walk my dog everyday

Rascal has diabetes. I am giving her insulin shots 2x a day since last week.

Long story. She has been sick almost all summer. She got in a fight with a river otter in May. In June, I was out of town and she was staying with a neighbor. She went to a pig picking (BBQ picnnic) and ate way too much. She was bloated and couldn’t eat for a week. Then Aug. 8th she went to a party one night and stayed out all night… came home smelling like beer. Every picture from the party had her in it. I was home sick and didn’t realize she had slipped out the cat door to join the fun. There was three days of recovery and about a week before she felt good again.

The latest was a tick-borne illness… starts with an “E.” That was the last straw for her pancreas – she is on antibiotics still. About three weeks ago, she started drinking water like crazy and having to go out every 2 hours – she is only 7 years old – so I knew something was very wrong.

She is doing much better since she started insulin last week. She goes back to the vet on Thursday to see how her glucose levels go throughout the day, and to make sure she is on the right dosage and type of insulin.

She is still the be-all, end-all Jack Russel. Just I have to give her insulin. We’ll figure this out too.

b.

This is pretty hard not to do. My dog is a fabulous girl. She is a Jack Russel terrier, and her name is Rascal. If I am ever in a bad mood or sad I just have to visit with her for 2 minutes.

We have kept up with this goal despite a very hot, muggy muggy wet soupy summer. We are now going into Fall and the days are cooler. I live for Fall weekends!!! 2-3 hour strolls in the woods are wonderful things. The days are getting shorter however. For weekday evenings, I already have my headlamp out to go walking after dark. We love to go to the river most of the time but it is ok – we’ll just have to walk around the neighborhood instead if gets late.

For some reason I woke up early today. I got up and got dressed and we had time for a nice walk. Maybe we can do that more mornings.

For now, we are good – we walk almost every day. A couple of days a week I swim after work and other days have been just too hot and sweltery. This needs to be an every day occurance – so I am not marking this goal done yet. It needs to be so integrated into my life that I wouldn’t skip it any more than I’d miss brushing my teeth. That’s my goal.

Rascal and I have been on a walk every day since we got home July 23. The 5 cats are with us. I am seeing amazing things.

Last night I saw bats coming down to sip out of the river at dusk. They swoop in low and you can see them scoop up the water with their mouths. They skim across – like rocks skipping across the surface. Then they are gone. Off for the night’s foraging.

The river is getting lower everyday. Rascal loves hopping from rock to rock. She can almost make it all the way across the river without getting wet. She is always searching for fish. She sometimes jumps in. She hasn’t caught one yet.

When she is not balance beaming up a tree that has fallen. Or chasing minnows or looking for bass she is running full tilt in large looping circles around us.

The last week the riverbed has been exposed. Sometimes there is almost a cool breeze down there – right at the water’s edge. The cats enjoy sitting or laying in the damp gravel – but haven’t really got it. The minnows and the Jesus bugs haven’t caught their attention yet…. until last night. Peaches saw the bats. I told the cats and Rascal, “The bats are coming in. That means it is almost dark. It is time to go home.” Peaches “woke up” when the bats swooped in. I almost didn’t get her to leave.

Normally the cats stay together, close-by, following me along. When it is time to go home I have a special whistle – like the bird, the Bob-white’s whistle. I’ve never had a problem before getting them to head home – supper comenses as soon as we get there.

Last night I walked out: up from the riverbank, through the woods—there is a winding trail – whistling. The boys, Nigel, Bodie and Jasper came out of the woods behind me…. but Peaches and Buttons never did. After a few minutes, when there was no sign of them, I went back. There was Peaches, perched on a tiny rock, in the river, 3 inches from the edge. All four paws were as tightly crammed as she could get them on this small stone … intent on this vast river in front of her. Hmmmm….where do I go to from here?

Buttons was at the water’s edge near her. Tail coiling and intent – watching. Obviously sister has seen something.

I picked Peaches up. Petted her nice, and carried her up to the bank. Between me, Nigel, Bodie and Rascal we convinced her to aim towards home and some Friskies. Jasper and Buttons didn’t mind and followed.

Needless to say they all cleaned their bowls last night and we all slept soundly.

I can’t wait for our next adventure.

This morning I was watching Rascal and the cats on the deck while I drank my coffee and was thinking how taking them on walks has affected them.

My cats almost talk. You can see the conversations they have with each other. Rascal lives at the edge of this conversation. Like her running and circling us on the walks – she likewise runs through and circles the conversation at home. When I have been on vacation and Rascal has been with me – when we get home, Jasper comes up to me squalling – but the other cats go to Rascal. She stands like a statue as they love and dote on her. She is SUPERDOG when she is out running in the woods. In the living room she is stock still as they give all the love they want. She is respectful, and quiet, and just maybe a tiny bit nervous.

My neighbor that cat-sits says, they miss me when I am gone – but if Rascal is with me, then they almost grieve.

As I said, I can’t wait for our next adventure.

I am so sad! It is raining today and it is Saturday and I can’t take the babies out for a long walk in the woods. It is more than raining! It is black-skies-threatening-Armageddon April thunderstorms. No walking today. :-(

We have been having a great time. I have been taking all 5 cats and Rascal out at least every other night. If I get home before dark we go to the woods. If it is after dark then we loop the block in the neighborhood.

Rascal, Peaches, Jasper and Bodie loop the neighborhood with me - the cats stay with us for at least 1-2 laps. Buttons hides in the “park” along the way and comes out when we pass and says hello. (It is not a park but just a wooded empty lot.) Nigel goes up on a neighbor’s porch exactly 1/2 way around and ignores us as we walk by again and again…. The neighbors don’t have a cat or dog, but they keep a water bowl on their porch anyway. As we march by, the bubble above Nigel’s head says, “This is a nice porch. Looks like nice people. I think I’ll just live here as MOMA HAS OBVIOUSLY LOST HER MIND.” After a couple of laps everyone else just joins her or him, in the park or on the porch - and me and Rascal keep going.

