The Vet and My Fur Kids

Taking an afternoon nap.

We have been to the Vet so many times in the last month, we have singularly funded the clinic...at least it feels that way.  Our dogs have become a staff favorite, not just because we provide them work, but that their mushy faces and schmoozer personalities have won the staff over.  Even when Oliver has a temp of 103+ he still gives the Dr. a big old kiss.  When Ralph picks him up from the vet, he has to run around and say hello to everyone before he gives Ralph the time of day.  His favorite thing is to stand on the scale...He knows he gets a doggie treat if he does.  Riley just looks studly and does his best to look sweet and get lots of love and treats.  He succeeds.  But he loves his peeps the most.  He ran straight to Ralph when it was time to go. 

Here is a timeline of visits.

1. Oliver gets neutered $$$ (end of June)
2. Oliver gets the flu - between Imodium chicken and rice diet and pet store kaopectate we get the issue resolved - lots of carpet scrubbing and cleaning.  We were constantly washing towels.
3. Riley gets the flu - won't eat, won't drink, ends up with a viciously upset tummy and blood in his poop.  Goes to the vet.  Gets an IV for dehydration and meds to take to get better.  Finally got him to each chicken and his meds.  Issue resolved $$$$ (we need to invest in chicken farming)  The dogs managed to single handedly clean out our stock of chicken from the freezer.  What you don't do for those furry little faces.
4. We notice a small lump on Oliver's neck.  Bulldogs are prone to growths, so we put it under "watch".  The lump continues to grow.  By the end of the week it is huge, (tennis ball size) hot and I am convinced it is a tumor and we were going to lose our dog.  I cry all the way in to my SU convention and part way through the morning, Ralph takes him in and it was determined after a biopsy that it is a huge abscess.  Phew!  Still serious, but we get to keep our dog.  They had to put him under, drain the rancid nasty fluids from his neck and they inserted surgical tubing to keep the hole open and draining.  He goes back in on Thursday for the tube to be removed. $$$$

You can see the tubing at the top and sides of his neck.  Gives you an idea of just how big the abscess was.

The hard part is keeping a 7 month old puppy from scratching his neck (cone of shame won't work, it would sit right on the wound) and running around.  We use an old cut up t-shirt to catch the draining fluids and to prevent him from scratching.  It is even harder keeping Riley from wanting to lick it to keep it clean.  Lots of kennel time and separation. They have to do separate walks and potty runs.  Hard for all of us.


I will say that the University Pet Clinic has been soooooo good to us. They groom the dogs every time they go in for a stay as well as provide top care.  I would recommend this office in a heartbeat.

You never dream of getting so attached to these furry little creatures, but my gosh...They both have a piece of my heart.  It has been an emotionally draining month and I am glad they are both on the mend.

Ta Ta for now.

 

Happy 4th

This was my project for this year.  Didn't turn out too bad and it was completed before the 4th

This day was spent relaxing, working on convention projects, watching movies and hanging with my boys.  We watched Lincoln for the 1st time.  I love the 4th of July and everything it entails.  Parades, families, good food and fun.!

 We enjoyed home made steak sandwiches with my famous homemade onion rings and fried pickles...Lest you think there were no vegetables, the sandwiches were topped with combination of sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions.

I know!!! Right!  They were good and I wish you had been there to enjoy them with us. 

We weren't into fighting the crowds to go see the fireworks so we listened and watched a few bursts that made it beyond the towering trees that surround our home. 

Ta Ta for now

Dinner Group Fun

We hosted dinner group for June.  We invited some new friends over to join us and had an absolutely delightful evening...
I have to share my decor, which for me is half the fun.

The banner has been a project in progress for a few years.  The rosette was giving me fits and by the time I hand scored the paper to form the rosette and stuck them down, I realized as they began to tear that the strips of paper were not big enough start with.  Well, I set it aside and did not want to start over so there is sat until my sweet friend had left over white strips already scored and cut from Stampin UP's rosette die and it made repairing the project easy.  Every time I look at it, I get all kinds of happy.  I hate the mirror over the fire place, but we work with what we have.

