Tuesday

[nightdog_barks]

Finally the rain has stopped, as if a spigot has been turned off. I think it rained for about 27 out of the 31 days of May, and I believe the weather guys said we ended up with our second wettest May ever. I know we got seven inches of rain in one 48-hour period, because I measured the water level in Layla's kiddie pool. :D

Speaking of Layla, Mister Nightdog was off on his annual fishing trip with his brothers, so it was ME getting up when she wanted to get up in the mornings, which meant 6 a.m. One morning it was 5 a.m. Oh my god, puppy. Plus she is growing like a WEED. I know she must weigh at least 45 pounds, and may be approaching 50.

Have been reading John Gardner's Nickel Mountain, which I first read way back in the late '70s-early '80s.

I am still walking every evening with Layla, a mile or close to it every night. I have gained weight (!) but lost INCHES (!) around my waist. Layla is inevitably startled by the tiny baby toads and garter snakes that hop and slither away from her inquisitive nose. :D

Comments

[hannah]

Muscle is denser than fat.

[nightdog_barks]

Yep. It's just somehow a surprise to see metabolics in action. :D

[lovelythings]

Muscle weighs more than fat, remember. I'm sure Layla is delighted by walks! I am just grateful for the end of the rain. It felt like you sent it all up here.

[nightdog_barks]

Yep! As I said to Hannah, though, it's just funny to see actual body chemistry in action. :D

Layla loves her walks! She's always interested in EVERYTHING we see -- bugs, toads, snakes, empty water bottles, dead leaves ...

And god yes, the end of the rain. It was just insane there for a while.

[taiga13]

I wondered if you were still above water. 7" of rain in 48 hours, shouldn't that be half of your annual average??
We've been having a very dry spring, but it's been raining the last week, thank goodness. There's a little bunny living near my house, I see him sometimes :)

[nightdog_barks]

I don't know if it was half our annual average, but it was a lot of water! :D

BUNNY! I haven't seen nearly as many rabbits lately as I have in the past. IDK if it's because we have this new hawk living in our neighborhood ... supposedly there are also bobcats around, although we've never seen any, and coyotes and owls.

[silverjackal]

I had hoped you were spared from the flooding, so it is good to hear that things are well. We are having a very dry spring in my immediate vicinity with the wildfires to prove it (though thankfully none are near me). It has started raining a bit now but it might not really be enough and I suspect we will have a drought this year.

Regarding being toned up while weighing more this tends to be how conditioning works. I think you'll find that now that you've developed a routine you would miss your walks if something were to intrude. They are a wonderful interlude and I miss them terribly when life necessitates a change in schedule unless I'm still able to spend quality time with the dogs. We have had an absolute cataclysm of wildlife encounters lately. Not just the usual hares and coyotes but deer, moose, and what I'm certain was a fast-moving bear.

[nightdog_barks]

:D

Jackal, I think my main question now is, "Why didn't anyone ever tell me I would feel this GOOD after walking?"

And I have been seeing more wildlife lately! Well, sometimes Layla sees it, sometimes she doesn't, sometimes it's hard to tell if she doesn't see it or she's just not reacting to it. Just the other night I (we) saw a fox, and two nights ago we saw a cottontail. This is in addition to the round of usual suspects -- toads, geckos, an armadillo one night, small sinuous garter snakes. :D

[silverjackal]

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me I would feel this GOOD after walking?"

I'm surprised no one did -- I certainly would have had the topic come up. I enjoy walking, running, and hiking. All three feel good while engaging in the activity. All three also make me feel really good after engaging in the activity. This is the secret to much exercise -- it might not be fun at the time (it should be, too ideally) -- but after a while it makes you feel really good. The health benefits are significant, of course, but that's a bit of an intangible "future" thing, while keeping at a decent amount of exercise makes one feel good within a couple of weeks at the outside. :)

sometimes it's hard to tell if she doesn't see it or she's just not reacting to it

Odds are at her age if she's not reacting to it she hasn't seen it, even if she's looking in that direction. Dogs as a whole are not highly visual creatures so if something doesn't move and the wind isn't right they won't necessarily "spot" it. Sighthounds and herding dogs are the exception, generally, though individuals of other breeds can also be very visual. Absolutely *nothing* slips past Cyrus for example. In contrast Ronin doesn't seem to pay that much attention to his vision which is odd given the breeds in his make up.

[nightdog_barks]

Heh, the thing is, I had walked in the past, but I had never stuck with it. So a continuous regimen of walking every night has really gone great lengths (HA HA GET IT? GREAT LENGTHS) to show me just how rewarding a dedicated routine can be. :D

And yes, that's the funny thing about Layla seeing things. I would swear she had been looking right at that fox but she didn't react except to seemingly watch it cross the street. She reacted similarly to a cat we saw prowling a fence line. Things that are much closer to her (the armadillo, the various bugs, toads, and snakes) she wants to investigate and/or pursue.

[silverjackal]

So a continuous regimen of walking every night has really gone great lengths (HA HA GET IT? GREAT LENGTHS) to show me just how rewarding a dedicated routine can be.

:D I am very happy to hear that you are feeling the positive effects. That's actually what drives people to return to something if circumstances have prevented it for a while. Case in point, for myself with running. I loathe running inside and/or on some sort of machine but I love running outside. While some very hardy souls here run year round I stop when forced by the weather (not the temperatures, but the state of the ground) and pick it up again every spring. If I had time to pursue it in the winter during the middle of the day so I could clearly see my footing then I'd carry on but it's too treacherous otherwise in my estimation since I don't live near any good trails. Walking the dogs, in contrast, is a lovely peaceful interlude where I can just enjoy looking around, breathing the air, watching them discover things etc. and I miss it fiercely when deprived of it.

I would swear she had been looking right at that fox but she didn't react except to seemingly watch it cross the street. She reacted similarly to a cat we saw prowling a fence line.

There are other potential intermediate explanations as well. She could sense (hearing mostly and only vaguely by sight) that there's *something* there but not be sure what, or conversely she could know something is there but at a distance the stimulus isn't strong enough to trip off her prey drive (which is what informs that investigation/pursuit response whether or not she'd actually kill something if she caught it). Every dog is different -- these days I know that Cyrus sees things perfectly well at a great distance, sometimes when I do not, but he will choose not to react or pursue because he's on leash and/or has learned self control. If Captain Screechy-pants doesn't react to something it's because he doesn't see it, even if he's looking right at it, because otherwise he'd tense up and watch (at a distance) or start circling, bouncing, and squealing in excitement. We had made considerable progress towards him not reacting to things when told to leave it/on leash until the apparently abundant crop of this years young hares made their presence known. They're everywhere in large numbers, hang out together in groups, and tend to let us get far too close before losing their composure and running. If it was just one and/or it held still he'd be fine, but one will run, and then a few seconds later another will dash by, quickly followed by a third breaking cover from somewhere that we hadn't even seen and it makes his little predatory brain melt down. MUST PURSUE! MUST! MUUUUUST! So he dances around and shrieks while Cyrus and I wait it out, with Cyrus giving him side eye that says "Friend, *calm down*. They are long gone and a) you look like an idiot and b) are delaying the progress of our walk".