Good Morning Friends,

It is almost time to shower and dress for day three at my Gold Canyon patient’s house so this entry will be brief. I an sad to report that my training is still in a semi stasis mode. I have not been swimming since my class on Thursday. Saturday night was chock full of thunderstorms.   I was all set up to go straight from work on Friday when suddenly another dog happened to me.

I am a small (not tiny) to medium size dog lover, think English Springer Spaniels and of course Lhasa Apso’s. Still I adopted Cozi, a ginormous Golden retriever who clearly has a canine sidekick personality, about 3 months ago. He had lived the first five years of his life with a yellow lab named Yeager who had already found a different home when I kept Cozi from Doggy Doom. Cozi was clearly depressed when I first brought him home and had just begun to really bond with my old Lhasa, Noien ,when her CHF suddenly got much worse. Her activity dropped to very little and then she passed away a week ago Tuesday.

Cozi’s bruised heart got battered a little more. He had just begun to show signs of getting his mojo back during walks this week but the last six months have clearly been one heart wrenching loss after another for this Golden and he is mostly heart, as all who have met him can clearly see, and I wondered what it would take to make his a whole one again. which leads to why this week I seem to be making more excuses than swim practices.

Friday while I was at work, Yeager’s adoptive family decided that their home wasn’t a good fit after all and Yeager, the dog Cozi grew up with, was headed to the pound.  The family I work for is at 4 dogs themselves (legal limit without special licensing) and could not keep him. I believe everyone and everything deserves my compassion and this means action on my part, not just pretty words.  So, I brought him home with me Friday with the stated intent of trying to find another owner.  Even as I packed his accouterments into my vehicle, my logical brain was screaming that I just don’t have the resources to help yet one more thing, listing the “needs” I currently can’t afford, and laying on the guilt about not making it to the pool to swim. My heart has always been louder than my head.

That initial plan went right out the window when Yeager came through the front door. Two 120+ pound dpgs dropped to the floor touching noses and licking each others faces and talking in the excited whiny voice they save for very emotional moments. This went on for about 3 to 4 minutes before they finally bounded up and started the usual butt sniffing bouncy dog greetings, which then adjourned to the back yard for that boy bonding rough housing that is an inter-species trait.

Watching the two dogs reunited made me tear up they were so expressive in the joy of seeing each other and the pain the separation had caused them. It is clear that these two canine compadres are soulmates. As of this moment,  I cannot conceive of separating these two again, and one of the cool things about compassion is when something is so clearly right, the way is made.

So that is why I haven’t been swimming yet.  The Lab would have been in my car for the hour I trained which is VERY unacceptable at the best of times but deadly in AZ in July. He is also currently affecting my run training as well just for good measure.

The Golden Retriever, Cozi, is SOFT like me and easy to run with, but the new kid, the Yellow Lab Yeager, is energetic and needs leash training BADLY so my 5k in the morning has been reduced to a mile run with the Golden and 15 minutes of walks and stops as the yellow lab learns what a leash is.

Plan to do C25K training starting August 14th as day one, by then both dogs should be OK on the leash and can get their exercise (alternately, not at same time) with me. Minimum pool practices I allow myself are three a week plus class and will get those in somehow, just not sure how yet.

As to the bike…..one piece of the whale at a time…

Namaste all and Happy Birthday to my son Wil who lives the farthest away but is always close in my thoughts and heart!

And Yup, he spelled it that way before Wheaton…LOL