It Has Been Awhile

I know I haven’t blogged in a while. It’s not because I haven’t had anything to blog about; I just haven’t had time. So, today I will update you about everything that’s going on.

Last month I found one of Allie’s teats swollen. I took her into the vet and they did a mastectomy on her. They also found a nodule on one of her other teats, and removed it. The results came back last Friday, and the swollen teat was benign, but the nodule was malignant. Because the report came back saying the margins are clear and because she is over 12 years old, I’m not going to put her through another surgery now. I will monitor her (we go to the vet once a month anyway) and play it by ear.

But, she is doing well. We walk 7/10th of a mile in the morning before work (she can only do a mile or so, max).

Hockey season started again and I have gone to one game. The Thrashers do not look good, but I don’t care. I enjoy going to the games.

I’ve been hiking a bit. I led 2 GRRA (Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta) hikes, which feels kind of wrong to go on a dog hike without a dog. At the last hike Hal & Allison let me borrow one of their dogs (Beau).

In the month and a half since hiking Panther Creek, I’ve hiked Sweetwater Creek twice (one was a GRRA hike), hiked a new trail at Red Top Mountain, done the GRRA hike at Piedmont Park and hiked Cloudland Canyon (more on this in a future blog).

The Piedmont Park hike kind of sucked because I dropped my phone during it. One of the park people found it and was calling everyone in my address book (basically he wanted someone to come and give him some money for the phone, which I was more than willing to do). When I got home and found out I had lost my phone (it wasn’t hard to figure out, I had 10 messages from my family and friends telling me I lost my phone), I called my number and made arrangements to meet. Unfortunately the person who found my phone didn’t like sitting in one place, and because of this I didn’t get my phone back. The next day I cancelled it and bought a new phone.

I ran the KP Challenge again this year. I was able to run the whole thing whithout walking or stopping, and I didn't hurt my knee this year (altough I still wear a brace when I run because of last year).

I started riding my bike during lunch. I mapped out a 2.5 mile loop that doesn’t have a lot of traffic. I started off just doing two laps (it’s a tough loop and I am fat), but now I’m up to 4 laps (10 miles). I’ve also done a couple of 15+ mile rides on the weekend (the Silver Comet Trail and the Panola Mountain/Arabian Mountain trail are great training rides).

I’ve also steadily increased the amount of miles I run (trudge) a week. I’ve been running the Bell Bomber Loop 2 to 3 times a week, for 2.5 to 3 miles a pop, and because of the switch back to standard time (it’s too dark to run in the woods) I started running on an asphalt trail along Atlanta Road which is 4.5 miles.

Anyone reading this might think I’m in good shape. After all, I walk almost a mile every morning with my dog, I hike 2 to 3 times a month, I ride my bike during lunch (7 to 10 mile a pop, 4 to 5 times a week, depending on meetings) and I run when I get home (2 to 4 miles a pop, 2 to 3 times a week). But, I’m not in good shape (unless you consider round being a good shape). I’m just an active fat bastard.

Panther Creek

Sunday I went for a hike with a friend of mine and his son. We went to Panther Creek, up in North Georgia. I have hiked this trail a couple of times before, and it is a long tiring hike. Especially since I haven’t gone on a real hike since Buddy and I did the Palisades.

Panther Creek trail head starts off of old 441 in Habersham County. It is a single file trail that follows Panther Creek. This hike is not for the faint of heart. It is 3 ½ miles to the falls and the swimming hole (which means it is 3 ½ miles back). The trail is rooty and rocky during most of the hike, with most of it shaded by a large assortment of trees.

The falls and swimming hole is a nice rest spot. We had lunch and went for a swim (the water is cold there). The swimming hole is not too deep, so jumping off the falls is out of the question (unless you don’t mind broken bones (the bottom of the swimming hole is very rocky by the falls)). After climbing on the falls (and slipping all over the place (the falls are slicker than snot)), we dried off and headed back.

The bad thing about the return trip is it is up hill. Sections of the return are steep, and you know you are going up hill, but most of it you are going uphill and you don’t even know it (my Dick Tracy watch said it was a 600 feet of elevation gain). That is why it took us longer to return (gravity is not a fat guys friend).

