PIper Gets Tumor Removed, AND THEN.......

Piper went in this morning to get a "tumor" removed from her neck/chest area. The vet says this is common in Boxers, so that relieved us a little. Of course, they have to take a biopsy of the tumor they removed and let us know. I'm sure it will be benign.

So, Piper comes home and she's not home but 5 minutes when she RIPS OUT HER STITCHES!! Of course, Hubby has left to pick up fresh fish for dinner. I call him, FREAKING OUT, and tell him she has ripped out her stitches and it is bleeding, and she needs to go back to the vet! ARRGGHHH..... BLOOD......!!!!! BLECH...UGHM.... (just how do you spell that throw up sound?).......
I grab her neck and scratch her body (where I can reach) and hold her head up so she won't attack her wound any more!! I do this for what seems an eternity before hubby returns home to get her to take her back! Hubby gets home and calls the vet to ask him what to do. WTFREAK?????!!!! WHY ARE YOU SPENDING PRECIOUS TIME CALLING THEM WHEN HER WOUND IS WIDE OPEN???!!!!! MEN!!!!!!

OF COURSE, he tells him to get her right back over there so they can fix her up! DUH!!!!!

When they leave, I call the vet back to ask why they sent her home like that without any kind of protection? Trying to ask NICELY, I ask, is that the norm? or what is it we're supposed to do??? And, can he send back a cone, and helpful would be some kind of antiseptic that we can spray on that can keep her stitches from itching. He says "I'll make a note of that in the chart." Hmmmm........ Ok, now I just wait and see.....
MEN!

The Building of a Side Fence Saga

Hello out there.... Is anybody there?? I know, I've neglected my blog for a while... I go through these phases sometimes. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa.... :-D

DAY 1: I get a wake up at dark thirty (well early for me, really only 8:30a.m. tee-hee) call from my neighbor telling me that he has hired a crew to knock down the existing fence and build a new one. Didn't your hubby tell you, he asks? GROAN.... this means I will not be able to let Piper outside by herself. GROAN... Oh well, so now Piper is awake too, and I now have to take her outside and then I get to bring her back inside right away! Well, okay, how long can building a side fence take? Two days at the most? The crew shows up about 10a.m. - a little later than I thought they would start, but at least they are here to get started.
***** In the meantime we rig up something to hold Piper in the yard. I find an earth tiller (I think that's what it's called) and tie an extended leash to it. The first attempt she pulled it out. It's all fixed now, so she can do her thing in the yard and still reach the patio. Ok, it's only for a couple of days....
******Of course, I bring her in the house in between her outings, but she is still ROWDY, and biting and tugging on my clothes (she's only 9 months)! My entire fist now fits comfortably in her mouth... groan.... So, back outside she goes! I hear the trucks start up, it's barely only 3:00p.m. and the workers are leaving??? What the HECK??!!
DAY 2: Piper wakes up at 3a.m. & 7:30a.m. to go outside. Ugh. Hubby gets the 3a.m. outing. The fence is still down so she can still not go out alone. Workers show up about 9ish, then they leave after about 30 minutes!! WHAT THE HECK??!!! AAARRRGGGHHH....
***** I debate on whether to call the neighbor and fill him in. I don't want them to take advantage of him, and Piper needs her roaming space, but I don't want him to think I'm being a busy body; so I give him a call anyway. He says they called him & said they had an emergency, and would finish the next day. Hmmm... just what kind of emergency could there be to take the whole crew away? Hmmm.....
DAY 3: I saw one person working on the fence at 10a.m., he left after an hour or so. Another person showed up about 4:00p.m.!!! He stayed until 6:00, then packed up and went home!!! WT HECK??!!!
****Piper is not getting enough exercise, even with her walks, so she's been waking us up at 3:00 a.m. to go potty! I've been trying to keep her up late so she won't wake early, but it's not happening! So, I'm not sleeping well, nor is my hubby who has to get up at dark thirty for work, and I have to take a sleeping pill, or I'll be awake all night! No, I don't get it either, you'd think after getting up at all hours that I'd sleep well. Don't know. Everybody is off schedule!
DAY 4: (Today 4/2) Two men and one woman showed up to work on the fence, and it's10:00a.m. YEA! At least more than one person is here! Oh WAIT! There are 3 more people here! Two small girls - ages 3 & 4 (barely) and AN INFANT!!! At first I only saw the 2 little girls running around the board and nails and electric saws; and then, I saw an infant carrier sitting on the ground next to the fence post (just recently placed)! WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???!!!
********A little while later, the dad is working away with a NAIL GUN, and the mom (holding the infant) and the 2 girls come walking up. The 2 girls walk directly behind the dad, while he continues to shoot those nails, while the mom talks to the dad!!! She doesn't even tell them to move away!!!!!
I'm just beside myself! I have to move away from the window so I won't pound on it and yell at her to get those kids away from there!
********At about 4:30p.m. THE FENCE IS UP!!! YEA!!!!! I run outside and let Piper loose!! YEA!!

