5 Mile Hike Today

BOO! Happy Halloween to you all. Hiker and I will be hiding in our bedroom tonight with all of the lights out because we don't give out candy. Ben and I gave out candy the first 2 years we were married, then we moved into a mobile home park where they didn't allow the kids to come into the park. They would set up a table out front of the main gate and handed out candy there. We got so used to not giving out candy that we never gave it out after we moved where I live now. I also don't want Hiker barking at everyone going up and down the street when I'm trying to watch TV, so I'll take her into the bedroom, close the door and watch TV in there. Jean came by at 8:00 am and I took her over to Placerita Canyon for her first hike since she was in Girl Scouts. We hiked 5.3 miles along The Canyon Trail. It was a little chilly when we started, but warmed up quite a bit on the way back down the trail. There were a lot of people hiking this morning making us wonder if people in our valley work anymore (LOL). Hiker got to meet and greet 4 dogs along the way. There were park maintenance people cleaning up brush and trees along the trail. When we got home, I made lunch for myself and crashed on the sofa. My body was aching from the hike because it has been several months since Hiker and I have been out on a long hike like that. I'm sure Jean is going to be sore and exhausted too, but she seemed to enjoy the hike. Was cooler today than it has been. Only got up to 80° today.

Me, Hiker & Jean (my friend/neighbor and Hiker's groomer)

Group Day

Had my Grief Support Group today. Seems like more and more people are coming and we are running out of room in our small space. Another woman told me that my articles in The Mighty Oak have helped her. She said her family has been telling her that she should be “getting over” her husband's death. He died a year ago. She saw one of my articles that said that there is no right or wrong in grieving and that people have no right to tell us how to grieve. She said she cut that article out of the paper and sent it to her sister in hopes that it will make her sister understand that what she is going through is “normal”. Went to lunch with three of the group ladies (DeDee, Jane and Linda). Got home around 2:30 pm and took Hiker down to the park. It was pretty warm out there. It is 87° right now at 3:45 pm (PDST). I wish I could send some of this weather to the people on the east coast.

Another Warm Day

Got up at 6:15 am and got dressed to head out with Jean for our now “every Monday dog walk”. Her dog Sassy doesn't seem to want to play with Hiker now because since Hiker has come out of her shyness with the other dogs, she plays too rough and Sassy is a little tiny girl. We keep trying to get Hiker to play with Charlie because he's a bigger dog, but the two of them just seem to avoid each other all of the time. After Jean went home, Hiker and I had our poached eggs and then I headed up to Costco. I don't go there much anymore because I prefer Sam's Club, but there a just some things Sam's Club doesn't carry that Costco does, so I figure as long as I can afford to keep both memberships, I will. After lunch I took Hiker up to Vasquez Rocks. It doesn't matter how many times I go there, I always find something to photograph. It was warm up there...in the high 80's. Reached 90° at my house.

Morning Jolt

Slept in until 8:00 am this morning. I was thinking about taking Hiker for a morning hike over at Towsley Canyon but my right knee was still bothering me so I decided I'd drive us over to the South Fork bike/walk path and we'd walk there this morning. We were at the front door just getting ready to leave when an earthquake struck at 8:25 am. It was not a big one, just one big jolt and noise that lasted for about 5 seconds, but it scared the heck out of me and Hiker. I dropped to the floor and grabbed her, then she started barking and running around in circles. The epicenter was in the Newhall Pass about 8 miles from my house and was 3.9 on the Richter Scale. Even though it was a small quake, it seemed to have rattled my nerves for some reason. I remember feeling a small quake back in September 2011 that lasted a little longer and I didn't have Hiker then, but it didn't seem to rattle my nerves as much as this one did. I guess because this one was such a strong jolt that I was afraid that it was going to grow into a large one like back in 1994. Anyway, Hiker kept barking for several minutes this morning. Once we both settled down, I decided against going too far from home and we just went for a short walk down around Discovery Park. I did some laundry and I vacuumed and then put all of my hanging stuff back on my patio that I had taken down before the winds that never did get as bad as the had predicted. I'm hoping that my knee will stop bothering me soon. Got up to 94° here today.

