Playing in the Snow

It snowed on Monday and Tuesday. Sophie and Misha loved it! (I didn’t like it if I need to drive.. eventually, I canceled my piano lesson because of bad road condition) A.A. and I took them to parks for three days in a row. We went to Fuller Park near our house on Monday and took them to the Eagle Island State Park on Tuesday. Since the incident (she almost drowned) at the Eagle Island, both were on leash. But, it seemed like they still could enjoy running on the snow. And again, we went to Fuller Park today. There were still snow on the ground at the park, and Sophie and Misha couldn’t wait for running. Actually, Sophie hardly ever stopped running, but Misha. She usually gets excited and jumps around for a few minutes and that’s about it. It’s very interesting to watch them playing together.

What’s Happening Since June?

 

Events in June: Staying at kennel for the first time! A.A.’s parents invited us to go to the Hells Canyon Dam Tour on the 14th of June, and of course, we couldn’t take Sophie and Misha with us, so we decided to board them at Escape the Crate in Boise for two nights. As you see the service on the Escape the Crate Web, they are not open for 24 hours. We had to leave early in the morning and came back late at night, so Sophie and Misha were boarded on the day before and picked up on the 15th. I believe that it was a good opportunity for both to socialize other dogs and be in the different environment without us. According to the staff at the boarding, they behaved well. Overall, I rate this boarding facility 8 out of 10 and recommend to others if someone doesn’t mind to leave dogs alone at night, around 8 to 6 in the morning. Yes, only thing I didn’t like was that nobody stays there after 8 at night to 6 in the morning. Honestly, if I can find similar boarding facility with 24-hour service, I might consider those, because I’m still concerned about leaving dogs themselves for almost 10 hours. When we boarded Sophie and Misha, the staff said they were working on setting up WebCam, which was good. I hope it is available now. Back to the story about Hells Canyon Tour: it was very nice and enjoyable tour. Of course, because of A.A.’s family plan, there was a little happening in the beginning. Our boat delayed almost one hour!!! If there were only A.A. and me, we would have left. A.A.’s parents were more patient, and we waited and waited and waited. At last, we saw the boat and thought that they would pick us up, BUT they didn’t. We were so disappointed, but we could do nothing. A.A.’s parents were very patient and we just kept waiting. Then, finally, after almost two hours since we got there, tour guides picked us up!!! We were so glad that we didn’t leave.  We enjoyed entire tour and got so wet. I thank A.A.’s parents that they offered us such incredible opportunity! 

Back in Boise, A.A. and I picked up Sophie and Misha next day. They were soooooooo happy to see us and seemed like their tales were almost ripped off by wagging so much.

Second important event in June was 1st Great Dane-meet up at Morris Hill Park. There were quite few, 10 to 15 danes got together for the first time. Sophie was so small among them; probably she was the second smallest dane there. But, of course, she enjoyed socializing with other big ones. We cannot forget about Misha, too: she just loved it!! Even though she was small (weighed less than 100 lb), she was so excited that she chased other danes, or was chased by them.

Events in July: One thing we enjoyed in this month was the second “Dane-meet up” at Morris Hill Park. 

Events in August: On the 7th was A.A.’s 30 some birthday. This year, I didn’t bake anything for him, because he wanted Ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. It was delicious.

Events in September: School got busier and busier. I wonder why I was kind of stressed out: I have only one class and most of my students behaved. Oh, I remember that I had an intern, who was troublesome. I gave him some work for first a couple of weeks of this semester, and then I let him go as I felt uncomfortable having him in my class.

Events in October: First snow on the 10th! I saw snow on the Foothill.

Events in November: Sophie & Misha enjoyed playing @ Eagle Island State Park quite a lot. I’m so glad that we live pretty close to the park. It’s not a off-leash park, but with 15-foot leash or occasionally w/o leash, they ran like a horse (Sophie) and a cow (Misha). 

Events in December: A.A. and I went cutting down a Christmas tree on the 12th with Sophie & Misha. We could find a decent tree at Grimes Creek. There was an almost accident: Sophie almost jumped into the frozen river!!! Unbelievable.. well, A.A, said yes, it’s believable, because it’s Sophie. I saw her front paws were in the water, but probably frozen and very cold water scared her, so she came back right away. And, Sophie & Misha had to stay in the car while we were ting a tree on the top of our car. She ruined her play time. I’m glad she didn’t drawn in the river and A.A. and I never expected that we would see similar accident near future.

On the 16th, A.A. and I took them to the Eagle Island State Park again. It was the day after snowing and chilly, but sunny day. Both of them were off leash and running around like crazy at the park. While we were walking on the path, Misha, somehow changed the direction and just went toward the frozen pond. We called her name, but no response. A.A. raised his voice, “Misha!” And then, she turned around looked at us, suddenly, the ice broke. I was so scared to see her face was under the water. A.A. walked into the frozen pond and broke some ice to help Misha swim or walk back to the bench. We were planning to enjoy a sunny day in the snow, but things changed. Misha’s coat was a half frozen (she is a double coated, but still..) and of course, A.A.’s pants were all wet. We headed back home immediately (Sophie & Misha still wanted to play, though). We won’t be back to the park until the ice melts. They are so unpredictable. At least, I knew both Sophie & Misha were safe with us. 