Jeffrey's Heaven Date, Today, February 18, 2010

It was time to go to the accident site and replace the old cross with silk flowers, with a new cross with silk flowers. This year I chose Sunflowers. They were beautiful. After attaching the flowers to the last couple of crosses, I got smart this time, and got some sunflower sways! That was SO MUCH EASIER TO ATTACH - just entwine them around the cross!!
Each time I tell my family/friends that I am going alone to replace the cross and throw some flowers into the creek, they put up a fuss, and don't allow me to go alone. So, someone has gone with me each year; either one of my dear friends FW or Becky. It is a busy and dangerous road, but I'm not afraid. I've been there before and done much more there, so standing on the top of the bridge and affixing the new cross and tossing fresh flowers into the creek doesn't scare me.
This year, my dear friend Becky (Bex), decided to spend the day with me. It seems only right, and poignant that Bex went with me yesterday, as it was Bex that drove me around that day to find Jeffrey, and we found him.

So, yesterday morning, Bex came over, and we fixed the cross together, stopped to pick up some wild flowers and some roses, then headed out to the accident site. We put the cross up, and then tossed the flowers in the creek, while talking to Jeffrey.









When we drove up, we saw a city maintenance truck there with some guys working on the guard rail. I was concerned that they might have something to say about us being there, so I went to talk to them. Turns out that there was an accident there, someone ran into the guard rail where Jeffrey did. This time, the car was not able to penetrate the now stronger guard rail and the thick posts restraining the guard rail.

I mentioned to Bex that it was because of Jeffrey that those stronger and thicker guard rail and posts were there. That it was because of Jeffrey that those people's lives were saved. Bex had another take on it. She said that maybe it was Jeffrey that held those people back. Hmm...... something to think about.

Jeffrey's 4th Year Anniversary Heaven Date Here

~~~~Today is not a good day. I'm trying to get together the invitations for Jeffrey's birthday party. Still making decisions. Need to order them today. I wanted to hand make them, but it looks like I'm going to personalize them with pictures instead and order them online.
~~~~I am also trying to figure out what kind of "party favors" I want to give out at the party. Usually, it is a picture of Jeffrey, or us as a family. One year I gave "the kids" (Jeffrey's friends), a CD, made from an old cassette tape, in which the case was broken, and I was able to find someone to create CDs for me. They loved it! I'm hoping I can figure out exactly what it is I want to do for this party.
~~~~~~Today is the monthly Compassionate Friends meeting. I missed last month's meeting because I was out of town, but I will go to this one. This month is Jeffrey's 4th year anniversary since he left us on this earth. Compassionate Friends call the 'anniversary dates' Heaven Date. Which I think is appropriate. Special recognition is given to the children when their Heaven Date arrives, as well as their Birthday date.
~~~~~Well, this month, February, is both Jeffrey's Heaven Date - February 18, 2006 - AND this month is ALSO Jeffrey's Birthday - February 24, 1983.
Am feeling kinda wimpy right now. I hope that I can get J to go with me tonight. He doesn't go any more. Maybe he will tonight.

Piper, Piper, Piper.....!

This lil gal (50lbs), is SUPER-HYPERACTIVE!! Since her being "fixed", last Wednesday, we were to keep her from getting exercise for 7 days! That girl was ready to jump around in 2 days!! I gave her lots of treats the first few days to keep her calm. If it wasn't raining all day every day, she would get a walk!
~~~~No pictures yet, but this morning, I caught Piper gnawing on a rocking chair that I bought to rock Alexis in when she was a baby. The chair is 32 yrs old, and not a mark on it until today. I threw Piper outside, and found MORE plants she had chewed off at the middle. This palm was one of the plants that was sent to us for Jeffrey 4 years ago. We had kept it alive through many dos and donts. We didn't have any plants, so we didn't know how to take care of them. Once we learned what each plant liked, water/sun/shade, our plants were finally thriving. Since Piper has chewed on them, we've lost quite a few. After a while, we thought we didn't have to watch Piper every second, cuz we had been disciplining her about the plants. Wrong.
~~~~ I know there are supposed to be all kinds of "remedies" out there to spray on the plants & furniture, but hadn't picked anything up from the pet store. So, this morning, I remembered some of the home remedies. Pepper was one, we were told sprinkle that on the plants/dirt, and dog will sneeze and sneeze and stay away. Piper licked it right up and wouldn't stop. Then I remembered 'vinegar', so I put some in a spray bottle with water. When she attacked the plants again, I sprayed her in the face, PLUS, sprayed the plants. She lapped it up. Turns out she likes salad with salad dressing. I'd be laughing right now, if I wasn't so upset..
More than not, I wish we had never gotten this dog.

