As 2011 is drawing to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the past year and try to catch up on my blogging. Nothing like trying to put 12 months of blogging into a single post, eh?
2011 has seen some of our fur-babies leave us, including our beloved Great Dane, Bootsy, and our final kitty, Frodo.
The Luci Center lost 2 of it's retired therapy horses. We finally said good-bye to Crazy on July 5th. If you'll recall, Crazy was the horse that I taught to paint a couple of years ago. And Max we lost just a couple of weeks ago. I was the one that found him down in the field, and just knew in my heart from the moment I saw him when pulling into the farm that it was going to be a bad day, and it was. Once we finally got him into the indoor arena and awaited the vet to arrive, we just stood there loving on him and feeding him all the carrots and peppermints he wanted. Once he was gone, we knelt on the ground beside him and held onto him. Just because we don't own these horses and aren't financially responsible for them, for those of us that have volunteered there for years, we love them as if they are our own, and the loss is just as difficult.
It's been a tough year for appliances too. Our washer died on Christmas evening 2010, and the dryer wasn't in much better condition, so a new pair was purchased the next day and they were delivered on New Years Eve 2010. I love my upright washer/dryer!! Our chest-freezer bit the bullet a few weeks ago and the garbage disposal was on it's last leg, so those were replaced a couple of weeks ago. Our friends/neighbors were gracious enough to allow us to store some of our frozen foods in their extra freezer 'til the new one arrived. Then we had a field-day shopping for frozen foods to fill it. One week later, the new freezer stopped working. Horror of horrors!! It was time to impose on our friends again and attempt to salvage our grocery stock. We thought we had a faulty freezer, but instead we had to have an electrician come to the house. A new plug was installed for the freezer so it wasn't connected to an outlet that ran through the GFI circuit in the spare bathroom. The GFI had kept tripping, so that plug was replaced as well. But the problem remained. As it turned out, one of the dogs had crashed into the outlet on the back of the house and loosened it from the wall. All the rain we had was able to get into it and was 'causing the problem. So there was another plug to replace. Egads, what next?
If you read the blog I posted this morning, then you already know the answer to that question. If not, then go read it. ;)
Death wasn't limited to pets and appliances though. Of course, if working in the funeral business for the past 19 years has taught me anything, it's that death happens at any given moment to every family. My last surviving grandparent passed away Thanksgiving week as well as a cousin on the other side of the family. Several patients/residents at the nursing homes Olivia and I visit have passed, more than a few of them we had gotten to know pretty well.
2011 hasn't been all sad and bad though, there has been plent of good things happen as well.
This was the year that I seem to finally have gotten myself on track with my health. At least, I hope I'm on track. I joined a local gym at the end of January (avoided that New Years rush at the beginning of the month), and have managed to lose over 85 lbs. Yeah, the past few weeks have been difficult with all the goodies and I've put a few back on, but I have great determination to get them back off and keep going to get to my goal.
I am no longer content to just walk in charity events and 5k's, I now run them whenever possible. Well, okay, run as much as possible and stop to walk when necessary before running some more. New Years day I'm planning on running in a 10-miler, the Hangover Classic. I've never done such a distance before, and at this point, I just hope to actually finish it, regardless of how long it takes me.
2011 also saw additions to our family, other than appliances. ;)
You may recall a couple of years ago I had 3 little tree frogs that I had raised from tadpoles 'til they met with an untimely demise. Well, I now have 5 fat little froggies and all are doing quite well. And of course there is the newest fur-baby, Phoebe. She came to us two weeks after losing Bootsy, adopted from the Humane Society, and is an absolute LOVER!! She too is deaf and partially blind, although not as visually challenged as Olivia, so she gets around quite well and loves to zip around the backyard, causing us to hold our breath as we fear she'll hit something but she avoids crashing. I've never known such an affectionate dog in my life. She's currently in training to become a therapy dog.
Speaking of therapy dog... Olivia now visits several nursing homes every month on a regular basis and we've had to turn down some locations simply because we don't have the time. I think she enjoys being a therapy pet, as she gets all excited and starts spinning in circles when she sees me get her pink vest off the hook, as she knows she's going to go for a visit. Or maybe she's only excited because she's going for a car ride and going to get lots of treats. Either way, we're both having a good time in what we do.
I've given up horseback riding, if only temporarily. I hope to resume it again in the spring. I just needed to take a break as I just had too much going on in my life and too, I don't seem to handle the cold weather like I used to since losing the weight. Among the other classes I've taken this year, cardio-kickboxing and 2 hand-quilting classes. I have fallen in love with quilting and regularly hit the fabric stores... I used to hate when my grandmother would drag us from fabric store to fabric store when we were kids and I would be bored out of my mind as she browsed for what seemed like hours on end. Well, now I get it! I could spend hours in these stores. I'm hoping to take another quilting class this spring.