By the time we got back to the car (about 4 ½ hours) I was tired and my friend looked like he would have stroked out if it was another mile longer. His son said it was a easy hike and that he didn’t want to hike with old people any more (we are to slow), but I did notice that he slept the whole way back to Atlanta (easy my ass).

I Started Working Out Again

After Buddy passed I started working out again. I’ve heard that exercise helps with depression, so I thought it might be a good idea to start working out again.

On Wednesday I went for a bike ride on the Silver Comet. I am so out of shape that I only did seven plus miles (seven plus sounds so much better than less than eight, even though they mean the same). This was an easy activity with no hills. The purpose was to jump start my training/exercise again.

On Thursday I went for a jog on the Bell Bomber Loop. I didn’t realize how sad I would feel doing this. I hadn’t jogged with Buddy since May and I hadn’t jogged with Buddy on this loop since last year. But, the sadness was almost overwhelming. I came very close to stopping shortly after starting. It felt lonely. I would see a squirrel and I would look to my side to tell Bud to leave it, but he wasn’t there. This was less enjoyable than most runs, and I don’t find any run enjoyable.

On Saturday I went for a walk with my sister and her dog Gretzky. We did three miles.

On Monday I took Allie for a walk before work. She can not do more than a mile with her hips being what they are. So we walk about three quarters of a mile around the neighborhood. I plan on doing this a couple of times a week (depending how she feels).

I also went for a bike ride at lunch. I have mapped out a 2.5 mile loop around work. The first day I only did 2 laps (it kicked my ass), and plan on just doing 2 laps for a couple of weeks, or until the alarm on my heart rate monitor stops trying to make me think I’m about to die (this ride has hills).

Buddy Stories Part 1

First Christmas Parades

I would march with Allie in the Paulding county Christmas parade. We would march with a group called Dreamworkers (they did therapy dog work). Allie never was able to do therapy work because of her fear of slick floors (like the ones you find in hospitals, nursing homes and schools). But, she did great at the parade.

The first year I had buddy I took him to the parade instead of Allie. He had already done well in class and I wanted to get more exposure for him (he didn’t have any fear of floors, or anything that I could tell). He was a hit. Walking along the crowd stopping for any kid that wanted to pet him, he showboated the whole parade. He pranced as he walked so excided about all the attention.

Even thought he was a big hit with everyone, that wasn’t what made him special that day. At the very end of the parade a little girl sat all alone with a big pout on her face. Buddy walked up to her and laid down at her feet, rolled over onto his back and smiled up at her. The girl slowly reached down and started rubbing his belly, causing his tail to wag furiously. The little girl who had just had the biggest pout on her face now had a grin that stretched from ear to ear. After a few minutes buddy got up, stuck his nose to her nose (he was never much into licking) and took off to catch up to the other dogs in our group.

As we caught up to the others in the group I could hear the little girl yelling “Goodbye Mr. Doggy”.


Second Christmas Parade

By the second Christmas parade, Buddy had become very attached to me. He actually became too attached. For all of Buddy’s goofy, fun loving, marshmellowy, easy going looks, Buddy was strong. It had become hard to hand over his leash to someone to hold. I often would find Buddy and the person holding the leash standing next to me (this can make using the restroom awkward).

So at the second Christmas parade I decided to bring Buddy and Allie, and have my sister walk Buddy. I figured this would be good practice for Buddy. It would give him a chance to see that walking with someone else was OK. Besides, my sister has Great Danes. It shouldn’t be too difficult to handle a dog that weighs half of hers.

We started off walking next to each other and Buddy was fine. Slowly we drifted apart, as Buddy became distracted by all the people and noise. He was fine until the point when he noticed I wasn’t holding his leash (it didn’t matter that he knew my sister and loved her, she was not me). He became panicked and started looking for me. Once I was spotted, he had to be next to me. It didn’t matter what my sister wanted, he was coming. I watched as he pulled my sister, a dog trainer and owner of giant breed dogs, across the street like she never handled a dog before. After that he would not let me leave his sight. He wouldn’t even walk near the spectators that wanted to pet him. Half way through the parade my sister and I switched dogs (Allie also has separation issues, but not to the extent of Buddy). Once the leash was in my hand Buddy was back to entertaining the crowd once more.

