The Park

Kiwanis Park, to be precise, located in Tempe, it's a full mile in depth from Baseline road to Guadalupe road.  They intentionally the front part of the park that goes around the lake quite hilly.  It's covered with nice grass and a lot of mature trees.  It's a great park that I hadn't been to in ages.

Until this morning.  I decided to take only one dog: Prince, the black Great Dane. Sophie, the Catahoula, did something serious to her hind end this morning - what I have no idea.  I heard her howling in pain outside shortly after they went out early to do their thing.  I went out to find this dog laying in the rocks, continuing to howl in pain and unable to stand up.

I could only guess that she must have lost her footing while running and twisted a leg and did perhaps some joint damage, tendon damage or muscle damage - or a combination of all three.  I picked her up, brought her inside and laid her down on the carpet.  She stopped the howling and just laid there, looking at me, trying to drag herself across the floor with her 2 front legs.

Do I now have to put another dog down?  My first thought.  I don't have the money to dump on that dog like I attempted to do with Coco when she was going down. If I had to spend any money?  It would be to have her put down, not to fix her.  I decided to simply leave her and hope that when I come back from the park with Prince, maybe I would see some kind of improvement after the initial pain wore off and she might be dealing with it.

At the park.  Prince, of course, loved it.  I got out of the car and hadn't been walking for 60 seconds when a couple of older ladies stopped me and we conversed about Prince and then about their dogs.  I then continued to walk, looking for the church people.  I got to a hill and was walking up it when some people alerted me to the fact that Prince was pooping while we were walking.  Prince does that.  Instead of stopping and stooping, he basically acts like a horse.  Cleaned up that mess and then thought I heard my name called, but I didn't see anyone - trees and buildings in the way.  I continued on and then clearly heard my name called and saw the Pastor's son running up after me.

So, I went back down the hill, turns out they had just shown up and were walking behind me.  Prince, of course, attracted a lot of attention and we were able to get into some good conversations with people.  I eventually decided that Prince should be exercised, so I took off with him. I ran as much as I could before getting winded and then did a fast walking gait and then running.  Did that until I had had enough and Prince was panting heavily.

Back to the group.  It was probably one of the best interactions I have had with church members since I have started going to that church.  Some people that would never talk to me opened up quite a bit and got into some rather deep conversations, actually.  Well, after 2 hours they said that was it, pack up the bags and leave.  I went home, but not dreading what I might find with Sophie. She either is going to survive this or she isn't.  I would rather she did, of course, but I am not near as attached to that dog - yet anyway - as I was to Coco or am to my Danes.  I got home and she came hobbling up to me.  Obviously not feeling too well, but she was moving on her own and that's a very good sign. It will, undoubtedly, take a long time for whatever happened back there to heal.  Whatever it is, I am not taking her to the vet.  I can't afford it.  Summer pretty much left me broke and I am trying to get my financial reserves back up.  I am not spending money on anything that I don't have to - bills, food, gas for the car, stuff like that.

So, I hold out hope that over time, it will heal and she'll be back to her normal self.  A dog that cannot walk, however, is a dog that can't live.  It can't go to the bathroom and that's enough right there. But she's getting around enough to convince me that if she will stay down and not move around too much, she can get past this.  Which reminds me, I totally forgot: give her an ibuprofen to help with the pain.  There we go, a little while from now and hopefully that will make her feel a little better.

That's it.  That was the jist of my day.  I am heading outside soon enough to do some more work out front.  The temps are going to come down after today.  Highs in the 80's instead of the 90's.  Meaning my electric usage will go down even further.

Keep that in mind, though - that park is a really nice place to walk the dogs.  I changed the dog walking modus from walking all 3 to either only walking 1 or 2 at a time. But not the 2 Danes at the same time.  I have to keep Duke on a short leash and I can't have him going after other dogs.  I don't know that he will do that, I am not going to find out.

I asked for coming Friday off.  I need to get up to the property and get that trailer winterized.  I am not getting off work early enough to leave on a Friday afternoon.  I didn't get home until almost 5:00 pm yesterday, way too late to even think about it.  I want to good, solid nights up there and that's what I am after.  The day hasn't been approved yet, but I am hopeful.  If it isn't, I will have no choice but to go up there next weekend regardless of what day I leave and get that little project done.
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Plant inspection.  Just got through with along with other junk out front.  The Sissoo that just up and died - is dead.  It's showing no signs of life and I have watered it well for the last 2 weeks.  The other huge plant (8 feet tall) that I cut back significantly after it was dying is - up in the air.  The weather is much better and I am spending much more time out there dealing with the things that I have put off because of summer heat.