We finally bit the bullet and traded in John's 4-runner. It was 13 1/2 years old and it was time. He's now driving a new Sienna van and on occasion, even lets me drive it. ;) I can hardly wait 'til we can finally take a vacation roadtrip in it!
John and I have become hardcore UFC/MMA fans. We haven't missed a payperview event in the past 18 months. If they are on, you can be sure we'll be found at BW3s watching them. Our fabulous waitress even saved me several of the event posters, which I framed and had my office decorated with... 'til my company transferred me to a new location. I now have no private office space of my own. :( I hate my new job in more ways than I can count. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Starting with the commute which sucks. But I'm responsible for multiple locations and it's so stressful, whenever I answer the phones, I seriously have to stop and thing about where I'm at, and still I often stammer in confusion. In one place, I work in what amounts to a tiny closet that I have to share with anybody and everybody and in the other, well, let's just say it isn't much better. :( grrrrrr Fortunately at the third location, I rarely every have to actually go there, which is fortunate because I don't know where anything is in that place. The funeral directors bring the paperwork to me most of the time so I don't have to go there.
So to end on a good note...
the fights are getting ready to come on in a few minutes, so I need to get off here and get ready to go. Have a happy new year in 2012 and stay safe!!!!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Massacred!
Well, 2011 is ending on a crappy note. Would I expect anything less?
At 3:30 this morning, my kitchen looked like somebody had been massacred. Blood was all over the floor, across the front of the fridge, stove, dishwasher, cabinets, etc. etc. All over Phoebe, all over Olivia, all over me. The men-folk in the house were the only ones that escaped being covered in blood, and that's simply because one was in the bathroom and the other never got out of the crate.
Ah, the crate. That's where it all started at 3am...
For reasons I've yet to figure out, all 3 dogs seem to prefer the newer crate. It's the same exact size as the other one, so I don't know if it's because it sits inches closer to the activity-center of the house than the other, or because it's black instead of silver, or because we use the side door on it instead of the end door, or what! But prefer it they do. Especially Phoebe, since it isn't hers. Especially Phoebe, because there is usually another dog in it, and she wants what everyone else has.
By 2:50 this morning, all three dogs had been out to potty and I was packing John's lunch. Each of the girls had received their morning animal-cracker and as 3am rolled around, I was putting the finishing touches on his lunch when I heard Phoebe in the other room antagonizing Eliott because he was in the crate that she wanted to be in. Usually, Eliott grumbles a bit and then finally gives up and leaves the crate so she can have it, but not this morning. He grumbed as usual and she yipped and yapped right back at him and I thought nothing of the commotion I heard as it sounded just like what I hear every morning (and all other times of the day when she tries to get him to play. Sometimes he does, sometimes not.)
So a few minutes later, she came and stood by me in the kitchen, I didn't even glance at her as I filled our water bottles with ice. It was only when an ice cube fell on the floor and I bent to pick it up that I saw all the blood on the floor. I looked at Phoebe and was horrified to see her whole head COVERED in blood. I couldn't even tell where it was coming from there was so much of it!
I grabbed papertowels and got them wet and started wiping blood off her formerly white fur, trying to find the wound. I thought briefly that it was where her left ear met the scalp as there seemed to be a heavy concentration of blood there, but that wasn't it as that all wiped up. I finally found a tear in her right ear, about an inch from the tip.
I kept ringing the towel out and wiping her 'til she was almost clean, I blotted the wound and it seemed to have stopped bleeding so I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't any worse and set about cleaning all the blood up from the floor. I'd no sooner wiped up the last drop of blood than she gave her head a hard shake and sent blood flying as she opened up the wound again. Again, her head was covered in blood. Everytime she shook her head, those long floppy ears wrapped around her head and smeared the blood all over, not to mention sending it flying all over everything else. Again I got the bleeding stopped and somewhat cleaned up when again she shook her head and so this cycle kept repeating itself. By now it was 3:30 and I sent John off to work. I put in a call to the vet as I now decided it was time for stitches to help end the vicious cycle. The vet agreed to meet me at 4am so I tied a large dishtowel around Phoebe's head and left my blood soaked kitchen behind and my normally pristine white Olivia walking around in the mess to track it all over the place. Poor Olivia looked like she'd been in battle as well, as she had blood all over her as well from where Phoebe kept dripping on her.
I attempted to drive my stick-shift one-handed as I held onto Phoebe's collar to try and keep her from pawing the dishtowel off her head. Changing gears with the left hand isn't easy and holding on to a squirming dog while driving is even harder. I gave up on both and drove normally. She got the dishtowel off and then stood there dripping blood all over the inside of my car, all over the passenger seat, the arm-rest, etc. etc. It was still dark when I left to come to work, so I couldn't see just how much blood actually was in the car. I made it a point to wear dark clothing this morning, just in case I got any blood on me.
