by Judy Handley | Dec 4, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 338: Tour of the Neil Armstrong Research Vessel
Date: Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Weather: High 50, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Poor Shadow. I left home at 9:15 am with him in his crate and didn’t return until 1:30 pm. That’s the longest I have left him in his crate, but he seemed to do just fine. And I thoroughly enjoyed my Newcomers Teacher Group field trip to Woods Hole to tour the Neil Armstrong. Then at 2:45 pm, I had to take off with Shadow and her crate and take her to Heather’s to leave her alone for another hour and a half while I took Ollie to his violin lesson and returned home with Ollie, Sam, Jonah, and Jonah’s friend Kaiden. All had after-school band practice. By the time we got home, Shadow was ready to run wild. And she did. I took her outside to play in the snow with Ollie for a bit, but then I had to take her in so I could fix dinner. Jonah and Kaiden were freezing from playing out in the snow while waiting for Ollie to finish his lesson, so they stayed inside. Once Shadow and I came in, they played with him for a bit while I got dinner together. Sam had homework, but he played with Shadow during breaks. He is amazingly good with the puppy and can settle him down better than any of us. It takes a village.
The tour of the Neil Armstrong was amazing. This research vessel was launched in 2015. As most US research vessels, it is owned by the US Navy but this one is operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic. It is 270+ feet long, 50 feet wide, and supports 20 crew members and 24 scientists. And it costs approximately $45,000 a day to operate. We toured the vessel from bottom to top. The engine room was amazing and something like five flights above, we spent time on the bridge enjoying the views of Woods Hole and being amazed by the modern navigation systems, all computerized with steering by joy sticks and tiny little wheels (about 4 inches wide) that control rudder steering. Captain Ahab would be amazed.
by Judy Handley | Dec 4, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 337: Snow, Snow, Snow
Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Weather: Snowy Day; High 44, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What a very busy day, but I took time out to romp in the first real snow of the year with Shadow. The world outside was covered in white this morning and it was beautiful. Shadow loves the snow and begs to stay outside even when he is shivering.
?
We took one long walk, walked down to the dock where I think he was contemplating jumping into the water, and he spent a lot of time attacking very low branches laden with snow. The contrast of white snow on his black coat is beautiful.
I did call the trainer today and he laughed when I explained the problem. He said it is just that the honeymoon is over. Today was a better day, however, and the trainer suggested I make an appointment for him to meet Shadow in January and he said that in the meantime I might want to enroll him in any local classes where he can socialize with other puppies.
This morning I had a 9 am bone density scan, a 10 to 11:30 am For Your Health seminar, and a 1:45 pm annual appointment with my gynecologist. I played outside with Shadow before leaving home at 8:30 am, returned home after the seminar to have lunch and go for a long walk with him, and then spent the evening at home. This evening I opened the spreadsheet I had done over the weekend for the Newcomers Holiday Luncheon to make some updates and found that I had not saved many of the changes I had made. Thankfully, I had printed it out, so I spent this evening doing the spreadsheet again. Ugh! I really had been careful to save it and had it set on autosave, so I really don’t know what happened. But it was easier to rebuild than to spend time figuring out where the saved versions went. Tomorrow is another busy, busy day, so I am already looking forward to spending the day at home with Shadow on Thursday.
by Judy Handley | Dec 2, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 336: Puppy Challenges
Date: Monday, December 2, 2019
Weather: Rain and Wind; High 45, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Oh, no. There are strains on the love affair between Shadow and me. Puppies being puppies need to be trained not to nip and bite in play, not to bark and growl, not to go potty in the house, and on and on. It is a lot to ask of a little puppy and Shadow was doing great, but the past two days have been very challenging. All of a sudden he has a couple of periods each day when he has more energy than either of us knows what to do with. I have the name of a trainer given to me by the breeder, so I think I’ll make a call tomorrow. And I’ll keep reading. But the holiday season is upon us and the calendar is overflowing with activities. Hopefully we’ll survive.
