To the brewery with the dog

Today's weather in the DC area was spectacular so we decided to take Toffee on her first trip to a brewery. We picked the Mad Science brewing company because it is attached to a lovely farm stand and nursery, and Doug wanted to shop for gifts for his yankee swap and a baby shower at work. 

It's kind of a far trip and so we don't go too often. They close in a couple weeks so I did want to make sure we got there at least once before they close for the season. 

We had a few beers and did some shopping, Doug found just what he wanted for the yankee swap and baby shower gift. I didn't even have to tell him what to buy. We had a good experience with Toffee, she wants to meet other dogs but the other owners were a little reluctant. There is a brewery dog there, and she was absolutely disinterested in saying hi to Toffee. Which made her sad. poor Toffee. But yes, all told, good day. Pictures! And digits below.

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. Missed 4pm due to being in transit. no dedicated 10. 7200+ steps for the day

blood glucose:

9:30am: 177
6pm: 140
9:30pm: 191

food:

coffee, water
11:30am: grilled havarti and roast beef on sourdough; metformin
3 beers at mad science
6pm: 5 pieces of fried chicken; metformin+jardiance
7pm: ice cream sandwich; beer

Just a picture

Super busy day today, and I didn't have brainpower to actually write a thing but here's my dog.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.   no dedicated 10. 5500+steps for the day

blood glucose:

8:30am: 160
4:30pm: 140
11pm: 189

food:

coffee, water
11:30: ramekin of mac&cheese with bacon
12:15: slice of pork loin left over from the other night's dinner; metformin
5:15pm: ritz crackers (approx 12?)
7pm: metformin+jardiance, cheeseburger w/tater tots and caesar salad
9pm: ice cream sandwich 

Toffee it is

We've been back and forth with each other on what to rename the dog. Aubree just wasn't clicking for either of us. And we thought and talked and discussed, neither in agreement. 

I wanted Potato or Tater Tot, Tato, Tay-to. Doug thought Potato was fun but why not in a foreign language like Italian for Patata. TataTot. 

I had thought about a toasty marshmallow kind of "Smores" name. Or maybe Cocoa. He mentioned Toffee to me, and I thought yeah sure, Toffee. 

Toffee it is. 

I don't have a picture today, it was a crazy busy day and I'm only doing the post to do the digits. Doug got up super early this morning and let her out, but she came back to bed with me until 8:15, surprisingly. She snuck up into the bed last night sometime after 3am, and neither of us noticed. I want her to sleep on the floor but, she's stealthy and sneaky and got her little ass up where she could be cozy. And ya know... I've missed having a bed dog. So. I'm not mad. 

Alright, more tomorrow.

Digits, below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10.  just under 5k steps for the day

blood glucose:

8:30am: 155
5pm: 173
10:15pm: 169

food:

coffee, water
11am: pbj sandwich on keto bread; metformin
2pm: left over chicken fajita & pepper/onion with mayo mixed in as a chicken salad
5:30pm: wine
6:30pm: 2 cluck pucks w/sauce and mozzarella
wine

Witching Hours

Boy update:
I neglected to mention, but Geoff started a new job on Monday. He has a part time job at the hospital just south of us, walking distance. He's getting his foot in the door. And I'm hoping the foot is joined by his other foot and his whole ass. 

Orientation was online on Monday from 9am to 6pm. A lot of orienting. And yesterday he went in for more meetings and to meet his boss and colleagues. He is learning the hospital medical records system that Doug used to train users on at a big hospital in Boston where he once worked. So the two of them were chatting about the tool and don't hit the back button.... I guess that'll result in horrific things. 

Very happy for him to get this job, and to be set up for success after so many months of searching.

Dog update:
I really should record this. This Dog is bananas at about 5pm nightly, right after dinner. Doug is on a conference call and he's presenting, and this giant monster is absolutely tearing around like Mario Andretti taking turns at top speed. I hope she's not being too annoying for him. 

She is kind of learning "where's your toy!?" and sort of getting it to give me. She wants to play tug of war, and I don't want the toy to rip to shreds, so I let her have it. 

Today I learned she's obsessed with flying things. We have had some pantry pests lately, I have to go through the pantry and find out where they're living and coming from. I was making dinner and she was politely sitting in the kitchen. Unlike Phineas, she does not attempt to kill me on a regular basis while I am cooking. 

Suddenly, she was airborne - straight up, 3 foot vertical leap. SNAP her jaws went. It got away but she stalked it around the house hilariously.