Beautiful Saturday

I have been getting more lazy with each day. At least I am sleeping more now than I used to. Hiker and I got up around 8:00 am and I took her for a morning walk. Because of the Santa Ana Winds condition we are under, it is very warm this morning. 80° already by 10:00 am. My knee was bothering me but we still did our normal 1.5 mile walk. I heard that it will be 91° in downtown Los Angeles today. We will be a little cooler than that. When we got home, I tossed a load of laundry into the machine and then I mopped my floors. Hiker spent the morning in the backyard enjoying the sunshine. I know I've mentioned that I think maybe she came from an abusive home before the pound picked her up as a stray. I'm now thinking that she may have been tied up because sometimes she gets tangled up in my computer cords and she starts “screaming”. She did it the last time Keith was here and she did it again today. Didn't go for a second walk because of my knee plus it was 90°. I had already covered my A/C unit behind the house, but I don't want to uncover it because I know it will get cool again. Been watching all of the “Good Witch” movies on Hallmark Channel leading up to the newest one tonight.

Windy Day

I did not hear the wind start blowing until about 3:00 am. It woke me up. I wasn't sure if Jean would want to go out for our Friday dog-walk this morning, be she did, we walked our usual 1.5 miles. However, she didn't get to stay for the dogs to have their play-date because the community wanted to come to her house this morning and change out her utility meters. They changed mine out before Ben died because our gas meter was leaking. They said that they try to swap out the meters every 20 years and mine were 20 years old in 2011. So we did our walk and then she went home, so I made some poached eggs for me and Hiker and then I went up to Stater Brothers to get some groceries. I think I'm spending less for groceries at Stater Brothers than I was when I shopped for groceries at Wal-Mart because at Wal-Mart, I would also wander through the store and buy other things that I really didn't need. After shopping, I decided to change the comforter on my bed and wash the one I had used all summer. After lunch I took Hiker over to Central Park where we did a 1.9 mile walk. While walking by the dog park I guess Hiker remembered she'd been there before and she wanted to go in. She kept pulling me toward the gate so I took her in for a little while. There were no other dogs there at the time. I took her leash off and she ran around a little but still stayed very close to me. It was still windy and warm. We got up to 81° today. The wind makes the sky so clear and blue. I like wind as long as it is not damaging.

Looking north across Central Park in Saugus, CA

Saw this praying mantis on a rock near my front porch this afternoon

Had Lunch With The Retired Girls

I've been getting lazy in the morning. The bed feels so good that I just do not want to get out of it. Did not take Hiker for walk this morning. I did take her with me to get my Lotto tickets and I had to stop by the UPS Store. I went to have lunch with my Lockheed retired girlfriends in Palmdale today. We had a good time. We were all talking about our Open Enrollment for our health insurance through Lockheed, saying that we had not gotten our paperwork yet and when I got home, found my paperwork in my mailbox. My friend Judy Holdt bought Hiker a Halloween tennis ball and when I gave it to Hiker when I got home, she started playing with it immediately. She loves new toys. The wind was not blowing when we left for Palmdale, but when we got back to Santa Clarita, the wind had picked up and it is supposed to get worse tonight, in fact we will have a high wind warning and high fire danger warning. The local news always talks about how dry it is and how the winds will cause such high fire danger. It like they are just saying to all of the arsons...”Hey guys, grab your matches and get out there”. When I got home I took Hiker out for a walk and there was smoke about 5 miles to the west of me. It was a brush fire behind the Santa Clarita Metro Station. There were fixed-winged water droppers and water dropping helicopters all over the place. Looks like it was almost out by the time Hiker and I got back home. I just hope the wind does not cause any damage. Because of the Santa Ana Winds, we got up to 82° today.

