Well, there will be no pups for Pattie! Even though she has been a good puppy, I just don't want to have a large amount of puppies to take care of one day. I dropped her off at the vet Tuesday morning for her surgery. I have no doubt in my mind she will now hate going to the vet with a passion! It was strange coming home and not having a puppy follow me around from room to room. I called them around lunch time to see when I could come get her. They were not sure yet because she was still waking up, however, they told me the doctor wanted to talk with me and would call me. Well, after waiting for an hour and a half, I called the vet! I couldn't handle the anticipation. First they said that I could come get her anytime and second that she would be coming home with some medicine. She is like an old woman now! She has her pain medication, a pill for a puppy rash on her belly, and eye drops for pink eye! I thought her eye looked infected Tuesday morning, so they said they would check it out for me. I had also seen some bumps on her belly Monday night, so good thing I was already taking her to the vet! Needless to say, I will be eating ramen noodles and drinking water for the rest of the month! :) The pictures are from last night and are hard to see I know. I took them with my phone. The first one is of her lying on her bed sleeping with her head in the air! The second one is her sleeping on the bottom of the coffee table. She was snoring in this position until her head rolled off and woke her up! Never fear...playful Pattie is making a comeback!
To celebrate this 4th of July, I went to a cookout and was able to watch a fireworks display. Anna and Blair had a friend come up Friday night. So we all went to dinner, watched the drum circle (because everyone needs to see it once!), and grabbed some drinks downtown. We ran into another teacher at the drum circle who joined us as well.
Saturday morning I got up to join Maggie and Crystal for our walk. We set a new "schedule" to meet on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings to go walking (almost jogging!). It's a great time to hang with good friends and get some exercise at the same time. I stopped by the store to get something for the cookout I had forgotten and saw the strawberries and blueberries. I had already told Ann and Brad that I would bring slaw and pasta salad that night. When I saw the fruit I decided to make a flag cake. I saw this a few years ago and have wanted to make one, but never went anywhere exciting for the 4th. So, this year was my chance! It turned out to be a hit, but how hard is it really to bake a cake and slap some cool whip and fruit on top?!
Pattie and I headed over to Anna's house to let Clemson and Pattie play for a bit before we all headed over to the cookout. Ann and Brad got a chocolate lab puppy last Sunday so it was her debut to the world that night! She is a cutie pie! I can't wait until she gets bigger and Pattie gets to meet her! Maggie, Justin, and their two boys were at the cookout as well. The food was fabulous! There is just something about food cooked on the grill!
When it got close to dark, we packed up our stuff and headed over to Crystal and Danny's house for fireworks. They were coming to the cookout but got wrapped up in yard work, so at least we got to see them for the show! They have a great view from their house of a couple of firework displays. Owen (Crystal's oldest son) and Miles (Maggie's oldest) were so excited to see each other! They were the dancing entertainment before the real show. Owen snuggled up with me and watched the fireworks. They were beautiful! There's something about fireworks too!
I have been trying to let Pattie be active these past few weeks by getting her out for a walk or jog almost every day and having time to play with her friend Clemson. (She goes for her girlie surgery on Tuesday so I want her to remember how nice I really am!) By last Friday I had enough of the no A/C business. Anna and her husband graciously invited Pattie and I to a sleepover Saturday night which turned into another one on Sunday. So, we gladly accepted the invitation. Pattie and Clemson ran and played all weekend long! I think Pattie slept almost all day Monday and wasn't too interested in being active Monday night either.
Since her recovery from the weekend play date, we have gone walking with Maggie and Crystal twice, and have gone on 2 jogs. I have thrown the ball in the backyard with her some and she seems pretty interested in that. Well, I saw a chuckit on sale...best $5.50 I've spent on her! I could throw the ball for her, but not nearly as far and fast as this can! She was so excited when we tried it out for the first time! Now in the video I am throwing it with my left hand which does go far, but not nearly as far when I get it in my right hand! She had a blast and now is resting in the sunshine. The second video shows off one of her tricks she can do...well three tricks really...sit, down, stay. She is cute and fun!