We went outside at about 2pm today in between meetings. I don't quite trust her to be out on her own the way I did Phineas. Not sure if she'll dig, or be aggressive to someone at the fence. I think she'll be fine, Phineas was rather aggressive but he would keep his distances. She loves to chase a stick, and does not quite bring it back, but I can get it from her and throw it again. So we did that for a while, and walked around the side of the house. The bushes were full of little birdies and she went for them. 

They scattered from bush to bush and she got in and under, shaking the branches and scattering them. To seek refuge, they went to the gutter above, chirping and protesting. And again, she jumped up in the air - trying to get them. 

Not sure what her life was like as a stray but she's a straight up knucklehead here. 

She has pretty much slept through the three nights she's been here except Sunday when I took her out at 3am. It is a habit I do not want to encourage so last night and Monday I got up to pee and closed the door behind me. She sat waiting for me and then redirected nicely when I came back to bed. Kind of amazing. 

This morning she was up at 5:45, and sat there staring at me. Her bed is on the floor next to me, so I opened my eyes, looked at her, and heard her tail beating the side of the laundry basket. Whelp. I .... guess now's a good time to get up. I took her outside and she had epic zoomies, did a lot of dog business out there, fetched a stick over and over. I wanted coffee so I made her come in so I could get my zoomies started. 

Today was a long ass day. I'm ready for bed at 9pm. She's fast asleep. And we'll do it again tomorrow. I asked Doug if he can be the person who gets up in the morning with the "baby" and he said "maybe?" 

So we'll see what happens tomorrow. Until then, and zoomies in the future, digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. and 5300+ steps by publish.

blood glucose:

7am: 191
5pm: 173
9:30pm: 210 

food:

coffee, water
11am: roast beef and havarti on keto bread; metformin
12noon: trail mix
5:45pm: pork loin + mashed potatoes (and a 2nd helping)
6:30:Metformin+jardiance

A Day Alone

Doug went to work this morning and Geoff started his new job in person today (orientation yesterday was online). So the New Dog and I were solo today. We had a visit from an electrician, I had forgotten I set up this appointment today. She went into the kennel nicely, and stayed while he was here. 

But after I went to get a cup of coffee, and she had eaten my headphones. Good thing I have multiple sets but her look of "what, me?" is hilarious. She also destroyed an indestructable toy and tore apart another plushy squishy. 

We'll be buying all new toys for her. 

 We didn't get a walk but went out every hour for zoomies and fun runs. Doug came home at 3, and Geoff got home at 6. She was thrilled when everyone came back to the house. Have to love that. 

This picture is from right when she fell asleep on my feet, I held her head up and she snored. It was delightfully sweet. 

Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 11/12 hours of 250 steps. missed 2pm by 1 minute because i was in a meeting that ended up going over the top of the hour. 6k steps by bedtime

blood glucose:

7:30am: 153
5pm: 198
10pm: 213 

food:

coffee, water
11:30: Metformin
12noon: grilled cheese and tuna on 647 bread
2pm: trail mix mostly peanuts, some raisins, some m&ms 
6:30pm: chicken fajitas; shiraz wine
8pm: small slice of carrot cake

Tato Tot

Our new doggo did well through the night. She fell asleep on the couch around 9, I went to bed at 9:30. I was pretty wiped out. Doug took her outside after the football game was over, and she came right to the bedroom. I had put one of the old dog beds on the floor in the bedroom and she knew just what to do. And commenced to snoring. 

At 3am I woke up to pee and she came out of the bedroom too. She headed to the front door, so I popped on slippers, and went out with. It was cold, and she went out and did her thing, and came right back. We both went back to bed but she needed some pats and assurances and settled down again until 6. 

As mentioned, Doug isn't feeling our dog's name, and she does not respond to it. She responds to whistles, kisses, and clicky noises you make with your mouth. But not names.

Last night I called her a potato. And this morning I was laughing while looking at her in the kitchen, and told Doug that we really should name her Potato. He seemed to ponder it. I said something about Tater Tots. And he thought that was funny. We could be on to something. 

She really loves toys, and it is easy to redirect her with toys when she needs it. She took a sponge out of the bathtub, and I gave her a chew rope, and yoinked the sponge away without incident. She likes to play hard, and was going at Geoff this afternoon, and it made him nervous because of how big and strong she is. I got her off the couch, over to her dog bed, made her sit, and stay, and gave her a toy. Then I took it from her, gave Geoff the same toy and they had lots of fun, throwing it and playing with it. 

