Bear Claws, Jelly Face, and Booboo Nose

I've wanted to post something on my blog for weeks, but I've been busy with making Christmas gifts, working on projects for the craft sale (to raise money for our library), and being around my grandkids. Here are a couple of the things I wanted to tell you about:

I heard the coyotes singing one night while we were watching TV. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed hearing them. It was such a beautiful sound! I could hear several different voices in the coyote choir. Their howling was music to my ears. I smiled as I listened to them singing because it reminded me of the numerous times that we heard the coyotes howling in the woods around our little house near St. James. Marley loved to sit on our screened-in porch at night to listen to the night sounds. One night he howled along with the coyotes! The night I heard the coyotes here, I felt like Marley was singing along with them. Last night I heard one lone coyote howling. He sounded so forlorn. I was hoping the rest of the coyote choir would hear him and join in the singing, but I guess they were out of our area. Even so, I enjoyed the coyote solo.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Jackie and her family. They came over here in the afternoon so we could visit for a while before we ate our Thanksgiving dinner. Sophie said the grace before we ate. We had a traditional turkey dinner. It was delicious!

Not too long after that, Sophie and Holden came to our house for a sleepover. Sophie sleeps in "her" room upstairs (twin bed). Holden sleeps in "his" room upstairs (queen bed), and I sleep upstairs in the family room on the love seat. I build up the seat portion with comforters to make it even with the arms. That makes my "bed" a little bit longer. Sophie and Holden feel better about me sleeping closer to them than our bedroom on the first floor. Honestly, I do, too. I would never hear them from our bedroom if they needed me. On this particular sleepover, Holden decided he wanted to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get to sleep that way, so I put him in his bed. He went out like a light. The next morning, I took some pictures of the kids playing. You can see them by clicking here.

Now for more recent news. Jackie had some surgery last week on her nose. She stayed with us for almost a week. Dwayne and the kids came to visit her almost every day. One day they had lunch here and a couple of nights I fixed dinner for all of us. If you'd like to see pictures of Bear Claws (Holden), Jelly Face (Sophie), and Booboo Nose (Jackie), click here.

I'll post more pictures after Christmas. Happy Holidays to all of you!

Halloween Fun

While we were in St. Louis in late October, I helped my sister Cindy prepare for a family gathering with a Halloween theme. We worked Friday evening and all day Saturday preparing the food and fixing up the house to look spooky. My nephew Bradlee helped with the decorating.

We made a variety of foods: Worms and Eyeballs (spaghetti and meatballs), Quicksand (a really tasty dip made from cream cheese, peanut butter, and preserves) with a hand in it (made from breadsticks), Bat Sh_t Dip (taco dip), Boogers on a stick (Cheez Whiz on a pretzel rod), Witches Fingers (breadsticks shaped liked fingers), A-- Kicking Chili, and cookies.

Some of us had fun"dressing up" for the party. To see more pictures, click here. Each picture includes a little description.

I was disappointed when Cindy's grandkids didn't show up for the party before George and I had to leave. I know that Cindy was too. She had spent so much time, money, and energy to make it a fun party for the kids. Most of the foods were chosen because we knew the kids would like them (or be grossed out by them!).

We had a wonderful time with our friends at the St. Louis Naturalist Club meeting on Saturday evening. Although we hadn't seen any of them for 4 months, it felt like we had never left. We will try to time our next trip to St. Louis at the end of a month so that we can attend other meetings. (For those of you that are wondering whether the Naturalist Club is a nudist group, it's not.) --- More about that another time. It's getting late and I'm tired.

Here's Marley!

This picture was taken in 2004 on our patio. Marley looks pretty happy to me.

Goodbye, Marley

By mid-week Marley was doing much better. He was acting like he normally does. On Friday, he took a turn for the worse. He vomited and started the heavy panting and breathing again. It continued into this morning, so I dropped him off at the vet. After she examined Marley, the vet called to say that the pain was coming from his abdomen. It was unlikely that it was from the Prednisone since we had already started decreasing it. She felt that Marley either had pancreatitis or gastroenteritis. Either way, Marley needed an IV and needed to be hospitalized. Since there wasn't 24-hour care available at the vet's office, we were going to have to transport Marley to the emergency animal hospital where he would stay until Monday. At that point, we could take him back to our vet if he hadn't improved.