Double Walk Day

Hiker woke me up at 5:45 am to go outside. The thermometer on the patio said it was 40°. When she was done, I turned on the furnace and we went back to bed. The bed felt so warm and cozy, we both feel back to sleep and didn't wake up until 8:00 am. I had planned on getting up around 7:00 and taking Hiker over to Bridgeport for a walk around their lake, but....Headed over to Sam's Club at 10:00 to pick up some things I had run out of. Hiker went with me. I put gasoline in my Corolla and it was down to $3.999 which is much better than it was awhile back. Took Hiker for a 1.5 mile walk when we got back. They are saying on the Local News that we are going to get into the mid-80's this weekend and that we are going to have extremely high winds like 20 to 40 mph here in the Santa Clarita Valley. That scares me because back in 2007 we had extremely high winds the last weekend of October and a huge brush fire came through and Ben and I had to evacuate on that Sunday night. Thank goodness none of the houses caught fire in our community, but some up the road from us did burn. This afternoon I took Hiker over to Bridgeport Lake for a walk since we didn't get over there this morning. It was a beautiful afternoon and great weather for a walk.

I Think Hikre Is Losing It

Got a little chilly in bed last night and we had a little bit for rain, but not much. I woke up to the sound of water dripping in my drain spout outside my bedroom. It was 55° when Hiker and I got out of bed. I found out that Hiker was afraid of a sound I had on my iPhone for my text messages. It was “whoo hoo...text message”. It was a little cartoon-like voice. I had no idea it scared her until last night. Keith had sent me a text message after I had turned the phone off, so he called me on my house phone to tell me what he had called for. Hiker was sitting on the sofa next to me and I turned my cell back on to go in and check the text message and when the little cartoon voice came on, Hiker jumped, looked and the phone and flew off of the sofa. I found her hiding in the corner of my bedroom. Needless to say, I took the sound off my phone. She has been acting more frightened of a lot of things ever since I used the carpet shampooer last week. I knew she was afraid of the vacuum and all I have to do is say the word “vacuum” and she runs and hides. I went to grief group this morning. Had a full house again. Only Jane and I went to lunch as the other ladies had other things they had to do. Hiker was happy to see me when I got home but when she saw me with my phone, she hid behind the television in the living room. So now for some reason, she is afraid of my phone. I hope she gets over this soon. I took her for a short walk down to the park and she was fine down there. It was another beautiful day with temps in the low 70's.

Nice Autumn Day

Was chilly this morning when we got up. Headed out for a walk with Jean and her dogs around 7:30 am and it was in the low 60's and very overcast. The sun started to peek out of the clouds while we were sitting out on the patio watching the dogs play. After Jean left, I fixed a couple of poached eggs (one for me and one for Hiker), tossed my sheets and towels into the washing machine and cleaned my master bathroom. Got an email from my brother Ron saying that he was getting rain up in Paradise, CA. He's happy about that because last year he did not get very much rain at all. We could use some of that rain down here in SoCal. After lunch, I took Hiker up to PetSmart to buy a new hair brush for her. She has started shedding again. When we got back, I paid a couple of bills and then took her for another walk. It was really beautiful outside today. Reached 70° this afternoon.

Got My New Hot Water Heater

Another overcast day when Hiker and I pulled ourselves out of bed. For a moment it appeared that the sun was going to peek out, but then it went back behind the clouds again. My handy man and his assistant got here around 9:05 am and started working in my hot water heater closet. Since I live in a manufactured home, the access to the water heater is on the outside of the house. He had the old tank out in no time, but then he had to spend his time putting a new floor in the closet as the old one was rotting away from getting wet. He also had to put a new closet door on because the old was had gotten warped from the dampness and would not close once he got it open. Around 10:15 am, the sun started to peek out some again. Took the guys 4 ½ hours to remove the old hot water heater, put in new pipes, replace the floor to the water heater closet, replace the door to the closet and install the new hot water heater. They did a really good job. These guys live here in my community and work for the community as a “maintenance crew”, but some of them work on their own on the weekends. When Ben had a professional plumber replace our last hot water heater, they did not do a very good job, in fact, the night after the installed it, the tank tilted and the cold water pipe broke and it was spewing water all over the place. Ben had to call them back that night and make them fix it in the dark. The did not put very good earthquake supports on it either. Daniel put really good quake supports around the tank and it won't move at all. After they got done and left, I took Hiker for a 1.5 mile walk. It was still cloudy but in the low 70's.

I'm Done!

