The big guy

Wow.  We picked up a dog the other day from the rescue society who we work with.  He is part Great Pyrenees, mixed with something else.  We named him Sampson.  I didn't really realize how big he is until we got him home.  The lady who had him has four Great Pyrenees, so he looked normal-sized at her house.  I should have known when he took up most of the room on the back seat of the Saturn on the ride home.  But still I didn't realize how big he is until he got home and I compared him to my dog.  I thought she was a smallish-normal-sized dog.  But she is tiny in comparison!

He is about 85 pounds right now and he is under-nourished.  I can feel all of his bones.  You wouldn't be able to notice just by looking at him thought since he has so much fur.  It is amazing how much fur he has! 

We picked him up on Saturday, so today will be five days.  Today is the first day that he has been left alone.

I have to admit we have had some problems with him.  He has been in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for about a year with no one on the property.  I guess the owner had the farmer down the road feeding him every few days.  I would think that he would be very wild, but really he is very kind.  He needs to learn manners about dog interaction about people interaction, but he learns fast.  He is not house trained, but he has only gone once in the house.  He has learned sit and come.  He walks well on a leash...not great, but well.  He isn't aggressive about food.  We have been putting a doggy diaper on him every time he comes in.  He hasn't been bad about that either.  He gets to listen to the radio all day long.  :-) 

We are not sure if we will be able to keep him or not.  But for now we are keeping our hearts open to the possibilities and giving him all the love that he should have had over the past year and a half of his life.

This picture isn't him, but it is about the size he is.  He has more golden color on his back and a mask of golden, white and black on his face and head.

Zumba for the Wii

Hi. Well, who would have thought that I would like Zumba?  I wanted a new exercise video. I was going to get a beginner's yoga video. I really meant to...but, really I have so much...how to describe it?  I have so much not really quiet, but having to be focused and quiet and focused and quiet (I couldn't think of any better words) in my life.  That I started thinking that I need something fun and active. Something that is a little silly. 

So I was good and did some homework. I asked my friend about Just Dance. She got some additional Just Dance games for Christmas, so she was happy to show me. I liked them, but the characters on the screen weren't really people. For some reason that bugged me.  I then looked at what other exercise options there were for the Wii. I didn't find too many. I looked at Zumba last year too, so I decided to look at it again. Carl helped me research a YouTube video to get an idea of what it would look like. I watched a few and read a lot of reviews. I found that the first Zumba had some problems. The second was better, but I heard that the Zumba Core was the best. I looked it up and found a video of it. The people were a lot more realistic. That clinched it.

I went to Target and found it on sale!  I brought it home and tried it out. Um, it is not easy. I really have no rhythm and no dance ability. I almost got discouraged by the tutorials, but then I just jumped into a low-impact, 20 minute class. Supposedly I mastered it according to them, but in my opinion I have a long ways to go.

I was sweating though and I was jazzed. I guess that is what it is about. I was so jazzed that I took a 20 minute walk to settle down!!  Belle liked that too. 

I haven't been able to stick to any kind of exercise regimen, so we will have to see how it goes.  I'll keep you posted.