George and I decided that we couldn't put Marley through all of that and that it was time to let him go. We went back to the vet's office and were allowed some time with Marley. He was so excited to see us! His tail was wagging, but he continued the heavy panting and shaking! George and I talked soothingly to him, petted him, cried, and told him goodbye. We held Marley as the vet injected him and told him how much we loved him. It was somewhat of a relief to see Marley resting so comfortably after that. We made arrangements to have him cremated. His ashes will be put in a box. We'll be able to put him next to the boxes with Lucky and Muffy. I'm sure the three of them are happy to see each other again and be together in doggy heaven!

A little history about Marley: Christina found him in Rolla when she attended the University there. I think that was in 1993 or '94. She bathed him and gave him flea treatment because he was so unkept. She named him Marley after the singer Bob Marley. Marley stayed in Christina's dorm room for a few days until she could bring him home. Our vet estimated that Marley was probably about one and a half years old. He lived with us until Christina moved to Florida in 1995. In December 1997, Marley and Christina moved back in with us. We've had him ever since then. Marley has been a big part of our lives for a long time. We are going to miss him a lot!!!!

I'll try to scan some pictures of Marley and post them soon so that you can see him.

F-R-E-A-K-E-D OUT!

I can't tell you why or what I was freaked out about until you know what led up to it. So here's the story...

First it was Tori (our Chow/lab mix) that was sick, then Marley (our 15 year old cocker mix). I could tell that Marley was in pain because he kept panting heavily, wouldn't sit or lie down, and kept wanting to be close to me. On the first trip to the animal hospital, the vet thought Marley's neck was bothering him. She gave us pain killers and muscle relaxers. At first it seemed to help, but after a few days, Marley seemed worse. That meant another trip back to the vet.

When I took him in this time, I had to leave Marley again for observation and x-rays. I was afraid that something was seriously wrong with him and that we'd have to put him asleep. I was bawling when they took him in the back. All day I was on pins and needles waiting for a call from the vet. At 4:00 the receptionist called to tell us that they had completed the x-rays, but the vet was waiting for a call back from a specialist. "Uh-oh!", I thought. At 4:30 the receptionist called back to ask us if we could talk to the vet at 5:30. This time I thought, "Oh, no! She's going to tell us something really bad!"

The vet showed us the x-rays and explained all the things that she saw regarding Marley's neck, spine, and hips. We saw the arthritis that we knew Marley had. He also has some compressed disc - one in his neck and one in his lower back. Marley has what looks like be a possible fracture in his hip, but it wasn't real clear on the x-ray. Another area of Marley's hip was a bright white which is can be anindication of bone cancer. However, it wasn't in an area where cancer usually occurs. The specialist thought the discs were probably causing problems, but without seeing the dog and the x-rays, he couldn't be sure.

The choice was ours - treat Marley for the discs and/or see the specialist. Because of his age, Marley wouldn't be a good candidate for surgery or extensive cancer treatments. We wouldn't put him through that. We opted to treat him for the disc problem - triple the pain medicine (and give it around the clock) and start a high dose of Prednisone on Monday. If Marley didn't show improvement by Wednesday, we were going to have to take him back to the vet and discuss what other options we might have.

Now we're getting to the part of why I was freaked out. I got up at 3:15 a.m. to give Marley his pain med. I put the pills in a little bit of canned dog food to intice him to swallow them. I rinsed off the spoon and put it in the kitchen sink. I let both dogs lick the dog food off my fingers, so I had to wash my hands. That's when I saw it! A tarantula in my kitchen sink!!!!!! I screamed, then ran to the bedroom to get George. After yelling at him a couple of times, he woke up and came running behind me to the kitchen. I showed him what the problem was, then ran into the laundry room to get the wasp & hornet spray so we wouldn't have to get close to the tarantula. George sprayed it and sprayed it while I stood back saying things like "Ahhhhhhhhh!" and "Be careful!" Once the spider became groggy, George tried pushing it into the garbage disposal with a pair of pliers. That was getting way to close for my comfort level, so I handed him a long-handled wooden spoon. Finally he got the spider pushed down! George turned the water on full blast, then hit the switch for the disposal. We let it run for a LONG time.

My adrenaline level was pretty high from all of the excitement, so I had a hard time falling back to sleep. Every time I think about that spider I shiver and curl my body up. I'm really paranoid now about where I put my feet and hands.

We have no idea how a tarantula could have gotten in our kitchen sink. There better not be another one or I'll be wanting to move again!!!

As for Marley, he started feeling better once he started the Prednisone.

Busy, busy, busy!