Once at the vet's office, Phoebe was sedated and stitched up. 4 stitches later...
It's unbelievable how such a tiny wound could bleed so much!!
Needless to say, I never made it to the gym this morning, but I did get my cardio up as I fretted over my wounded child and I guess I got in somewhat of a workout when I mopped the kitchen floor and crawled around wiping blood off the appliances. Hopefully I can get all the blood cleaned off my running shoes before my big race on Sunday morning.
2012 has GOT to be better than 2011!
At 3:30 this morning, my kitchen looked like somebody had been massacred. Blood was all over the floor, across the front of the fridge, stove, dishwasher, cabinets, etc. etc. All over Phoebe, all over Olivia, all over me. The men-folk in the house were the only ones that escaped being covered in blood, and that's simply because one was in the bathroom and the other never got out of the crate.
Ah, the crate. That's where it all started at 3am...
For reasons I've yet to figure out, all 3 dogs seem to prefer the newer crate. It's the same exact size as the other one, so I don't know if it's because it sits inches closer to the activity-center of the house than the other, or because it's black instead of silver, or because we use the side door on it instead of the end door, or what! But prefer it they do. Especially Phoebe, since it isn't hers. Especially Phoebe, because there is usually another dog in it, and she wants what everyone else has.
By 2:50 this morning, all three dogs had been out to potty and I was packing John's lunch. Each of the girls had received their morning animal-cracker and as 3am rolled around, I was putting the finishing touches on his lunch when I heard Phoebe in the other room antagonizing Eliott because he was in the crate that she wanted to be in. Usually, Eliott grumbles a bit and then finally gives up and leaves the crate so she can have it, but not this morning. He grumbed as usual and she yipped and yapped right back at him and I thought nothing of the commotion I heard as it sounded just like what I hear every morning (and all other times of the day when she tries to get him to play. Sometimes he does, sometimes not.)
So a few minutes later, she came and stood by me in the kitchen, I didn't even glance at her as I filled our water bottles with ice. It was only when an ice cube fell on the floor and I bent to pick it up that I saw all the blood on the floor. I looked at Phoebe and was horrified to see her whole head COVERED in blood. I couldn't even tell where it was coming from there was so much of it!
I grabbed papertowels and got them wet and started wiping blood off her formerly white fur, trying to find the wound. I thought briefly that it was where her left ear met the scalp as there seemed to be a heavy concentration of blood there, but that wasn't it as that all wiped up. I finally found a tear in her right ear, about an inch from the tip.
I kept ringing the towel out and wiping her 'til she was almost clean, I blotted the wound and it seemed to have stopped bleeding so I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't any worse and set about cleaning all the blood up from the floor. I'd no sooner wiped up the last drop of blood than she gave her head a hard shake and sent blood flying as she opened up the wound again. Again, her head was covered in blood. Everytime she shook her head, those long floppy ears wrapped around her head and smeared the blood all over, not to mention sending it flying all over everything else. Again I got the bleeding stopped and somewhat cleaned up when again she shook her head and so this cycle kept repeating itself. By now it was 3:30 and I sent John off to work. I put in a call to the vet as I now decided it was time for stitches to help end the vicious cycle. The vet agreed to meet me at 4am so I tied a large dishtowel around Phoebe's head and left my blood soaked kitchen behind and my normally pristine white Olivia walking around in the mess to track it all over the place. Poor Olivia looked like she'd been in battle as well, as she had blood all over her as well from where Phoebe kept dripping on her.
I attempted to drive my stick-shift one-handed as I held onto Phoebe's collar to try and keep her from pawing the dishtowel off her head. Changing gears with the left hand isn't easy and holding on to a squirming dog while driving is even harder. I gave up on both and drove normally. She got the dishtowel off and then stood there dripping blood all over the inside of my car, all over the passenger seat, the arm-rest, etc. etc. It was still dark when I left to come to work, so I couldn't see just how much blood actually was in the car. I made it a point to wear dark clothing this morning, just in case I got any blood on me.
Once at the vet's office, Phoebe was sedated and stitched up. 4 stitches later...
It's unbelievable how such a tiny wound could bleed so much!!
Needless to say, I never made it to the gym this morning, but I did get my cardio up as I fretted over my wounded child and I guess I got in somewhat of a workout when I mopped the kitchen floor and crawled around wiping blood off the appliances. Hopefully I can get all the blood cleaned off my running shoes before my big race on Sunday morning.
2012 has GOT to be better than 2011!
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