Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Dikinetic Existence is Killing Me

My life exists in two basic forms. One is the common sitting position with a keyboard in front of me, staring at a screen. The second is running around doing something that is akin to exercise, such as basketball or golf (admittedly golf is less a sport than a way to walk around or drive a cart around while drinking beer, but stick with me on this). When exercising I feel good and there are few problems. When sitting there seem to be little aches and pains that creep into my joints and various muscles. My right hip has been sore for about 10 years, ever since I figured out how to kick that damn red ball 60 yards for the dog to chase (throwing out my hip in the process). Now my left forearm is sore from golfing. After a lifetime of not using my left arm for anything more important than balancing the active right side of my body, it turns on me when I need it most. Rotten appendage. Ungrateful, that's what it is!

I should point out that chasing the ball has not turned out all that well for the dog, either. Riccia is now almost 13 years old, and her right hip joint is worse than mine. She can hardly walk. She hasn't swum for several years, and even just getting around in the house is a challenge. She used to run like the wind and never stopped. Now she can't get up. When she goes outside to pee we have to help her get back into the house by lifting her hind end up the 2 short stairs. I am just glad there is not a quick brown fox around.

Interestingly, bicycling makes my hip feel better. OK, it hurts at the start for the first 3-4 miles, but soon the pain subsides and I can ride fine and I feel good at the end of the ride and all the next day. The limited motion apparently releases the needed endorphins, which work better than any oral medication I've found (and I have not looked much at all - I don't like taking pills).

On another front, we are now starting to actively look for another large black cat to adopt. I stopped by the Snohomish County adoption society yesterday and they had two, but neither was the perfect one. One was kind of scraggly-looking, and the other was a Siamese-cross sort of cat with blue eyes. I liked this one better, he was 16 pounds and built like a brick, and very friendly. I think he would be the kind of cat that will talk with you, once he settled into his home situation. However, we are looking to add this cat sometime in October, not in August, as we still have some traveling to do this fall. I'll keep my eyes open and see what we can find.

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