Boy, have I been busy! Most of you know that I am now a Creative Memories consultant. I have been busy the past couple of weeks on getting my business ready. I've ordered some products to show my potential customers and to give away as prizes. I've also ordered business cards and a shirt with the CM logo on it for myself. I've been running off some labels with my contact information and putting them on catalogs and brochures. I've unpacked all my products, typed up an inventory list, organized and filed necessary papers. All of this is to get ready for my "ribbon cutting" showing on Friday. The problem is, I've only had one person tell me that they are coming. I passed out 50 flyers in my neighborhood, talked to a few neighbors, passed out flyers at knitting and crafting groups, had Jackie pass some out to the mom's at the kids preschool, and emailed some flyers. It's a little disappointing, but I'm not letting it get me down. If no one shows up, then I'll have more time to meet more people and work on advertising via paper and word-of-mouth.

That's not all I've been doing. George and I have also begun to hang up some pictures, mirrors, and a shelf around the house. I unpacked all the knick-knacks that we have here and put them on some of the shelves. I also rearranged the dining room to make it look nicer. I'd post a picture of it, but I have my Creative Memories products all over the table right now.

Another thing that we've done is go to the YMCA. We joined a couple of weeks ago. Last week both George and I tried out a water aerobics class. It was fun! I am going to continue to go to the class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I'm not sure about George. He didn't do it with me last night. Instead, he worked out with the weights and on the bag.

On Labor Day, there were special yoga events going on all around town. They were all free! You can't beat that price! George and I went to a session in the morning. It was interesting to do. It was definitely VERY relaxing! I wish I would have had the time to take yoga when I was working. I think it would have helped to relieve some of the stress of the job. (Do you hear me Carolyn, Eric, PJ, Bernadette, and Mary?)

Today Jackie and I went to Super Suppers to put together some meals. We had fun doing it with each other. The prices were comparable to the meals I put together in St. Louis at Let's Dish. After we eat some of the meals, I'll let you know about the quality.

Oh, another thing I did over the weekend was buy a gas grill and some plants for my deck. George said that he is going to do the grilling. I'm making it easy for him to start off. I bought some pre-cooked hamburgers for him to grill. All he'll really need to do is get them heated through. I might even have him try to cook the corn on the cob on the grill. I'll let you know how that turns out, too. I'm hoping that we are out of the rainy spell that we've had the past week so that we can try out the grill soon!

Jackie and Christina and their families bought me some deck chairs for my birthday. That's what I asked for. Between the chairs, the grill, and the plants, the deck is starting to look like someone lives here. Now that the weather is a little cooler (but very, very humid from all the rain), we might sit out on the deck.

Today I volunteered at the library for the first time. It was quite busy. I started by checking in items. However, the volunteer who worked before me didn't get many items shelved, so we had 3 carts packed with things that needed shelving. Another volunteer and I spent 2 1/2 hours putting things back on the shelves while 2 high school volunteers checked in the items. By the time my shift ended at 6:00, we were caught up. I'm hoping that it's not quite that busy every week. I'd like to get to meet people while I'm at the library.

That's all for now! Feel free to post a comment if you read this. It's not hard to do and you don't have to sign up. After you type in your comment, you can click the circle that says "other", then put in your name or initials.

The First Sleepover

On Saturday night Sophie and Holden came over for their first sleepover. I wanted to get a picture of the kids coming in the door with their backpacks, but they came over earlier than I expected.

We had dinner here at our house, then played and read stories before bed time. One of the stories I read Holden was about dinosaurs. The book told us how some dinosaurs are plant eaters, some are meat eaters, and some eat both. The pictures showed some "mean" looking dinosaurs. I assured the kids that they didn't have to worry about the dinosaurs being around here. Sophie replied, "Of course not, silly. They're all stinked up!" (She meant that they are extinct.)

Holden slept in the guest bedroom with the queen bed. Sophie slept in the twin bed in "her" room. I was going to sleep with Holden, but Sophie was a little uneasy about the sleepover, so I slept on the love seat in the family room. Because she was so excited about sleeping over, she didn't go to sleep until 11:30 or later. It wasn't a problem; she "read" stories to her stuffed dog until she finally went to sleep. Today we played some more and sang songs until Jackie and Dwayne came over to pick up the kids.

The little ones had a great time while they were here and so did I! They said that they would come over another time and have a sleepover. I'm sure that Jackie and Dwayne will love it! Reflecting back on the event, I'm not sure who was happiest about the sleepover - Sophie and Holden, me, or Jackie and Dwayne!

