BOXER ADVENTURES

 I have been off work this week and feel incredibly lucky that the weather has been relatively good and much warmer than it normally is this time of year.  We finished out 2024 with a 5 mile run this morning. And because I am a numbers geek, I do track their mileage as well as my own.  Here are 2024's totals: SISKO:  748.98  (Running: 213.68; walking: 329.43 and hiking: 205.87) BOOKER: 810.47 (Running: 300.63; walking: 308.91 and hiking: 200.93)    Pretty great, right.  They actually have a few more miles each as I did not calculate their time ion the treadmill and some of the times that Marc took them for hikes around the trail on our land - I'll try to be more vigilant with that next year :)  The boys had a good year - Booker got to experience lots of firsts, like camping, climbing a mountain, running his first race and visiting another state.   He learned how to swim, ate ice cream and became an expert in riding in the kayak...

 Tell me you love your Christmas gift from your aunt without saying that you love your gift!

 First thing I have to show you guys are these AWWWWSSSSOMME pants my nephew got me for Christmas. I mean seriously are they not the coolest thing ever?  You know those little kids who get obsessed with a certain clothing item - usually a costume - and they want to wear it every single day and their parents have to practically wrestle with them to get them to take it off to wash it?  That's going to be me - for real.   Speaking of washing.  I know that a lot of people use the time between Christmas and New Years to relax and recharge, but not me.  It's always a time for me to clean things out and start the next year fresh. But first, today is Boxing Day.  I don't even know what Boxing Day is but it seemed only logical to run with Boxers on this day! Then it was putting away Chritmas and starting to clean.   Since the boys got some new toys, I went through all their old ones.  There were a few that were ripped up and needed to be chu...

 It's Christmas! Unfortunately, Booker is still a wreck when we leave him, so today I knew he was going to have to be locked away in our bathroom (with Sisko).  It's better than the crate - we have to clear the whole room out so he doesn't destroy things.   So we started out today with a run with my hope that this would tire him out some.   It was freaking cold out (10 degrees) but the sun was bright and helped warm us a bit.   After getting in out miles, they were treated with a Christmas breakfast which they scarfed down. Before we left, I let them open their gifts of large shin bones .  I knew these wouldn't crack or splinter and pieces wouldn't come off, so I could leave them with these while we were gone.  These bones are kind of expensive but they last a LONG time.  They went to work on them before we could even get them into the bathroom. Then we left for the day.  We checked the pet came and unfortunately Booker was dis...

 Unfortunately I had to work today.  After dinner we opened our gifts including the dogs. The boys got their Boxer toy from Joe who had sent them with the beautiful wind chimes in memory of Archer. There was also a Chuck-it ball toy - Booker is a ball hound and was very happy! They have another special gift tomorrow to keep them occupied while we are gone to Marc's family! I sometimes get a little melancholy at these times.  I am so happy that I am able to give my dogs so much - not just in terms of presents but emotionally as well.  But it makes me so sad thinking about the dogs that are out there that aren't so lucky.   I hope any of you that are reading this with pets - yes we didn't forget our cats - are able to shower them with love this holiday season.  

 Every year, Onondaga Lake Park in Syracuse has 2 miles of a Christmas themed light display on their walking trail that cars drive through.   Today was warmer than normal so we headed down.  Even though the real show starts after dark, they leave the lights on all the time.  So on this overcast day we were able to get in a nice walk and still see the lights really well.   The dogs weren't all that impressed, even on our way back as the sun set and we could really see the displays, but they did enjoy the walk.  We were scolded by park police for being there a little too late as the cars were getting ready to head in ( there weren't any signs say when the park closed) but we snuck in a couple of photos!

 We went to the Paws 4 Potter  Holiday Bizarre today, dressed up for the season. We then got in line to meet Santa! Both were happy to meet the bearded man and we had difficulty turning them around to face the camera as they just wanted to give kisses. After that excitement we went to the crafting area where they both patiently allowed their front paws to be painted to serve as the star for an adorable Christmas craft. We then walked around the crafters, looking at the items for sale.  Sisko was great as always but I was worried about Booker jumping up on tables to see what was up there.  Fortunately he was well behaved!  He even managed to be relatively calm when little kids wanted to greet him - although they left with some slobber! It was fun and I know I say this ad neaseum, but it is just so important to expose dogs to these type of things if you want to be able to take them places with you!!

 It's definitely important to take your dog's in a least once a year to get checked out by the vet. It's been a year since our last visit so we took the in today. Booker now weighs 68 pounds.  Sisko weighs 79. They were both absolutely thrilled to meet everyone from the receptionists to the vet tech to Dr. Hill. They both got a clean bill of health.  As always the vet listened extra hard to the hearts since Boxers are prone to cardiomyopathy.  It's always a relief to hear the words "sounds great".   Sisko has what appears to be a small cyst on his back that didn't need to be addressed - we'll just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get bigger. Then they got all their vaccines without a problem.

 Archer's cremated remains sit in their box with his picture right above my computer monitor.  I see that and think about him every single day.  If that wasn't enough to remind of him, between my Facebook memories and Google photos storage, I see good times we had - from when he was a young puppy to the year he passed.   I miss him. I arrived home today and saw a package from Joe, who was Archer' breeder.  Joe and his wife Margaret, had stayed in touch with us through the first years of Archer's life., and Joe continued to email me after Margaret lost her battle with cancer.  Archer was Joe's favorite pup out of the large litter. He wanted to keep him but they only had room for one puppy, and since they planned to show that pup it couldn't be Archer since white Boxers can't be shown in competitions. We always felt so lucky that they entrusted us to raise him. Joe was the first one I notified when we lost Archer. At any rate, this is the beautiful g...

 I found out about a race about 30 minutes away from us.  It was the first Reindeer Run 5K, hosted by the PTA of a local school.  They said dogs were welcome and part of the proceeds went to a local animal rescue.  They also collected donations for the rescue. The weather has been so crappy and it snowed pretty hard last night.  Marc and I decided to head down and crossed our fingers we'd be able to race. It snowed on our way down.  When we got there it had stopped and the town was valiantly trying to get the snow cleared from all the streets, including the race route.  I was concerned it would be too slippery to run - but it was for a good cause and we could always walk, so we decided to go ahead and sign up.  I got the dogs into their Christmas sweaters and we were welcomed into the fire hall to sign in.  The people hosting the race were SO nice and because it was a PTA event there were a lot of young kids running around.  The dogs gar...

 That storm they were predicting had mostly missed us, and we thought we had dodged a bullet.  But last night the band of lake effect snow traveled north and when we woke up this morning we had gotten NAILED. It continued to snow most of the morning.  Marc went out to snowblow our driveway and the path to our house and the dogs went out and played for a while. After lunch the band began to shift south, so I took them out to run and play and got in a short walk.