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!