My body is not my friend recently. Well, actually it's just the lower legs that are not friendly.

Yesterday Strega and I went for a 16 mile run for the Fat Ass, and I finished tired. I walked soreness out of my legs with Strega a few times as the day wore on, and this morning woke with legs aching. So, after breakfast I took him out to another trail and figured I'd hike a while. It was beautiful with snow still scattered here and there. Here's the thing though.

My left ankle still gets tweaky if it starts to roll with weight on it. No worries if I don't get unstable, but worrisome if a rock slips. On the return to the car this morning, my right shin started to ache. Soon it became a constant pain. Now, an hour later, it still hurts to pull my foot upwards (heels down, toes up). Going downhill was pretty sucktastic. Uphill wasn't much fun either. By the time I got to the car, walking in general was pretty agonizing.

I'm starting to think it's a conspiracy on my body's part to make me get fat and lazy.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. This should make it perfect for the Fat Ass run out of Kris and Randy Horton's place. I have low expectations from myself, but look forward to getting Strega worn out completely. Yes, that's right, it's time for a return to the Fat Ass run that so decimated us both last year. It should be a good measure of my determination to complete roughly the same route as last year. I doubt I'll be any faster than last time of course, but it's about my favorite set of trails when going out there alone.

If it's snowing, well that should merely add to the beauty of the run. It's a glorious thing to run while the flakes come tumbling out of the sky. I especially love the big fluffy chunks of snow that came down last year while I was staying in Decatur. The thought of walking and running in the silence that descends with such a snow makes me smile. Smile and crave hot chocolate. Maybe I should pick up some hot cocoa tonight. I think I'll need it.

Today I got back on the horse. A few days ago I was peacefully drifting in slumber with only the vaguest of dreams lighting my brain when my half-baked dream images conjured up a dark bay horse under me, and it kicked. I know this because I woke from my legs instinctively trying to clamp around the barrel of the dream-horses body.

So, today I rode Taylor again. Taylor, it turns out, has some lousy manners with other geldings. While I was trying to groom him prior to tacking up, he angled around with ears flat and kept trying to angle around till he finally got in range to kick the gelding tied at the other end of the hitching post. I'd thought he was acting out against ME, but that was my lesson in Taylor's attitude problem. I also learned that unlike the horses I'm used to dealing with, he's much better with a slow cinching up of the saddle. I'm much more used to a horse that you have to tighten that girth on quick before it shoots out from under the saddle and makes for the road. Once tacked up and under saddle though, Taylor turns into a wonderful horse in the ring. I know my legs are getting stronger for the action, and I'm trying to improve my balance side to side, but we worked up a nice little canter for a bit and I remembered the joy of it. It's a glorious thing, to let your body remember the joys of its youth.

I'm back up and running.


On Friday evening the hard drive on the computer died a glorious death, leaving me with only an iPhone for connection to the wider internet and no way to do my job. Today the replacement hard drive arrived and I've been working to get my aircard working and everything else back together ever since. As of now I at least have connection, though all my old emails and such have been lost. Hopefully I can regain some of my lost email addresses and contacts, but I fear some is lost forever.

On the other hand, I've had lots and lots of time to read. I've knocked out a small stack of novels over the past few days while waiting impatiently for the hard drive to make an appearance. I'm about halfway through American Gods now, but I'm happy to be distracted by the sudden re-connection and ability to do some of what my job entails. Now to re-acquire the contact sources I need to work with!

Yesterday I got my first riding lesson in ages. The horse's name was Tucker, a bay Thoroughbred gelding initially meant for the track but now having nice ring manners. He stands 16.2hh. As I walked and trotted around the ring doing 2-point and posting and transitions and practicing transitions and such, the instructor watched and made statements like "drop your heels" and "your angles are great, just bring your legs under you a bit... perfect!" and "ear, shoulder, elbow, hips are all lined up perfectly" and "Well, you have no trouble with that, most people after a long time off the horse don't remember to lean forward to a 20degree angle when starting the post, but you got that right" and then I had to tell her my legs were tired... it didn't take long. She seemed to understand that. We later talked about what I do for a living and that I'd like to do this regularly, perhaps twice/week if I can fit in the daylight and pay the club fee. At least until I find out if I'll be in the area after January. Then maybe something else would have to be tried, but I told her I'm determined to have fun, enjoy horse time and regain the muscle tone so that if I ever ride that Belgian again, he has more trouble throwing me. Mostly though, I appreciated riding a horse that I didn't have to fight every step of the way. What a pure pleasure that was! It made me wonder how he'd do on the trail... and that got me thinking I needed to stop thinking about that.

