Pup

7-18-11




She used to be so agile. Toss a Frisbee and she could catch it in the air with ease. She was tireless. When we went to the swimming hole up near the Compound, she swam for 4 hours. This was 4 hours in which her little feet didn’t touch the ground, and I am telling you, she was in heaven.



In the last year or so, we have watched Lycos start to struggle with some mobility. At first it was more like the stiff movements of an old dog that had been lying down too long. Over the past month, it has gotten worse. A couple of bad falls here and there, and you could see the signs of hip dysplasia or arthritis rearing their ugly heads.



Yesterday she seemed particularly stiff, so I thought she might like to go for a swim. Here was a place in which her joints could not hold her back. She was thrilled. She is a happy water dog. Maybe not as spastic in the water as Luna, but definitely at peace as she floats along.



She swam for about 20 minutes, and then decided she was ready to get out. I helped her out of the pool and set her on the ground where she promptly collapsed.



It was heart breaking. She couldn’t move her back legs in any kind of meaningful fashion. She tried, though, not complaining once. She finally was able to walk a bit, and I quickly dried her off so she wouldn’t have to keep trying to shake off the water.



I brought the pups inside with me and tried to get Lycos to lie down so she could rest. My ever faithful companion didn’t want to leave my side. My poor pup. She clearly hurt and yet didn’t care since she just wanted to be by my side.



We gave her some Tylenol after I did some quick net research and I think it seemed to help because she finally settled in a bit.



I hate seeing her like this. Especially since she is still clearly my Lycos. She is still chipper and sweet and affectionate. She is our faithful and loyal dog who would protect us from Stabby Joe if her legs would allow it.



Lycos is 11 years old. Life expectancy of labs is 10 to 13 years. She has some Chow in her, which doesn’t increase her life span as they have about the same expectancy. Hell, I am impressed she is still alive what with her near death experience about 5 years back. I am just hoping to make sure she is comfortable in her senior years and whatever time she has left with us that she is happy.



I am getting worried, too, about IO. He is almost 16 years old. He has slimmed down in the last few years, which I think has helped him, but even so, you can see the years have taken their toll. He has become more affectionate in the last year, which has been really cool since it means we can really enjoy his company. He has been sleeping up on Ken’s shoulder almost every night. He and Monarch curl up together often in between Ken and I, completely content.



IO’s body looks rough, though. I even gave him a bath, hoping to clean him up a bit. He looks better, but you can tell he is showing his age. I worry that I will find his body on our bed, assuming he is asleep, but in reality he will be gone.



When did my animals get so old? One10 is about 14. She is looking ok, but I still worry about her. Ittles is going on 8, with Monarch almost 5. Luna will turn 2 in August, also. It is just crazy how quickly it flies by.



On Saturday, I spent a bit of time with my mom shopping through library books. It was a packed sale, but it didn’t prevent me from some amazing books for the boys and our school. I bought 60 books. My mom picked up about 30. We didn’t really get to browse much of the other sections aside from children’s books. It was that crowded, and honestly, it was hard to maneuver. My mom also was pretty spent. I considered hanging around, but it was hot and I had already spent $30.



I got tons of Clifford books for the Kinder classroom. I also found tons of fun looking stories for the classroom. In addition to younger books, I came across a Mrs. Piggle Wiggle book, Franny and Zooey, The Indian in the Cupboard, 4 Roald Dahl books, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Empire Strikes Back. The last of those, Ken has been reading to the boys now the past two nights and they have been thrilled.



I also found a copy of The Kissing Hand, a book that Bobby was read on his first day of school as a way to make them feel better about missing their parents. He was quite thrilled that I brought that one home. I read that to them last night, and Bobby told me it was a book that made him almost want to cry, but not in a bad way. My sweet sensitive boy cracks me up.



I was very good on Saturday. I prepped myself to know that NB would be over. He and his other friend came over and they all went out to play in Park Brenan. Not only did I hang out with them in the yard, I made everyone sandwiches and Kool-aid. I was pleasant and nice and kept myself from getting annoyed with him.



