Walking the Dog

I have walked the dog many miles lately. He is a good excuse for me to wander around town and see things. Last night was especially difficult for us as he was a little high strung (more so than usual). The poor dog is more ADHD than I am. We didn’t make it out of the driveway before he decided that he needed to say hello to Bo, the golden retriever next door. We moved on, and there were the scary dogs that are always locked in the front porch of the blue house. Then there was his buddy, Cappuccino. Cappuccino is a chocolate lab about two months older than Brutus. Cappuccino had tied himself around a shrub, and it appeared he tried to dig under said shrub to escape. So, Brutus and I ran around the tree to free Cappuccino.

Brutus was walking so nicely with me. Right after I was lulled into complacency, he decided to attack the little white dog in the window of the big white house. I felt like I was in a comic strip, tripping over all of the landscape. I hadn’t even made it a quarter of a mile and I was exhausted! We decided to walk to the park where the family allegedly playing. We got to the empty park, and decided they must have been at the other park. We stopped and talked to Cappuccino’s owners along the way.

When we got to the other park, I called the family and they told me they were already home. So Brutus and I explored another neighborhood. There was a harmless old man on his roof scraping off shingles that bothered poor Brutus. When we were out of sight of the guy on the roof, there was a pit bull that tried to lure Brutus into his backyard. We got around the corner, and there was another chocolate lab wanting to play. Poor Brutus was beside himself.

We thought all was well, until out of nowhere, Brutus saw an old spray-painted bicycle with plants in baskets. Well that was just too much for the poor puppy to endure. There was something just not right about that bicycle. He was a wreck the rest of the way home. Everything in his little world was just turned up side down. He freaked out when he saw the kid on the skateboard, the woman pushing the child in the stroller, the squirrel on the wire, etc. I found that to be the most difficult walk to date.

This week, I have walked over ten miles. I have also gained three pounds, but that’s probably hormonal. I have had to retire five pairs of pants as they just won’t stay up. I have given in to cravings when I know I don’t need those items, but at the same time, I don’t feel deprived.

I have some goals that I’d like to reach by next summer. I am not ready to disclose those as of yet, but my next mini goal is to get my BMI below 27. That is about 12 lbs away. With the up and down I’ve been doing this week, I find myself getting discouraged, but I also know it’s possible. Who woulda thunk I’d get below obese? I know I didn’t think so!