Overall, I pretty much concentrated on my school work, dogs & cats and my diet for six months. Fall semester is now peacefully over and I’m getting closer and closer to the goal of my diet. I now need to focus on losing at least 10 more pounds within a couple of months. Misha turned one on the 29th of November and Shoe turned 8 on the 27th of December. I wanted to make a birthday cake for Misha, but too much things were going on around the time, so I couldn’t. For Sophie’s birthday,which is on the 9th of February, I hope I will be able to make something. Last a couple of months, I have been feeding Sophie & Misha human consumption such as hamburger, chicken and salmon with their dog food. It works great: I don’t need to wait for them to finish eating meals, which means that they just love to eat the mixture of meat & dry food. The idea of feeding such cooked meats came to my mind when their dog food was out and store was closed the day. I cooked vegetables and meats with rice or homemade pasta. I did make meals for a few times, but I figured that it cost  and took time. So, I decided to cook partially, like adding cooked meats in their regular food, and it was successful. 

I hope it will be a happy year for everyone. 

It was fun, but…

A.A. and I took Sophie and Misha to Eagle Island State Park today. He wanted to try off-leash and he did. He let them be free.. I didn’t think it was good idea, especially Sophie, because she never came back to us even though we called her name before.

Well, Sophie did very well: she didn’t take off and was around us the whole time we were walking. Misha also behaved. She seemed much more active than she was on leash. She got wet and muddy, but I was glad that she enjoyed a lot.

Meanwhile, we were on the way home, and A.A. suddenly said, “What is this, Sophie? Oh, she got a tick!!” On the Sophie’s outer left ear, there was a brown tick (probably Ixodes scapularis). A.A. used matches to remove the tick: put burned matches on the tick; the tick starts moving its nose from Sophie’s skin because of the heat; removed successfully. (I was so terrified about the incident and couldn’t think about taking pictures of tick.)

I gave both Sophie and Misha bath as soon as we removed the tick and checked both bodies. I was exhausted after everything got done. I hope Sophie won’t have lime disease..

It’s hot, hot, hot…

It was Saturday today: very hot.. 93℉ this afternoon. We went to vet this morning and I was planning to walk on greenbelt near my work after that, but it was already hot at 11:30 am. So, I waited till this evening while hoping that we could be able to go somewhere late evening, but I decided not to, though Sophie seemed to be ready to go for a walk with me at about the time we usually take off. Sorry, Sophie, it’s too hot for you. On the other hand, Misha could enjoy playing with Sophie until dinner time. She was happy! 

By the way, Sophie weighted 98 lb. at the vet. Vet said this probably is her mature level, but we still hope that she would grow more.

All-American Hamburgers & Fresh Lemon Bars

On Tuesday, A.A. and I took Sophie and Misha to off-leash park. It was the second time for them: first time was the day before Misha got spayed. There were 6 dogs included male brindle Dane! He was not big as a male Dane, but of course, bigger than Sophie, so she was running away from him. Sophie was a runner as always; Misha was like a observer. Misha didn’t run so much, but occasionally she did. Two ladies came to us saying they used to have Mastiff and one lady who had a male Dane joked that she would trade her Dane to Misha.. We stayed there about one hour and a half, and Sophie and Misha both enjoyed a lot! Only thing I regretted was that I forgot to take my camera with me again.

On Wednesday, I was preparing hamburgers for lunch in the morning, but I changed my mind so that it was windy and I didn’t feel like doing barbecue. So, we did barbecue on Thursday evening. Well, I wish I could have a hamburger and asparagus for lunch, because I was not hungry much at the time, but I ate them anyway. Hamburgers were very good, it might be a little too soft, but otherwise, I was satisfied. I also baked fresh lemon bars, and it was almost perfect: the crust was too thick. It’s understandable so that the recipe called for 13” by 9″ baking pan, but I used 9″ by 9″ Emile Henry square baking pan. I just didn’t want to make it big. The funny thing was that the crust was too thick while lemon filling was perfect portion. I need to arrange the original recipe for the next time.

Today, which is Thursday, was very hot: I couldn’t take Sophie for a walk before our bedtime. Both Sophie and Misha were laying inside of the house almost all afternoon. Especially, Misha has double coat, so she ate lots of ice cubes. A.A. finally turned on an air conditioning after the dinner, and then it became very cold inside. Our body temperature is very different, so the inside of our house during summer is colder than winter time to me.

