I don’t have a lot of news to report or a ton of info to share tonight.
The weather was fantastic this week (and will be crappy for the next few days), so I plugged away at my personal goal of 400 miles in 2010 (an additional 13 miles spread over Friday and Saturday). I got out on foot and on wheels, with and without the dogs. Ranger got a new pack–one he can’t climb out of–and I ordered a new tool to help me get Ranger out more. I will post about that when it gets here later this week. I took several pictures this week and realized that unless you’re the lead dog, the scenery really doesn’t change much.
I did a bit of work on my bicycle, mostly airing up the tires and inventorying what I need to do to it this summer or next. I also repaired a broken buckle on my rooftop bag for my Jeep. Sometimes it pays to be a pack rat who saves things like side-release plastic buckles.
Beau The Dog, my good friend for nearly 10 years, is starting to show his age. He’s much slower on hikes than I remember him being, but it’s also possible that he’s only slow in comparison to an almost-two-year-old Catahoula. He wants to get up and play in the morning, but when I get him out for a walk, he just pokes along. I think he might simply not want to keep up, or maybe not feel well. It’s hard to tell. He’s otherwise still happy-go-lucky and in good physical condition for a dog of his age.
I’m still gearing up for my road trip in a little less than three weeks. My brother is loaning me a buttload of audiobooks to keep me company–w00t! REI wouldn’t allow me to apply my dividend today when I tried to put my order through, so I’ll get to that tomorrow. And, like the tool above, I will post more about it when it arrives.
One final note before I head to bed–Ranger is a pretty cool little dog. I’ve thrown a lot of new situations at him the past few weeks and I’ve finally realized that he is always willing to do whatever I ask of him and he’s always enthusiastic about it–his tail never stops wagging. It might not seem like a big deal, but for me that’s huge.
P.S.–The Journal will officially be 9 years old this coming Saturday. Wow.
Whacha feeding Beau? If he’s
Submitted by Mattexian (not verified) on Thu, 2010-03-25 12:55.
Whacha feeding Beau? If he’s ten years old already, I’d hope he’s eating some variety of senior dog formula from one of the premium brands. My old Sheltie was having trouble getting up and down the stairs in our old garage-apartment at 7 years, and we took the advice of a vendor at PetsMart and started feeding him the Nutro brand senior food, and he regained a lot of pep in his step; he lived until 14, still wanting to chase the girls up until then! Right now I feed my dogs the Iams large breed formula, tho sometimes I pick up their senior bags, for my older pups (oldest is 10 years), mainly because it’s the best brand that I can find easily without having to make a special run to the pet store when it runs out (Target and Wal-Mart both stock Iams, but Nutro is only available at PetsMart and Petco, which are both are on the far side of town from me).