Since I last "saw" you, a lot has happened.

I'm still swimming every other week at the pool though I had to go to a different pool a couple weeks ago because my pool was closed.  They had a dock diving competition that weekend because they are next to the airport and the airport was having an airshow.  My people said I wouldn't like to be out there during the airshow anyway because it is loud and they have things like fireworks.

I'm still seeing my rehab vet every month.  I'm not having any big issues though last time she turned me into a pincushion!  And I kept trying to tell everyone there was a pool across the hall and one room up but no one would listen.

I've been having a lot of luck finding balls out on walks.  I've been finding playground balls, basketballs, baseballs, and tennis balls.  I also found out tether balls are fun... until they hit you in the back of the head.  My man told me I couldn't kill it so I wasn't happy about that!

I was playing in my pool almost every night but now it is too dark by the time my man gets home.  

I've been doing a lot of stuff around the house.

• I helped spread a truckload of dirt in my digging spots.  I was really helpful too.  My people would put the dirt in a spot and I would dig to help out but then they would put the dirt back so I would have to dig again.  But then they would put the dirt back and I would have to do it all again.  It was exhausting.
• I helped put the post sleeves on my porch, pour concrete, build stairs for my porch, put stair railings on, and put a 16-foot long 4x4 post on top of the tall posts.
• I helped my woman patch a leaky gutter and a leaky down spout, helped my man and woman clean the gutters, and helped my man clean the roof.
• I helped my woman finish her Level 4 coursework for her animal aromatherapy training.
• And I've been helping my man rake leaves in the morning a couple of times a week.

I also got some bad news.  The place I stay in Montana that is on the cattle ranch is being sold.  I'm pretty bummed about it.

I'm back up with internet access!

The 4th here was crazy and not fun for animals or most people.  The dog next door had fireworks hitting her house on the 2nd!  We also had hot weather which means lots of people started fires with their fireworks.

This week is supposed to get really hot again.  Blech!  I've been helping my woman water the grass to try to keep it from bursting into flames!

I've been doing lots of fun stuff.  Playing in water, swimming, going on walks, and sniffing all kinds of good sniffs.

I had my 1st rehab vet visit since my ouchy last month.  I only had a couple of issues so I guess the work my woman is doing almost every day is helping!

My friend Maxi is hurt.  She's been limping for a while and was diagnosed with a partial tear in her knee ligament like I had.  It'll be harder for Maxi because she's kinda overweight.

11 years ago today, I adopted my family!  I hope they appreciate the good home I've given them!!

I included some pictures of my 1st month with my people.

I am all better from my problem last month and my vet visits went good.  My vet said my blood work was "surprisingly good" with everything I have wrong with me and my eyes are still doing good.  I don't have to go back to the eye doctor for a year!  I went swimming last weekend and was all crazy.  I see my rehab vet again this week so we'll see what she says!

I started a new project yesterday... the steps for my front porch!  We have to do something called "pour concrete" before we can put them on our porch.  

I've been finding lots of balls on my morning walks.  Mostly baseballs and t-balls.

I have been one busy woof dog lately.  I've been helping my people around the house, helping my woman with work and school, going for walks, playing in my pool, swimming, and seeing vets.

I get to play in my pool most nights now that the weather has been so dry.  Our air conditioner has been on 2 times this month!!!

I've been having good luck finding balls on my walks lately.  I have a pretty big baseball collection now.  And I even discovered a new park!

My people have found 2 ticks!  One was crawling on me and one was crawling on our driveway early one morning.  We aren't supposed to have ticks here.  Ick!

I went to a new pool last time to swim.  The pool I always go to was closed so they could have some kind of competition.  I got into the pool I used to go to but I also tried out a pool that is on our side of the river.  It was more like where I go now so we decided to use it instead of the old pool.  I had fun but it will be nice to be at my pool this weekend!

I've been getting to go to work with my woman sometimes.  I keep one of the dogs under control while she works. 
She also found out this month that the animal aromatherapy school changed their classes when they went online this month so, instead of being really close to being done, she now will have a hard time finishing. 
I've been helping her try to get stuff she's already done changed over to an acceptable computer type thing.  We've been working on that all month. 
Even though she finished Level 1 over a year ago, and got a piece of paper to show she passed it, she now has to take it again and do 4 more case studies. 
And she can't go on to any other level until she finishes Level 1.  She was only waiting to finish up the last 2 (out of 10) case studies for Level 2 and had started 4 case studies for Level 3 when she found out she needed to re-do Level 1.
She still doesn't have anything nice to say about the school for not telling her a year ago about the change in the number of case studies for Level 1.  I have learned some new and interesting cuss words this month!!

Last Thursday morning I got off my bed and tried to stand on the top of my paw instead of on the bottom like I should.  My woman did some massage and got me to where I would put it down the right way but not want to put any weight on it.  By the end of the night, 5 hours of massage, and several aromatherapy sessions, I was doing much better but still limping.
Friday was my rehab vet appointment.  The rehab vet was afraid it was an injury to the doggy version of the Achilles Tendon from the massage reports my woman sent in.  The best guess was when I ran into a stick with my ribs hard enough to make me stagger, it tightened everything up and caused all the problems.  She beat on my leg with a hammer.  She tried to claim she was testing my reflexes
but I just know she was trying to kill me!  I had some acupuncture, some chiropractic work, and a little more massage and I'm back to normal.

This month is vet month.  I had my normal rehab vet visit Friday, Monday my vet came to my house and did my Senior Wellness Check, and next week I see my eye doctor for my 6-month recheck for my Pannus.

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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