Buddy was much stronger than he looked.

The Last Christmas Parade

Last year at the Christmas Parade, Buddy did something that made me swear at my parents. We where with our group, waiting for the parade to start, and Buddy walked over to one of the marching band and laid down in the middle of a cluster of high school girls. All of the girls stopped what they were doing and started fawning over Buddy. He just smiled at them and wagged his tail.

I thought to myself, if my parents had gotten me a golden when I was in high school, I could have had more success with the ladies.

Damn my parents for not being dog people.

Goodbye Buddy

Buddy passed today. He will be missed by me and all those whose lives he touched (man, women and dog (not cats, he hated cats)).

Buddy With His Friends

Buddy Hiking

Goodbye Buddy

My Night Sucked

If you’ve been reading by blog, you know I had to do the brakes on my truck. I finally got around to it the other day and it sucked. Now I’m an ASE certified Master Technician, and a brake job is a very easy task to do. It should have taken me all of 30 minutes. I started on the passenger side brakes first and was done with it in 10 minutes.

Then I started on the drivers side brakes, and that’s when the sucking started. While taking off the wheel, three studs broke. This has happened to me before so I had two lug nuts in my tool box, but the only stud I had was for the rear. This meant I had to walk to the auto parts store (I only have one vehicle and I had already broken it).

At the auto parts store they only had 2 studs and no lug nuts. This didn’t help me much. Although I could replace 2 studs and nuts, I would have to disassemble the hub twice, and that would be a pain in the ass. So I walked to the next auto parts store (Luckily the first one is only a mile away, and the next one is only a mile from it). This one also had studs and no lug nuts. This was OK because I could replace all the studs and use the two lug nuts I had (I could install the third lug nut later).

Once home I started fixing the drivers side brakes. Nissan does things a little different than most other manufactures. In order to remove the hub, a specialty tool is needed. I don’t have this specialty tool, so I had to make do with what I had (that means I couldn’t torque the wheel bearings when re-installing the hub; I had to use the German method of tightening, "gutintite" (good and tight)). The hub then had to be removed from rotor (it is held in place by 6 bolts) and the three broken were replaced.

All wrapped up I test drove the truck, parked it and went inside to get cleaned up. I took a shower and started to have a couple of beers. After the second beer I realized that I didn’t tighten down the 6 bolts holding the rotor to the hub. I only snugged them down. I had already cleaned up, and had a nice buzz on, so I wasn’t about to go get dirty again that night. I decided to do it in the morning, and had another beer. I called my cell phone (it was charging in my bedroom) and left a message on it to remind me that I needed to fix the truck before I drove it to work.

In the morning, I woke up early, got dressed (at which time I saw that I had missed a call on my cell phone, and remembered that I had to fix my truck) I changed, because tan pants and light blue shirts show dirt and grease more than dark blue pants and shirt (I didn't want to look like total crap all day). So I took the wheel off my truck, and tightened the 6 bolts that I had forgotten to tighten the night before( this sucked to do before I had my first cup of coffee).

It pretty much set the tone for the day. My day sucked, just like my night sucked.

Buddy Update

Buddy has gotten his cast off. After the first day of having his cast off he is doing well, but the first day he didn’t do well. I don’t know if it was because he hadn’t used his neck in 5 weeks and re-using it made it hurt, or if it was a left over reaction from the sedative. By the time I got home the next day he was back to normal (as normal as a dog dying of cancer can be (which is more normal than you would think)).

We still have to go to the vet next week. Because Buddy had a cast that whapped around his legs; he developed a couple of arm pit sores (I guess it is actually leg pit sores because he doesn’t have arms). I have to clean the sores daily and put an ointment on them twice a day to help them heal. That is why the vet wants to see him, to make sure he is healing OK.

With any luck the vet will clear him, so he can go to Yappy Hour on August 9th and say goodbye to everyone from GRRA.