Today is Thanksgiving and I can't decide what I'm most thankful for so I took Strega out to one of my favorite loops (only 9-10 miles) to run. The first half of this loop I feel pretty good about letting him run loose to chase deer and get the initial spasms of energy bled off. Then we start climbing up up up and I tend then to hook him to the leash and get him trotting easily behind me. The second half has too many cliff edges that make me nervous, and I get far more nervous when I see my beloved dog standing at the edge of one at attention with muscles quivering in excitement while he tries to decide how to leap down it after some wild beast or another in the distance. By the time we reach that point he's usually pretty content to trot along behind anyway, the first half takes about an hour so he's fairly relaxed. Then once the danger of precipices is past and we're on the last little bit heading back down to the car, I let him back off the leash. He stayed close anyway, a bit worn out though not dragging too badly. I stumbled a bit there at the end. This time, it was my other ankle that almost gave. I corrected before there was a snap, but it wasn't pleasant and I limped a few yards before I could get back to trotting along. I was cursing, wondering if I'd ever get a good trail run without incident again, but decided that I will. This was nothing. By this weekend, I should be ready for another run. Maybe not a 2:14hr run, but another one none the less. Another riding lesson as well. I can feel the muscles I'd not needed in so long aching just a tad even now. I wonder if riding will help my running, swimming or cycling any?

I'm not even sure what icon to use for today's adventures. I'll go with "en guard" because I've not used it in a while.


My adventures began simply enough with a very pleasant lunch out with a friend. We chatted merrily and seemingly endlessly until the food was gone and it was time to go swimming. Mind, we originally were going to go cycling, but it was drizzly raining and neither of us wanted to ride in that, so then we were going to spin on the stationary bikes, but then I thought how nice a swim would be and there was an end.

We swam, and found that it was good, and after a while we moved to the hot tub because that is also good and there in the hot tub was a man. This man was large. He suffered from dunlap disease and a distinct lack of exposure to sunlight. He was sitting slumped such that I could not be sure as I tentatively stepped into the hot tub if he was in fact wearing anything at all or not. I determined that it would be best not to look and tried not to when suddenly his massive form surged up. My mind registered that he was wearing something baby blue with... what are those, flowers??? Little tiny flowers patterned all over it and what's that on the back... a tag showing through??? How can that...
I looked at Celeste, eyes wide. The man spoke to me, forcing me to look back at him and realize that my friend and I had left him "in a pretty good mood" before he whipped a towel around himself, a towel whose edge disappeared under the flap of his belly immediately. Then with hardly another word, the man turned and disappeared with me staring back at Celeste in sheer, unadulterated horror as the truth struck us both. The man had obviously decided that speedo's look a lot like ladies panty briefs, and so rather than buy the real thing he'd just gotten some women's underwear to put on for his hot tub time.

Wow.

Ok.

We were still stunned by this after dessert at Greenlife, but I had to get home to my sweet Strega-dog to walk and feed him. I decided since there was still some daylight that we'd go see if I could find the right trail to get to Mushroom rock this time. Knowing how fast the sun goes down, I grabbed a headlamp from my purse, just in case and thought how clever I was as I did so. Then we went off onto the trails.
As soon as I turned off onto a trail heading away from readily notable civilization, I started laying back arrows made of sticks and twigs to help me find my way out. I felt really clever. This should tell you things would go awry. I reached a point that was definitely not the right way but it was starting to head towards dark and I figured it was a good time to turn back anyway, so I called to Strega so he'd know to start back and off we went. We got to the first spot there should have been a back arrow and... I didn't see one. I looked and I looked down trails and I said "Uh... crap, did I miss a spot for an arrow??"
Well, I picked a direction and started in it. I saw it was getting dark and kept looking for familiar trail signs and realized it really didn't seem right but maybe I'd forgotten. Things often look different as the light dims. Then I saw a spot I KNEW I'd remember if I'd crossed it before and turned around. Now, it was getting pretty dusky and I wanted out of there. I jogged back to the intersection and headed now to the left. I VERY quickly established that was wrong, and decided I didn't want to keep floundering, it was time for a phone call. Fortunately, I had signal. Equally fortunate, Dreama was answering. I didn't waste time. "I'm lost."