These table settings were so much fun to put together.  I stopped at the local Smiths and they had a sale on their table napkins and place-mats.  If you didn't' know...my favorite colors are red white and blue so I had to have them.  They had all kinds of red, white and blue tableware, but knew I had to draw the line.  Ralph would have been none too happy if I came home with another tableware set.

  The favors were these cute little plastic soda bottles emptied of their contents and cut in half.  Inside i put regular and white chocolate covered pretzels and holiday peanut m&m's.  I then "duct" taped the bottle together and wrapped red and white ribbon around the outside and tied it with Stampin Up's bakers twine.  I poked holes in the lid and inserted 3 sparklers and tied a ribbon around them.  The star and little tag is made from Waltzing Mouse's 1776 stamp set.  It was fun to see the guys figure out how I got pretzels inside the bottle and then they made fun of me for using duct tape.  I don't care, I wanted the bottles to stay stuck together in our unbearable heat.

 We started dinner with Lobster Cheesecake that has remained on our favorites menu, but not often made because of the cost.  Don't turn your nose up until you tried it.  We paired it with fresh grapes and a sprinkle of fresh parsley (sorry no pics) 

We proceeded with  crab stuffed salmon with a drizzle of teriyaki sauce, pineapple ginger rice and steamed green beans with lemon zest.  Incredibly tasty.  Ralph created the recipes after reviewing several from our Northwest region cookbook.  These two dishes are keepers!

 We proceed with the evening sharing our favorite poems.  I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me to have had a Mother who loved poetry and would frequently quote to us the ones she knew by heart and read to us the ones she didn't. 

" little fly upon the wall
ain't you go no clothes at all?
not a blouse or a skirt? 
Not even a shimmy* shirt? 
My, you must be cold."  
(A shimmy shirt is an undershirt - we all wore them as kids)
Just imagine this with a British accent whispered to a child as they sat upon their mothers lap watching a fly that had infiltrated the home in the hot summer months and was resting upon the wall.  This will always be a tender moment for me.  It was fun to hear about everyone's experiences with poetry and how it had influenced their lives. 

We finished the evening off with Pate choux puffs filled with strawberries and Tillamook strawberry ice cream topped with homemade fudge sauce.  (no pics again...the ice cream was fast melting)  We truly enjoy these events and time spent with friends.

Ta Ta for now.

You Know It's Hot, and other random thoughts

Besides the dogs having flu like symptoms (projectile vomiting and diarrhea) it has been so hot.  They wander around trying to get comfortable, they are completely lethargic.  We have a swamp cooler, but it isn't very efficient in keeping the house cool.  It is better than nothing, but sadly lacking.

I am so ready for a a good nights rest.  I have two dogs that are sick, I can't imagine having sick kids with the same problems.  I guess there is a reason we only have dogs.

Don't you hate it when you hurt yourself and have nothing to show for the pain?! We use a child gate to keep the dogs in a certain area of the house.  Specifically while Oliver continues his potty training and they both are sick.  As I was climbing over the gate I smacked my knee against the door jam.  Really hurt!!! The sad thing is that there is not much to show for my wound. The next day there was a nice goose egg and mild bruising, but you couldn't really tell.

I am looking forward to a short week and spending time with Ralph and my hopefully on the mend puppies.

Ta Ta for now

A New View and A Donut

Once again I find myself playing musical chairs at work.  Although I can't because of security issues
take a picture of my cubicle, I am putting a picture up of the window I get to look through.  They (the powers that be) decided that if they made the cubicle walls into half walls there would be more light...and there is.   I am not entirely convinced I like the open work area, I love the window.




In my new Stampin UP catalog, there is a picture of a stack of donuts that looks amazing.  A friend called Stampin UP and found out the donuts were from a place called Beyond Glaze.  The bad thing is that they are located quite a ways from us.  The good thing is they are located quite a ways from us and I won't be ingesting so many calories.  No...actually there are opening up a store 4 blocks from where I live.  Ralph made a road trip out to that area for a business meeting that happened to be close to the shop, so I asked him nicely to pick some up for us to try. 

