Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy. ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

Kishka had a vet appointment yesterday and I had him look at her leg. I thought she hurt it at the park last week (she’s had a heck of a limp all week). It turns out she has a severe case of arthritis in one of her knees. It’s so severe that if she were a younger dog (Kish is around 10 years old), my vet would recommend a knee replacement. Because of Kish’s age, it’s about management of pain.

Kish has new food (with lots of joint friendly supplements) and a bottle of pain pills. Her days of fetch are over (too much stress on the knee due to the sudden stops and starts).

The park, however, is still in the picture so we spent part of our weekend there.

The girls went exploring together:

They looked for squirrels:

They were very excited to see that part of the stream was unfrozen so that they could go splashing:

Sadie was so happy that she couldn’t stop barking with joy:

Some of the stream thawed and was flowing throw the frozen parts of the stream:

I sat on this log and took pictures:

Sadie loves to play Chase. Kishka does not play Chase. She never has (Max and Sam used to play it and would try to get her to join them) and Sadie has learned to not even try to engage her.

When we go to the park Sadie always looks for dogs who will play with her. On this day she was successful:

Chase makes Sadie very happy:

Kishka enjoyed exploring the frozen parts of the stream:

Wooing at her sister (she loves to order Sadie around):

And drinking the ice cold water:

We all enjoyed relaxing on the bank above the stream:

I had a comment a few posts ago about how svelte Sadie is looking. Since I see her everyday, her weight loss isn’t as noticeable to me. I know she’s lost weight, but I tend to focus on how much more she has to lose.

I went back to one of the first pictures I ever took of her back in March of 2008.

Here’s what she looked like then:

And yesterday:

Wow. Those 18 lbs. she’s lost have really made a difference! She still has more to lose (which will be made tougher with Kishka’s limitations on exercise), but she has come a long way. Even if she doesn’t lose another pound, she is much healthier than she was when I adopted her.

I’m making slow but steady progress on the Film Noir socks.

I had a question about who makes this yarn. It’s by Sweet Paprika. They have a website and also sell through The Loopy Ewe.   I’m a sucker for self striping yarn and will definitely be buying more colors of this yarn.  It’s even more gorgeous in person and is a joy to knit.

:: cue gratuitous yarn p0rn shot ::