We took a nice walk at about 2pm today. I was between meetings and Doug was waiting for some data to compile for a report. She does good on the leash but we have to tighten up her harness so she can feel it better. We brought lots of treats. We were pleased with her doings. She needs some time to learn to heel, but overall, it was a nice walk!

In her foster home, she had a cat and another dog, so she's used to a certain level of play. We're going to need some dogfriends. 

She got very upset when Doug left to go to the market. Her former foster mom said she didn't have any separation anxiety but, I think she does. Either that or boy did she get attached to us fast. 

Here are a couple pictures of her from last night and today. I think for a little while this is going to be a dog blog. 

Oh, and R.I.P. Mr. Bill. That was a Phineas toy, and he didn't like toys so, I got it out for her and it didn't last long. Sorry dude.

Digits below.

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  Lunchtime walkies (about 20 min) with doggo. 7400+ steps at publish

blood glucose:

8am: 215
4;45pm: 140
9:30pm: 176 

food:

coffee, water
10am: 647 bread toasted w/chunky peanut butter
noon: Metformin
12:30: some sort of bbq spicy meat from Aldi over a scoop of mashed potatoes
7pm: Metformin+jardiance; salmon and caesar salad
vodka tonic

We did not come home with a Subaru, but...

We did come home with a dog. 

Today we decided to go to a pet adoption event at a local car dealership. I thought it odd to have a pet adoption event at a car dealership, but, this is a Subaru dealership and they make it a business plan to host this once a month with a DC based adoption agency. I even got to meet the guy who owns the dealership chain - he's always on TV. I said hello and shook his hand. "You're here for a dog, right?" I told him if the dog comes with a free Subaru that'd be sweet, and I got a laugh. I shook his hand and he asked what for. 

"You are a legend, sir. An absolute legend." He shrugged his shoulders and said "I guess?" 

He is. 

Doug had been looking at a lot of dogs over the past few months, and had been eyeing this one particular dog. He'd chatted with the foster mom, and she sent him videos and photos that were not on the adoption page. He wanted to meet this dog. And lo and behold, she said they'd be at this event. 

There were a lot of dogs there. And some of them were puppies, and the puppies broke my heart. There were old dogs, little cotton ball fluffy things. One was 11 and had no teeth, and had a cute sweater on. And I found myself looking around and crying. 

I was literally standing there crying in the dog adoption event. 

I was crying about 11 year old toothless cotton ball dogs in sweaters, and cute ass little puppies. 

Doug asked me if I was crying because I wanted all the dogs to have wonderful homes and I said yes. But, truth be told, I was crying for a lot of reasons. I was really missing Phineas, I didn't know if I wanted to get another dog right now. I'm tired and sad and overwhelmed in general overall in all of life. So. Dogs. Dogs make everything better, and are wonderful, but I don't know. They also make me cry. 

They had a dozen or so Subaru Outbacks up in the service area, tinsel draped over the open hatchbacks. The idea was you come meet your future dog in the back of maybe your future car. Trust me, I'd love another Subaru Outback as much as a new dog. 

They had fleece blankets in the hatch, and each dog had an adopt me vest or kerchief on. Lots of the dogs were barking at each other, but the Doug Dog was kind of quiet, and soaking things in. It wasn't the pastoral, simple "oh hello, say hi to dogs" kind of thing, dogs wanted to play with each other, were barking and barking. And the people fostering or handling the dogs were instructed to keep them all the way apart. I kind of wanted to see how the dogs interacted to get an idea of how they'd mix with other dogs and all, but that was not really allowed. 

There was a beautiful hound-mix, super tall, long legs, floppy ears, she was terrified of all the other dogs and her person kept her out in the parking lot. One pitbull was not having it in there, so he was out in the parking lot. I felt like the hound mix would have been a lovely pet. She had such a pretty gait when walking on the leash. Doug said that when we got home, and I said "well, you had eyes and heart pointed to this one, but I agree. She was lovely. She would have been nice."

There was this one puppy that I fell in love with. She is under 3 months old, and Doug said he's not interested in training a puppy, starting a whole Dog Life from scratch. But. This puppy, you guys. So cute. So sweet. So tiny but probably would be a giant as a grown dog. And I understand that. 

I also started thinking out the longevity we've had with dogs, where a dog I get today could live to 13 like so many of the others, and I'll be 70 when that dog's time comes. Damn. 70? REALLY? 

As we were leaving, her foster dad was sitting in the pen with her, and I asked if anyone had adopted her yet and he just shook his head no, and he looked incredibly sad. Which almost made me burst into tears again. She was so sweet and cute, and quiet, and her ears. I mean. Holy shit. 