I described what I'd crossed and where I was and asked "what direction should I turn" and she told me. I looked, I looked again and noticed there was a second "right" turn. There, suddenly, I saw my back arrow.

With renewed confidence, I hightailed it down that trail, Strega now back on leash as it was getting quite dark. I pulled out my headlamp and pushed the button to turn on the light. Nothing. I pushed it again as I walked. Nothing nothing nothing. Crap. I realized that I was about to be out of light and relying on my cell phone to find my way. That's when I topped a hill and saw the lights. Ah, civilization. I also saw my next back arrow. I looked at it, and I looked straight ahead, and I saw that straight ahead brought me to a street, and that beyond the next treeline was a building that looked like it was very likely to be the back of the very building I'd parked in front of. It wasn't particularly CLOSE, but if I went straight I'd be on a road with streetlamps instead of winding through the woods with no light. I went straight. I heaved a sigh of relief to be on the road with street lights as the fog rolled in, and an even bigger one when I confirmed that the building on the other side of that hill WAS in fact the back of the building I'd parked in front of.

Today's adventure was discovering a car show in Fort Oglethorpe. Unfortunately, my camera was in my other purse, so I had to make do with my iPhone. Also, I had Strega-dog with me which limited the time I could spend getting any one shot. Still, I had fun. Pictures behind the cut.
( Read more... )

(PS, second to last is my favorite)

It's been one hell of a day.

This afternoon I took a circuitous route to go see a man about a horse. I was severely humbled upon realizing that this horse wasn't under western saddle but English hunt seat. I was more humbled to find myself lurching on the horses back like a beginner. At first my body seemed to remember what it was doing, then suddenly I didn't. I got myself under a semblance of control, but then the horse decided he was done with me. After a third buck, I landed on the ground. When I tried to remount, the saddle slipped. I started to try to retack it, the horse took off, broke his bridle and... I spent the rest of the day mucking stalls and sweeping the barn while wondering if the owner was annoyed and just being nice by not saying anything. When I finished sweeping I went to help him get his horses (the one that kicked me off and the one he had been riding which he turned out soon after). I got to the back pasture in time to see the horses run into the woods with him chasing behind, one of his dachshund's barking at the horses heels. I waited for them to come out the other side, figuring if the went around again I'd herd them through the gate heading towards the barn. They came out, looked at me, looked back and eventually here came their owner back out behind them. The dog must have gotten underfoot when they started trotting back towards me. I was ready for them when I suddenly heard the yelping cry of the dog. The horse I'd been riding had stepped on him. They stopped near me, I saw the one had on a halter with the lead rope dangling behind him, the other was still loose. The owner had his dog in his arms. I got the lead rope, patted the horse and told him I had it, go see to the dog.
The dog was ok.

I still feel humbled by the whole thing.

and then this morning for breakfast he's a good boy again, attentive and acting for all the world like he's subordinate and willing to take direction.


I may need to get his thyroid checked.

I admit it, he's driving me insane. Actually, he's just bugging the crap out of me. Why is it I was able to help Romeo overcome so many of his issues and Strega instead just piles on more without ever overcoming the old one? He's not neurotic and nervous, but he's got some other serious issues that I keep dealing with over and over and over again.


He's not a dominant dog, but he is assertive. Fine. Ok. So I do all the "I'm in charge" stuff every day, keep consistent and what does he do? Growls at me last night at bedtime for giving him the same loving pat and kiss on the head he gets every damn night. He's settled into our location and has had time (considering how quickly he tends to adjust to new situations) to acclimate to my current schedule and routine but what does he do when I leave the place? Get's in the trash and last night ate a bunch of wintergreen Trident gum. He's been known to counter surf when I left for a bit in the past, but the trash and the gum is all new. He's even tried counter surfing with me there, with me sending him from the room. He's becoming one of those "I wont be controlled no matter what you do" dogs that laughs at positive reinforcement as "free treats" and refuses to do right if the treat isn't right there in hand. I'm getting so frustrated I'm starting to fantasize about being dogless. Something has gotta give.

Late night resolution. I'm going to get back on track (again) with eating habits. I need to detox.


