April 5 was my 11th birfday.  I got to do all kinds of fun things!!  I have pictures up on my Birfdays page.

I got to go swimming an extra Saturday this month!  I usually go every other Saturday but last Saturday I got to go to a new pool and swim for 30 minutes.  It was a lot of fun.  We liked the ramp into the pool better at the new pool but like our regular pool the best.  It was exciting to go there.  I get to go swimming this Saturday for my usual 45 minutes at my regular pool!  Now we can recommend 3 doggy pools in this area!

It's baseball season which means it's the season for finding all kinds of baseballs abandoned at the school.  I'm continuing to grow my extremely large collection.  I've also found some playground balls and soccer balls.

For my birfday, I got a dog door for my front porch screen door.  I really like being able to go in and out when I want when my front door is open.  It's just like my back door dog door.  We got a discount for being return customers!

Last week, I just missed seeing a porcupine in the parking lot of the convenience store, bar, dog business, day care, hair place, vet, and a few other businesses.  The wildlife people think it lost its home due to all the habitat destruction west of us and has moved into the city.  They think it came from the creek and wetlands area by my house and was checking everything out since we aren't very far from where it was seen.  They think it was a boy since it's mating season and it was attacking its reflection in the glass doors.
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Pool season opened this week at my house.  I think today will be the last day for a little bit because it's supposed to get cool and rainy again.  We've had record highs the last couple of days.

Just wanted to bark a quick "hi" to everyone. 

I've been busy helping my woman finish her research paper for her class.  She should be done with the "1st draft," whatever that is, today.  Then we have to go back through it and work on it some more.  I think if she did it right the 1st time, it'd be much easier but she said that's not how this works.  I think she's just covering for sloppy workmanship!

I've been swimming, going for walks, exploring, finding and killing balls, barking at wildlife, playing with friends, and making new friends since I last talked to you.  And going to the rehab vet.  

I got to go to the farmer's market last weekend!  My woman only went to one place and that was right by where she parks so my man and I waited on the sidewalk for her.  If I stood in the right places, I could see her.

No pictures this post but there will be some on the next!

My 'puter had problems last month because of Microsoft and it took forever to fix it.  Then I had to help my woman catch up on her class work.  We are caught up now so I get to use the 'puter to blog and stuff!

Scary boom night was really scary.  The booms started while it was still day out and went on for 11 hours.  I was exhausted the next day.

I've been taking my CBD CO2 extract twice a day every day mixed in with a little molasses in the morning and in my pumpkin "pie" in the evenings to hide the bitterness.  The label says I should take 6 mg. of CBD up to every 4 hours.  My people were happy with what they saw when I was getting 1.2 mg. twice a day so that's what I get now.  

I helped my man celebrate his birfday last month.  We had Mexican food and homemade birfday cake.  My woman surprised him by making molded chocolates that look like me to decorate the cake with.

I've been going for long walks, doing lots of trails, trying to move the coyotes that yip at night around our house along, keeping my people from being murdered by delivery vehicles, going swimming, and going to the rehab vet.

I had a really good Barkmas.  I got stuff for my friends, ate good food, went visiting, and opened presents.  I still have some under the tree and in my stocking.

My woman went to a vet clinic and got me some CBD products to try.  One was a CO2 and one was an herbal tincture.  The tincture is stronger but smells really bad so I'm using the CO2.  
My man didn't think it would help but he has been noticing that I walk different on our long walks up in the hills (he gets time off around Barkmas) and they both have been noticing that I don't limp on my shoulder when I get up after one of these walks.  
So my woman is going to get a stronger CO2 from a different company for me to use.  It means I will take less drops to get the same milligrams of CBD.  I'm still way under what would be a full dose for my weight.
She's going to see if she can turn the tincture into a salve but isn't sure if there are any essential oils out there that can hide the smell.

We had freezing rain and snow on Barkmas Eve.  It was supposed to melt on Barkmas but it stayed cold enough that we still had a white Barkmas.  It melted off the roads and sidewalks but stayed on rooftops and the ground for a couple more days.  Now it's too warm and really rainy.

I helped my people put up the face board on the short side of the porch and cut some boards yesterday.  Then it rained.
Today, I helped them put up the 15 foot face board on the long side of the porch.  I went in before they were done because it started raining.  They got enough screws in it to hold it in place and no one got electrocuted!
Now I'm supervising my man changing a switch in the bathroom.

I finally got to stop needing eye drops twice a day for my Pannus!  My people are giving them to me before bed instead of in the afternoon with my Lupus med so it's easier to use them twice a day if I need to again.

