Happy Halloween

This year I dropped the ball on Halloween costumes. I spent most of the week catching up after being gone for a week and Halloween just snuck up on me. I had a meeting to go to that encouraged people to wear "healthy-themed" costumes so I was trying to use that theme for inspiration.


Inspiration hit at 10:30pm on Thursday night. I decided Morey would go as a cow and bring along his farm animal toys (including a pig, duck and chicken) and I would dress as a farmer and bring fruit, veggies and grains so that together we would represent the 5 food groups. Not bad for a last minute costume!


Morey was not thrilled about the costume but he graciously cooperated. He wore his costume to/from and during the meeting. The cow tail kept moving along his back as he walked and he kept turning around to look at it. It must have felt strange to have a second tail! The hood with the horns wouldn't stay on his head so many people thought he was a dalmation. Personally, I've never seen a dalmation with an udder but I guess there is a first time for everything!


At home at night we had a good number of trick or treaters (although only a few of them actually said trick or treat!). At first Morey came to the door with me but once he was ignored a few times he decided not to waste the energy and just stayed on the couch. Unless he is the one getting the treats he said it's not worth the effort!


Next year I'll try to get an earlier start on our Halloween planning. If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Left Behind

Since rugby is no longer part of my life this year I have found myself with a lot more availability in my schedule. I was invited to participate in two different opportunities in San Diego and decided to take advantage of both of them!


For the past several years I have been involved with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a non-profit that provides support for people with disabilities to participate in sports and athletics. They provide grants for training, equipment and competition and hold various sports clinics and camps. One of their biggest fundraising events is the San Diego Triathlon Challenge and this year I was invited to attend! The triathlon consists of a 1 mile swim, 44 mile bike ride and 10 mile run. I didn't have enough notice to train for those distances so I decided to participate in a relay team which each person taking one component. I decided to do the swim since it seemed a lot easier than the bike or run distance!


I was also invited to a Paralympic Talent ID Cycling Camp at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego. Who could say no to that opportunity?? The Triathlon was on Sunday and the camp was Monday-Saturday so the timing was perfect. One of my best friends lives in San Diego so I decided to add a day on each end of the trip to visit her. Might as well make the most of the flight!


All these events would add up to a week of travel and being gone. I didn't know exactly what to expect at the triathlon or the cycling camp so I decided to leave Morey at home. I think the longest we've been apart is 4 days so this would be the longest separation we've had since we've been together. I went back and forth on my decision but finally decided to stick with my original plan.


I was surprised that I actually got a little teary when it was time to leave. I knew Morey would be fine but it was still hard to leave him behind. Halfway through the week my roommate texted me saying Morey wouldn't eat. Of course my "mom guilt" immediately kicked in and all I could think about was Morey thinking I had abandoned him. The next night my roommate texted me saying Morey barked all night whenever he heard a sound outside. At that I began to feel bad for my roommate too!


Even though I had a great time on my trip I was very glad to be reunited with Morey! My friend brought Morey to the airport to pick me up and he was quite excited to see me.  I've already decided I won't leave him home that long again!

Happy Birthday!

Morey turned 6 this year. I still remember the day he was born- I had a rugby tournament and kept checking my phone between games to see if the puppies had been born! I still think of him as a young dog but at 6 he is solidly middle-aged now. We'll be celebrating our 4th anniversary of being together this December which is hard to believe. Time flies!


I'm sorry to report that Morey had a rather sad birthday. Usually my mom and sister come to visit so we can celebrate in style but this year I was getting ready to head out on a trip so it was just me and Morey. His birthday was on a Friday so we spent the whole day at work. One of Morey's biggest fans at work saw my birthday Facebook post while she was doing an early morning errand and she picked up a birthday present for him and then brought it to my office to deliver it to the birthday boy. She said she never gets to buy soft toys because her dogs destroy them but she had a feeling that Morey would treat it appropriately. Morey was very excited about his birthday present!


After losing my sweet Jessie at age nine (way too early!) I don't like to think about Morey getting older. Morey is such a part of me and I really can't even think about not having him in my life. I tried to focus on celebrating another year of his life instead of dwelling on how few birthdays he might have left. Sometimes it takes a loss to make you appreciate what you have and that is certainly the  case with me. Over the last few months I have been intentional about cherishing each moment with Morey and am trying not to take his presence in my life for granted.


                    So here's to Morey and many more years of health and happiness!

Morey Makes Himself at Home

At my church there are several pews that are shorter than the others which leaves space for me to sit without being in the aisle. There is an older lady who usually sits next to me and parks her walker in the extra space. One day during our greeting time I noticed Morey had moved from the spot where I had left him. He had crawled under the walker and curled up into a tiny ball!






While the ICAN service dogs are in training the handlers get them used to being around lots of different types of assistive equipment. The prisons have a collection of walkers, wheelchairs and crutches which are routinely incorporated into different training exercises. I guess Morey saw the walker and thought he would make himself at home!

Morey the Gardener

People often ask me what Morey does for me and I usually just mention a few of his more frequent tasks like pulling my chair, retrieving objects and opening doors. Like any job though, there are also those "other duties as assigned" which sometimes includes outside chores. This is especially true now that the weather is nice and you can be outside for more than a few minutes without overheating.


Since we now live in a house with a nice yard we often have work to do outside. Things like watering the garden, planting flowers, spreading mulch, weeding, sweeping the deck and picking up poop are a little more difficult from a chair but it is very true that where there is a will there's a way. It might not be pretty and it will probably take me a lot longer but there are very few things I can't do.




Morey supervising the tools

Morey applies his skills to outdoor work in a variety of ways. Sometimes it's retrieving a dropped shovel, sometimes he helps drag the hose over to where I need it. He can carry tools from me to my roommate if we are working on projects in different areas of the yard and has been known to carry empty containers to the trash or recycle.

Yep, this hole looks big enough!

Recently my roommate decided to plant a tree in the backyard. If you want to see a funny sight watch two quads trying to dig a hole big enough to plant a tree. Without being able to put your full body weight behind the shovel it takes a whole lot longer. I tried to get Morey to help with the digging but he decided he would just sit back and supervise. We did pretty well until we hit a rock layer and then had to have an able-bodied friend use a jackhammer to drill through the rock. At the end of the day though we had a new tree planted in the yard!

Morey looks forward to "watering" his new tree!