On Saturday, October 17th, 2009 I will be participating in the Lung Strong 15K in loving memory of Marty Ridge. A dear family friend, an uncle if you will, was diagnosed with lung cancer in December. He lost his quick battle in May. When I called Jane, his wife, to let her know I was doing this she said that someone told her that there is not much research going on with lung cancer because the money is not there. If you wish to help make a difference in this, please click on the following link and donate to the LUNGevity foundation. Every dollar that they give to lung cancer research is doubled. http://events.lungevity.org/site/TR?px=1381361&fr_id=1870&pg=personal
Thank you for supporting me and remembering Marty Ridge and others affected by lung cancer.
Well, let's start with the A/C or lack of A/C. I finally turned my air on sometime around the beginning of June. It never quite was working right. So, last Friday I called the landlord. They just happened to be in town, so thought they would come take a look. They could not fix the problem (big surprise there!), so they supposedly called Monday morning. After not hearing from them, I called Monday night. She called me on Tuesday to say they would come out that day. Tuesday it was not fixed because no one came! Someone finally came Wednesday and ran tests right up until 5:00 when the parts department closed. They said the part would be ordered Thursday morning so to turn my air back on Friday morning and set it at 70. I did as they said but was concerned because extremely hot air was blowing out. I closed all the windows, closed the vent in Pattie's room, and made sure all the ceiling fans were blasting. Came home after summer school Friday to a hot 89 degree house and no one there to work on it!!! So, I decided I would call this time to make sure I would be here to let someone in if needed. Found out that they would not be coming and that I should not have turned on the air. After I snapped back with I was told to, they finally stepped down a bit, got my number, and hopefully will be calling me on Monday. Don't worry, they will be hearing from me Monday morning again! So, needless to say, I was sweating from the time I got home yesterday (also because I mowed the grass) until this morning! It's hard to get your house cooled off when it's 86 degrees outside. It was 81 in the house when I woke up at 2 am sweating!!! So, to "beat the heat" I headed downtown last night with Anna and her husband Blair and another lady from school for the drum circle. I haven't been in a few years, so it's even bigger than before! The "professionals" gather in a circle on the ground and those wishing to join in grab a space on the steps. It's cool to see the mixture of people drumming, playing another instrument, dancing, and watching from the crowd...plus it's FREE entertainment! The man that kind of leads the whole thing is in the video. He has gray hair, standing with the drums, and tonight he put on a white glove in memory of Michael Jackson! We watched the drum circle for almost two hours before heading to grab a beer. As we were leaving the bar around 11:30ish all the "young kids" were just arriving. Oh I remember those days! So, watch the video and if it sparks your interest plan a trip up here to see me and we'll check it out in person. Bring your drums and dancing shoes!
This afternoon I took Pattie on another play date. This time she not only got to play with her sister, but she was reunited with one of her brothers! Another teacher at school got two puppies back in February. She rescued one from the pound and she got Cash, the brother. The puppies all played together nonstop for almost two hours. On top of this outing, Pattie also went next door and played with the neighbors dogs for about half an hour today while I pulled weeds. Needless to say, I did not take her walking with me this evening. I don't think there were any complaints from her either! She is pooped!
I agreed to dog sit for my neighbors for a week, and the work started Saturday. So, I could not go home to see my sweet dad for father's day. Lucky for him, I will be there about 2 weeks in July to help take care of the grandkids! So, in honor of my father enjoy this song: (it actually goes into Call Me Al which is also a good one. My dad and I used to sing that song in the car together back when it was played on the radio. So, enjoy them both!)
I called them around lunch time to see when I could come get her. They were not sure yet because she was still waking up, however, they told me the doctor wanted to talk with me and would call me. Well, after waiting for an hour and a half, I called the vet! I couldn't handle the anticipation. First they said that I could come get her anytime and second that she would be coming home with some medicine. She is like an old woman now! She has her pain medication, a pill for a puppy rash on her belly, and eye drops for pink eye! I thought her eye looked infected Tuesday morning, so they said they would check it out for me. I had also seen some bumps on her belly Monday night, so good thing I was already taking her to the vet! Needless to say, I will be eating ramen noodles and drinking water for the rest of the month! :)
The pictures are from last night and are hard to see I know. I took them with my phone. The first one is of her lying on her bed sleeping with her head in the air! The second one is her sleeping on the bottom of the coffee table. She was snoring in this position until her head rolled off and woke her up! Never fear...playful Pattie is making a comeback!
