sure.

Guinness has eaten a near empty bottle of Sportshield Roll On - I suppose that’s one way to ensure a smooth passage!!