It was all overcast when Hiker and I got out of bed this morning and it stayed that way all day. By noon it had only gotten up to 65° outside. After a light breakfast, I started shampooing the carpet in the living room and dining area of my house. I even moved my dining room table and my sofa to shampoo under them. I could not believe how black the dirty water was when I would pour it out of the tank on the steam machine. It took me two hours and 15 minutes to do the job, but now I'm done with that job until next spring. Once I finished, I fixed some lunch and sat down to watch The Hallmark Channel for awhile so the carpet could dry before I vacuumed it. While the carpet was drying, I took Hiker out for a 2.5 mile walk. Still very overcast and dark outside, but I'm loving it. After that extremely long, hot summer we had, this is wonderful. Only got up to about 68° today. I keep thinking of the weather holds out like this tomorrow, I may try to take Hiker on a hike in the hills.

Went To Lombardi Ranch

Got up at 6:15 am because Hiker and I were going on our dog walk with Jean and then Jean's friend Toni was coming over and the three of us headed over to Lombardi Ranch. I go there every year to take photos. Jean and Toni had never been there. Toni is a widow. She met her husband John in 2006 when they were both 69 years old. They got married and in 2009, John died of cancer. She and John used to ride motorcycles, so she and I had a lot in common. We left Lombardi Ranch and went to lunch at Mighty Mouth Burger. Had a really nice time. I cannot get over how scared Hiker is of the vacuum and the carpet shampooer. She panics every time I open the closet where they are. But then she doesn't like any loud rumbling noise. She hates motorcycles and garbage trucks. I sure wish I knew what went on in her life before I adopted her. They kept saying we were only going to be in the low to mid 80's today, but it got up to 90°.

Below is the link that will take you to the photos I took at Lombardi Ranch:

Lombardi Ranch Photos

What's Up Hiker?

Got up around 7:00 am and headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. When I got home, Hiker and I went for a 1.5 mile walk and I did a few other things around the house. Watched “The Young and The Restless”, had lunch and then cleaned my guest bathroom. I guess sending that “decline in property value” form to the county accessor helped. I had paid my first installment on my property taxes and I saw that they had cashed my check, so I went into the county web page to see if it showed up on my account. I saw that they had made an adjustment for my next installment. I'll be saving almost $100.00. Hiker has been acting strange since I used the steam machine on the carpet yesterday. She seems to be afraid of something. I know she is afraid of the vacuum and I think she is more afraid of the shampooer. I hate that she cannot tell me what she is afraid of or what causes her to act a certain way. Only got up to around 83° here today. They say tomorrow we will be even cooler. That's good because after Jean and I take the dogs out on their walk we are heading over to Lombardi Ranch and then out to lunch.

Cloud bank on the tops of the mountains between the San Fernando Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley.

Cleaning The Carpet

There was nothing on TV last night after 8:00 pm so I hit the sack and fell right to sleep. Hiker woke me up around 5:45 am wanting to go to the bathroom. We went back to bed and fell asleep for another hour and then got up. I decided to start shampooing my carpet today. If you recall, I mentioned that a few weeks ago I had bought a new steam machine. It is a little heavy when using it, but it sure seems to get more dirt out of the carpet than my old shampooer did. My old one was a “cheap” model. I only paid about $89.00 for it. The new one is a Bissell Proheat 2X and cost quite a bit more, but so far it is worth the price. I used to shampoo all of my rooms when I was younger, but in the past few years, I break it up into two days of work. I may finish up doing the living room and dining area on Saturday. Hiker was hiding the entire time I was shampooing. For some reason she is afraid of my vacuum and anything that looks or sounds like a vacuum. Got up to 98° here today. They keep “promising” us that it will get cooler on Friday.

Group Day

Was 55° when Hiker and I got out of bed this morning. I got up, had some breakfast, balanced my check book and paid a bill, then headed over to the Senior Center for my Grief Support Group. We were crowded today. Seems like each week, more people are coming to the support group. After group, 6 of us went to lunch at Red Robin. They have really good burgers. I left Hiker alone a little longer than normal. Usually I'm gone about 4 ½ hours but today I as gone about 5 ½ hours. It was 99° when I got home.