Someone adopt that little wee baby. 

A lot of the dogs were pitbulls or pit mixes. I am pretty sure the one we got is a pit mix but the paperwork says "undetermined." 

Her name is Aubree, and Doug isn't feeling that name. She's about 18 months old, and she was a stray on the streets of DC. Probably dumped with other dogs in the Anacostia area. She has a pretty brown coat, she's soft, she is BIG and strong. Doug said he thinks she weighs about 55 pounds. She is fast. We brought her home and she ran around the house so fast. I almost thought she'd leap over the fence she was going so hard and fast, but she put on the brakes and pooped. Good job, buddy!  

She jumps on the couches and both beds with amazing ease. I tried to take a nap and she stepped all over me and tried to pull my hair scrunchie out of my hair. That did not help me nap. Not sure we'll be sleeping in the same bed together or what, but she's made herself at home. No concept of personal space. We fed her dinner when we ate, and she didn't eat but also didn't try to beg off of us. She sat in the living room very politely. 

When we were serving up dinner, she just took a spot on the floor right in the middle of things, rugging puppy style. She wasn't actively trying to knock me over like Phineas used to. She also did not clean up any of the food that was dropped on the floor until much later. 

She demolished Mr. Bill, a stuffie that came with Phineas. In a matter of minutes, he was absolutely torn asunder. I had to take it away since she pulled out the voice box and battery unit. Mr. Bill sat in our closet of dog things for YEARS because Phineas didn't like toys and stuffies. So when she expressed interest in the items they sent us home with from the adoption event, I pulled his stuff out. 

Poor Mr. Bill.

She can't catch for shit. I threw a piece of cheese for her, and it landed on top of her head and she just sat there, looking around for it until it fell. Kind of funny to have had two great snack catchin' dogs (Brodie and Phineas) over the years and this one just does not.  We will have to teach her. 

More to come. Here are some preliminary pictures of our new bean. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  No dedicated 10 but a lot of walking from noon to 2 in the dog adoption area. Approx 6k steps by bedtime.

blood glucose:

9am: 187
5pm: 185
8:45pm: 225 (earlier than I usually take it but I'm super tired, and off to bed)

food:

coffee, water
11:30am: metformin; some fritos, scoop of peanut butter
5:30: chinese food: combo fried rice, lemon chicken (blah) general gao's chicken, peking ravioli, egg roll
6pm: metformin+jardiance
3 beers with dinner/football

Home

I was too tired to write an entry last night. I got up at 6am, washed sheets, and did last minute things for mom and left her house at 9:30am. I got home at 8pm. Everything was wonderful (even Connecticut didn't suck ass) until I went over the Delaware bridge. It started pouring and I would like to thank Delaware for not painting the lanes with any sort of reflective paint in the roads so fuck you Delaware. And fuck you everyone who got on my ass while I was in the far right lane trying to drive safely, and flashing high beams at me while there are 3 empty lanes to our left where you can fucking pass me fucking legally you fucking assholes. I hate you all. 

Anyway. 

Exhausted.

I didn't track my food yesterday very well, and I wasn't hungry. I pretty much got here, spent time with the fam, and went to bed. I didn't do at all much of anything today. 

The one thing I did want to mention is there are cones at the end of my mom's street and that last time I was there someone had stuck plastic flowers in the tops of the cones. While I was there this time, someone took them out, and my mom noticed and it made us both sad. 

As I was leaving, I saw someone had put something else there. And it made me smile. 

Digits, below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. 4000+steps by publish

blood glucose:

7am: 186
5pm: 164
10pm: 213

food:

coffee, water
noon: metformin
2pm: 2 pieces of toast w/pbj
6:30pm: meatballs+ a little spaghetti 
7:30: trail mix; beer

Have yourself a merry little christmas

I had a long list of things to do and I did not get to all of them. The big one I wanted to accomplish was to set up some Christmas shit, I mean, decorations. Decorations.

Mom said she didn't want to do it. She wasn't interested. It wasn't worth it. So much hassle. "That was always your dad's thing, decorating and celebrating," she said with a shrug. Whereas I always remember she was the holiday decorator, the boss, the person to get it all done.

Because the first big holidays without the person you've been with for .... 58 years, may be hard, I wanted there to be a little something something. And I didn't want her to feel depressed with all this. Looking around the neighborhood, there is a lot of festivity out there in the form of lights on bushes, running lights on the trailers, windows decorated. She notices all the work other people are putting into their festooning. 

