It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: to shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. Psalms 92:1-2 (KJV)
Today I got to go to Parma Heights Baptist Church for a walk around the grounds and some great play time off leash at the fenced in playground! It is the perfect place for me to do my zoomies and not get yelled at. The video shows me in action and is very short because the Flip batteries died before I was through with my running. It only shows the very beginning, but I ran lots more after that.
It was fun exploring the obstacles on the playground too. I went inside one that looked like a big frog or alligator, not sure what it was and even found a big "bowl" of water because of the early rain that came last night and early this morning.
I love it when my pets join me during my Bible study time. I admit, I had to put Spunky Doodle on the table, but at least she stayed and settled in. She was near the window but then moved right on my book! Roxy came up on her own and sat next to me nice.
I am currently doing the Armor of God study by Priscilla Shirer along with some ladies from church. The author was in the movie, War Room which I enjoyed very much. Are you currently involved in a Bible study?
Almost two weeks ago, my husband fell on an uneven sidewalk on our way to play Pickleball. This time he broke his collarbone so no more walking the dog for at least six weeks. When we do walk around the neighborhood, we leave Roxy (the dog) at home and I insist we hold hands because I'm afraid he might trip again and even do more damage. I am trying to think of places he can walk where the ground is even, or on grass so it wouldn't hurt so much if he did fall.
Emergency told us it should heal on its own without surgery but would take about six weeks. He has to keep that right arm still and cannot raise it at all which means he is stuck in that shirt (unless we cut it off), he can only do sponge baths (can't get the sling wet), and pretty much only has use of his left hand. Even reading is difficult because turning the pages is not easy. He came up with a great idea though--get some audio books on CDs from the library, which I did. The first one he listened to and reviewed was Box of Butterflies by Roma Downey.
He wants very much to join Roxy and me on our walks, but I'm just not comfortable with that yet. Our dog is very, very strong and unpredictable so holding hands with the leash in my other just doesn't work. I feel bad for him though knowing how much he loves to walk, so I got him a Cubii. I figure he can use that while I am out walking Roxy. It didn't work with him sitting in the swivel rocking chair, or on the couch so we set it up in the basement where he can use it while sitting on a straight chair watching TV. At least it gives his legs more exercise. Hopefully I can get over my fear of him falling again enough to allow him to join us on a dog walk perhaps on our church grounds.
It's been so nice outside lately that I told him he could pull weeds if he wanted and he was thrilled with that idea. He loves being active and that's something he could do I think without falling. Then though, he wanted to do more and worked at trying to pull out some of the day lilies that are no longer good.
Poor guy. Other things that have changed are as follows:
I vacuum. I wash the dishes. I wash him. I get him his meals. I cut the grass. I take out the garbage. I clean the toilets. (He used to do all these things--I should dust too, but haven't gotten to that yet but I will one of these days.)
I thank God that it happened in the summer so I don't mind walking the dog as much and that he can go outside without wearing a coat or boots and even sit on the porch to enjoy the fresh air. I am thankful he isn't in the hospital and can be at home. I'm thankful that I get the whole bed to myself because he is much more comfortable sleeping in the chair. I'm thankful this is a temporary situation and that he will heal and recover from this.
Thanks to all who have been praying for us as we navigate through this tough time, adjusting to a new normal and figuring out the best way to do things.
Boy, this was a bit scary! We went to explore a new trail--the Grassroots Gorge Overlook Loop. At first, I thought we were already on it but that was just the trail leading up to it. There were signs at the beginning of the trail and a upper and a lower one. I saw "Enter" with a big green arrow on the top trail and a big red "Wrong Way" sign on the bottom trail, so we went on the top trail. As we were moving along nicely, we passed another walker coming in our direction so I told her she was going the wrong way, that there were signs at the beginning of the trail. A bit later, two more ladies were coming toward us and when I told them they were going the wrong way, they said I was going the wrong way! Oops. They told us that the top trail was for the bikes and the bottom one was for the hikers. I was really all one trail that made a loop. The path was pretty narrow so it was already hard to keep the 6 ft. distance when passing someone. I thought, wow, bikes come on this path! That thought really scared me because some places were very narrow and there wasn't much space to move off the path, the hill was right there! When we finished the loop, I checked those signs again and sure enough, there was a bike at the bottom of them. The bike on the red wrong way sign had a line through it and a bit farther down, a sign read "Hiking only in this direction."
The next day, I wanted to go back and go the right way, so we did. We went early on a Saturday morning and it was more crowded. We saw a biker with a dog running along with him enter the loop so we waited for him to come out before going in. I hate to think of what would happen if we were walking that loop with Roxy and the guy on the bike and his dog came at us from the other direction--very scary! I can't even believe he would do that with his dog on such a narrow trail! Anyhow, after they came out, we went in and did pass one biker coming at us. There wasn't much space to go off the trail to let him through, but we managed. It was a nice loop but we won't be doing that one again, at least not with Roxy.