Hiker didn't want me to leave her alone today

Summer Is Back

Got up earlier this morning since we had a dog-walk/play date with Jean and her dogs. It was about 52° at 6:15 am. Was nice out on our walk with a cool breeze. Hiker sure loves to use her “herding” skills on Jean's little dog Sassy. After Jean left, I decided to head over to Kaiser and do the blood work my doctor requested today instead of waiting until Wednesday. I want to start shampooing my carpet and this way I can start it on Wednesday. I lucked out at Kaiser. I got there around 10:00 am and I only sat in the waiting room for about 3 minutes before the tech called me in. When I left there, I was heading over to Home Depot to pick up some D-Con Rat Poison. I slowed to turn into the driveway at Home Depot and I heard a loud POP on the front right side of my Corolla. I thought I had a blow out. I pulled into the parking lot and got out to look, but the tire looked fine. I walked back over to the driveway and saw that there was a pot hole and I'm guessing that maybe I hit the pot hole and that is what made the loud POP. The car seemed fine on the way home. Looking forward to going to my grief group tomorrow. I missed it last week since I was on vacation and I miss my friends there. Got up to 97° here today.

Busy Morning - Warm Day

Got up around 7:30 am, had a small breakfast and then went outside and washed both of my vehicles. My 4Runner was filthy from the trip up north. Had bugs all over it. While the vehicles were drying in the sun, I pulled some weeds out of my front flower bed and then cleaned the windows on both vehicles. Got Hiker into the Corolla and headed down to the liquor store to buy my Lotto tickets for Wednesday and then when we got back, I took Hiker for a 1.5 mile walk. After the walk, I tossed my sheets and towels into the washing machine the sat down to rest for awhile before vacuuming the carpet. It's no wonder Hiker is such a ham when I get my camera out. Yesterday my friend Marla kept going on about how beautiful Hiker was and today while on our walk, I had 3 people stop me and ask what kind of dog she was and tell me what a beautiful dog she is. I think all of the compliments are going to Hiker's head (LOL). I've quit giving her “human” food and cut back some on her dog food to try to help her to lose the weight the vet suggested. Last week I received an email from Kaiser telling me my doctor wants me to go in for some lab work. I take Lisinopril for my blood pressure and they like to do tests every now and then to make sure it's not doing anything to my kidneys. I was going to go in next Wednesday morning even though I don't have to fast for this, but now I'm thinking I might go tomorrow after Jean and I do our dog-walk. I've been wanting to get started on shampooing my carpet and I'd like to start on that Wednesday morning. Got up to 92° today, just as the TV meteorologist said, but didn't feel that hot due to some stiff breezes.

Visit From An Old Friend

It was one year ago today that I adopted Hiker. She has been the one main thing that has helped me get through my grief from losing Ben. I do not know what I would do without her. Hiker and I slept in this morning. When we got up we headed out for our morning walk. Was a little chilly out...around 50°. Around 11:00 am, my long-time friend Marla came by with her brother Gary. Marla and I met between 35 and 40 years ago when we both worked at Lockheed in Burbank, CA. She and my brother Keith dated for awhile too, so she was almost my sister-in-law. She married a guy (Jim) whom she met at Lockheed and they moved to Oklahoma, so we don't get to see each other very much, but when we do, it's like we've never been that far away from each other. Marla was here with me for a week when Ben was in the hospital. She wanted to meet Hiker and they got along really well. We spent a few hours talking, went for another walk with Hiker and then Marla, Gary and I went for lunch at Arby's and then they headed back to Gary's home. It actually got back up to 85° here today. I think we've lost Autumn again.