Of course, I do have some breadlike items I will have to eat before they go stale, but that can be breakfast. Then it's juice, mostly raw veggies and walks.

Of course, it's bedtime and hence easy to steel oneself to these kinds of resolutions. Tomorrow when I meet my friend for aquajogging followed by Thai food, I'll forget I made it.

Spend a few hours with medical professionals and you learn something. I learned today about Reynaud's Disease. I was accused of having it, though a mild case. After looking at pictures online I can definitely say it is mild. I mean, the parts under my fingernails often go blue and my fingers often go very pale, but they're not frosty white like those pictures indicate.

Raynaud's Disease is a vascular disorder apparently. The symptoms are the vessels in the fingers and toes (and sometimes ears and nose though not on me) constrict in the cold or under psychological stress. The result is white or blue fingers and fingertips along with numbing cold sensations, a great difficulty in warming those bits back up and they tend to turn red while they do so.

Doesn't sound unusual, right? Well, there you have it. I don't think it's unusual at all, but when Dee decided to try rubbing my fingers to wrm them (and it really wasn't that cold out yet, but my hands were icy) and I told her not to, it kinda hurts, she and June being medical professionals determined that must be it. June has Reynaulds. Some of y'all can attest that my hands get blue-cold sometimes at room temperature (I remember that freaking Mel out once.. seeing the skin under my nails turn blue like she'd only seen on the dead before).

So, now I have Reynaulds to add to my litany of woe. Not that it's a long litany, or even a litany filled with awful terrible debilitating things. Come to think of it, if I'm to have something in addition to Celiacs, I'm rather ok with it just being Raynaulds.

I just finished a book, Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight. The novel is a classic fantasy novel, but told from the dragon's point of view.

I loved it. I want to read the second one next.

As so often happens though when I let myself think in dragon ages rather than in the fleeting moment of my own humanity, I became sad at the sight of all the antlike activity of my fellow humans. The constant building and expanding into every wild place till no wild places are left. The need of humanity to tame or destroy anything, to leave nothing unused and unexploited for some imagined gain or another.


We grow and leach and spread out so far so fast. I weep to think that once Tennessee was wild like Alaska is now. That eventually, Alaska too will be over run because we humans hate to leave a thing of beauty unexploited. Unsullied.

I dream of a world where dragon's have the skies, and man is but a tiny player in the game of life.

I've really begun to appreciate over the past few years the value of a good quality conversationalist. I know a bunch of guys through the multisport and active community that are very easy on the eyes, but it's interesting how much less attractive they are when they can't hold a conversation about anything except training, races and future races. To be fair, perhaps some simply don't know what else they can safely discuss, but that alone seems a sad reflection on their ability to hold a decent conversation.

Then you get guys like my friend Jimmy, who like me has had to struggle for every athletic gain made. I've enjoyed many wonderful conversations with him ranging from literature and language creation/history to politics to religion and many places in between. I think we once even touched lightly on a few esoteric mathematical theories but I could be thinking of someone else on that. I have never lacked for an interesting and intelligent conversation when visiting or dining with him, making his friendship far more valuable to me. Not being totally self absorbed helps.

I found myself considering this last night as Jimmy and I agreed to have dinner after spin class and another fellow decided to join us. I realized that for all his physical attraction, the other fellow really has little else to offer. Every conversation with him has been halting or jumped tracks mid stream much like a conversation with a 5yr old might, has been entirely self obsessed on his part and centered almost exclusively on training, recovery, races to come or gone and occasionally on work. It was an epiphany for me to realize that I didn't really enjoy those conversations, I merely got sucked into them.

So, here's to those far rarer gems... my friends that are capable of a truly interesting and enjoyable conversation. You know who you are, you're the ones that I've stayed up late with because we were just having too much fun discussing some wild theory, idea or philosophy. You're the ones that I've called randomly because some book made me think of something from some completely other subject and got me contemplating how the world is structured. You're the ones that are good to have around on a cold winters day with a crackling fire or hot tub or other such comfort because rather than staring stupidly into space or talking about what to do when the weather turns pretty again, entertain with words ideas that weave through the heart and soul of how to define beauty and why no one can describe god.

Thank you. Truly, thank you for making my world brighter.