Piper's Vet Visits - TWO, ALREADY in 2010!

The beginning of the new year has been a little traumatic for Piper (or is it just Piper's parents?). The third week into January, we noticed that Piper's eye was swollen! I mean majorly swollen! Then, there is the discussion...., here it is a SUNDAY - meaning extra $$ at the Vet's office. Now, don't get me wrong, we won't spare any expense to get our Piper medical treatment if she needs it. But, you know, you just have to step back and look at the situation and try and determine if there is anything you can do yourself to make it better. In our past experience, if we had come across something like this before, we probably would have handled it at home, but this, we had not. Her swollen eye just freaked me out, and knowing that it could possibly impair her vision permanently, opted that we just had to take her in, and J agreed, so we did. I took a cell phone picture before we took her to the vet so we could monitor it. When J & Piper were waiting in the Vet's 'inner' office, J took another picture of Piper's eye because the eye was swelling more. Here is that picture.

By the time the Vet came in, the swelling had subsided, so J showed the picture to the Vet, and his reaction was like ours... WOW! Since the swelling had subsided, the Vet's diagnosis was "Allergic Reaction". He thinks that maybe it was a spider bite. We're just glad that it wasn't serious! Money well spent.

Piper has certainly grown in the last couple of months. She turned 7 months old on Sunday, January 24th. Here is a current picture of her. She weights just about 50lbs!! I certainly hope that she does NOT get any larger!!!
Yesterday, Piper had another Vet visit. Poor Baby.... this time it was to get her spade. :-(
So, today, I am "dog watching". That's right folks, almost like bird watching, but with a d-o-g. haha... I crack myself up..... (or is that the fumes from the meds I'm giving Piper?)

Dog watching, in order to keep her still, and to keep her from LICKING her wounds (ha - pun intended - poor baby) - I swear, I am smelling some kind of fumes... but just where the heck are they??....
~~Anyway, y'all should SEE the Cone that the Vet's office sent to put on Piper!! I swear, you'd have to be an Engineer to put that thing together!! Luckily, J is an engineer! OH, but WAIT, he's NOT HERE!! So, I have to "Dog Watch". I don't mind, really, it's just that I can't lay on the couch, or sit down without jumping up to follow her around the house! Yes, I've closed off the rooms as usual, but since she's had the roam of the land, er, house lately, she finds a spot and sits down and licks, lick, licks.... Man, it's a good thing I have good hearing!

Piper woke up at 2:30 this morning, and up again at 7:30. All I've wanted to do is take a little nappy-poo. Finally, I got her to settle down and we both took a nap. So, I'm not supposed to let her outside without supervision, cuz she'll either lickity-lick, or run and jump, or lay on something rough that will irritate or rip her stitches, so I guess it is more like bird watching than I thought.... follow... follow.... follow.... Lucky gal, she is getting LOTS of treats today!
I'll have to post pictures of the cone later, cuz J took the camera today. I'll take before and after pics. Right now, Piper is snoring peacefully at my feet. Ahhh.......

Christmas Fun With Lil Gal & Piper & Bently

I Just wanted to let y'all know that we had a good Christmas. Alexis came down and it was so wonderful to have her and Bently here. Bently and Piper went at it like they were siblings. Haha... too funny. Piper would put that paw up in Bently's face and Bently would go berserk! After a while, we seemed to notice that they played just fine, as long as Alexis was not in the house. LOL! Imagine that! But, seeing as Piper's one paw is as big as Bently's face, it was a little annoying to Bently. They finally figured out how to be gentle with each other. Watching them was fun. :-D ~~~ Check out the play time video below.
~~~Dear Hubby surprised us with a 46 flat screen tv, so my surprise present "Wii" was ever so much more fun to play! We played some bowling and some tennis, and BOY, I can't believe I was sore! Oh wait! Yes, I can. That's the only form of exercise I've done in a while besides cleaning house! LOL!! That was fun! When I was in Austin, my SIL #2 and I played Mario Kart! Now, that's addicting! I'll just say this..... I'm SO GLAD that I don't drive like I do on the tv screen, in real life! I CANNOT for the life of me, stay on the road!!

