Disturbed Routines

I'm a couple days late writing the blog from last week, and I have no good excuse.  Honestly, last week was pretty boring and uneventful...I'd even say unproductive.  I have spent a lot of time over that last couple of months trying to use up all of my time off from work that I didn't get to use earlier this year, and last week I had days off Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  I thought I might get some things done around the house, but I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I thought I might...and I guess that's okay.  Really, there isn't any way to change that, so it has to be okay.

With the week starting just a few days into Smokey's recovery from his surgery, it certainly came with it's challenges.  I had Monday off, Smokey was early in his recovery, and we were in the midst of the Christmas season, and none of those things are part of our normal routine.  I think the dogs thrive on routine, and when our routine is disrupted, it certainly can present some challenges.  It can also create some really nice opportunities to change things up and relax a bit.  

Since Smokey was on some really strict activity restrictions, it made our days more challenging and created extra work for me since I couldn't just take all three dogs out for a nice long walk.  So I had to make time to get the girls at least some of their normal exercise, but also find ways to keep Smokey happy, mentally stimulated, and calm.  That challenge is real with any dog, but especially in a high energy breed like a GSP.  While I had trazadone post surgery to help keep him calm, he still had moments when he really just wanted some fun, so he and I took several short potty walks up and down my block.  I took longer walks with Mina and Peaches, and I was happy when Peaches climbed into my lap with Smokey napping on the dog bed nearby, and we all got to sit quietly, enjoying some Christmas movies and the pretty sparkling lights on the tree.   But eventually the quiet ended, and I was back to having a constant shadow with every move I made.  

While he had worn a t-shirt to cover the incision over the weekend, I had to add the donut for a couple of days when he wanted to chew on the shirt.  By his first follow-up appointment on Tuesday, the incision site had stopped draining and the incision was healing well.  He got to go to his appointment completely naked.  Boy he loved seeing everyone.  He is such a social butterfly!  

During his appointment, we received the results of the biopsy from the growth on his shoulder, which came back as a Grade 2 Soft Tissue Sarcoma.  Initially that sounded very scary, but what we learned is that Dr. Gretchen was able to get clean margins and a Grade 2 will not have metastasized, so he is cancer free thanks to the surgery.  We really couldn't have gotten much better news than that.   His appointment gave him a lot of mental stimulation, which certainly helped him relax a bit better the rest of the day.  Everyone got a really short walk that day, so when we got home, I gave them dinner in brain games, which really helps keep them happy when our routine is disturbed.  

We were expecting some snow on Wednesday.  I wanted to make sure to get the dogs out for a nice walk before the snow arrived, so I took an early lunch.  First I went out for a short walk down the block with Smokey, then I got the girls out for a nice 2 miles.  I even ran a quick errand to give them a ride in the car, and they all got out for another quick walk around the block before I headed back inside to finish my work day.  

I got extra lucky that the snow waited to arrive until early evening, and I was joined by a couple of other shelter volunteers to get a few shelter dogs out for a walk.  I got to walk Momma Ida.  She is the sweetest girl!  As I got ready to head home from our shelter, the snow began to fall. Thankfully, I made it safely home before the roads got slippery.  It was another night of dinner in the brain games and everyone settled in nicely for the evening.  I was thankful I could get them some fresh air and fun to keep them all happy.

On Thursday after work, we headed out for a Christmas light adventure.  The temperatures were absolutely frigid so the dogs had only spent a few minutes at a time outside throughout the day, and I thought I drive might give them a little excitement in their day.  It was a little snowy, but the roads were good, so we were able to enjoy the evening.  I really loved this house all lit up for the holidays.

Ultimately we ended up in Corunna at the Historic Village inside McCurdy park, and I decided that we could get out for a quick walk around.  The dogs were crazy and ready to go!  The picture below is a blur, which is exactly what it felt like to walk them that night.  

I love visiting this park every Christmas, and I was really glad that I could get the girls to sit still long enough for a picture in front of the church. 

After we took a walk around looking at all of the buildings, I put them all back into the car and took another quick walk around by myself so I could enjoy the peace and quiet of this cold, cold night.

It was so pretty with all of the luminaries lighting the way and the buildings and trees all decorated.

Then we drove through the rest of the park to look at the light displays as we left.  I really thought this elf kissing the reindeer was pretty cute.

After a fun Thursday evening, I had the day off Friday, and I had a list of things to get done.  The temperatures were once again frigid, so we didn't spend much time outside, although I did get everyone out for a walk around the block.  They helped me as I finished up some decorating that I had put off, and I finally was able to get all of my Christmas cards finished and ready to send.  The season is going so quickly and I never send my cards out this late.  But I was happy that I got them done.

Friday evening I met with Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona to visit the holiday lights at Glenlore Trail in Commerce Township.

They had gone here for the Halloween trail, and Fiona loved it so much that they knew we all had to go back for Christmas.

It was a cool trail with a lot of neat displays, and we all enjoyed it despite the 11 degree temperature.  Nicol brought each of us a thermos of hot chocolate for the walk, and when we were finished with the one mile trail, we got mini doughnuts to share while we warmed up in the car.  Then we listened to Christmas music on the drive home, and I got to read Fiona a book before I had to head home.  I love being able to make these memories with her during the holidays.  She is loving everything about Christmas and I love listening to her sing along with the songs and talk about all of the fun new traditions that she is experiencing with Nicol and Tyler.