Me, Hiker & Marla

Dark And Cloudy All Day

I was still exhausted from my trip even last night. I went to bed at 8:00 pm and feel right to sleep. Kept waking up several times during the night thinking it was later than it was. I had a dog-walking date with Jean and I usually get up around 6:00 am to be ready to meet her by 7:30 am, but I didn't wake up until 6:36 am. I guess Hiker was stirring around on the bed and woke me up. Actually wore my long flannel pajama bottoms last night with one of Ben's t-shirts. It was only 48° here this morning when I got up. I turned my furnace on to take the chill off the house and to make sure it was working so when winter gets here. Went on the dog-walk with Jean and it was very cloudy, looking like it was about to rain, but it didn't. We sat on my patio to let the dogs play after our walk and it remained very cloudy. Around 9:45 am I put Hiker in the car and headed over to Sam's Club. Had to fill the gas tank in the 4Runner since it was down from returning from my trip. I paid $4.59.9 at Sam's Club for unleaded. The most I paid on my trip was $4.75.9 and the least I paid on the trip was $4.39.9 a gallon. Because I took the 4Runner for the trip, it cost me $200.00 for gasoline for the trip. Since I've been back from my trip, I can't remember what day it is. Hopefully by next week, I'll get back to normal, or as “normal” as possible for me (LOL). After lunch I had to go up to Stater Brothers to get more groceries since Sam's Club is for the “bulk” stuff. Hiker was so happy today because she was able to go to the grocery stores with me. The temperature only got up to about 68° and it was cool enough for her to stay in the car while I was in the store. Around 2:30 pm, Hiker and I went for a second walk. It was still very cloudy when we were out. When she and I walk with Jean and her 3 dogs, it's not really much of a walk because the dogs like to stop a lot. When Hiker and I walk, we very rarely stop, so we get a real walk in.

Rainy Afternoon

I sure slept good last night. I guess I was tired from the long drive back from northern California. I went to bed at 8:30 pm and fell asleep immediately. Beautiful morning here in SoCal. Was 54° and very cloudy at 6:30 am and at 11:30 am it was 66° and partly cloudy. Hiker and I got up around 7:00 am and had breakfast. I did a load of laundry and I put my fall decorations out on my front porch. Hiker and I went for a walk around 10:00 am. Nice to walk and not have it be 100°. Around 1:15 pm, we started hearing a little bit of thunder and Hiker retreated to the corner in the living room. Got more thunder than rain. They are saying we may be back up into the 90's by Sunday and Monday. I was just getting used to having Fall weather. Been trying to catch up on all of my prime-time TV shows that I missed while I was at my brother's. I had planned to take Hiker out for a second walk this afternoon but with the thunder and lightning, I could not do that. I've heard of those “thunder shirts” for dogs. Hiker does not have one but she does have a “quilted” jacket that I decided to put around her like the “thunder shirt” and it seems to have helped her somewhat. She settled down on the sofa during the thunder storm. We were only supposed to have 40% chance of rain today, but it poured all afternoon.

Link For My Vacation Photos

Below is a link that will take you to my vacation photos if you are interested in seeing them. Just click on "Kay's Vacation Photos". You will be able to comment on the photos on the photo sharing site, and I would appreciate any comments you leave.

Kay's Vacation Photos

Home From Our Trip

Got home around 3:30 pm. Took me about an hour to get unpacked and put everything away. Also had to feed Hiker. I was so tired from the long drive. Bet I'll sleep well tonight. I will be putting my photos together in albums soon on Fotki.com and I will send the link out in a separate email. I know several of you have already seen them on Facebook, so if you receive the email with the link, sorry about that.

Beautiful Day At Mt. Lassen

Headed up to Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park this morning. My nephew Matt got to go with us. It was beautiful up there today. Two years ago we went up there and it was cloudy and rainy and we could not see the mountains due to the low clouds, but today was picture perfect, and speaking of pictures, once I get my albums all together I will post a link for my photos. I have already posted today's photos on Facebook. While in the national park, we decided to go on one of the trails. I didn't want to leave Hiker in the car, so I took her with us but then we noticed the sign that said “no dogs allowed on trail”. I don't know why not as long as you have them leashed. After about a ¾ mile hike I hurried her back to the car before I got caught by a ranger. They will fine you quite a bit for disobeying the rules. When we got back to Paradise, we went to lunch at a great little burger place called Izzy's. The burgers were huge and delicious. Was really a great day.

A Lot Of Eating And A Lot Of Walking

Started out our day having a huge breakfast at the Black Bear Diner in Paradise, CA. After breakfast, we came back and got Hiker and headed down to Chico, CA to the Chico Genetics Resource Center to walk around their grounds. There is a creek running through the park and a huge bamboo garden. My nephew Matt spent the day with us. Also stopped by a few pet stores because I was looking for some moist food to mix in with her dry food. I had bought a bag at home but forgot to bring it with me. In the afternoon, we took at drive up to Magalia, CA looking for a place to have lunch, but being Sunday, a lot of places were closed. We ended up coming back to Paradise and eating a Meeho's Mexican Restaurant. When we cannot take Hiker with us somewhere, we are putting her in Ron's garage as the weather has been cool enough to do so. I brought her nylon folding crate and put it out in the garage for her, so when I open the door from the house to the garage, she goes straight to her crate and goes into it and lays down. She has been such a good girl on this trip. This afternoon, we did a 2 mile walk around the old cemetery that is behind Ron's apartment complex. No we are settling down for the evening.

