Happy Birthday DeeMarie! Tikanis - terrific to know what is going on. My BIL has severe sleep apnea as well. The sleep clinic put him on a device at night that delivers more oxygen and now he is sleeping much better, the snoring has calmed down a lot and my SIL is also enjoying a better nights sleep too. Nwroselady - stay the course. Your body is adjusting to it's new size. You may even hit a plateau. Don't despair, just hang in there. One step forward at a time. Keep the faith! I'm cheering for you. Hi Maddie, you sure are busy. Glad to see you post. How much longer is your course? What am I doing this weekend? Probably more things around the house between cleaning, trying to unpack boxes into totes, plant some more seeds, transplant tomato plants into taller containers and of course laundry. Still trying to train that stuff to jump from the washer to dryer - no luck so far. And the dishes won't play either. I fill the sink and they just sit there too. Bad laundry, bad bad bad dishes. I'm eyeing up the cat - thinking of spraying him with endust and getting him to chase balls under the beds - he's giving me the evil eye...don't think I'll get him to participate on that one either. Rats. Still maintaining. Cheers everyone, Peggy

Well we bought a different and cheaper brand that is a bit easier to put on and remove. Wife even took it off and then put it back on to take him out. As far as treats go he doesn't like anything that I can find except licorice whips and can't give him too much of that because it is a laxative and makes his droppings smeary and hard to clean up. I thought he liked Meow mix but only when he wants it not when offered as a treat.Ocassionaly he will eat a dog biscuit broken up but only intermittantly. He is a funny picky eater. He seems to like to go through a burying ritual with his nose and sometimes hides his food but if coaxed long enough he will finally eat it. He growls and snarls at times when we go to remove the food and then generally will eat it. When I put a bowel of fried steak cubed up for him he will dally around for some time before he dives in to eat it. If I feed it to him bite by bite generally he will eat it all then. We are going to place him in a kennel over Thanksgiving holidays for socialization. Our daughter left her Sheltie there for a few days recently and our son picked the dog up. He said there was a world of difference from when the dog went in and when it left and all for the good. Maybe being around other dogs and handlers who know dogs will help him out. Although, we took the motorhome about 125 miles north to do some chores and he acted just beutifully. Not one negative aspect the whole day. He rode up in my son's lap in the passenger seat and looked out the window the whole way practically except for when my son got tired and put him in the back to eat and drink and then he was back and crawled across sons lap to see out the window. Today he was just a perfect dog. Maybe we are doing something right. We won't leave the harness on him over night though. Junebug1961, Pipsy was the love of my life. I have never seen a dog like her in my life. One thing I found endearing was many times during the 9 some years we had her she would be cuddled in my lap with me petting her and then turn and just look deep into my eyes (she had big brown eyes and it was difficult to even see her pupil except in certain light)she wouldn't budge but just look into my eyes. It was almost spiritual. The day she passed away she did that and held my gaze for must have been a full minute like she knew she was leaving and was trying to communicate with me. It was strange but very loving. She never caused one second of trouble. She had some age problems though and we had to diaper her the last weeks of her life. We put a pad in the bed and she slept between us. She slept with us from the second day we had her. She lost all the beautiful hair from her tail. The vet said her teeth were part of the problem but she hadn't been a good candidate for tooth cleaning..and we didn't want to take the chance of putting her out to have the cleaning done. She took heart medicine at the last year of her life. With all the care given her she lived to nearly 17 years which I think was pretty good for her breed. She was never overweight and she loved steak, pork and beef. She ate quite a lot of things. She loved her little harness too and never attempted to get it off and always seemed anxious to get it back on, like after a bath. Boy what a dog. She has spoiled me for life on what the perfect dog should be. First thing she did when I first held her was to stick her pink little tongue into my ear. She loved doing that and I did too. Ha! While rolling down the highway in the motorhome, she would jump up on the couch after getting a drink or food and crawl up behind my seat where I was driving and then slip her tongue into my ear talk about something startling you. Wife would make her come down and ride shotgun which she loved too. She took a trip in the motorhome from Washington clear back to Nebraska and back with a short three day stop in Bountiful, Utah where I was hospitalized for breathing problems. We left there and made it to Ontario, Oregon where wife was sick with the flu and the next day I got it so we stayed at the motel 6 for several days with one of us being well enough to take Pipsy out periodically. When we left there we drove all day and up into the night to get home and only then was Pipsy starting to get cantankerous and wanting to go home. You never saw such a happy dog trotting into our own yard. She almost kissed the ground. We also took a trip down to Arizona to the Mexican border with her. We stopped by the Grand Canyon and she just looked and looked down into that great chasm. There is a pix of her standing beside the Grand Canyon..notice how tightly I was holding her leash. Also I was called Junebug by my family clear up to my late teens.Huh. Happy memories. Hoping HoneyBear will wind up like that but I know he will be his own guy and I do love him for who he is. Paul

I'm glad to see that I can come here to get some motivation on the days that I am slacking! Walked 7 miles today -- cold, wind chill was the big issue, but the sun was out for most of the day -- the first day that I can remember in weeks! I had put on too much weight so far this year, and had really allowed myself to get deconditioned after a series of injuries (including broken toes followed by plantar fasciitis). I miss the feel-good of running but just couldn't seem to get myself up and out -- I guess fear of the foot pain returning had something to do with that. So I took vacation days this past week, set last Monday as the day, cut out grains, sugars, milk and legumes, and dusted off my "The Firm" exercise videos (plus a few others). So far so good -- I've alternated videos with walking, even jogged a few minutes, every day. It is back to work on Wednesday; hopefully I've far enough into the "reset" to keep my momentum after working 12 hour shifts.

Swimming is just not happening.... waaaaaaahhhh! Today during the best time to be in the pool (as in least people in there) I had a dentist appointment. When I got home, I really thought I was going to blow off exercising... but then put on a jacket, and headed out on foot towards the lake. I walked both loops, and back, at a quick pace. Same distance has taken me 1 1/2 hour before... but then I sat on the bench by the water for a few... this time, I accomplished it all in 55 minutes. I just needed to "get er done". LOL Anyone else work out?