Then we continued on a path across from the Grassroots Gorge entrance and found the Little Loop (picture above). At least there was no bike on that sign, just a one way directional sign so that's the way we went. The trail went through the woods and was very narrow--not enough room to pass anyone so I was glad it was only one way and no one else came when we were on it. There were quite steep drops on the sides and I was glad Roxy didn't pull me too much. We saw a couple raccoons chasing each other about midway down the hill and fortunately, Roxy did not go after them! In the picture it doesn't look too bad, but at some places, the hill was steep on both sides of the trail.
I was relieved when we went back down to the flat circle area. We did take a little detour to do a little loop on flat ground through the tall flowers/grass. Some of the grass was taller than Gerard! Roxy liked it a lot though.
We still have more trails to explore, but those are for another day!
I got to go to West Creek Park and WOW! We couldn't even cover it in just one day so I am doing several blog posts about my outings there. The video is a collection of several pics taken during my first two outings there. I was so excited to actually be walking right in the woods and off the concrete paths. They have actual dirt trails to walk on, some flat and some on hills.
Plus, a lot of dogs come there to walk and explore. Some I got to meet but some I just had to let go by. They have trail signs, but sometimes my mom still gets confused. My dad says it would be easy to get lost in the woods and they should have people stationed around to help with directions.
So far I explored four different areas. Our first stop was along the way to get to the main part where the big circle path is. We explored in the woods on the Lookout Ridge trail first. The picture to the left is of how excited I got running up the hill to dad. I was moving so fast, he missed my head!
The main part with the big circle path at the bottom is where I was able to get a drink at the doggie fountain. It also has benches for people to sit on. My mom and dad were sitting on one near the end of our outing. I spotted something move in the big high grass nearby and went to chase it. My mom wasn't expecting that and tipped over, almost falling off the bench. Too bad dad didn't get a picture of that! It would have been a funny one. To my credit though, I did stop when I heard her yell my name. That was enough for one day--about an hour.
On our second trip, we did three trails . . . sort of. The first one we thought was going through the park, but it was the path that went along the main street next to the park. My mom was disappointed we wasted time on that one.
Then though, we followed two trails that went through the woods. The first one we did was pretty narrow and long which led to the Skyline Overlook. See picture to the right. we could actually see the Cleveland skyline above the treetops in the center of the tall buildings downtown from there but they didn't show up on the photo. It was pretty cool though.
Lastly, we went on the Lookout Ridge Loop, but we backtracked to get back because we were getting tired by then and it seemed to be blocked to complete the loop. Mom is still not sure how that trail goes. We'll probably try it again another day to see if we can figure out the loop part.
Next time we are going to check out some loop trails off the main circle path. Those are really an adventure! Be sure to look for that post (West Creek Park Adventure - Part 2)!
My first trip to Snow Road Park was so much fun! It's even bigger and better than Fernhill with more opportunities to go off path and explore! We only went on the main path today, but that means we have more areas to explore yet on future trips. I really want to come back here again soon! It's great for hot days because the woods path is mostly shade, unlike Fernhill that has more sunny places. Between the two, I like this is my favorite. Have you ever been here?
Trail to Greenbriar Commons
I see a pool and playground!
On our next outing, I got to explore a side trail that mostly goes uphill all the way. There is a bridge and a bench along the way. The first time we went on it, we only went as far as the bench, but the next time we went all the way to the top and discovered it connects with an area called Greenbriar Commons! There was a pool, a library, a playground and pickleball and bocce ball courts up there. My mom was very excited about that. There was a nice breeze up there and a bench to rest at.
Hey, that's that path down there we came up on before!
On another visit, we discovered another way down on a trail through the woods that comes out just a little way past the bridge. It's fun to discover new things!
Another day we explored the wide open space on the other side of the park from the trail. There are some woods over there too, but no hiking paths.
Last time we went, mom led us off the cement trail along a dirt trail that followed along the creek. That was the most fun yet even though it was mostly flat. There were some very narrow spots and at one point a little ditch that dad crossed first, then I jumped over and mom had to let go of my leash because she couldn't go as fast as me. Dad had a little freak out, but he was able to pick it up pretty quick. Sorry no picture of that.
I love walking at the parks and look forward to exploring a place called West Creek! I highly recommend going to the park! Woof! Woof!
It's hard to remember to take pictures when you are having so much fun!
Today I got to go to Parma Heights Baptist Church for a walk around the grounds and some great play time off leash at the fenced in playground! It is the perfect place for me to do my zoomies and not get yelled at. The video shows me in action and is very short because the Flip batteries died before I was through with my running. It only shows the very beginning, but I ran lots more after that.