Made It To Paradise

Long drive today all the way up to Paradise, CA. Took me, Hiker and my brother Keith almost 8 hours to get here because of traffic and because of stopping at every rest stop to try to get Hiker go potty. But she held her potty until she got to my brother's. Keith and I will be visiting Ron for about 3 or 4 days. Weather is nice here. Hiker did very well on the drive. She slept most of the time and she seems to be feel 100%.

Hiker Went To Vet And All Is Well

I slept a little better last night but still woke up a few times to check on Hiker. She seems to get “stiff” during the night just like we do when we have a pulled muscle or whatever. She seemed to sleep pretty good through the night. When we got up this morning, she was very careful about getting off the bed. I tried to help her, but she more or less jumped off before I could get hold of her. She makes a “grunting” noise when she lands on the floor which she never did before. I did not take her for a walk this morning because I didn't want to take the chance of making her pain any worse. It was cool her this morning so I opened up the sliding door to the patio and the front door. Hiker sat at the front door watching crows on the roof of the house across the street, the whole time “whining” at them. She ate her breakfast and went potty with no problem so that makes me feel good. So I took Hiker to the Vet hospital at 11:00 am. The doctor checked her hips, shoulders, back, etc. with his hands and she didn't cry so he said the best thing to do was to take a couple of x-rays, which they did. They came back all good so he said she probably twisted her torso somehow and that she had pulled some muscles, so he gave her some anti-inflammatory injections and gave me so pills to give to her for the next few days. He did tell me that she needs to lose 8 to 10 lbs (so do I). The ladies at the vet's office fell in love with Hiker. One of them used to breed Cattle Dogs. She said that in her opinion that Hiker is a full blooded Queensland Blue Heeler and that when she saw the x-ray where it showed a small tail bone that never protruded through Hiker's bottom, she said it appears that Hiker was one of those that was actually born without a tail because there is absolutely no nub or any sign of there ever being a tail. She told me that I was very lucky to find Hiker at a shelter because they are very expensive dogs to purchase from a breeder. Jean brought me some Greenie's Pill Pockets to help me get Hiker to take the pills. So anyway, now I'm happy and Hiker seems happy and all is well. Keith is going to be with us for a few days so if I'm not on the Internet or on Facebook much, that is why.

Hiker's Not Feeling Well

I didn't sleep much last night. Around dinner time yesterday, I noticed her having trouble getting up on the sofa and on the bed. She would hesitate before she'd jump up and then she would give out a kind of “moaning” sound. During the night, she would try to move around on the bed and she would make the “moaning” sound every time she tried to move. She is still eating normally and she plays with me, plus she seems to be going to the bathroom OK. I took her for a short walk to the park this morning and she seemed to have no problem walking and she even ran a little bit. When we got home, I had to go get my Lottery tickets and asked Hiker if she wanted to ride with me in the car and she ran right out and jumped into the front seat. After we got back, she was getting up and down on the sofa and the ottoman and only “moaned” a little. She was evening chasing me through the house, attacking my feet like she does when we play. She heard Jean's dogs barking and went to where I keep her leash and she looked at it and then at me as if she was asking if we were going on a dog walk this morning, but Jean is heading for AZ today so there was no dog walk. Since she seemed to be doing better today than she was last night, I decided to just keep an eye on her and if she didn't improve more, I'd take her to a vet somewhere. She does not have a specific vet. I'm thinking she just pulled a muscle a little yesterday some time and hopefully it will heal on its own. It really felt like Fall here this morning. I even put on long jeans when Hiker and I went for a short walk. Was only about 57° this morning. Hiker seemed to be somewhat better by late morning. She had been chasing a moth out on the patio earlier. I noticed that she did not jump up and down like she usually does when I give her her mid-day snacks, but she seemed to be moving around much better and not “moaning” like she was. In the afternoon, I gave Hiker 2 baby aspirin to try to help her with her pain. I looked online to make sure it was OK to give it to her and it said it was. By 2:00 I still had not turned on my A/C so I'm hoping that Fall has finally made its appearance here in SoCal.