The good, the bad, and the sick

It's been hot here in Austin the past couple of weeks, but not nearly as hot as where some of you live. We've been mostly in the mid to upper 90's with heat indexes in the 100-110 degree range. We haven't done much outdoors because of the heat. I've been mowing the lawn in the evenings with our new lawn mower. It's the first one we've had that I've actually been able to start. That's because we bought one that starts with a key or by pulling the cord. It's self-propelled and I can control the speed. It's really an awesome lawn mower!

Last weekend we helped Jackie and Dwayne with their yardwork. They had several trees with dead branches in them. George and Dwayne did the cutting. Jackie and I (with a little help from Holden) hauled the branches to the woods. I was exhausted by the time we finished in the afternoon.

The next day was our fun day. We went out on Lake Austin with Jackie's family in their boat. It felt so good to feel the cooler air as Dwayne drove us around the lake. We stopped at a little beach area to let the kids play in the water and sand. George stayed in the boat while we waded, jumped the waves, and looked for fish and shells. We all ate our lunch in the boat. I introduced Holden to Fritos. He loved them! At first Holden didn't want to share them with his daddy, but he did after a few minutes. After lunch we enjoyed riding around in the boat and looking at the homes along the lakeshore. The kids quickly fell asleep. Dwayne took us into a little quiet cove where Jackie and I floated in the water. I have to admit, it took me a while before I would get in. I don't like water that I can't see through and that I don't know how deep it is. I wasn't in the water very long before a fish came along to investigate me by touching me. That was enough for me! I was back in the boat in no time! After we left the cove, we went to another small beach area to play and have a snack. After that, we headed back to the dock and parking area. I was even more exhausted than I was on Saturday! Unfortunately, my back got sunburn. I guess I didn't have Jackie and George put enough sunscreen on it. That's not good news for a pale face like me.

So now that you've heard the good and the bad, you're probably wondering who got sick. It was Tori, our bigger and younger dog. We discovered on Sunday that she had licked, bit, or pulled hair off a large area of her inner back leg. It was swollen and red. On Monday I found a vet to take her to. The vet thought that something had probably bitten Tori resulting in her licking and biting her leg which caused the inflammation. She gave Tori an injection of an antibiotic and a steroid and sent us home with antibiotic pills and steroid spray. She said that if Tori didn't stop licking the area, we would have to put one of those cones on her to keep her from doing it. Dr. McShane has called us 3 separate times to give us the results of blood tests and to see how Tori is doing. Fortunately, Tori is doing well now. We are very pleased with our new vet!

What I've learned in a month

We've now lived in Texas for 1 month and 2 days. Here's what I've learned in that time:

• When it rains, it pours in Austin! We've gotten through the rainy season and are now into the heat of summer. I don't think we're going to see any more rain for a while.
• Austin can be just as humid as St. Louis in the summertime.
• There are some really big cockroaches in Texas... really big!
• Nobody in Texas obeys the speed limits; they all drive much faster than what is posted.
• A LOT of people drive pick-ups and SUVs.
• People that drive pick-up trucks drive like bullies. They get right up on your tail until you move out of the way. If you don't, they'll eventually change lanes and whip in front of you.
• Austin drivers don't stop for yellow lights. They keep going!
• Most people don't park their cars, SUVs, or pick-ups in the garage. The garage is used for storage.
• Texas baked beans are not the same as Missouri baked beans. Pinto beans with some spices are what the baked beans are here. In MO, it's more like pork 'n beans with a little brown sugar and some other stuff. We're talking day and night in the world of baked beans.

Our part of town

We live in what is called the "hill country" in Texas. For those of you who haven't experienced it, this picture shows what you would see as you drive to our house. This is a side street in a subdivision on the way to our house. (These are multi-million dollar homes.)

If you continued on your way to our house, this is the view you would see. I love driving from the main road to the smaller roads to get to our house. The roads are curvy and hilly; it's almost like driving in the mountains.

Once you get to our street, you would see this view. I was standing on the south end of our street looking east. My street is on your left, but you can't see it in this picture.

Finally, you would see our house.

It looks like a little cottage to me, but it's bigger than it looks.

If you went inside our house to the second floor, you would discover a small deck off of the family room. This is the view you would see from there (looking east).

I love the open areas, the hills, the trees, and the wildlife in this part of Texas.

