Mukilteo Musings

A Bit of This and That

1. My puppy Apolo loves me. He wants to be with me or at least cuddle where I last left my smell. He takes great delight in crawling onto my couch perch when I leave the family room. The other evening, we retired early into our bedroom so I could soak in the bath. Apolo started with his high pitched baby barks in the family room complaining about being left alone. I told Dave to let him in our bedroom and he bounced his way in there as happy as could be. When he saw me in the tub, he bounded into the bathroom to lick me. Unfortunately, we had to break his heart and drag him out when it was time to go to sleep.

2. I was unhooked from my pump yesterday afternoon. It is amazing how free you feel when you do not have to carry around a heavy fanny pack everywhere. Afterwards, we stopped at the store. I have not been in the grocery store or anywhere except mostly medical visits since last June. I felt ok--almost normal. Dave told me I looked good--hot even. This is because I found some shorts in my drawer that were too small for me last summer and since it was about 85 yesterday, I wore them. It was truly a wonderful complement. When we got home, we went for my 1.7 mile hilly walk. Lucas and Dave accompanied me. I am a little weak to handle Apolo alone so I have never walked without Dave.

3. Today, the ookie effects of the chemo hit me and will last for a few days. But, I am learning to take pills. Before all of this happened the only prescription drug I had was an inhaler for occasional use. Halves of pills work for me. If I need more, I take the other half.

4. My normal summer would involve hiking with my friend Nora or my son Lucas. As it happens, the snow pack in our mountains has been so deep that many of the trails I would want to hike, are too snowy. Next year--for sure next year! Speaking of hiking, we had such a tragedy here a few days ago. A 54 year old woman was hiking on a popular trail on Sauk Mountain. The state has opened a one month bear hunting season for August. A grandfather dropped off his two grandsons, ages 16 and 14, who were legally licensed to hunt for bears, in the Sauk Mountain area. The teens had no adult with them which is perfectly legal as well. The 14 year old boy mistook the 54 year old woman for a bear and shot and killed her. Needless to say, hunters and hikers are in an uproar and the state is now reevaluating regulations in order to prevent this from ever happening again.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008097220_hunt07m0.html

5. Finally, I haven't had the chance to visit a lot of our beaches because of being ill. I'm thinking this may not be such a bad thing. You see, shoes with human feet in them keep washing up. Five washed up in B.C. and just a few days ago, a shoe washed up on one of our Washington beaches. Way back in the 80's during the Green River murders, many of the bodies were discovered by dogs---people walking their dogs. You know, they leap into a bush and find a .....bone.....and they are so thrilled with their treasure. One of my biggest fears has always been that a dog of mine would end up with a grisly find. Apolo loves athletic shoes. Even though he is over 6 years old, we still cannot leave our shoes on the floor in front of him. If the door is open, he'll grab the shoe and run outside to hide and chew on it. And if there is a smelly sock inside of it that he can shove his nose into????? Oh my, doggie heaven. I'm just sayin'--a trip to the beach where Apolo might find a treasure with a human foot inside would just not do it for me. He, on the other hand, would be the happiest creature on earth.