A Little Cooler Today

Woke up out of a deep sleep and a strange dream this morning. I was dreaming I was “underwater” but not really. More like being in a closed in area where the water was above you but you were “encased” and dry and you could look up through the water and see ships passing above you. Then I seemed to be standing on my front porch. I noticed it was very cloudy and getting dark and a kid was riding one of those 3-wheeled Spider motorcycles up my street. He lost control and crashed right through the front door of a house a few doors up from me. Must have been the pizza I had for lunch yesterday. I didn't eat any dinner last night. Anyway, got up around 6:30 to let Hiker outside. When she came back in, we went back to bed until a little after 7:00 and went for a morning walk. Felt like Fall out this morning (finally). Came home and had some breakfast and then Hiker when outside and took a nap on the patio. Got up to around 93° today which is still hot but at least it was not 103°.

New Members At Group

Didn't go for a morning walk because I was going to my grief support group today. Decided not to go to lunch today because I had some errands I needed to run and some things I needed to do at home. Was nice and cool outside this morning but we are still have very HOT afternoons. They say by the weekend we will down into the 80's which is “normal” for us here this time of year. Had a lot of people at our group session today. A couple of new people came. One of them sat next to me. She told me that her name was Jean and that her husband passed away in August, so it is very new for her. She didn't talk much because when she did, she would start to tear up. She said she came to our group because she needed “help” and I told her that we are all there for her. The other new woman (I didn't catch her name) said she saw my article in “The Mighty Oak” and that she had lost her husband and then had to put her dog down, so she decided she needed to come to the group. She said my article made her cry but that it helped her to realize that what she is feeling is “normal”. I told her I was sorry that I had made her cry but that I was glad that my article brought her to us. I am including a link to "The Mighty Oak" so you can see my article on Page 7. After group, some of the ladies asked me to go to lunch, but I had some errands to run and it was so hot outside, I just wanted to get home to Hiker. Stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and decided to grab a take & bake pizza to make for lunch. We hit 103° today.

Here is the link to "The Mighty Oak"

http://www.scv-seniorcenter.org/uploads/Mighty_Oak_October.pdf

Are We Sure It's October?

Good thing I set my alarm clock for this morning because last night I was having trouble going to sleep so I took a sleeping pill. I was in a very deep sleep when my alarm woke both me and Hiker up at 6:30 am. I had to leave at 8:00 am to be at Kaiser's Radiology Lab by 8:45. This year the mammogram was not as bad as it was last year. This technician was a lot more gentle than the one last year. I was out of Kaiser by 9:00 and so I headed over to The Auto Club to get my vehicle registrations. Neither Kaiser or AAA were very busy this morning. I heard someone say it was because it is “Fall Break” for the kids in school. They just started back to school from summer the first week of September and already they have “Fall Break”? Guess the poor little things cannot go t school for a month without one. Ridiculous! When I got home, I went down to our community office to pay my monthly land lease and to have our community manager give me information for houses that had sold in the past year so I could send in that form to see if I can get a decrease in my property taxes. I went online and checked how much I owe this year and I see that my taxes went up about $105 from last year even though my house is worth about 1/3 what I originally paid for it. Hopefully mailing the form in will help and I will get an adjustment from the county assessor. Hiker was showing me how smart she is again. I had mentioned awhile back how she barked at me when she thought I had not taken something out of the oven when the timer dinged. I always give her a little mid-day snack and I called her in from outside telling her it was time for her snack. I went into the kitchen to wash my hands and then I was going to get her snack, but instead, my mind went blank and I went to do something else. Hiker was sitting in the kitchen waiting and when I didn't come back, she started to whimper very loudly. Suddenly I remembered I was supposed to feed her...DUH! Good thing she remembered (LOL). She is probably thinking that her MaMa is really dumb. Got up to about 108° here this afternoon. Are we sure it is October?