Let's Have Fun Today

The dog was unusually restless this morning. The click-clack of his toenails on the floor woke me up before I was really ready. I heard him barf in his crate and I shuddered. Uh oh. There seem to be bread crumbs in his crate. Weird. He's still not feeling well. Yesterday he'd had the worst case of poops in a long time. Luckily, (for me, but not for him) I'd tried out the new washable dog diapers I'd recently purchased. So the mess was confined to his butt and personal area. I didn't even bother to consider washing the diaper out. It was THAT disgusting! I just threw it away and proceeded to wash the dog's hindquarters with warm water and a cleaning rag. Eventually he was clean, but it doesn't last. He leaks when he sleeps and usually there's some part of him wet from all that... Poor guy.

The diapers come three to a package, but the elastic tail hole seems very unforgiving. It would've been better if there had been a velcro closure for the tail, to accommodate different tail thicknesses. The dog hated having me pull the diaper up his tail to get it on him. I suspect it's too tight. I'm half-tempted to snip it with a scissor but then I'd have to sew super strong velcro closure tabs to it in order for it to be secure when he lays down, or rolls around on the floor. And I don't think I'm a good enough seamstress to pull that off. Plus, the fabric might unravel during washing. I haven't decided how to remedy this yet...

I'm not sure if it was the supermarket "artisan" bread that had no ingredient label, or the single slice of deli-style Carolina Honey Turkey that made him sick. The label said turkey, but it looked a lot like ham. And ham has a very high fat content. Since the dog has pancreatitis, he can't process fats. Usually bread and turkey are okay. I ate the Honey Turkey slices for dinner last night, using it to roll bunches of arugula and dab in mustard. It was pretty tasty. I gave the dog toast after he picked at his dinner. He doesn't like any of the medications I give him. When his stomach is acting up, I put a 1/4 tsp of Tylen powder in his food. Yet another thing he turns his nose up at. No labrador in him, that's for sure, because labs eat everything.

I go out to the kitchen and find that the water bowl is stone dry. He doesn't even wait for the bowl to fill, sticking his head under the running water while he laps noisily. I take him for a walk because he still has to pee. He's old and sloppy, so at the end of each walk, I have to rinse out his butt harness, as he's inevitably soaked the front end with urine. Usually the other harness is dry by the time I hang the wet one up outside. The dog falls asleep in front of the door without even touching his breakfast, which contains his pulverized pee pill (Proin) and joint pain (Metacam) drops. I feel bad for him, but I know he still enjoys his walks, barking at cats and delivery people, and eating ciabatta toast. So, life's not totally horrible. The back left leg is deteriorating, and he swivels to the right a lot. But he can still walk around the house as long as I have sporadically-placed floor mats scattered about to give him additional traction when he needs it.

I've ordered two more "male dog wraps" for incontinence. The dog seems to be getting leakier as he ages, so I'll need extras to keep the house from becoming totally disgusting. It's bad enough that I feel like the house smells like we have a puppy. Yuck. Right now I only put the wrap on him at night, when he's deep asleep. This has kept me from stepping into assorted wet spots throughout the house when I get up in the morning. I've never had this issue with any of my previous dogs, but they've also all been females. And spayed females are famous for incontinence, but this dog is still the leaking pee king. He's not even a big dog at 63 lbs, but measurements suggest I buy size XL because of his 28" waist.

The weather is cooler today, with less humidity. It's actually pleasant outside! Still, I go to the gym and it's nearly noon. There's hardly anybody there because not only is it Friday, but it's a nice Friday and if I were a runner, I'd probably be running outside. Forecasts is for storms this weekend. Of course. I had toyed with the idea of doing a combo Cardio and Push/Pull, meaning Smith Bench press, Smith RDL, and Intervals. But I just wasn't feeling it. Since there's a chance I won't get to the gym at all next week if I get selected for Jury Duty, I figure I'd do the things I like but hadn't gotten around to this week. That would be Intervals, Step Mill and the Expresso Bike. And a few Pistol Squats because I can't even remember the last time I did those!

I'm a lot more cautious doing Intervals, but it's not nearly as much fun when you have to work at keeping your heart rate low. I'm constantly having to slow myself down! I'm not sure if it's me or the heart rate sensor, but today I noticed that my HR appears to slow down during the high intensity cycle, and then speeds up afterwards. Like it's playing catch-up. Or the sensor is. Well, at least I don't actually hit my maximum heart rate of 167.4 bpm, or exceed it. That's new for me. I only do 20 minutes instead of the usual 30, as I plan to also do 20 minutes on the Step Mill (instead of 15), and 20 on the Expresso (instead of 15). That's a full hour of cardio exercise! And I'm not forgetting pull ups, push ups and some basic core.

At the Stretch Cage, I find that I can't actually inhale during the last 5 reps of each set, hence my gasping afterwards. Keeping my elbows bent makes me feel a little like SpongeBob during his driving test...


But I've watched videos of others doing pull ups, and half of them (like one of the Buff Dudes) keep their elbows bent like I do, so I don't feel quite so bad... I decide today that 70 is quite enough anyway. On the Expresso Bike, I thoroughly enjoy the Dragon Island game and could probably go for longer than 20 minutes. At one point, I find myself singing along and laughing with my tunes while I'm pedaling furiously. It must make a peculiar sight, but I don't really care what anybody thinks.

In the classroom, I see Little R doing basic elbow planks. He doesn't even use one of those foam mats. When he steps out, I do a few Pistol Squats. I'm out of practice, and they feel hard as my extended quad clenches when I push up on the one leg. Sweat is dripping off my nose, but at least I remembered my little white hand towel to drape over the mat. I knock out my push ups, planks and crunches. I'm soooo done! It feels like it's going to rain, even though the sun is blazing. Ugh. The boys come home tomorrow... I have to shop for groceries so there'll be dinner on the table for them. Neither of them is going to want to eat lentils and rice for supper, so that's what I'm making tonight.

Friday Cardio

20 elliptical + 5 cd
Intervals
Calories 227
Miles 2.04
AHR 134 (80%) /162 (oops! 96%!!)

20 StepMill
Level 3
Total Steps 749
Floors 46
Calories 117
HR 136 (81%)

HGPU 25, 20, 15, 10 (70!)

20 Expresso Bike
Dragon Island
Points 93,430
Calories 53
Miles 2.93

Push Ups 60
Pistol Squats 12 total

Side Planks 2 x 60s
Bird Dogs 2 x 60s
Bicycles 50
Crunches 30/20

Quick stretch