Brown Dane & Mastiff

I took Misha to the vet this morning (Wednesday morning), and her staples were removed! As soon as she came home, she started playing with Sophie: their coat was in brown when Sophie knocked the kitchen door.. they must have played with dart or been digging holes at backyard.. Anyway, at least it tells me that they are healthy puppies, so I guess I should be happy for them.

Party is finally over!

When I saw Misha came back from backyard last night (Monday night), I was speechless: her party hat was almost taken off and hanging around her neck like some big and ugly accessory. A.A. was excited and said, “I’ll let Misha free.” O.K. go for it. I was kind of worried if she licked her stomach where it’s still stapled. Well, I guess she is fine and doesn’t seem like she cares her stapled stomach. She seems happier without dirty “party hat.” We’ll take her to the vet tomorrow to remove staples. I can’t wait to take Misha outside besides backyard.

Misha & Sophie Updates

Misha has been doing well, and it seems like she got used to wear “party hat.” Since the second day, her appetite came back to normal or more(!), so we are happy for that.

On the other hand, Sophie lost her appetite a little bit, because she hasn’t done exercises with Misha so much. Also, she has been scared of Misha’s party hat. It makes loud noise and she runs away from Misha every time she tries to be close to Sophie. Well, actually, it’s kind of funny: Sophie is a 14-month old Great Dane and weighs 95lb. (maybe more) is running away from 65lb.(probably heavier now) Mastiff puppy. Sometimes Sophie slides on wood floor, hits her stomach and has hard time to stand up (If I see it, I usually help her up). Wearing “party hat” obviously works with Misha; the hat is her weapon now: it’s so easy to take toys away from Sophie.

Big Day

Today was a big day for Misha. She didn’t know what was going on: she was not given either food or water since last night. In a few hours, she would be spayed at Broadway Vet. She begged us for water all morning so that she was thirsty (she usually drinks water much more than Sophie does.) A.A. suggested me to give her ice cube, but I said, “No, that’s not a good idea.” Oh, poor Misha!

Sophie was lonely all day until Misha came back. She usually spends time quite a lot at the backyard, but she stayed inside most of the time today. Also, it seemed like her stomach was upset (I couldn’t figure out why; I fed her same meal, though) and I was worried about both of them. Sophie is a very energetic and outgoing puppy, but at the same time, I think she is very sensitive. Since her stomach was upset, I gave her meal twice instead of three. Whenever either Sophie or Misha (even for my cat, Shoe) has upset stomach, I always give them a holistic supplement with their food. It was a bad timing: the supplement was almost gone; I ran to the H3 Pet Foods (very close to our house) just for that. 

Surgery went well and she has been doing fine, but she acts little different from Sophie. We brought her back home around 4 o’clock and she has been sleeping since then – it’s almost 8 o’clock now. When Sophie got spayed, yes, she slept for a little while, but she got up and had dinner. We decided to leave her alone until she wakes up and we will give her medication. Sophie really wants to play with her and tries to wake her up by banging crate and making noises around her. Well, nothing worked. Sorry, Sophie, it’s going to be like this two more weeks! 

Healthy Diet

Well, I started going on a diet again. I can’t remember how many times I have to go through this, but anyway, I decided. This time I decided to do low-carb diet because I like carbs and I don’t think that I can live without them (like Atkins Diet). Here are some commitment I made:

• Eat three times a day – I used to eat twice a day, early morning and late afternoon. I started having this habit because of the work schedule and then I got used to it. As a result, I had pretty big portion of each meal. 
• No Alcohol – I love wine and beer, but I will try not to drink for a few weeks.
• Low Carbs – Rice, pasta, bread…it’s hard not to eat at all. So, I decided to reduce the amount of carbs for each meal. For dinner, I don’t think I want to have any carbs, though.
• Exercise – taking Sophie for a walk! I’ve been doing this since we had her. So, try to walk for one hour a day, five days a week.
• Caffein – I used to drink about 12 cups of coffee a day, and then reduced to 8 cups a couple years ago. Now I want to have 4 cups a day.

Day1 Meal:

• Breakfast: A bowl of cereal – Wild Harvest Cereal. It was very good and I had a cup and a half with a banana.
• Lunch: Ham & Gruyère cheese quiche; instant seaweed & tofu soup; light yogurt – I love making a quiche and crust always tastes good. I wish I could eat crust more.. but at the same time, I told myself, “I can make it!” 
• Dinner: A quarter of chicken burrito - even a quarter, I know I shouldn’t eat it. 

I know there are lots of different kinds of diet strategies available. If I stick with one method, I don’t think I can make it. So, I combine some of them and just try to be healthy.

Today is the 2nd day of my diet. I want to update what I eat today tomorrow. I really want to lose my weight before a fall semester. How much do I want to lose? Well, my goal is to lose 35 lb.  After that, 15 more to go. It seems like A.A. is also on a diet. This helps a lot!