~~~~ So, J tells me that one day when Piper came in from outside (Poo duty), that she had her ears down, was acting weird, she ran in the door and just ran from room to room. So, J finally caught up with her to check her out and noticed that she had .... wait for it...... she had poop hanging from her butt via a Christmas tree icicle!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Oh I do wish he would have taken a picture of that! I know, gross, right? But, OH SO FUNNY!!
That's what she gets for eating a xmas icicle! I wish I could have been here to see it!
She was SO relieved when J pulled it from her! Ahhh..... I'm just ROFLMAO!!
~~~~~~New Years Eve was good. It was good to be with best friends to bring in the new year. I hope that everyone had a super time bringing in the new year!

OMG! It's already at the End of January 2010!!!!

Hi Folks!
So sorry I've been gone for so long. I've been home one week now. I just haven't had much time to write, until now.
We went to visit our folks up in Austin after our BIG New Years Night! I KNOW!!! Just whose Crazy Idea was that??!! Of course, my Dear Hubby (DH)! Although, I have to admit that I was caught at a "weird moment" when I agreed to travel on January 1st! - New Years Day! - You know, day after New Years Eve??!! That was a FIRST! Thankfully, my DH let me sleep late! Anyway, we arrived there in the late afternoon and traffic was amazingly pretty good! Well, what do you know? Think most peeps were sleeping in? - Uh, I mean Sleeping it off?? LOL I thought I would sleep, but ended up finishing up the first book in a new series of books I'm reading. The "Twilight" series! Heard of that? (more on that later.)
~~~So, when we arrived at my SIL & BIL's home (cool peeps), we walked in with all of our luggage (Piper included - taking several trips) - right into a house FULL OF IN-LAWS!!
Well, what do you know? They were all there waiting for us to eat a New Years dinner!! What a HUGE Surprise!!!!! I wondered -- no, expected - that DH knew all about this and decided it best not to tell me. Hmmmm...... grumble... grumble..... - No Wonder he pushed for me to agree to go on New Years Day! -- All I wanted to do was settle in and relax.
NO SUCH DUMB FREKEN LUCK!
EVERYONE was dressed up, dinner was ready to sit on the table... and we had to run in and clean up our travel dust/dog poo(uh I mean smell) - and whatever travel smells have... And,
I had to quickly freshen up, greet every single person there, and then have a lovely meal. Oh Yeah! Also, since xmas presents were being given out, we had to hand out the xmas presents we had brought with us, but NOT to the peeps we didn't know would be there! (Thanks for the notice all!)
~~~ OH I always thought I liked surprises.... I suppose it depends on what the surprise is. So, the evening was long. After everyone had gone home, the 4 of us settled in to watch a movie (or is that the 7 of us? - 3 dogs). My brother #2 calls me at 10p.m. to tell me that our mom fell down the stairs in her home at 6ish (that's when we arrived!). She is married to her 2nd husband - none of whom we are thrilled with. It turns out that (Let's call him the JERK) the Jerk, decided to call only ONE of our brothers, Bro#1 (the one who is doesn't have a clue about him) & the Jerk decided that Mom did NOT need to go to the ER!! Mom turns 80 in April. And, Bro#1 didn't even argue with him, OR go over to see mom!
Bro#2 and I were FREAKED! At this point, mom was already in bed, so we decided to run over there First thing in the morning and take mom to the ER. Bro#2 & I wanted to arrive first and told Bro#1 & wife to WAIT for us to get there, since we had keys to the house and didn't want mom having to come down the stairs (Jerk was already at work - hours are 4a.m.-12noon), Bro#1 didn't wait, and rang the doorbell and made mom come on down to answer the door. That's just how he is folks. Now you know why he and the Jerk get along. We pulled up 5 min after he did.
Ah, you know family... after we talked to mom, we got into it with Bro#1, as to why he didn't call any of us... THEN, we quickly dropped it - saw it causing mom stress. AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
~~~~~We all took mom to the ER and I stayed with her in her room. I finally called Jerk, just before he got off work to let him know where mom was. After explaining exactly which hospital she was at, he said he would just meet us at home since we were all there! Just like him.
Then he called back 10 min later and inquired again which hospital?
The Dr had ordered a cat scan, and xrays. When Jerk got there, the Dr had just reported: no broken bones - possible hairline tailbone fracture, and would be sore for a few months. When the Dr. reported this, then the Jerk said "Yeah, that's just what I told her, she didn't hurt herself...." The Dr interrupted and said "YES" your wife did hurt herself and IS hurting. That's why she is here. (HOOWA!!) He shut up. But, I don't even think it phased him - no clue. Next was for insurance paperwork and discharge.
Jerk said he would take mom home. I told him that he would not take mom home; that mom could NOT climb up into a truck; and that we would be taking her home. So, he said he would see her at home; and he left. No questions about payment - discharge papers - Dr's orders - prescriptions, nada...... Again, just like him.
I decided to stay and take care of mom for the week, then ended up staying 2 wks, since she was still not doing that great. Bro#2 and his wife were going out of town, so at least I could be there for her. I stayed at their place while I was there. They have stairs too, so at least I got some exercise! lol
Mom is doing much better. She saw her Dr on Friday - 15th, and he told her that it would take about 4 months for her to begin to feel normal again. He gave her a Handicap sticker for her car, as she is walking pretty slow, and still gets dizzy (but has meds for that). I know she wants to drive herself to church on Sunday, but we'll see.
I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve/Day!