Mastering Menopause

[Syrius]

Belated wishes
Congrats on Arms of Steel & 100 days!!!!!

 

[PetiteSheWolf]

bravo for the 100 days!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 101

Spent the day flying across a good chunk of Canada to judge a trial in Ontario. First I had to drive through a bloody blizzard and deal with the idiots that took their winters off, thus causing a ton of accidents. That delayed my arrival at the airport by almost 1.5hrs, but thankfully, I left an hour earlier than I normally do, so I still had time to catch my flight. It was a long, exhausting day and though I put on over 7000 steps from just walking around the various terminals and gates, I didn't feel like I had done enough, so squeezed in 6 of my challenges to keep my streak alive. Something is far better than doing nothing in my world.

Thank you @aku-chan, @Princess Fancy, @TopNotch, @Anek, @CODawn, @NightTigress, @Lady Celerity, @NancyTree, @Syrius, & @PetiteSheWolf on the 100 day 'grats. Now I have the long haul push towards the 1 year mark. I will be channeling the little engine that could with "I think I can, I think I can".

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 102 &



Day 103



Spent the weekend judging for a new club. It was rainy, windy, and bloody cold outside, but thankfully the trial was held in a beautiful agricultural facility with a massive arena that kept us dry, even if it was still a bit chilly. I was solo judging, which is pretty exhausting both mentally and physically, hence when the day was done, I was too. No P&Cs for this chickie. Just a quick meal and bed. The next day went better weather-wise, so the arena was much warmer. Everyone loved my courses and I got a lot of great feedback. I put 40k steps between the two days, which kept my streak alive and added a couple more days to my just walk challenge. Had to fly out that evening, and ended up in a middle seat. No sleeping on that plane, so I watched a couple of movies instead (Project Hail Mary was really good BTW). By the time we landed, I picked my car up from the lot, drove home, and greeted my two very happy puppers, it was just after 2am. Needless to say, there's no place like home.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 104

It was a much needed day of recovery from the weekend, where I tried catching up on sleep after the meager 5.5hrs I got over the whole weekend in Ontario. I failed miserably. LOL. My fuel tank was empty, so I didn't do much when it come to my P&Cs. Anything that was going to take real effort had to be abandoned as I was just too exhausted. I'm actually surprised I got through what I did. The one bright spot was that my curly grrl turned 5 years old, so naturally I had to celebrate it by torturing her with some pictures. She also got a special meal, tons of play, and a new bone, so I think it was a good day for her.



Finally caught up on the log reading here and hopefully I won't fall too far behind again. The IFCS World Agility Championships have started over in Spain, and I am doing the social media for Team Canada, so there are going to be many sleepless nights over the next 5 days due to the 8hr time difference. It won't help that I am also running & judging an agility trial this weekend. When I said things were getting uber busy, I wasn't joking.
I think I need my head examined. Anyway...
Onwards & upwards, baby!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 105

Almost made it through all of my P&Cs but I ran out of steam. Probably because I spent a lot of time shoveling wet, heavy snow into piles that the sun would hit to help it melt quicker. We are back into a warming trend, which means flood watch is back on. Booyah! But the pumps, even those under the snow, are doing what they should and the water is being sent into the front pasture instead of my basement. Happy happy joy joy. In a couple more days you will never know there was over a foot of compressed snow covering the whole acreage. It's crazy how fast it can disappear in the right conditions. You wake up one morning and... poof! It's all gone. Hoping Bertha will follow suit one day.
Onwards & upwards, baby!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 106

Another day where I ran out of time before I could finish all of my P&Cs, so I focused on just the Challenges. Snow is melting like crazy with water gushing into the sump hole like there's no tomorrow. It sounds like a tap is constantly running at full power. Sandhill cranes are flying overhead now as they head north up to their nesting grounds. They are late this year, which means we might be in for another blast of winter before May long weekend (aka Victoria Day). We can get snow that deep into May, so winter tires usually stay on, just in case, and any seedlings grown aren't planted until that weekend or after. It's going to be 20+ºC over the next week and it'll be glorious to have the windows wide open again. The house really needs a good airing out after such a long winter. Can't wait for Spring to truly stay.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 107

Gloriously warm day meant that all windows and doors were open to air out the house, the puppers finally got access to the pasture for some frisbee now that most of it has dried out, I cleaned up the grassy areas that were decimated by the voles/field mice during the winter, and finished all of my P&Cs like a good gal. Agility coming up this weekend so it'll be no rest for the wicked but the puppers, especially the BC, will be very happy to be doing something.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[Jaga]

Congrats on completing the Jumpstart!

 

[NancyTree]

Congrats on jumpstart!

 

[Anek]

Congrats!!

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations!

 

[Syrius]

Congratulations on Jumpstart!!!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 108

Spent the day working out, working on my laptop, getting lap dances from my Papillon (who won't stay still on top of my crossed legs ), printing off agility trial paperwork, working on a quarterly newsletter for the agility organisation I compete it, packing the car, and trying to keep the BC from going stir crazy because of the warmer weather. Didn't really feel like I accomplished much but I was busy, busy, busy.