My woman will be cleaning the hall bathroom to get ready for scary boom night.

Friday the 17th, I hurt myself.  My man thought maybe I had stepped on something but he checked and everything was OK.  I walked a few steps, dragged the knuckles on my left rear paw, and started limping.  He did the thing they do at the rehab vet where they put my paw down so it's upside down.  I didn't try to flip it back the right way.  He picked me up and started carrying me home.  Some people who live down the street were taking their kid to school, saw us and gave us a ride home.  My woman said my left paw was a lot colder than my right and didn't seem to have as much feeling in it.  
The rehab vet put me on a waiting list so we called my vet and had a 9:30 a.m. appointment to have me checked out.  The rehab vet called while my woman was in the shower and said they had a 10:00 a.m. cancellation so we cancelled the appointment with my vet.
The rehab vet thinks I stepped in a hole hidden under the leaves, shocked my spine, and my body twisted to the left.
I had to take it easy and rest but I was OK to swim as long as I wasn't limping.

I had a really good Turkey Day.  I ate a lot but not too much because when I eat too much, it comes back up and my people say that's not good for my Megaesophagus. 
My woman made pumpkin pie from pumpkins she cooked and pureed.  She also used a different recipe that made it not as sweet.  I really liked it.  I also got to eat part of the turkey liver that night!  I got to eat the heart too but they saved that for a snack after I swam at the pool that Saturday.

I usually swim for most of my 45-minute time slot but I took a lot of breaks to play with my toys out of the water, took a potty break, didn't swim out as far, and decided I was done after 40 minutes.  We all had a lot of fun and my people were very proud of me for not trying to overdo it.

We put up out holiday tree over the Thanksgiving break and took advantage of a dry day to put up our lights outside.  We still don't have stairs because it's been too wet and rainy to do any outside work with power tools.

I had my yearly check up with my doggy eye doctor last Monday.  She wasn't happy with how my eye drops were doing with my Pannus and decided to switch.  I'm now on an eye med I've been on before.  I have to get drops in each eye twice a day until the end of the month and then go to once a day.
She also thinks my cataracts can be stopped with vitamins so she upped my Vitamins C & E dosages.  I get them twice a day so my woman made some pumpkin "pie" for me to eat them in at night.  It's her homemade pumpkin puree sweetened with enough sugar to hide the bitterness from the Vitamin C powder.  I could do them in pill form but that means shoving pills down my throat twice a day which would increase my stress and be bad for my Lupus!  Hiding them in something won't work either because I'm Chance!!
Because the Pannus wasn't well-enough controlled to satisfy her, I go back in 6 months.

Friday, I had my regular rehab vet visit.  I was having some muscle cramping in the muscles on my inner thigh that made me not want to use my left leg until the cramp was taken care of.  It only happened if I had been active earlier then stepped up.  She thinks I slipped on something with my front end and was misusing certain muscles.  My woman was told to massage me every day, make sure certain muscles were not too tight, and watch for sign of muscle tension in my lower back area.

I got a massage last night that lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes (a perk of living with a Small Animal Massage Practitioner) and I was acting like a puppy this morning on my walk. 
My woman said she could have done it a lot quicker but I like the gentler techniques that take longer.  She said she also could have finished quicker if I wasn't dreaming so much.  I guess it's hard to work on legs that are moving so much.  She's not sure what I was chasing in my sleep but she said I barked at it.  I'll have to take her word for it, I was sound asleep during the whole thing!

I got a small spot massage of my hind end already today and will get another full massage tonight if I want it.  Sometimes I have too much to do to get a massage!
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I hope everyone had a good Howl-O-Ween!  I did.  I dressed up as a hula dancer and went trick-or-treating at a neighbor's house and got a new small basketball.  The neighbor wasn't home and the ball was in their yard but my woman said it was OK because the ball didn't belong the neighbor and had been abandoned by some kids so I had "salvage rights."
I also have confirmation that Pennywise DOES live in my drain.

My neighbor got sprayed by a skunk last night in her back yard and it made my whole house smell.  It still smells a little but not too bad.  I felt sorry for my neighbor, she smelled weird and had to have a B-A-T-H, so I tried to get her to play with me when I saw her.  But she didn't understand what the bared teeth meant and got scared.  

I've been swimming and going for walks like usual.  I've also found balls to bring home.  I got the hole where the stair board sat filled with concrete.  I helped my woman put up my ex-pen as a railing since it is going to be rainy this weekend.