We didn't have all of these, but we tried several.  My favorites of the ones we tried are the maple bacon, and the salted caramel chocolate.  The donuts were ho-hum.  I like the texture of my donuts to be very light, like Banbury Cross donuts.  These were much heavier - almost like a sweet roll.  The toppings make up for the heavy texture.  They were good and I will probably find myself at the store again, but not as a regular.



Oliver found himself at the Vet on Wednesday to get his man card taken away from him.  Riley felt a little out of sorts while his little buddy was away.  Oliver is recovering well, but has his spells of  "I better slow down...I don't feel so good".   Riley is glad his little buddy is home.


Tomorrow we get to pick peas, clean house, work on a couple of "projects" and spend part of the afternoon/evening at a youth conference.  I may opt out and spend the evening catching on prep for convention.
I have a slow start, but things are on the move.

Ta Ta for now

Long Time No See

It has been a while since I have blogged.  Don't get me wrong, I have had lots to post and tell you about, but when I did have a minute the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and type. 

Oliver is growing...we went to the Vet for a booster shot and he weighed in at 30.4.  He is just six months and is as cute and naughty as possible.  The potty training is doing pretty good.  We still have a few accidents if we don't keep up with our schedule of getting them outside by a certain time.


 

He loves to sit on his haunches, will eat anything, loves to pick up anything and everything off the sidewalk and carry it around in his mouth.  Sometimes chewing and swallowing it.  He loves to chew on everything including my fingers and furniture.  He loves to sit at Ralph's feet and when he is in our home office, he loves for Ralph to hold him so he can see out the window.  He wants to meet everyone and has yet to figure out that he has to sit before he jumps on them.











The card making still continues.  It is an avenue that I can still keep up my creative juices and keep the stress at bay. 

Here is a project I made in a quick minute to give to Billie my SIL.  She recently decided to join the LDS Church.  We are so excited for Norman as well.  We know she will be strong and get keep both of them active as their testimony's grow. 

Here is the card and the gift bag.  I saw a similar one on pinterest that was done with a special die.  After I had seen the tutorial, I knew I could figure it out with Stampin' UP's word window punch and a border punch.  This way you can use a plain bag, add the card and have a beautifully decorated  bag.

Work is good, it seems like we have had a lot of changes and turnover in the last year.  It has been hard, but good.  Our new system seems to be working well and having good responsible employees really helps.

We are trying to keep up with our share of the garden.  I am anxiously awaiting a fresh tomato from the garden.  Yesterday I walked down the row of peas and picked and ate to my hearts content.  We also had fresh strawberries.  They are so sweet and they taste like a strawberry.  That may sound funny, but when you compare them to the fruit purchased in the store there is a defined flavor difference.

There is a busy week ahead so I am off to get some sleep before it all hits.
Ta Ta for now

 

Newest Member of the Family

We took a little unplanned trip to Idaho over Presidents Day to pick up a recent purchase/adoption.  He stole our hearts from the very beginning.

Introducing Oliver...(little spit)

He is a French/English Bulldog and he is pure puppy.  Floppy ears and blue eyes.  We teased that he had eyeliner on as both eyes are lined black.  Maybe we should have named him King Tut

Plays hard - crashes - plays hard - crashes - plays hard and then crashes.  We haven't gotten too many pics as he was always hopping, rolling, running, chewing or piddling on the floor.  There is nothing safe at his level.  We put a child safety gate at the kitchen door to keep him in...well he can climb over it.  He is so loving and cuddly, and mischievous.

Riley and Oliver get along great as long as Oliver doesn't try to eat.  Riley thinks all the food is his.  Something we are working on.  Oliver already loves to go for walks, but holds "it" until he gets back into the house.  He already knows that he shouldn't because he waits for you to turn your back.

He likes to sleep on his back.  This is a picture of him on the ride home.  We had pillows set up between the two front seats and he chose that spot.  Cutest little puppy belly.  I call him my little roly poly puppy.

We stayed over with Mom for a couple of days.  She was so good to us and took care of us.  I got a good nap in on Monday and I also got to have some of her sourdough scones (fry bread) for breakfast. A rare treat.