Winter Blues

Letting the dog out after the snow storms was challenging. Blue had a rough month – she is our 11 ½ year old Blue Merle Collie. We use a ramp for her to get up and down the 2 front steps. We started covering the ramp with a table cloth so we didn’t have to shovel the ramp in order for her to be able to use it. Once we cleared space for her, the places for her to go do her business were limited. The roadways were covered with toxic salt. Though we had booties for her to wear and we worked at keeping her feet clean, salt got into her pads and she ended up with an infection that put her on antibiotics for 5 weeks.


The winter’s exercise was invigorating with frigid temps and heavy upper body work. I discovered I enjoy physical activity with a purpose. And the constant snowfall in January gave purpose to my physical activities. Even the mail box had to be dug out in order for the mail carrier to get near it. I would go out daily for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, being careful to not raise the shovel above my chest level when tossing snow. It was not unusual to see me out in the street breaking up ice and snow. I loved that my BG numbers responded nicely to the work outs. If I can discover a few purposeful ways to exercise, boredom will no longer be a deterrent from physical activity.