Celebrating the Moments

Wow, it's been such a long time since I've posted. What's amazing to me is what I used to do have on my plate when I posted a lot as compared to what I do now. I run through my mind these posts on a fairly frequent basis but somehow never sit down and write them. Perhaps it's time that needs to change. But no commitments for now because the truth is, I just can't make them. Life has too many things up in the air right now and all I can do is enjoy the moments. So without further ado, here are today's moments.

Vegas will be 12 on October 24. One of the things I have come to realize she misses the most as she has aged is the social interaction she enjoyed in all the years of doing agility and whatnot. We were always on the go, even if it wasn't a dog show. From the kids to our comings and goings from home, running in and out, my taking her places with me, there was rarely a time she didn't have interaction with others or trips from home that allowed some sort of stimulation.

As she's aged, as life has changed, as I've worked more, my kids were grown, I've become more of a homebody, there just hasn't been as much cause to leave. Our home now has so many stairs and leaving it isn't as easy. She isn't as able to just pick up and go for long walks or trips even in the car like we could on a level surface. Lots of reasons life is more quiet but I know that actually is so impacting that it could almost be construed or interpreted as depressing to her. So we've been working on getting out of that funk, trying to do a short walk at least every other day and seeking to do so during more busy times of the neighborhood so there's a social interaction likely as well.

Plus, with her birthday coming up and a brief health scare with some tummy troubles last week, I decided we would do a lot of fun stuff with all the nice weather this week. So lots of outings and I will for sure be documenting all of that.

Today we went to Sellwood Riverfront Park. There's access to the river, an off leash (unfenced) dog park, a beautiful wooded trail, and the amusement park is dog friendly if we had wanted to walk there. It was stunning. She forgets she's not a puppy and even tried to chase a couple of dogs. She walked right into the river, drank a bit, we strolled a bit along to shore, but her favorite by far is always the woods. Oh boy is she a trail dog. I blame that on our Wilsonville days. She always enjoyed the woods we had at Memorial Park - which was really not a big deal. There was just a looping configuration of trails throughout a few dozen acres of woods fronting the river between it and the park but we spent many, many, many days and hours there. I truly think today was a happy day for my old girl and the smiles show it. She should sleep very well tonight. 

 Big 12 Countdown Minus - 11 Days