It's a rainy day. Perfect for a spin class later and sure remove most of the remaining leaves from the trees. Honestly, I'm not sure what's easier to run on, dry leaves or wet. I'm sure I'll make a decision on that tomorrow. I'm also sure I'm not helping my ankle heal by running on it despite the twist. I know this logically, but emotionally I just can't stand not running. I've been unable to do anything for so long now that any further delay in getting active promises to drive me into the deepest, darkest depression possible.

Yesterday evening I followed through on a craving I've had since I first got back into town last weekend. I went to Shuford's for a BBQ baked potato. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but that place has some of the best BBQ ever. I got there just in time too, just after I ordered and sat down a whole pack of boys poured in. Ok, maybe not boys, they apparently were military out of uniform, but they looked like boys to ME. I'm getting old. As expected, the BBQ was awesomely delicious and well worth going in there. Normally I'm not a fan of going out to eat alone, but for Shuford's I could make an exception.

There's this guy I know with a habit I found annoying as heck and now am merely amused by it.


He says he'll call and then doesn't.

See, I tend to expect if you tell me "I'll call you tomorrow" to hear from you "tomorrow." The first time or two that you don't follow through I'll be mildly perturbed, then it's downright annoying. I mean, if you're not gonna call why even say you will? After the umpteenth time though, it's just laughable. Got a text saying "I'll call you tomorrow" and I giggled. I almost wrote back "Malarky" just to see the response, but I decided against it. I suspect soon I will follow through on such a response though. I mean, it IS malarky, and downright laughable.

I knew Strega couldn't be trusted with cats, but I kinda hoped that it was more a desire to chase, that a cat that stood it's ground and went on the offense might be ok.

Well, today he chased after a kitty that seemed kinda friendly. It hissed and arched at him, he stopped a moment and then went after it. It ran... ducked under some juniper, then made for trees. I thought it would be ok, it got into the tree. Strega kept leaping to get to it though, so it tried to move from tree to tree and wound up on some limbs that couldn't quite hold it. It sagged down too low. I was trying to get there to get him and I saw him knock it out of the tree, then he was on it. It almost got away again, but it couldn't get up the tree trunk nearest it and he grabbed it and was just starting to do the "I'm'a kill you" dog shake when I grabbed him. I pulled him back and he relaxed his jaw just enough that kitty got loose and ran off. He started trying despite my grabbing him to go after it. I had to grab him, pull him back and flipped him on his back, growling and yelling at him and holding his throat and ear...

He still, when I finally got up and pulled him up, tried to break away and go back after it. I had a good hold of his collar though and pulled him away. His nose was dripping blood.

I hope to god that kitty is ok. I have no idea whose kitty it is, one of the neighbors didn't recognize it as belonging to anyone there. Still, it had a collar... it was someone's baby.

Now though, if it is ok, it'll know better than to ever trust a strange canine.

I feel old and broken tonight.

I can tell Strega got used to a lot of activity while I was in Memphis. He's even more shifty and excitable than before. Unfortunately, with my ankle freshly twisted I can't take him for the long walks he's craving. If he can hold out till Wednesday without making me want to kill him...

As it is, he's already had a good 30 min RUN. I biked. You'd think that would hold him for more than an hour, but no. No, within an hour he was up and begging for walkies or treats or dinner or just anything mom anything now I'm bored and I want entertainment NOW! Mind you, the back door is open and there's all kinds of stuff he could do back there, but that's not good enough. He wants the FRONT yard so there aren't any fences. Yes, the FRONT yard so he can harass everyone trying to walk their dog along the road.

I wish dogs were allowed on the Riverwalk. It's nice, flat and pretty. Flat with a twisted ankle is good. Flat with a twisted ankle means not making it worse. Hmm.... there's gotta be a way.

Ouchouchouchouch...

Today was a trail run with Dreama, Trey, Sergio, Carl and Mark. We planned to run the trail segment from 111 to Hotwater, including two creek crossings. Well, with all the rain recently, those creeks were pretty dangerous.

Let me first state that I'm usually pretty good about creek crossings. I don't usually have a lot of trouble with fast water. Still, when we got to the first one I knew it would be dangerous. I was especially concerned for Sergio and Dreama, both of them being much smaller and more easily swept away. Fortunately, we'd brought a rope.