I've seen many different butterflies (including several Monarchs), deer, doves, roadrunners (I was so excited to see one fly!), lizards, squirrels, and a teeny little frog about the size of my thumb nail. I also saw a small crested bird that I haven't identified yet. I think I need to stare out the breakfast room window more often so that I can identify it.

I hope you've enjoyed the view to my house!

Sophie's Birthday Fun

I promised that I would post some pictures of the grandkids. Here are a few for you to look at.

I call this picture "the birthday princess". I took the picture at Chuck E. Cheese before all the kids got there. After that, the princess was too excited to stand still.

Here's a picture of the birthday princess with her mommy. This is a rarity because Jackie is usually taking the pictures. I had the honors this time.

Here is the Birthday Princess as she tries to wack the moles. She was pretty good at it! She was disappointed that she didn't get any tickets for doing such a good job.

Here is little brother at Chuck E. Cheese playing one of the games. He loved putting the tokens, which he called money, in the slots.

For days before the party, he talked about sitting in the 'monster truck'. When he sat in it and the ride actually began, he wasn't so excited. As the day went on, he learned to love it.

When he tried to shoot baskets in the hoop, Holden wasn't very good at it. Here he is with his daddy and big sister, Sophie.

And, finally, here is the birthday cake with four beautiful princesses on it.

Time to meet people

This morning I was reading a local newspaper we got in the mail last week. There was an article about happenings at our local library. Lo and behold, a knitting group meets on Fridays from 12 to 2! I decided right then that I was going to go to it. I thought it would be a great way to get to meet some people and learn how to knit better. I arrived a little after 12 and was disappointed to see that no one was there. I started browsing in the used book section where I found a book for Jackie on how to handle sibling rivalry.

Another lady was in the used book room and we started talking. She was there for the knitting group, too! We went into the meeting room together and started moving the tables together. Her name is Virginia, she's a widow, and she is quite a knitter! She has knitted afghans, scarves, skirts, sweaters, hats, clogs, stuffed animals, purses, and more. Virginia was a very friendly person and she introduced me to the other ladies as they came in. All of them were very nice. A couple of the ladies were sharing knitting books with all of us. They also helped me learn some different basic knitting stitches.

After knitting time was over, I went back to the used book room and found 3 more books to buy. I talked to the volunteers that were processing books. They told me that volunteering at the library was a wonderful way to meet new people. So, when I got my library card at the main desk, I also got information on volunteering. I'm seriously considering doing it. I'm trying to get George to volunteer somewhere, too.

The next time I post something, it will be with pictures of the kids!

The Big Move

We said our final farewell to our house of 22 years on Saturday, July 7th by departing at approximately 5:30 AM. We made the drive to Austin in about 15 hours with help from KK, my nephew Aaron's wife. She drove my car; George and I shared the drive in his car. We kept the two cars together the whole way down. KK and I had fun with the walkie talkies. Even Bradley (who will be 4 years old tomorrow) got into the fun of the walkie talkies. George and I pulled into the driveway of our new house between 8:30 and 9:00 PM. Jackie came over a few minutes later to greet us.

Our furniture arrived on Wednesday, July 11th. It took the movers about 5 hours to unload. We had boxes everywhere, and most of them were in the correct rooms. We've spent time everyday on unpacking and organizing. Jackie has been a really big help. She has come over with the kids almost everyday. Without her help, we wouldn't have gotten this far. The house is now liveable with just a few boxes in some rooms. The garage still needs major work. There are boxes of tools and teaching materials everywhere in there! George has been working very hard on getting it organized. He has been overwhelmed by it, but he's tackling it anyway.

Sophie and Holden love to play here. Holden talks to me on the phone and says things like "Grammy, I come to your house to play?" Of course I tell him yes! Sometimes he says "Grammy, you come to my house next." Of course I do that, too! I LOVE being around them! Well, most of the time. When they get tired and crabby, it's not as fun. Sophie keeps talking about having a "sleepover" here at my house. Last night we were going to have one, but she didn't understand that her daddy wouldn't be here. She opted to go home.

Dwayne, our son-in-law, has been wonderful about helping us with our technology. He's gotten all the TV's wired up for DISH network, DVD's, etc. He also was the one that was instrumental in getting my Internet access. It would have taken me longer to do all of those things.

George and I are taking a little break tonight. We are going out for dinner to a nearby restaurant then coming home to watch a movie. We have a gift certificate for the restaurant thanks to my colleagues in the MAP office. Thanks Carolyn, PJ, Eric, Bernadette, and Mary!! I'll let you know how the dinner goes.