Thursday, July 5, 2012

My no good, terrible, horrible, very bad, day


Just so you know, this story has a happy ending.

This already wasn't panning out to be my best 4th of July on record.  I'm less than a week out of surgery and still on crutches, which makes floating down the river, playing croquet, and pretty much anything other than sitting off limits.  Luckily I have some good friends that humored me and came over for a bbq.

And then it turns out the Philadelphia is less than ideally handicapped accessible (or whatever the correct PC term is) when it comes to dealing with large events.  That means that I had to hobble a ways in to lie on some grass for a partial view of the fireworks, still pretty okay. 

The no good, terrible, horrible, very bad part comes in when the fireworks start and Boris gets spooked.   Now, lest you think that I am a terrible person for bringing my dog to the fireworks show, I've been watching him very carefully over the past few days for his reaction to any loud noises, and believe you me, my neighborhood is not what you'd call "quiet".   After careful observation, he seemed to not be phased at all by any noises, so I thought we were safe.  Think again.

At first he hid in the bushes, which was kind of cute, but then he actually got out of his collar and took off.  Luckily I had some able bodied friends with me that were able to chase after him, but after the first few minutes I lost all hope…. I've seen how fast he runs at the dog park. 

We spent a solemn hour and a half trying to get out of the city, and I came home to send emails to all of the shelters and post and ad on craigslist (sidenote,  I think anyone, and I mean revwilliams76 specifically, that would use a situation like losing a dog to scam someone is despicable and not really all that intelligent). 

I followed up with all of the shelters this morning, but really didn't have all that much hope.   I prayed and I know my family and friends prayed, but Philadelphia is big and scary if you weigh 65 lbs and don't know English.   But, thanks to answered prayers and microchips, I got to pick Boris up at the animal shelter this evening. 

He's a little worse for wear, and I think the two of us make a pretty sad looking pair at the moment, but I'm still brimming over with joy.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

This is what's up


My foot.  Or, more accurately, my knee.
I mentioned briefly before that I had torn my ACL, and this has been what has taken up my time and attention for the last six weeks. So this is what happened.....
Okay, it's not all his fault, I'm pretty sure I started things off with a nasty fall up at Park City in March with a partial tear in the ACL. I did go to the doctor and they said I had a sprained MCL, but I'm going to declare myself the expert on my knee and say that the pain is similar enough that it really didn't have anything to do with my MCL.

Fast Forward two months to me getting back to being active and running in the morning (my knee still hurt some, but not too badly) and stretching at the dog park after a run. Boris was very happy and running around with an 80 lb rottweiler named Jada, and I just happened to be in the way. A partially torn ACL vs. 140 lbs worth of dog is just not going to win, and I heard that "pop" finishing off the job.

I had to wait six weeks for surgery, but luckily Mom was able to come out and take care of me. I'm pretty lucky to have such great parents. I'm working from home this week and spending eight hours a day in my fancy knee bending machine, but the good news is that I'll be off crutches in the next couple of days and back to full activity in just a short eight months.


And I used to think I wasn't very accident prone....,

In the land of potatoes

My dear friend Jen got married this weekend, it was a lovely affair..... in Boise, Idaho.
Normally Boise wouldn't be my first choice for a destination wedding, but when you add in some good friends, some surprisingly exceptional food, and a hotel with a hot tub, there really is no room for complaint.
Some of my old and new favorite girls.
The lovely bride and her man.