Ethan’s Journey

 So the cold spell was real. The feels like temp….accurate. I took Moe out this morning in this weather. He has never pottied so fast. Poor thing.  It was a slow moving morning. The crew waited until it warmed up to -5 before leaving (around noon). It was a quiet afternoon. I worked and then afterward did some exercising as well as some stretching with the lull of Keith Morrison’s voice telling a dateline story. He could make reading the phone book sound interesting. Moe slept away the afternoon, while I slaved away at work. He was a bit out of sorts with the transition of everyone coming in, in their helmets, heater and volume. It goes from quiet and relaxed to busy and loud with the 9 people busting through the door all at once. Moe was growling and on alert. I had ahold of his collar until everyone was situated. Moe had very minimal time outside due to the extreme weather. He had some cooped up energy and was running sideways on the furniture once everyone was settled. Afte...

 Sandy was able to move and wasn’t too sore today after he little crash yesterday. The crew left around noon today. They were a bit slow moving.  I hid the largest pair of ladies underwear I have even seen in a friend’s jacket. We had a good laugh about that the pair of underwear was so big it had its own zip code. I worked while the crew rode snowmobiles. I don’t mind. I am so scared to hurt my back, I would much prefer working to experiencing that pain again. It was around 3 degrees this morning. It is nice that the snowmobile gear is rated for such cold weather. The crew returned after 6 hours of hitting the trails. They were chilly. I had some warm tortellini soup made with fresh warmed bread. Yum! We spent the evening playing Left Right Center. Mix that with adult beverages and a couple Italians. It got loud. We shared a lot of good laughs. I have one more day to get through. Yay! Moe was a little more relaxed this evening. He had his eye on me. He is warming up a little ...

 It was a warm 2 degrees out this morning. Yikes! I logged into work as our slow moving crew got up and ready. They left on their snowmobile excursion around noon. Moe has had two instances where he has been nippy. He unprovoked snapped (didn’t bite) one of our lady friends. Another where he snapped at one of our guy friends (who wasn’t wearing a hat or a beard. Ugh! Both instances I was right there, but reinforced that he can’t be trusted. I had a quiet and peaceful house to myself to complete calls throughout the afternoon. When I was done, it had warmed up to 9 degrees and I had to work on my fitness for the day. I took Moe for a walk in the woods on the snowmobile trail. We were out about 10 minutes. He had a blast. I then proceeded to do my physical therapy and ended with a yoga session. I had some time to kill so I worked on a presentation I volunteered to do at a Vet Tech college. It is not something I am doing for work, just trying to give back to the college I went to. I h...

 Paul and I left for our trip. Moe also came along. He will be exposed to uncomfortable situations in a weird place. Paul drove, his buddy sat in the front. I sat in the back so I could plug in my laptop. We have heated seats back there so it was no big deal. When we arrived, Moe didn’t stray too far. He stayed right near Paul and I. He followed me into the bedroom we are staying in and jumped on the bed. This Air Bnb is animal friendly, of course. The set up is perfect. The house has sleeping for 10 upstairs and 3 downstairs. There is a fairly open kitchen and livingroom. When everyone arrived, the counters looked like a convenience store. There were so many snacks that littered the counters. Another couple arrived, there were 5 of us total. Moe took a bit to warm up to them, but we got there. When two other couples arrived, I think Moe was overwhelmed. He seemed nervous and I heard a little growl that was corrected immediately.  Paul has mapped out several rides for the to e...

 We had a storm casualty. Our mailbox. Rip mailbox. Plow 1, mailbox 💀. The snow buried our patio furniture and piled up tall on my bird feeders like fancy hats. It is really pretty. Paul and I took turns shoveling the pathway. He was nice enough to plow out our new neighbor across the street. Ethan had his appointment today at the dermatologist. He had one mole that was “suspicious”. They injected him with lidocaine and cut it out. They are submitting it for testing. It could be nothing. He is a little sore this evening but is not complaining. I just noticed he was laying on his side and not on his back on the couch. Poor kid. He has to go every 6 months for a while. The mole is circled with black dots. The other marks are large stretch marks from when he retained about 50 pounds of fluid prior to putting him on dialysis. The fluid was just oozing out of his skin. It’s another battle scar and a brag to show what he over came. This office seems efficient. We were in and out fairly ...

 I am not impressed with our “snow storm”. Sure, we are getting snow but it isn’t like a huge amount. 12-18 inches over a day and a half? Eh. Seems like a typical January event. I was hoping for thunder and lightening or something cool to happen. Maybe a non-devastating earthquake to rattle our house a little. Just something a little exciting. Devastated I am thankful I don’t have to drive in the morning. Paul plans to work from home. Ethan plans to go to work as usual. A snow event like this one is an introvert dream.  Cozy in front of the fireplace. I do think about the homeless and hoping they find shelter from the cold and snow.  We are packing up and getting ready for our trip up snowmobiling. I will not be riding (and have been benched for life)….stupid back! My plan is to work during the day, hang out in the evenings. Still not a bad gig. It has been a few years since I was last able to go. I actually logged into work today and worked for a few hours because tomorr...

 I signed up to do a “smell test” for Parkinson’s disease research through the Micheal J Fox Foundation. It helps them collect information about having loss of smell the first indicator of Parkinson’s prior to loss of motor function. Seems easy and might help someone. I had read that smells like coffee, banana, licorice and anise (not to be confused with anus) are smells that people is early stages of Parkinson’s disease struggle with. If you want to see if you qualify visit mysmelltest.org Ethan and I headed out to the lab this morning. The temp was zero. We have a system for the lab. As soon as we get into the parking lot, Ethan scans the check in sign while I find a spot to park. That puts Ethan ahead of the people walking in that have not checked in.  We did that this morning. By the time we walked in, they were calling his name to verify his orders. It’s funny, he has so many tests done every 2 weeks, the new people always seem surprised at the number. I call it Ethan’s t...