Happy Valentine's Day - To Me!

I've decided to give myself a very special Valentine's gift this year to celebrate the second half-century of my life. I retrieved my old training schedule written out specifically for me by Charlie Storm back when he was my cycling coach a few years ago and am going through it again to get back into shape for the spring/summer cycling season. Today is day two and it didn't take me long to remember just how tough my training plan was! However, I know the payoff will be worth the effort, as I saw excellent results with it previously and I'm looking forward to regaining some significant fitness and strength using Charlie's proven techniques.

Heck, I think I might even sign up for a couple of local races this spring, just to give myself some goals to work toward...

Fry Update

Good News! At the veterinarian's office this afternoon, it was decided that in light of how well Fry's torn toenail was healing, no surgery would be required at this time after all. So for now he will remain on the oral antibiotics to finish out the week's course, and will continue with the twice daily Betadine cleansings. The vet said she could not explain the inexplicably fast healing and apparent painlessness of the wound and suggested either Fry was a very lucky little boy or we were doing an excellent job of caring for the injury or (more likely, in my opinion) both. Regardless, we're very pleased and hope to have Fry back on his regular activity schedule in short order.

Off To The Hospital

Well, I thought we could escape a hospital visit, but it just wasn't in the stars...

Our little boy suffered an unfortunate nasty torn toenail on his right hind foot during his trail run a few days ago. The nail appeared to be severed cleanly with no fragments hanging, but the "quick" was clearly exposed. Oddly enough, Fry never yelped or cried or gave any signs of being hurt at all. In fact, had I not noticed him licking substantial amounts of blood off his foot once we arrived back home, his behavior otherwise would never have indicated what I would have expected to be a very painful injury.

On the advice of the veterinarian, we initially treated it with twice daily dilute Betadine cleansing along with oral antibiotics. The wound surprisingly didn't seem to be really bothering Fry at all and there were no nail fragments needing to be trimmed off, so careful monitoring and home treatment were recommended. However, within a couple of days, Fry began licking and worrying the toe and the "quick" started appearing raw looking and seemed to be getting more irritated.

As a result, Fry will be heading to the hospital for an inpatient day procedure this week to surgically remove the irritated "quick" under anesthesia in an effort to try and relieve his pain, ward off infection, and speed up the healing process. Hopefully our little furbaby will be back to his old self and feeling better soon.

Home Again

What a whirlwind the past few weeks have been! It seems like only yesterday we started looking into the possibility of moving to another house, and now here we are, already getting settled into our new home, thanks to our wonderful realtor, Maggie, and several strokes of Good Fortune making the place we've been dreaming of a reality at long last.

 From the spectacular vaulted ceilings in the master suite, kitchen and living room...

Offering lots of light and an open feel...

 To the private and lovely half-acre wooded back yard...

The brick walkway curving around the house...

to the gazebo and gate...

 And back around to the spacious deck...

With a peaceful view of the back yard...

 Everything about this place says "home" to us.

We've only been here a week, so are still finishing up the unpacking and organizing process, but it already feels like home here, and our little family could not be happier.

Moving

It's hard to believe that this is our last weekend in the house we've called home for the past 15 years. Through a series of serendipitous events over the past several weeks, we seem to have been brought to the doorstep of the home we had been dreaming of for a long while now. The happenstance occasion of rediscovering a previous bicycling buddy who just happens to be an awesome realtor - realizing as soon as we saw a particular for-sale-property and knowing deep in our hearts that "this is the one" and then having our offer on it accepted - a casual mention that we might be interested in selling our current house which was met with a resounding "YES!" and subsequent very reasonable offer - home loan interest rates being at an all time low - everything pointed to this being the right time for us to make the move to a new home.

While I'm naturally fond of our current house after living here for 15 years, it's been obvious for quite some time that frankly we're seriously running out of living space. And with Fry being such an active pup, we've been wanting to find a home with a bigger yard and more room for him to play as well. Then when we saw what is soon to be our new home, there was no question this was where we were supposed to be at this stage in our lives. So now, as I sit here at my computer, surrounded by packing boxes in various stages of readiness for the move, the reality of it all has begun to sink in. It's really truly happening - we're moving to our new home in mere days!

And even as I say goodbye to the first house I ever bought, I'm very excited about moving to the home Steve and I will now be buying together, and we all look forward to spending many happy years and making lots of wonderful memories there. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you were all able to enjoy the day...

Spending time with your loved ones...

Sharing a smile...

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Biking Kind of Weekend

Fry had so much fun last weekend, he wanted to go out to the bike trail again this weekend.

Eager to get back out on the bike myself, how could I refuse? :-)

 We made it a two-day extravaganza of sorts, deciding to hit the trail both days. Fry was, as usual, the perfect little sidekick, staying just by my rear wheel and giving me encouragement on the climbs

The weather was cool and brisk but sunny on Saturday; still nice and fall-ish if a little grey on Sunday. Perfect weather for mountain biking.

And Fry was thrilled to get to spend both weekend days in the woods with us.

Running with the mountain bikes is one of Fry's favorite activities, and he just keeps getting more and more awesome as a trail dog.

It did take a good bit of positive encouragement, though, to persuade him that the trail scarecrow meant him no harm!

As for me, I'm still loving the Niner and we are really starting to bond more and more. Riding it just makes me smile.

I feel so comfortable on this bike.

It just feels like home and makes every ride a great ride.