"OUCH!"

So, Joey had to go to the vets to have blood drawn, yet again, for another blood panel to be run. Dr. Anwar said if the results come back negative for any liver/kidney damage, he will not need to have another recheck done. This is good news and I am believing for the best. He was very brave and the girls gave him one snazzy bandage! He's such a sweetie and as you can see, it looks as if he has forgiven his mommy for her error.

NOT AGAIN!

Bryan pulled his back on Sunday. Cleaning/sorting out the garage. This will be the 3rd time he's strained the same muscle in his back. He's walking like an individual suffering with severe curvature of the spine. I told him he didn't have to go to such extreme measures if he was needing some attention (it's all been going to the dogs, so to speak). He laughed, as well as anyone can when in that much pain. He went to the doctor on Tuesday. 3 hrs later, he walked out with prescriptions: anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxers and Tylenol 3. When I got home from the monthly writer's circle meeting, he had that glassy-eyed look to him and his speech was rather mellow. Still slow to move, he appeared to be in less pain. Now, to rebook all the carpet cleaning jobs for the next week or so, even if he says he capable...yeah, right. Take another pill, dearest.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILLIAM! Aug 3rd

Today is William's 4th birthday! It's hard to believe. It seems on the one hand, he's been with us forever and on the other, the day I brought him home seems as vivid as if it were yesterday. Because Olivia was so sick, we didn't get around to the mini-celebration until late evening. I made him a 'cake' fashioned of pill-pocket putty and iced it with nutri-cal. I then erected a candle from the nickel sized treat (he's only five lbs and had just had his dinner - I didn't need another sick dog on my hands :s ). As you will eventually see on the video clip (to yet be posted as process is yet to be deciphered), he was quite eager to get to the treat and came toooooo close to getting his hair next to the flame. This is when the 'off' command comes in handy.

Anyway, we all sang Happy Birthday, Mommy blew out the candle flame, he ate his 'cake' and had a super cuddle before bed. All-in-all, a most excellent celebration in doggy terms.

LOVE YOU WILLIAM - HERE'S TO MANY MORE BIRTHDAYS!

WHERE ARE MY PICTURES!

K, so yesterday, Logan came over to show us how to download the photos off of our digital camera onto the computer. I had to get the chis up, so Bryan was left to do the 'learnin'. I just went into the file to select a picture to attach to the 'sick dogs' entry I just posted and there is nothing there!

This is what I hate about technology. You can do the exact, identical thing you did before and not end up in the same place or the item ends up somewhere else. One word comes to mind - FRUSTRATING!

Sick Dogs....AGAIN!

This is getting tiring. Sharayah left the pantry door open and Olivia used the opportunity to grab a bag of Cheerios under the dining room table and chow down. I have no idea how much she ate. Enough to make her horribly ill - exploding out both ends, as it were.

Theo and Sharayah had plans to scour Whyte Ave for a proper nifty gift for Heidi, so were gone until mid afternoon. They took over her care at that time and got her drinking and eating a bit. She was quite content to sit cuddled with Theo for the majority of the time and sleep - SO very out of the ordinary for Olivia.

The next day, Pixie went off her food and vomited the nutri-cal I gave her. Good thing there was plenty of ID (canned food especially for dogs with stomach/bowel issues) left over from Olivia's bout with the Cheerios. It worked like a charm and by evening, she was pretty much back to her old self again.

What can you expect, really? With 8 dogs, one pretty much increases the 'chances' of one of them getting into something or feeling a bit off. Think about it. If each of them had three 'upsets' in a year, that's 24 events altogether. Which, if one was lucky to have it spread out evenly, would amount to an 'event' occurring every other week. Hmmmm......

I'm feeling some trepidation

about my dad learning I have 8 dogs. Weird how, no matter how old we get, we can be so quickly escorted back to a child-like state when it comes to our parents. He's a good guy so I'm not afraid he's going to lecture me or anything, although he will if he wants to - lol.

It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

The American Is Coming!

My Dad is visiting! He came up to Canada for the first time in '91 when Logan, now 19, was only 11 months old. The next visit came in '92 when Sharayah, now 17, was but 3 months old. His last visit was in '96. So, as you can see, it's been some time since his last visit and I'm so excited. I'm grateful that he is equally interested in the simple catch-up visiting and sight seeing. I really want to take him to see the falls near Jasper. I saw them when Linda and I went to Jasper years ago to escape for a writers' wknd. I'll have to ask her for directions, etc.

My dad is well acquainted with the mountains as my mother is from Colorado, so the Rockies are not a novel thing to him, although the mountains have always been one of his favorite! I would love to take him to tour Banf Springs Hotel. Now that's a sight you don't see every day. He would absolutely love to visit Drumheller. We could always go to the Zoo, Museum (is there an exhibit on right now?), Fort Edmonton...any other ideas? I'm open to suggestions. If I knew of a good play, either at a stage theatre or dinner theatre, I'd be game to try that as well.

He arrives on the 10th of August and departs on the 25th. So the time is brief and I don't want to overwhelm with an obnoxious itinerary. His birthday is in August, so I want to have a cake and I want to go to build a bear before he arrives to make him a welcome-to-Canada bear. Sharayah suggested to use the moose they have and put an American flag in his hand. That would be cute.

Ready? Set. GO!

I was mistaken when I thought my computer had lost its internet connection (which is why I haven't been updating lately) so the next few entries are mainly catch-ups on recent events and thoughts. Enjoy!