Yesterday was my first day back at yoga for more than a couple months. My IT band pain was a big problem early on but as the class went on it started to feel surprisingly better. Even today the pain is a lot better than it has been. My hope is the combo of the yoga and the self therapy I am doing gets me back to normal or at least as close to normal as I can be nowadays.
I have been on a dog bed washing mission at the house as they all have been subjected to Elsa’s leakage issue I am sure. In total I have five dog beds so I have been trying to wash one or two a night. Elsa was freaking out last night because I was washing her big one that I have in my office. She loves to sleep on that bed when I am working on the computer. With no bed in there she was pacing around, trying to figure out what to do. I felt bad for her.
It has been genuinely cold here, at least by Florida standards with night time temperatures dipping into the 40s. It gets less cold where I am now compared to the old house because I am closer to the water. Even so, going out back to let out Elsa in my boxers and t-shirt was a very goose bump inducing experience.
Yesterday I left work early to take Elsa back to the vet to get her rechecked since it seemed she still had the UTI symptoms after the round of antibiotics were finished. They once again ran a urine sample, this time it did not show obvious signs of an infection but the vet recommended sending the sample out to a lab for further testing to see if anything turned up. I ok’d it but found out when the bill was presented that is something like $260 alone. However when I described in more detail to the vet what was going on, where Elsa will just be laying down or sleeping and “leak” she said it could be incontinence.
That idea seemed odd to me but the vet said that dogs that have been neutered at a very young age (Elsa was) can have this happen as they get older. So depending on what the lab work shows we may shift to giving her meds that help with incontinence instead. In the meantime they gave me another 7 days of antibiotic to stomp it out if this is still a UTI. I just want her back to normal.
Last night after dinner I took Elsa for a run to Petsmart, a store I have not patronized in a very long time. I wanted to get a couple things to help address Elsa’s leaking issue, some dog wet wipes to keep her clean and some spray to break down anything that gets pee’d on accidentally. While I was there I bought her first Xmas present as well. When I got home I packed up a 3D stand order, a rarity for me nowadays.
Here are some words I thought I would never say. I am glad that the yoga class resumes today. Because of some dumb scheduling thing the yoga class that I normally would attend once a week has been dormant for between two and three months. I do not think it’s a coincidence that during this lull my IT band problem came up. The class does a lot to push my hips in directions they don’t normally go and I think the absence of that has been detrimental for me. I’m hoping starting yoga again will be another cog in my wheel of recovery. The issue is with how much my IT band is irritated, doing a lot of the movements are going to be painful and/or impossible for me currently.
I again was questioning if I wanted to do any Christmas decorations in my office this year. Much like home I decided to do so but at a bare minimum level.
Yes unconventional would be the way I would describe my 2024 Thanksgiving. As predicted I spent the majority of it working on my fence. I spent between five and six hours reinforcing 10 sections of the fence which completed the back fence line which was the worst part. I still have to do both sides which adds up to another 20+ sections but I will knock it out over the winter. I also live streamed about 45 minutes of the process, for no good reason at all.
My Thanksgiving meal consisted of half of a Wawa tuna sub and some warm ups. Yes it was minimalist, unconventional and a little bit sad but to be honest, I didn’t really care. I did absolutely nothing that would be a staple of prior Thanksgivings outside of calling my family. There was no feast, no Macy’s parade and not even any football watched.
So I seemed to try to counter balance the work heavy Thanksgiving by having a pretty lazy Black Friday. I did a decent amount of online Christmas shopping but not a whole lot else. All it takes is one day like that to make me feel like a lazy bum, not a feeling I enjoy.
On Saturday I played pickleball with Sue. We did not win a single game. Granted we played some decent teams but it still doesn’t feel good. My play and mobility continue to be impacted by my IT band related pain and I am beyond tired of it.
Unlike Friday I did try to be a bit more productive. I washed my Tesla which was beyond dirty. I cleaned up my workbench in the garage which was looking like a dumping ground. I also took Elsa to the Greenway to walk which was the first time she has ever been there. At the onset she was very nervous being plopped into a new environment but she seemed to enjoy it after a short while. I would like to take her there more often. It sucks right now because my IT band will initiate a limp after not a whole lot of walking for me.
I added on a small piece to my extravagant exterior Christmas decorations, setting my mailbox light to red to compliment the green lights on the house. Hey, it’s better than nothing.
On Sunday I got around to throwing together some various footage I had to make a half assed review of the Selkirk Labs 007 paddle I bought. This paddle is stupid expensive at $333 so the question is, is it worth that much money. My simple answer is, no.
Ever since I moved into my house I have been wanting to address an annoying issue with the circuit that controls the light by the mailbox. Evidently the photo electric cell that controls it was defective, causing the light to be on randomly during the day. Instead of fixing the source of the problem I tried addressing the symptoms by putting a smart bulb out there that I could use to keep the bulb off even if the circuit had power. For whatever reason I finally decided to address the source instead.
At Home Depot I found a replacement photo electric cell. Doing the work was not fun as getting into that corner with my painful leg/knee was very uncomfortable. I also had issues getting the new cell installed because it was physically larger than what it was replacing making it very difficult to get into the housing. I moved the wiring out of the way as much as possible and was finally able to catch threads on the screws while applying substantial force against the plate. The circuit now works perfectly. The part cost a little over $20. I’m not sure why finding the motivation to do it was so expensive.
I went to Tacos and Tequila to watch another 4:25 Eagles game, this time against the Ravens. You may recall several weeks prior I did the same thing and wound up being sick in the parking lot from margarita overload. I had one and a half margaritas this time, they didn’t even taste all that appealing, perhaps PTSD from the last time.
The Eagles had another impressive win, beating the Ravens at Baltimore. Most of the game was very close but as has been the pattern recently the Eagles pulled away later in the game. I can only hope the good times keep on rolling.
What hasn’t been a good time is Elsa’s UTI. While she was on the antibiotics it seemed to have gotten better but a couple days after ending the 7 day supply she started to have accidents around the house again. I am taking her back to the vet today to hopefully have a more extensive work up. I feel bad for her as well as bad for the things she is having accidents on. Once she is officially cured I am going to have a lot of deep cleaning to do.