I went to the rehab vet today and only needed 10 minutes of work.  My people and the vet were just looking at each other like they didn't know what just happened.  I didn't even have time to finish my cheese stick!
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Just stopping by to say hi and let everyone know a little bit of what I've been up to.

I've been playing in my pool!  Going swimming.  Going for walks.  Playing with friends.  Seeing my rehab vet.  Helping my people tear off our front porch (which is like a deck) and build a new one.

We had a really hot summer with no rain and had lots of smoke plus ash falling on us from a wildfire.  Now it's cooler and has been raining.

The eclipse was boring and I kept wondering why everyone kept looking at the the bright thing in the sky that hurts.  People are kinda dumb!

My ear got hurt by another dog.  My people say, even though we are friends, that dog won't be allowed over when I'm going to be playing in my pool.  My woman used aromatherapy after it got checked out by a vet.

I had a good Furever Home day!  
I found a soccer ball and 2 baseballs on my morning walk.  
I went to the rehab vet to have work done.  The woman turned me into a pin cushion!!!!  I brought attitude with me so I wasn't all that cooperative for her this time.  I also snarked on her dog when she followed her into the room to say hi and got too close to my cheese stick!!!   At least I didn't poop all over her lobby like last time!  I had even managed to tighten a muscle that really doesn't exist in dogs.  She told her college observer that I look normal on the outside but I'm not normal if you see me on the inside!  
I had homemade pizza for dinner!!!!
I got to go for a ride in the Jeep and to fill it up with gas!

My big news: I spent almost 3 weeks in Montana!  I swam a bunch, watched gophers and a long-tailed weasel and badgers in the yard, barked at a lot of cows and motorcycles, and went for rides in the Jeep on days I didn't swim.  

Montana 2017 - Preview Pictures!

Today is my Furever Home Day!  I went for a long walk, go to see the rehab vet, and I also get to go for a ride in the Jeep!

I have a new thing I do in the pool.  I swim up to my woman, bite at the water as she splashes me, then I slap her silly as I turn around to head back.  When I swim up to my man, I bite the water he splashes at me, then I turn nicely and head back for the ramp.
I also decided I wanted to play with the ball I found on the pool platform instead of my dummy.  I was going to take it home with me then decided to leave it at the pool for other doggies to play with as I was walking out the door.  
I've decided I like the post-swim, freezer-dried raw heart my woman makes for me not soaked in water.  I always had commercial freeze-dried raw hearts that got rehydrated in water, then I decided I liked the homemade freezer-dried raw hearts rehydrated, then the last 2 swims I wouldn't eat them.  My woman is going to make me 2 more trays of raw heart to let dry in my chest freezer!

I have added the following balls to my ball collection since last time: 2 baseballs, 1 soccer ball, 2 footballs.

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I've been really busy lately.  I keep finding all kinds of balls that have been left behind that need to be killed or brought home.  I have a nice collection of lacrosse balls, t-balls, softballs, and baseballs now.  We keep making new trails to places.  I have to lick cat faces at the vet clinic by my house and get treats at a couple of businesses.   
And something big is happening soon that I've been busy getting ready for.  I'll fill you in later!!

I'm now swimming for 45 minutes with my people every other week.  I had been swimming with them for 30 minutes but, a few swims ago, I got back into the pool after I got toweled off.  My woman was able to get me into the "new" pool, same people but different location, for 45 minutes for the next swim.  It's a smaller pool but the water is a little cooler which I like.  I swam almost the entire 45 minutes with few breaks.  
We liked it so much, we are going to be going there instead from now on.  It's on our side of the river so we don't have to worry about trying to make it across and we don't have to drive through Portland.  It's also only 30 minutes away instead of 45-55 minutes.  
My people even cleaned up my man's old diving gear bag and that has our towels, my dummy, and my life jacket in it.  I haven't worn it at all the last few swims but we bring it because the pool's life jackets choke me due to my mega-esophagus.

I had my annual check-up last week.  The vet comes to my house so I don't get stressed by the waiting.  She told my people not to let me lose too much more weight and said she wouldn't have guessed I have Discoid Lupus by looking at my nose!  Everything was great but my people still have to try to get a pee sample (weirdos).  The vet said good luck.  As soon as I hear a change in the sound for getting a sample, I stop peeing and will hold it for hours.  If they don't get a pee sample (not as weird as when they put my poop in a bag and drive it places), the vet will stab me in the belly with a needle!!!!!

I've also have been visiting friends and getting to know Freddy, the puppy that lives across the street.  I'm teaching him good doggy manners.