After going back and forth along the bank a bit trying to find the best place to ford the raging water (and it was RAGING as well as incredibly cold) Carl got a little over halfway and wound up on a rock. The rope wasn't long enough to go further, so we decided to send Dreama and Sergio over. We didn't know where Mark was at this point, he'd wandered upstream looking for another place to cross. Now it was Trey and I, and whoever went last had to untie the rope and make their way across. Well, I told Trey to go ahead, that I'd cross without. He started off and I went upstream a touch thinking that over by those big rocks up there might work if I could get to the big one and jump to the flat one past it.

Things did not go according to that plan. I managed to get to the big rock, but it was so treacherous getting there that I didn't want to turn around and go back in the freezing water as my legs got less able to respond. The narrow area between that rock and the flat one just beyond was too far for me to jump. It was about 6'. Just long enough not to jump when the rock I was on was already too slick to stand on, and the water between far too deep and fast to even touch a toe in without something to hold onto. The rest agreed to finish their crossing and come throw me the rope and brace it. I was going to get wet. Very wet. But, if the person on the other end tied the rope to a tree then pulled me as I headed across, I knew it would work, and here's where things got dicey.

I got the end of the rope fine. I tied a big loop in it, and held on with my left hand through the loop. Then I tossed my hat across and prepared to toss my water pack across so I'd have that much less on me to worry about (and yes, the other end of the rope was tied off to a tree and Carl had a loose hold of it at the rock's edge). Carl prepared to catch my water pack, and as I swung it to toss, my hold on my rock slipped and I fell feet first right into the torrent.

I held that pack up and held onto the rope as the water immediately swept me off my feet. I felt the rope tighten against Carl, turning me face up and I kicked for whatever I had in me towards the bank. It was only half a second and I was in calmer water, clutching that rope in one hand and my water pack in the other and hearing Trey yelling "you're ok?! You're OK!!" I kept hold, the current was still there after all, but turned over and got my legs under me and, with Carl's help, climbed back out of the water. Dreama informed me I'd scared her to death. She looked up from squeezing the water out of her shirt from her own dunking just in time to see me fall into the raging water, and she'd no idea if I had the rope or not.

To say the least, I'm glad I had gotten hold of that rope before trying to throw anything across to Carl!

We looked for Mark but he was out of sight and out of earshot, and we agreed the only thing we could do was to get out of there and if he didn't turn up at one end of the trail or the other, we'd have to call for the search teams. There was nothing we could do for him if he was washed down the creek.

Shivering and with feet like bricks, back out of the gorge and off to the second creek crossing we went. It was a rough climb, my feet of clay were hard to control. Still, I scrambled up the rocks and around and ran on those few sections that were nice, soft trail till we got to the next crossing. Here it was narrower, shallower, but still fast and with some spots none of us wanted to tangle with. We looked around and Carl started to trek across a slick rock in shallow water, but halfway across he saw a tree down that was low to the water so that if we slipped we'd not die. Trey followed Carl, Sergio, Dreama and I headed for the tree. I was NOT feeling adventurous anymore and had no traction to speak of. We didn't even pretend to walk across the tree, despite it's massive size. No, I got down and butt-scooted across to "victory."

Of course, now I was exhausted and had clay feet to go with even less traction than usual on a wet day in the woods. Every place I found rocks on the trail, I had to walk lest I slip. I slowed down. Even that wasn't enough though, I managed to step on a rock hidden by leaves and rolled my ankle. I screamed out, but the others were far ahead and couldn't have helped anyway. I limped on, gritting my teeth till I found them waiting for me to tell me where the trail was going. I called out that I'd twisted my ankle and sent them on to get the car. The trail was almost over, and it would cross the road before the end. We agreed I would wait at the road and let them get me. After all, we still had to get the other cars at the other side and see if Mark would appear.

Fortunately, Mark did appear. He didn't find a way across the creek and by the time he returned to where we had been, we were gone. So, he headed back the way we came. I'd hoped he would do that, but worried that perhaps he'd found a spot that looked likely as I had done and found himself in trouble. I admit a bit of hypocrisy there.

Anyway, Dad and Larry before either of you fuss at me please know that I'd never have tried any of that if I'd been out there without the support of the others. If I'd been alone, I'd have turned around and headed back. Also, I doubt I'll be the one to go across sans rope again. Not if it means I'll get another bad twist to my ankle (which hurts ALOT now!) I just wish my dog understood that I'm in too much pain for long walks right now. Ouchouchouchouch!