She's come a long way in the past several weeks. I want to keep her momentum going. I don't want her to slip into big sad.

All the christmas stuff is tucked into a kitchen closet. I moved the portable dishwasher (which someone was supposed to come take away, weeks and weeks ago. I offered to do it with a friend of mine who lives here in town, and she said no, he'd be there "soon." Lies, damned lies). I moved the cabinet the microwave sits on. I pulled all the shit out of the closet. And boy, does she have a lot of shit.

There are two big rubbermaid containers full of things, an artifical tree about 4ft tall, some other things... She has candlestick lights for the windows and I put 2 in the front and one in each window in the kitchen. She has a handmade ceramic Christmas tree my grandmother made. Her initials are on the bottom and "75" but I could swear this is so much older than that! She told me itt needed a new lightbulb, and the star needed to be glued back on. I was psyched to make that so.

My dad used to always take the star off every year and she would get so upset. No. Don't remove it. Don't. Well. Now you can't. I got some gorilla glue, and that star is not moving. 

I procured a new bulb for inside the tree, which she said was the wrong kind of bulb. I said no, it's fine. It fits in the socket. She said it had to be shaped like a flame (btw - it is). I asked why. It's INSIDE the tree. It could be round, square, penis shaped, who cares. No one is going to see it. She got a little testy and walked away, while I got the tree newly reunited with its star set up on top of the light and the base. I fired it up and it was lovely. 

I asked her to come look and she seemed pleased. I started hanging some things around and she was correcting me where things go. She was getting into it. Telling me where things go and don't go. It felt good to have her be a pain in the ass.

For someone who didn't want any decorations put up, she sure had opinions about where things go.

It isn't a lot, but it is just a little something, and it brightens my heart, too. 

Hard to believe I'm leaving tomorrow, with a list of undone things, but hey. I got a little bit of this done and that's alright, I guess.

Digits below. 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  not really a dedicated 10 but I had fun walking around Lowes. 8100+ steps by publish time.

blood glucose:

8:30am: 174
5pm: 159
11:45pm: 216

food:

coffee, water
9am: one dunkin donuts lemon donut
1pm: Metformin
2pm: buffalo fingers, 2 beers (goodbye lunch w/mom)
6pm: slice of chocolate chip banana bread
7:30: Metformin+Jardiance
beers at Lucky Goat
9:45pm: english muffin w/pbj; 2 beers

Old Lady Driver

Mom had a prescription that needed picked up today and told me that she felt she could drive by herself. I told her she had to go before 3, before it got dark. And she did. And she came back unscathed. Praise be the saints and God.

I made her take her emergency alert pendant, and she did without fighting. She was quick like a bunny getting ready, and I think was absolutely thrilled to go. I told her she didn't need me to go with, she could handle it. And I sat here and waited. She took forever because I'm sure she talked to every employee in the store. She bought batteries for the new battery back up device, and some AA and AAA because she was out. 

This was a big test for how she'd do alone and I would say she has passed. One of the big problems I have is her strength. She has a hard time opening the car door, and said "they're so heavy," she complains. Thing is, the door has weighed the same for years and you used to be able to do it. You've been neglecting your PT. So. Work on that (she won't, she should). 

I have one more night here and didn't get to the cleaning/organizing I had in mind but. I'll see what I can cram in tomorrow. Will pre pack the car tomorrow night. Coffee and highway Friday morning. 

For dinner tonight I had a small package of ground beef so I browned it and put it in pasta and sauce for her. I opted to mix mine with velveeta and milk, thinking it would turn out like when mom used to make that and put it over noodles. I took out the left over tuna casserole and poured the meat and cheese sauce on it to make a frankenstein's monster mess. It wasn't half bad but I think mom used to use a lot more milk. I didn't want to use too much lest we not have enough for coffee in the morning. And I so didn't want to go out and get milk after dinner. Should have had her get milk at the market! 

Anyway. got the 12 hours of steps but no other real walk and no extra steps, did a lot of work, worked after dinner, and now I'm beat. I think tomorrow is Last Lunch at the foodrinkery, so I'm blocking my calendar now that I'll be "AFK" or Away From Keyboard.

Digits below! 

digits 

exercise: 12/12 hours of 250 steps.  no dedicated 10. 4600+ steps by publish time

blood glucose:

8am: 175
5pm: 142
10pm: 182

food:

coffee, water
10:45am: omelet w/ spinach and mushrooms, cheddar cheese
11:30am: Metformin
12:00pm: trail mix snacks
5pm: meat & cheese sauce over noodle leftovers