I spent the morning cleaning house and rearranging things to make room for a Christmas tree that I will purchase on Friday. The tree will be placed on a small table, out of reach of the puppy so he won’t be tempted to tear it down. Then I made a trip into town to go to the gym and run a few errands. And then I went to play mah jongg. Our coach was not able to come tonight, but we decided to meet anyway to see just how much we have learned. We missed having Jackie’s guidance, but we all felt good that we were able to play without coaching. The four of us in the class all agree that we need more coaching, but we have learned a lot in five weeks. We have two more lessons and then we are on our own. I think the four of us will continue to meet one evening a week to practice what we have learned. I have never been much of a game player, but I am enjoying the challenges of mah jongg and will continue to play.
by Judy Handley | Dec 1, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 335: A Little Work, A Little Play
Date: Sunday, December 1, 2019
Weather: Overcast, Icy Rain; High 45, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Yikes! I can’t believe it is December 1st . . . only 31 days until January 1, 2020. I have obviously been sticking my head in the sand, refusing to believe that the holiday season and the cold weather of winter are upon us. But the tiny little balls of ice falling from the sky and landing on the front stoop when I took Shadow out after dinner brought home the fact that winter is coming whether or not I want to acknowledge it. And flipping the calendar to final month of the year tells me the holidays are upon us. But I spent my day ignoring that. I planted garlic, played with Shadow, spent a couple of hours doing a spreadsheet for the Newcomers Holiday Luncheon, and cooked dinner. So a little work, a little play, and another day vanished right before my eyes. Somehow as I get older and move a bit slower, time goes by much faster.
by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 334: One Tired Little Puppy
Date: Saturday, November 30, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 43, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I wrote last night about how much fun Heather, Sam, Jonah, Ollie, and I had on our impromptu walk to the bogs with Shadow. But that fun came at a price for Shadow. He hardly ate any dinner last night, slept all evening, got up this morning just long enough to eat a little, and then went back to sleep until early afternoon. By this time, he had a little more energy and ate most of his lunch. And he had plenty of energy when I took him outside, so I decided that I could take him with me to see the Goldstones play soccer in a community game. 
This means everyone can play, parents and children. The problem was that Shadow was quite insistent that he should be able to play as well. 
There was no way I was going to be able to hold him back, so I let him say hello to the boys and then we left. I took him home and then went back into town to do some shopping and came home to do more cooking. That was about it for my day. I did do some research into how much exercise a puppy should get and it is only 5 minutes for each month of age twice a day until the pup is fully grown. Shadow is two and half months old so should only get 12-15 minutes of moderate exercise twice a day. He has been walking about a half mile with me each day, but the wild run on the bogs yesterday was just too much for him. He loved it and certainly has the energy to do it, but evidently too much exercise while a puppy is growing can cause joint and bone problems when they are older. So, hard as it will be for the Goldpebbles, we’ll have to slow down and go by the guidelines from now on.
by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 333: Unplanned Fun
Date: Friday, November 29, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 47, Low 25 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The highlight of today was totally unplanned and so much fun. Shadow and I drove over to Heather and Jed’s to pick up the portable exercise pen the boys had erected in their backyard for Thanksgiving Day. The thought was that Shadow could be in the fenced area while the boys were playing soccer. But it was too cold and rainy for soccer and we didn’t need the exercise pen. And since there is snow in the forecast for Sunday night, I thought I should get it in out of the weather. When we arrived, Heather asked if we would like to take walk. Jed was in Hyannis and she had been trying to get the boys to go on a walk with her with no luck. But when we said Shadow would like to go for a walk, we suddenly had very willing boys.
Walks with boys and a puppy are really runs, but I managed to keep up. I can even jog a bit these days with the knee replacement. So, we walked and ran down to the bogs, around bogs, through the bogs, and then back home. Everyone had a great time.
My other reason for going out was to go get my mail at the post office on the way home. I am the appointed person to whom Newcomers are to send their reservations for the Newcomers Holiday Luncheon. The registration deadline is Sunday and I wanted to make sure I picked up last minute reservations to add to the spreadsheet. Then Shadow and I returned home and I launched into a flurry of cooking. I wanted to make a homemade puppy chow and a Tuscan stew for myself. I got both done and fed Shadow his first homemade food, but I am wondering if that was a mistake. He loved it, but he has been very unsettled tonight. I sure hope this doesn’t continue through the night.
One of my goals getting a puppy was to make sure I am out and about multiple times a day and that certainly seems to be working. Every morning when we go for our early morning walk down to the dock. Each day we have been watching the twenty or so swans float about. This morning I was shocked to see that the water was so high that there was no island across from the dock. There is a new moon, but I have never seen the water this high. And there were Canadian geese instead of swans this morning. Interesting. I think I will find these morning walks most informative.
