We were on our morning walk today when we met these two recently born youngsters. Lyra, our two year old, girl Rottie, was trying to figure out if they were some kind of strange dog she could play with. While the two calves were seeing their first dog ever and weren't sure at first if she wasn't just an odd looking little cow.

They parted company safely.

(78m) I've lived next door to a wildlife refuge with a forty acre, lake for decades. For most of my life, I'd walked the 1.5 miles around the lake enjoying all of its splendor without thinking twice about it. But, three years ago, due to having gained a massive amount of weight combined with my advancing age - I discovered that I no longer had either the strength nor stamina to even attempt it. The thought terrified me because it meant that I could no longer access this extraordinary landscape and it was a tragic blow to what little was left of my quality of life.

In response, I set out to lose the excess weight by dieting and walking every day as far as I could get around the lake without having to stop due to exhaustion. It took me two months of steady effort before I could walk the entire circumferance from start to finish without stopping.

Now, three years later, many lbs lighter, I walk the mile and a half around the lake without needing to stop and rest. The stamina it's given me has allowed me to continue enjoying my life to the fullest. Compared to so many of my peers, many who can no longer walk without assistance. It feels like a huge victory. My quality of life is the principal beneficiary.

While for many of you walking is about how many steps you can take in a day? For me, being able to walk at all has made the difference between an enjoyable life and no life at all.

Walking, for me, IS life!

Lyra came to us as a 17-month-old rescue. She'd been confined to a suburban backyard most of her young life. Much to our surprise, she had never been swimming. Once we introduced her to water, we quickly realized that, for her at least? Swimming did not come naturally.

We were encouraged to get her a life jacket. But, I chose instead to keep practicing with her. Days turned to weeks, and she just got better, and better. Most of all, she gained confidence in her ability!

She's a dyed in the wool swimming water Rottie now!

It was a wonderful thing to see.

I've had a highly reliable Galaxy smartwatch for several years. Bought the RingConn 2 for its sleep tracking features. Everything seemed okay with the new ring until today. I have a walking trail circuit that I do every day - so, I'm well aware of the average # of steps it takes.

The ring is wrong - and not by just a little.

Should I return it and hope the replacement won't have similar issues?

Edit: Up until today, the two different step counts have been very close in their mutual estimates.

I've seen several posts in this forum re how much fun herding balls can be. So we finally took the plunge and got one with a sturdy outer cover. As advised, I inflated the ball until the cover was skin tight to reduce the prospect of bite punctures - and away she went!

As expected? Our soon-to-be two year old girl, loved it!

...to death, in short order.

It lasted nearly four full minutes before it got punctured. That's about ten bucks a minute. It really was top notch entertainment, but a little too rich for my blood.

On inspection, the inner ball had a small hole in it about the size of a pea. One of its handles was nearly chewed through and there was a three-inch split in one of the seams.

I'm afraid that it's going to take a much tougher ball than this one to stand up to a Rottie.

BTW? I'm not really complaining too loudly here. I knew the risk and chose to take it. It may not have survived for very long, but my God did she have fun while it lasted!