Christmas 2008

can we open gifts yet??

Kelsey, Carissa, Chris and Cairo

I love daddy's new hat!

Christmas shelves

It was a good Christmas!
(Not pictured - my new HUGE CD case and my new Ingrid Michaelson CD.)

Monkey Feet

Being Foodal..... ;)

Cookies

the fam

I love my new bone!

how does your garden grow?

Well, we spent this weekend - well, most of Saturday anyway - working in the yard. We spent a lot of time trying to get the vegi garden ready to plant. I now have 8 tomatoes, 8 peppers, and two rows of beans successfully planted. In addition to the cucumbers, melon and squash of last weekend.
While Kim was pulling up sod I started noticing the beautiful colors around the yard - in flowers, ground cover and hanging baskets. I couldn't resist trying to capture them on film. Here are the results - tho the pictures in no way do justice to the plants. (Um, I just realized how much purple I have in my yard....)












And as you can see, Cairo was bored with it all, and found a cool pile of dirt to lay in. Dumb dog.....

A dogs life

So, the puppy has hypothyroidism. Not as bad as it could have been, initially they thought he might be diabetic too. But those numbers are ok on the second test. As for the hypothyroidism - it made him whiny, fearful (excessively), unable to track well because it effected his scenting ability. It made him sleepy. And a tiny bit over weight. It also gave him terribly dry skin, and a dull coat, which was the thing that took us to the vet with him in the first place. That's why they did the blood work. I guess he tested at 1 a month ago and it should be 5. Yesterday he tested at 8. So now we have swung the other way and have to back off the meds a little. But I like the weight loss, the lower anxiety level, the fact that he plays again, that kind of thing. I don't like that he has taken to carrying slippers and underwear all over the house again.....
I really don't mind the meds - he takes them easily and they are dirt cheap. But until he's regulated he has to have blood work at $58 a pop. That is not fun. Or insured.
And now they have decided he has a kind of seborrheic dermatitis (so does Kim....LOL) and has to be bathed weekly with a special shampoo..... I'm glad Carissa will be home tomorrow. ;)