Thanks for the 'grats @Jaga, @NancyTree, @Anek, @CODawn, and @Syrius. I'm not planning on doing the May Challenge, so I might end up doing a random workout every day that is different from what I am already doing. Time to use the randomiser again.
Onwards & upwards, baby!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 109 &

Day 110

Spent the whole weekend running, judging, and competing at the last trial until Fall for one of the club's I belong to. Saturday was uber busy compared to Sunday for me. I judged twice as many courses and ran my pups almost twice as much. By the end of the weekend, I had put over 40K steps over those two days. 4H had used the arena the weekend before, with the kids' cows hanging out inside over 2 nights. The urine smell from them was still overpowering even a week later . Thankfully, it was warmish on both of our days, so we cranked open the bay doors on both sides of the arena to keep the smell from overpowering everyone. Ah, the joys of agility.

One nice thing that happened was one of my old students mentioned that I looked slimmer since the last time they saw me. That totally made my day. All of my hard work, thanks to DAREBEE's help, is slowly paying off, even if the weight scale isn't reflecting it that much. My goal for Regionals in June is looking more and more attainable now. I've just have to keep channeling my inner Dory.

Onwards & upwards, baby!

 

[AgileGrrl]

To my fellow geeks...

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 111

I needed a recovery day from the weekend, so only did my programs, caught up on some much needed sleep, booked the ferry to drive to my next judging assignment on Vancouver Island in 2 weeks, made plans to visit my family for the first time in 4 years down in the Lower Mainland, slept some more, and watched tv for the first time in well over a month. My PVR was full, so I had lots of choices. Decided on BBC's The Planets because I love anything involving Professor Brian Cox. As Rocky from Project Hail Mary would say, "Amaze, amaze, amaze." Really need to download that book now.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 112

Cold and windy day brought on a migraine and a brain that just wasn't braining. Had a zoom appt with my nurse practitioner concerning my menopause symptoms and the plan is to keep on keeping on. When the wind died down, so did my migraine. Funny that. I was finally able to work through my P&Cs (albeit slowly), take the dogs into the front pasture for some frisbee, play some Elvenar, and finish up some work for a new client. A new internet provider moved into the area and came by to see if my place has a direct line of sight to their wifi tower. Nope and not a shocker. Got a call later that evening from the provider saying they were going to send another tech who would be more 'aggressive', so we'll see what he gets. Either way, my phone's hotspot will keep working perfectly fine, like it always has.
Onwards & upwards!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 113
View attachment 9353
Finally broke through my creative block and was able to produce some logos for a new client to see what strikes their fancy. The grass is starting to show a hint of green now, the poplar seeds are sticking to me and dogs like glue, and the warm weather is still lovely. Set up a couple of jump and worked the youngin' a bit along with playing some frisbee in the front pasture. She was in heaven. My 'good' knee has been screaming lately, so I only did my Challenges and called it a night.
Onwards & upwards.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 114
View attachment 9354
Spent the whole day and most of the night powering through the production of a newsletter for the agility organisation I compete in. I finished off 45 pages of the English version and the next day will be the French version once I get the final translation in my inbox. Decided to stick with just doing my challenges because those were easy to do throughout the day and a break from the endless hours of copy & pasting text into the newsletter.
Onwards & upwards.

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 115
View attachment 9355
Another very long day of creating the newsletter, but this time it's the French version for our Québécois competitors. I had to finish the proof before I went to bed because of having to drive out of town for another judging assignment the next day, so no time for computer work. Thankfully, I got it done and sent off to the translator for her final approval before it was too late. This one was 46 pages, but took a bit less time because the layout was already created in the english version. I just needed to modify it a bit. Hopefully I get the go ahead, it'll be sent off to the membership, and I will be free of it until the summer edition needs to be created in a few months. Fun times!
Onwards & upwards, baby!

 

[AgileGrrl]

Day 116 / 117 / 118
View attachment 9356View attachment 9357View attachment 9358
The last 3 days have been a whirlwind of judging agility, massive changes in plans for the upcoming week, and trying to find tires.

My sister called and said that my Dad's PSA levels are exceptionally high, that he isn't doing as well as he has been leading me to believe, and that her dog had died suddenly. Friggin'ell. That meant last minute plans to head back home and visit them, in between a judging assignment on the Island, had to be made because that is the only free time I'll have over the next 4 months. So, the dogs and I are heading down first thing Monday morning on a scenic 12.5hr drive to Vancouver where we'll stay with my dad for 3 days, then ferry over to the Island to judge that weekend, come back and stay with him or my sister for 3 more days, then boogie back home before co-running a trial the following weekend. I'm exhausted thinking about it.

There is one teeny-tiny problem with this plan. I wasn't really planning on driving any uber long distances until after May long weekend, hence my car still has winter tires on. They usually get swapped out for summers after May long weekend because we get snow up until then on a semi-regular basis. That meant on Friday morning I pulled out the summers, jacked up the car, and started to swap out the winters. Got to the 3rd tire and discovered that one of the tires was damaged over the winter by mice, muskrat, don't know, don't care. It wasn't safe to drive on. After much animated cursing, I made frantic calls around town trying to find a single tire in my price range that was available. That turned out to be impossible. Nothing available until Tuesday when I will already be at my Dad's place. F*ckity-f*ck-f*ck! So the winters went back on, I went off to the trial to judge, and the dogs stayed home because I was solo judging. None of us were pleased.

Over the 3 days I put on over 53K steps and did not do any of my P&Cs for obvious reason. Really hope I get more than 3-4hrs of sleep because driving long distances on that amount really sucks!

 

[Jaga]

Oh wow, that’s a lot to deal with all at once. I’m so sorry about your dad and your sister’s dog, and then the tire disaster on top of everything else.
I really hope you can get some proper rest before the drive. Wishing you safe travel and hoping you get some good time with your dad despite the circumstances