Retrieving and repetitions
The dog was funny last week. Although she mostly only mouths or chews up her own stuff, two incidents last week amused me. In the first, a gust of wind blew a receipt off the table. I didn't notice it had fallen until Samus picked it up in her mouth and then looked at me as if to say, "Now what?" She wasn't chewing it; just holding it and awaiting instructions. I called her over to me, and gave her a treat for bringing it to me. She did something similar later in the week. When we have stuff we intend to take upstairs but aren't going up there just yet, we used to just put them on the stairs and take it up with us later. We mostly stopped doing that once Samus came into our lives because we didn't want her to get into anything, and because we sometimes place her toys on the stairs to "hide" them and ask her to go "find" them. Well, I guess I forgot, because on Friday, I went shopping and then placed a small package of feminine hygiene products on the stairs to take up later. That afternoon, I was sitting in the office at the computer when Samus came trotting in, proudly holding the package, which she had "found" on the stairs. Again, I was able to call her to me and reward her for bringing them before she got too attached.
Yesterday was Raffi's annual summer camp. This year it was very small, just 25 people, at his "old" location. (He's just moved his school to a new location, 3 miles down the road.) I had a great time, but it was exhausting. We started out with an hour-long "warm-up". I was dripping sweat by the end of it, but was not the worst off. A few people stepped out of the last five minutes or so. Then, I did an hour of ninjitsu, which was cool, but rather complex and involved a lot of forced diving to the ground and landing on my chest with one of my arms in a combined shoulder and wrist lock behind my back. The next hour, I spent doing "Chinese Martial Arts", which was taught by a guy who basically would show us random stuff as he felt like it, and what he felt like that hour was "energetic takedowns", which were basically subtle movements which led to the aggressor falling down in awkward "can't get out of your own way" fashions. It was cool, but again, I hit the ground a lot. Then we had lunch. Then, I did an hour of Thai boxing drills, which were pretty energy intense and contact-heavy. (But the alternative that session was tai-chi, which I just wasn't in the mood for.) Then, I did an hour of single stick drills. It's been a long time since I have played with sticks and I was pleased that most of the technique came right back to me, but my hands and wrists and shoulders are out of practice with that weight and motion. Then, I would have done another hour of "Chinese Martial Arts" or even the double stick drills that were happening, but I was brain-dead and tired already, and knew I faced an hour and a half drive home. Went to bed by 8 PM. Slept until 9 AM when Glen and Samus woke me up, and damn am I sore today. My legs aren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but my shoulders are pretty done. It's so interesting when you go to a camp like this, though, and then remember that most of the classes I take during the week are an hour long in total! Yesterday, we did an hour of just warm-ups!! Then, the classes we could take all began with the knowledge that we were warm, so jumped right in. Rough, but I had a blast.
Yesterday was Raffi's annual summer camp. This year it was very small, just 25 people, at his "old" location. (He's just moved his school to a new location, 3 miles down the road.) I had a great time, but it was exhausting. We started out with an hour-long "warm-up". I was dripping sweat by the end of it, but was not the worst off. A few people stepped out of the last five minutes or so. Then, I did an hour of ninjitsu, which was cool, but rather complex and involved a lot of forced diving to the ground and landing on my chest with one of my arms in a combined shoulder and wrist lock behind my back. The next hour, I spent doing "Chinese Martial Arts", which was taught by a guy who basically would show us random stuff as he felt like it, and what he felt like that hour was "energetic takedowns", which were basically subtle movements which led to the aggressor falling down in awkward "can't get out of your own way" fashions. It was cool, but again, I hit the ground a lot. Then we had lunch. Then, I did an hour of Thai boxing drills, which were pretty energy intense and contact-heavy. (But the alternative that session was tai-chi, which I just wasn't in the mood for.) Then, I did an hour of single stick drills. It's been a long time since I have played with sticks and I was pleased that most of the technique came right back to me, but my hands and wrists and shoulders are out of practice with that weight and motion. Then, I would have done another hour of "Chinese Martial Arts" or even the double stick drills that were happening, but I was brain-dead and tired already, and knew I faced an hour and a half drive home. Went to bed by 8 PM. Slept until 9 AM when Glen and Samus woke me up, and damn am I sore today. My legs aren't as bad as I thought they'd be, but my shoulders are pretty done. It's so interesting when you go to a camp like this, though, and then remember that most of the classes I take during the week are an hour long in total! Yesterday, we did an hour of just warm-ups!! Then, the classes we could take all began with the knowledge that we were warm, so jumped right in. Rough, but I had a blast.