We did call it a day much earlier than most would expect, but I am glad I made that call. Dax was getting cranky pants, and since we had an excuse on ending play time, it was a good plan.



We piled the boys in the car along with some E-Waste and took it over to the Gaffey collection center. It was something I had been wanting to do for weeks, and in doing so, it cleaned up the entry way. Yay!



After the drop off, we stopped at Target for some items. Poor Dax had fallen asleep in the short trip from our house to Pedro. He was kind of upset when we were going in to Target, but he quickly cheered up when presented with an Icee.



Saturday evening, I polished off a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the happy buzz for the night. It led to a good night of sleep. I am thinking I should have done the same last night. Of course, last night was annoying due to some random dog barking up a storm and other noises that seemed to have no point of origin.



Yesterday was the AYSO parent meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed that. My folks came to the house and watched the boys while Ken and I went. I really like the board of directors for this region, and both Ken and I saw ourselves being a part of this in many ways. I spoke to the woman who does most of the organizing and behind the scenes stuff. She plans on probably leaving in the next 2 years since her kids are grown. I saw many similarities between her and I. She said she noticed me perk up while she was talking and I think there was a kinship realized. I may be able to do my volunteer work with her! Yay!



We also managed to get Dax bumped up to U6 instead of U5. The cutoff is July 31st, which is when the kid has to be 5 in order to be in U6. Dax’s birthday is 8-18. Truly, he would be fine in the U6 instead of U5. We spoke to the commissioner and he was ok with it. This also helps our scheduling since it means the boys will be playing on the same field each week. It sounds like our Saturdays will just be spent at the soccer field from Sept 10th through October 19th.



My follow up doctor appt is this afternoon. I have officially changed doctors to this woman as I truly adore her. I am going to get the scoop on my diverticulitis. I also am going to use the time to ask her about my knee, get a refill on some prescriptions and make sure everything is good. It will be odd going to the doc alone since honestly I tend to take my Brenan entourage, but I also am kind of glad I don’t have to worry about anyone else.



This morning I have started a smidge of a diet. Nothing drastic. I just opted to have an Instant Breakfast instead of something else for my breakfast. I used to have these every morning, especially when I was pregnant. In fact, it was when I was drinking these that I was less heavy. I have a snack of some pretzels that I can eat around 8 this morning, with an appropriate serving size of last night’s dinner for lunch. I am hoping to start some exercise in soon, too. I am finally feeling better from my month of hell, and I think that Luna and I can do a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. We shall see. I always think I can do all of this and I either get lazy or busy.



I am also starting to think I need to take my multivitamin in the mornings. I feel like I am flushing my system too much with all this water.



My parents have offered to keep the boys on the 29th, so this means Ken and I are going out on a date night. We have a gift card for Lucille’s, so that means it will be a cheap date night! Yay!



I am also looking forward to this Friday where the boys can play at Adventure Plex for free for 3 hours. I am thinking we will pick them up some grub and we should be able to eat it there. I don’t know yet since there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of information on outside food. I am sure we can figure it out.



I have also been productive in condescending photos. I went through a box and put them in nice stacks, which then went into zip lock bags. I also went through the school work from the boys and managed to get them in a box nicely. I am hoping to get the other couple of boxes of pictures into just one box, which will keep everything in nice boxes.



I am considering cleaning out closets this week with my free afternoons. Of course, I don’t know if I have them this week since Ken said he is unsure of what the boys have for afternoon classes. If they don’t have a class, I will be retrieving them.



We tried to work on some night time bed wetting issues. On Friday, Bobby slept in his underwear. He managed to stay dry, although it may have only been because Ken got him up several times. That kid just seems to be lazy. He will pee himself when he is awake. It is like he knows he can since the night time underwear will keep him dry. Dax doesn’t seem to be able to stay dry, either. I know they will get it eventually, but I just hope no one has a sleep over in the next year before they have figured this out.



I really don’t want to do work today, but I suppose I should get to it. It may make the day go by quickly.