BOXER ADVENTURES

  A cool day with drizzle.  So we got out early to get in some miles.   Then it was home to get towel dried and eat some eggs from our chickens - which they love - topped with a dollop of peanut butter.

 Last night I gave Sisko the last dose of the OptixCare.  We have been battling this eye ulcer for weeks.   I noticed that even though the ulcer looks terrible, still, Sisko isn't squinting or rubbing at it.  Since I've been through this so many times before I know it's a good indication that it's healing deep inside the eye and just looks bad still on the outside.  But damn!  This sucker is just being stubbornly refusing to heal up. I sent this pic to our vet this morning and asked how he wanted me to proceed.  He agreed that it looks marginally better and agreed with my suggested plan of continuing with the antibiotic gel and return to the regular corneal repair drops and see if it continues to heal. Poor Sisko.  He is so sick of us putting drops or gel in his eye 6 times a day.  But he is a very, very good boy ❤️ and puts up with it...

 I might have mentioned this here before, but I am a streak runner.   The "rules" of streak running are you must run at least 1 mile without stopping per day. I've done that since January 4, 2018. Some of you might think that it's kind of stupid. To be honest, there are days when I think that, too 😂 But it is a goal that holds me accountable every day and I work for it. Most days I run more than the required 1 mile, and sometimes during these runs, I stop for one reason for another. But I always make sure I get that one straight mile in. Yesterday I pushed myself during the race we did. This morning, it was cool but actually sunny and I had no plan to waste today. So we headed out early and kayaked 2 miles out to the beach and had lunch on the cool, quiet and deserted beach, and then kayaked the 2 miles back. We got home, unloaded the kayaks, quickly changed our clothes and Marc and I headed out for a 23 mile bike ride. Then I hung out in the sun for a bit, ...

 Today was cool and cloudy but remarkably rain free.  I signed up for a race I have done many times - the Lake Monster 12K. We live near a point that extends into Lake Ontario, and every year the local village has a race there as around that point is almost exactly 12K.  It goes to a great cause. They used to hold this race in July and it would be HOT and HUMID along the lake, plus with everyone in their summer homes around this point there would be a lot of traffic.  So it has been held Memorial Day weekend the last few years.  Usually it is still too warm for Sisko, especially that distance. I debated whether to bring Booker today.  The temperature was going to be 55 but it felt much cooler with the thick cloud cover.  When I started putting on my running clothes this morning he went crazy. So, it was time for Booker to race again! We arrived early and there were a lot of people there.  Without Sisko with us, Booker was more nervous than he usua...

 For those of you who think I am a whiny bitch about the weather, well, you are correct. But if you are reading this and don't live in the area let me show you something: We live in Watertown.  Which means, as this graphic points out - we haven't had a weekend without rain or snow since DECEMBER. It blows. I'm depressed, the dogs are going stir crazy.  So today, despite the drizzle we went on a short walk. You can see the wet parking lot as we finished. Is summer ever going to get here?

 I love the smell of lilacs! We have so many bushes on our property, in different colors, and they are just beautiful this year!  I wandered around this afternoon enjoying a break in the rain and smelling that sweet spring smell and taking pics.. Including this one:

 As I've mentioned, the dogs are allowed to sleep with us.  During the winter Sisko would crawl up next to me while I was watching TV before going to sleep, but would get too warm and get down onto his dog bed. Booker would sleep next to me or at my feet most of the night. Now that it's gotten warmer, Sisko doesn't get up at onto our bed at all.  Booker might get up for a while or not.  He prefers to curl up in a ball with a part of his back touching me. Last night it was warm and neither got up.  This was actually fine with me because I didn't feel well.  Booker and I had a great run yesterday morning, but I started feeling off throughout the afternoon and in the evening I had chills and was planted in front of a space heater. I woke up this morning at 5 AM and had to pee.  I was chilled and shaking.  I felt feverish and popped some ibuprofen and crawled back into bed.  I lay there shaking so badly and my teeth were chattering.  Booker ...

 Poor Sisko. He still has a severe eye ulcer despite a week of treatment. I know, it hurts to even look at it!  He is such a good boy.  I have been putting an antibiotic cream in it 3-4X per day in addition to 2 drops per day of a corneal repair gel. Since those weren't working it was time to visit the vet's and break out he big guns. For years, one of the "magic treatments" for eye ulcers like this is called "plasma-rich-therapy" -- this is a treatment effective in humans, dogs and cats.  Years ago our cat Spock had recurrent eye problems and I am sure we would have had to remove the eye if this hadn't worked.  Basically the blood is drawn and spun and then the plasma is captured and this is what is used to treat the eye by doing a few drops 2-3 times per day. It is very effective but also has a lot of downsides.  First off, you have to take the dog in every time to make the serum.  You can't keep the it on hand.  It has to be refrigerated at all...

 We were headed straight in and then Booker really wanted to have a meet and greet with a barking Border Collie who was clearly just cheering us on, so we veered off a little!!  But we crossed the finish line either way.

 I've ,joked before that Booker actually thinks that he is a lab.  He loves water.  And not just like swimming.  He takes every opportunity he can find to run like a maniac through streams - and he seems to prefer MUDDY streams.  Today we went for a walk and he made sure to run through every single messy pool of water he could find! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Booker and Sisko (@boxeradventuresny)

 I signed up for the local Cinco de Mayo race.  It was the first year for this race, but my friend Sheila was one of the organizers and I have run past races she has been in charge of so I knew it would be great, and the proceeds went to the local ambulance service.  Plus, major bonus, dogs were allowed - so YAY! The forecast was not pretty and unfortunately completely accurate - it was 47 degrees and raining when we got up this morning.   I was planning to run with Booker only.  Earlier this week I got ready to run after work, and Sisko stayed where he was on his bed when I was getting their collars and running leash ready so I left him home.  Between his eye ulcer, which has not completely healed up, and his disinterest in running earlier in the week I didn't want to make him go this morning if he wasn't feeling good. But as I started getting my running clothes on this morning, both dogs were so excited.  I went out before we had to leave to do ...