Too Much Excitement

My son graduated HS last Thursday. The ceremony started at 7 pm and didn't end until nearly 9, almost too late to go to a restaurant and have a celebratory dinner. He had to be at the school at 5:30 and we parents were directed to bleachers on the football field. It was already 3/4 full! Had the cast of Jersey Shore wanna-be's sitting behind us; skank squad in skintight dresses with tattoos that made no sense; gangster ghetto boys; and then, finally, the capo with his 10-year old son who was channeling Don Corleone down to the whispery threats.

On Saturday, the new glass storm door panel arrived with instructions. My husband pulled the old panel with the remnants of broken glass out of the door, and then tried to install the replacement. He said it didn't quite fit and rather unwisely, he started hammering on the frame. Then, he pulled the panel out to set aside, and the moment it touched the floor, the panel shattered. Again. While I was on the phone with Anderson to get another new panel (under the 90-day warranty so totally covered), I get a call from a dog park friend who says he got a call from another dog park friend who had just seen one of my dogs run by her house along the road. WTF?!

I grab my remaining dog with a second leash in my hand and run down the street calling his name. It's 80F and humid. There's no shoulder to the road but I have to walk with my back to traffic because the dog was spotted on that side. People in their front yards tell me "He ran that way. You just missed him." Cars are stopped on the tiny shoulder with hazard lights blinking and I'm hoping they've caught him, however unlikely, but no. At least he didn't get hit! They stopped to try and catch him, but he's fast and runs into the woods behind houses... 

After an hour of walking down the road and calling out, I return home with my other dog. I text all my local friends with missing pup's pix, then start to post on Missing Pets of the Hudson Valley, when my dog starts barking. I look up and see through the kitchen window, four white legs running down my road. It's the runaway! He gingerly steps into the driveway, looks at the door and then backs into the road. I run after him but I don't have a leash or anything with me. 

He trots away looking warily over his shoulder. So I stop following and crouch down with my arms open, something I do in the park when I want to give him a hug (and some chicken jerky treats). It works! He comes running back to me for a big hug and I'm able to walk him into the house where he and his brother get lots of treats. This is 3 hours later. I'm sweaty and exhausted, but relieved.

Now I have a bird trapped in the chimney pipe leading to my wood stove. I can hear it fluttering and scratching but it hasn't fallen into the stove itself. If it had, then I'd be able to open the door and let it fly out of my house. Ugh. I have the damper open but it's stuck in the pipe. I don't want it to die there... I've had to call a wildlife rescue to pull apart my wood stove pipe since I'm unable to do it (I don't know how and I'm probably not strong enough nor do I have any height leverage). I also realize that I need a new chimney sweep since the old numbers don't work. Okay, it's the birds playing tricks on me. I had the wildlife people come and check my stove pipe. No bird in there. They're up top in the cap and the sound is carrying down the pipe into my living room. Whew! And the fellow was nice enough not to charge for the visit!

I did go to the gym today for cardio and core, and some pull-ups. The treadmills are packed when I arrive. Luckily, no one is on the ellipticals. My sciatica is okay but still really unhappy with driving. Car seats seem very hard and unforgiving! Well, at least the big H seems better although not gone. I do have an appt with a gastroenterologist but that's for the iffy colon report... I wish pull-ups had been better: my fingers went numb and I didn't make it to 20. Ugh. I've never had my fingers go numb doing this before.

26 June 2023
Crowded Monday w sciatica

Precor elliptical #1
Program 3
Time: 30 + 5 (5420)
Distance: 2.78
Cal: 306
Avg Hr: 142, 180

20 Hip Bridges
Crunches 60
Piriformis/Hip/Pencil Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
20 Hip Bridges
Elbow Plank 60s
Quick Child’s Pose
Cat stretch 12x
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Child’s Pose / Cobra Pose
Bird Dog Planks 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Air Squats 25
Upper body stretch
Eye yoga

HGPU 18 (numb hands)