We are lapping the block 4 times and working up more each time. We started a 5th lap Thursday evening but I pooped out by the time we arrived to Nigel’s perch. So at a slower pace, we turned around and went home in the opposite direction. As hoped, all the kitties came out of their hiding places and sashayed back home with us. Nigel followed and then passed us—he didn’t get too close in case the walk in circles thing was catching.

Friday evening we went to the woods. A neighbor and her dog Jack was with us. Jack likes to give cats death stares so my cats - with good instincts - kept their distance for the first half of the journey. After a mile, they weren’t afraid anymore and plopped down in the middle of the trail, this way and that, and waited for me and Carol and Jack and Rascal to walk through. This was most bothersome to Jack. 5 woods-wiley cats, laying about like stepping stones… and “lives in a fence or on a leash” Jack had to walk through them. This happened several times: After we passed they’d rest a minute, get up, bound past us and flop down ahead of us…. Jack had a different perspective on life by the time we got home. Walking in the woods is a good thing.

SO today. No walk in the woods. No loops around the block.

I miss it when we can’t go. Maybe tomorrow! b.

Me and Rascal and 4-out of 5 cats took another walk on Saturday. This time big fluffy Jasper got scared back up on the deck by a roving neighborhood dog and didn’t join us. Again Buttons the shy kitty of the bunch had the most fun of all - no I did! It was late when we got home. We were gone about 2 hours - walking about 1 hour of that. (I had the flu actually but was feeling better enough to get out of the house.) It was almost dark when we got home. Jasper met us at the driveway.

We had rain Sunday and today so no walking… but I like these evening adventures. Everyone stays close. I am watching the kitties as I take them out in the woods but they are not getting too far from me. Rascal knows the woods and where she is and is having her own adventures… but the kitties are staying close to me. I am also not actually taking them that far from home. We are going 1/4 mile downriver and looping back around, 1/4 mile upriver, and then back to home. By the time we are done we have walked a mile, but only a 1/4 mile from home at any point in time—still within the sound of my voice if they get bold and go back out without me.

Maybe the rain will end tomorrow.

One thing - white fluffy Jasper is shedding right now. I saw two birds with white tuffs of fur in their beaks making nests. He is a solid white Maine Coon - and his fur is like elderdown. I smiled to think, every self-respecting bird nest in the neighborhood is probably lined with white Jasper-tuffs. He always has looked out for all the others - now he is even keeping baby birds warm and cozy. :)

We saw blue birds, gold finches, two pilleated woodpeckers, dead fall pines with nests holes in them, 2 Canadian Geese, and a blue heron.

Rascal and I and 4 of the 5 cats went on a walk this evening right at sunset. There is a large river near my house and along the riverbank is a State Natural Area… sort of like a state park but it is just about 100 feet wide. It goes for a ways along the river—about 5 miles. We walked about 2 miles of it today.

Spring is trying to find its way. There were periwinkles blooming (purple), spring beauties (white), trout lilies (yellow flowers—with green and gold dappled leaves).

I saw a frog. A very hansome frog with green gold and yellow designs on him.

The cats played, climbed trees, chased each other. Buttons - the smallest cat that hides from the others most of the time - I think had the best time of all. She does something I call the scorpion run—she runs very fast, almost sideways with her tail up and curled like a scorpion. I think she does it so she looks much bigger than she really is.

She is only 6 pounds - her sister Peaches is 10 pounds, Nigel and Bodhi are probably 12 and Jasper maybe 15 or 16 pounds. (He is a very large Maine Coon that is solid white - in the sunset, his fur was goldish pink reflecting the light from the sky.)

None of them are shy retiring kitties. All were feral. They lived in the woods and found me. (I promise I didn’t go out looking for 5 cats!) Jasper was 7 pounds when he finally adopted me about 4 years ago. Nigel was a 4 pound kitten with 20 pounds of attitude - he showed up about 3 years ago. Buttons and Peaches came in a few days before Halloween 1.5 years ago. I had 2 cans of cat food I had warmed in the microwave - and it was just too much to resist. Bodhi was a neighbors cat. He disappeared a year ago. They moved. Then he came back just in time for Thanksgiving. We still don’t know where he went on his walkabout… but he is happy to have a home again. They are all very sweet, but they are incredibly rambuncious. Buttons hides most of the time for good reason.

Today they were all having such a good time they forgot to chase Buttons. She had a blast. She especially enjoyed taking a dust bath on the river bank. The soil was very fine and sandy. She stirred up quiet a dust bowl.

She was most facinated with Rascal when Rascal went wading. I once had a cat that would catch fish out of the river. She’d bring home brim and stripped bass and whatever else she could catch. There was a very large (very) fish out in the rapids. It actually got caught on the rocks for a few minutes. Made me wonder if the striped bass were running already but it is too early. It could of been a large turtle. But I really think it is a fish. Buttons was interested.

Bodhi and Jasper were playing in the grass of the field near the river and didn’t see when we went down over the bank to the river. After entertaining themselves for a while, both came calling and mewing for us. I called them, and they found us.

Rascal loved every minute. Jumping and catching bugs in the grass. Running across the field. Wading. She runs across the field and jumps up about every 5-10 feet—she is 100% Jack Russel, but she pretends she has some Springer in her.

Peaches was in the house when we left and missed the fun. I called her but she didn’t come. We’ll take her next time. She is the boss of the family—so we gave her a break from the overseeing.

Everyone is sleeping soundly tonight. No chasing each other games at 12 AM. We’ll do this again!