I was so excited for Saturday because other than my morning shelter dog walk, I had nothing planned for the whole day.  Thankfully the temperatures had improved a bit for our walk, and we were able to get seven dogs out of the shelter for a walk around Mason.  We made a visit to the Family Farm and Home along the way to warm up and let the dogs do a little sniffing around.  It was a great walk.

George Sanderson and Rob Roy are two of the dogs that joined us for our walk.  They had the best time.

After leaving the dog walk, I made several stops on the way home.  First I made a stop at the Holt Farmer's Market to pick up a few items from Fur Real Dog Snacks for the dogs for Christmas.  Then I made a stop at Aldi and few other stores to get everything I needed to be ready for our Christmas Eve dinner and some holiday baking.

When I got home, the sun was shining and the temperatures were tolerable for the first time in a few days, so I got the dogs out for a walk.  The girls got a longer walk than Smokey, but they all were happy to be outside.  They all got a brain game for their lunch and an afternoon Kong, and I was able to get some things done around the house.  It was such a great day.

Our Sunday started slowly, and we didn't have any big plans for the day, but there were a couple of holiday events locally that I wanted to check out.  After a quiet morning, we had lunch before heading to Mason for the pictures with Santa event at Amanda's Grooming.  While we had already done pictures with Santa earlier in the season, I never got a picture of just the girls together, and I really wanted one.  For a small donation, I was able to get a printed picture.  Then we headed inside the building for a hot chocolate, a cookie, and to check out the raffle.  I took the girls for short walk down the street before putting them in the car.  After I put the girls in the car, I got Smokey out so he could go inside to say hello to people and to give him a little fun.

Next, we headed to Woldumar Nature Center for their Cocoa & the Cabin event.  The temperatures were in the low 40s and felt so nice after all of the frigid weather we had been having, so I wanted to get the girls out for a walk on the trails too.

We had gotten some freezing rain overnight, so some parts of the trail were really slippery, but we got in a nice walk and the girls really enjoyed checking out some new trails.

I made sure we also stopped by the cabin to get a picture of them on the front porch.  They stayed very nicely for a picture and were photo bombed by a random little girl who was visiting the cabin with her parents.  She was very excited about the dogs.

Finally, we went back to the car to get Smokey so that he could take a short walk around, take a potty break, and do a little sniffing.  He loved his time there, even though it was very short.  

Finally, we headed home.  The dogs enjoyed some more fun brain games for lunch and dinner, and of course they all got a Kong to keep them busy in between meals.  I finally got the chance to try a new recipe-Quinoa stuffed delicata squash with pomegranate and goat cheese.  It was really tasty.  I enjoyed dinner and the Christmas lights while watching the Lions game to end our day.

It was late Sunday when I realized I hadn't started the blog, so I decided to wait until Monday after work to write.  My work day was busy, made busier by the fact that I'm in the home stretch with only a couple of days left to work this year.  The weather was mild so the girls could spend some time outside, but with Smokey still on activity restrictions, he was stuck inside unless I could take him out on leash.  More brain games for meals and Kongs filled our day.  The picture below says to me "Mina was here" because once everyone finishes their Kongs, Mina gathers them all to make sure that no one missed anything.  

My Monday evening was completely thrown off course when I had to take Smokey to the vet a day early for his second follow-up after his surgery.  Over the weekend, a couple of his stitches had come undone in a spot on his shoulder where the skin was stretched very tight.  The vet had warned me that this might happen and told me not to worry unless it was looking infected.  It was a small spot, but got larger over a couple of days, and I didn't want to wait another day to have them check it out.

I was glad I was able to get an evening appointment, and the girls came along for the drive to the vet. I'll share a picture below.  It looks pretty gross, but Dr. Gretchen was really happy with how well it was healing and how healthy the skin and flesh in the incision location looked.  They did a light treatment which will help stimulate healing and gave me some cream to put on the spot a couple of times a day to help it heal.  And now we wait.  The location of this incision is a difficult spot and is just going to take some time to heal.  So his activity restriction continues for now, and he is not happy about it.  As it starts to heal more, I will start to take him on longer walks.  I hope he can be patient while he waits for that to happen.  We'll go back for another check up next Monday.

Smokey is back to wearing the t-shirt again, and he's finally resting for the night while I write this.  My work day has been packed so we didn't have much time for anything fun. We did take a quick drive so I could make a stop at the store over my shortened lunch, and the dogs got some short bits of time outside.  There have been bones and Kongs, each dog got to clean out a peanut butter jar, and they got two meals in brain games today.  And there has been so much whining by this boy.  He is a world champion whiner, and even with a trazadone, he wasn't settling very well.  But finally, he has fallen asleep.  The rest of my evening should be quiet now.

On top of dealing with Smokey and his issues, Peaches has also been dealing with some issues too.  I'm calling them her old lady issues.  She's just got some weird quirks and some odd things that make her nervous, but we're working through them the best we can.  An occasional trazadone helps with her nervousness and I'm just adjusting to the quirks...like her desire to run into the basement any time I start to get her meals ready.  She also refuses to take treats from my hand, but at least she'll take them if I toss them on the bed or floor or wherever she happens to be.  She is still happy to take treats from friends and strangers though.  I don't understand it, but we're doing what we can to work through it.  And she still seems happy most of the time.  

So that gets you caught up in our world.  Tomorrow, I work a half day, and then I'm off for the rest of the year and won't go back to work until January 6.  I am so excited for the extra time off during the holidays, and I have plans to make the most of this time, including some more holiday fun with Fiona, Nicol, and Tyler, a potential adventure over the weekend, the holiday festivities next week, and some quiet time to relax and reflect.  Only one week until Christmas Eve, my most favorite night of the year.