The fall

The end of the story is - the next day, today, I had no pain and no lingering issues. Not back, not knees.

Wednesday, 10:30am, walking down the sidewalk, within a block of our house, headed home, the dogs (golden retrievers) and I saw a dog in his own yard.

We had not see him all summer. And I had actually thought maybe he had died over the winter. A dark brown lab. Big. Solid.

There is a sign in the front yard and the back yard, of that house, that they have an electric fence. And while the dog charges to the front of his yard when he sees us, and barks, we had never seen him out of his yard.

Wednesday, he charged forward, to the end of his driveway, but I do not think he barked.

And we were on the opposite sidewalk, across the street.

So I did not give him a lot of thought.

We passed the house and were on our way down the block when I suddenly was knocked down, hard.

I landed full weight, hard on both knees, on the sidewalk. Sudden. Like a linebacker hit me from behind. There was no catching myself.

And I had one leash in each hand. (And a poop bag). I held on to the dogs tighter. I did not drop either leash. (Nor the poop bag.)

As soon as I hit, I rolled to sit down and grabbed for the pup. She was frantic. Going every which way. I pulled her in my lap and wrapped both arms around her, tight.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that the older dog was on her feet and still with me. I saw the brown lab was right with us, moving. Like so close he was touching all of us.

The older dog was standing still and did not look too afraid. She was not cowering. She was not barking. She was just calmly staying with me.

The pup was frantic. I think she thought - he is going to eat me.

So I sat on the sidewalk, holding her as tight as I could, eyeing the lab, and yelling for help.

An old man and a woman, from two different houses, came to help.

He chased the lab back to his own yard and pounded on their doors. Front and inside garage, the big garage door was open. Really pounded. And yelled. No one came. He was afraid to open the door, to put the dog in the house, because his hackles were raised.

Then the old man came back to us. Still yelling at the dog to stay home. And he asked if I wanted him to call and ambulance, he said - you went down really hard.

I said - Let me get up on my feet and see.

He said he would hang on to the pup. And I showed him how.

The lady said she would hang on to the older dog and I said, she will just stay with me.

And I got to my feet, watching the pup closely. She was still clearly thinking - he might come back over here and eat me. 

I was very shocked to have no pain in either knee. I could stand. I could walk.

They both said they would walk home with me. I said I thought I was okay and was almost home.

When we got home, my right knee started to hurt. Not like bone hurt. But like scrapped knee hurt. (I was wearing pants). I did not even look. I got two soft ice packs and strapped them to my knees and sat down.

When I looked later the right knee was scraped.

And my husband stopped on his way home, after work,  and knocked on their door. He said - telling point - they had to come out on the porch to talk, the dog was going nuts inside.

My husband is very nice and very diplomatic. But he can also be very clear.

He told them what happened. He told them he was as concerned for the dogs as he was for me. He told them two neighbors had to help me. One had to chase their dog home so I could even get up. And he told them they needed to fix whatever was going on so people could walk down the sidewalk with their dogs, safely.

They were an older couple who spends most of the year in Florida (who summers in Florida!?!). They have been home for about ten days.

And they were really horrified by what had happened. Aghast. They had no idea. 

So neither of their neighbors went (after my fall) and found them later. The woman (who helped me) told me the dog has left its yard four times with her. I don't know if it knocked her down. I don’t know if that is four times in the last ten days or since she has lived there. Clearly she did not tell them. 

I had told my husband that I had no idea what the dog’s intentions were. Still. It might have been friendly and just over exuberant. It might have been hostile. No idea. And I wonder if the electric fence is not working (since they got home), and they don’t know it.

I did not have my pepper spray with me. But even if I had, I could not have used it. It was all I could do to hang on to the pup. And the lab was constant motion, all around us, very close.

My new bike

My former bike was a garage sale find.

We got a new seat and handle bars.

The additions allowed me to sit up straight which was easiest on my lower back.





The last time I was on that bike was 2011.

In 2012 I broke my foot/was in a boot for the summer and was having equilibrium problems.

In 2013 I did not get on my bike nor in the pool (for whatever reason).





My family rides bikes to and from the pool all season.

Even if I was not getting in (the water and weather is WAY to cold for me so far) the pool, I at least wanted to go with them this year.





My husband has not liked the narrow tires on my garage sale bike since the beginning. He is afraid of ruts and holes in the street, crevices between grass and sidewalk in many lawns, space between planks on wooden walking bridges.





We bike shopped last week. We went to each bike shop in town saying - we need wide tires, peddles slightly forward of seat, handlebars which would allow me to sit upright, broad seat, 3 speed, back peddle style brakes.

These were beach cruiser style bikes.

I really just had to ride each one to see what I liked.

Yes, expensive.






I ended up with a Brownie.

I have ridden it to the pool and back, several times now.

It is very comfortable, easy to ride, steer, stop, balance.

I like it very much.

It was worth the money.





I honestly thought middle would immediately want one, but surprisingly she did not. She actually prefers a boy, cross country type of bike. That is good. My husband was not buying another one.  .  .





Here is a borrowed picture of the light lavender color brownie I got -

Here are 2 borrowed pictures of the basket my husband got for me -

Basket detaches from the bike with the push of a button and can then be carried by its handle. So I can put my pool things in it, and then carry the whole basket into the pool area. I can't carry anything heavy (like 5 water bottles or script for youngest's next show in a big binder) or it messes with the steering. But my towel, phone, drink, etc is fine.

Foam Roller

 You might have caught my note that Middle is currently doing preventive knee physical therapy.

This is with a quality sports physical therapist.

If you have not heard me say this in the past, here it is again. Physical therapists come in different levels. There are those who are geared toward people getting on and off the toilet and in and out of the car. Then there are those who are athletes themselves and work toward that end with their patients. The same way I would never go to an over weight nutritionist, I would also not go to an out of shape physical therapist with poor posture.

Middle's therapist has her doing high level, effective, training type work.

He has her using a foam roller and ankle weights for some of her moves.

We bought both at Walmart. They actually had a very good selection.

I believe her foam roller was 18". There were larger sizes available.

Her ankle weights were 3 lb. 5 lb were also available.

I am attaching a full copy of the sheet that came with the roller, because when it is all in the package at the store, you can't see the moves.

ADDED LATER - this is a very thick, short, pool noodle I have used in a foam roller type of way. In comparison to middle's (green, below) it is not as good. Hers is thicker. Her shorter length is easier to roll. Hers is ram rod straight and mine has a natural curve to it.