Cooper's Trip to the Vet Parking Lot

Sunday afternoon, Cooper came in from the backyard holding up his left paw up, walking gingerly and noticeably limping on that side.  I have no idea what happened.  I asked him to sit and he did.  I tried to touch his paw to see if I could see an injury or something stuck in the pad of his foot.  He was having none of that.  None of it.  If you will recall from previous posts I have written, Cooper's feet are one of his off limit body parts.  Completely off limits.  No touching.

I left him alone for a bit and he hobbled to his regular resting place and laid down.  After a while, I approached him and had a flashlight and my glasses handy to see if I could get a closer look. The minute I shined the light on his paw, he tucked it under him out of sight.  No thanks.

I gave it a little more time.  Eventually, he was on his side and I was really stealth and crawled across the floor to see if I could get a look without touching him at all.  I thought I could see a little burr stuck between the pads on his foot.  That would explain the limping.  I just wasn't sure what it was.  I went to reach for it to pull it out and his head snapped up and he got up and hobbled to another spot.

I followed after him giving him a long list of reasons of ways I could help him if he would just let me.  He wouldn't even look at me.

I tried a couple more times and got growled at. I was annoying the bejeez out of him and he was sleeping with one eye open to keep an eye on me. I decided to let him sleep on it and see if it was better in the morning.

Monday morning, I thought maybe it was better as he didn't seem to be limping hardly at all when he went out for his morning break.  A couple hours later he limped into my office.  Well dang it.  I went and got his muzzle and thought if I put that on that I would be able to look at his foot and at least he wouldn't be able to bite my face off.  He saw that muzzle coming and headed the other direction.

I had some rotisserie chicken in the fridge, which is basically Cooper's favorite thing ever.  Right up there with bacon.  He is normally helpless to resist.  I held it at the end of the muzzle and he turned around and walked away.  He was not going for it.  No way, no how.  I tried so many times.  I put peanut butter on my finger to see if that would entice him to put his face in the muzzle.  It has worked before.  It did nothing but make a mess of peanut butter on every dang thing.

I tried multiple times on Monday to get a peek at the foot.  No dice.

Tuesday morning I relented and called the vet and said "My giant dog with a really bad attitude has something stuck in the pad of his paw and will not let me look at it. Can you help?"   They said they could work him in, but really needed him to be muzzled because they know feet are off limits for Cooper and he has lost his ever loving mind at the vet several times when they have tried to clip his nails. They told me not to feed him because they might have to sedate him to get a good look at it.  All I heard was "Don't feed him. This is going to cost you a mint."  I picked up Cooper's breakfast and gave him two of his super duper going to the vet pills to get him a little woozy.  It worked and I was able to get his muzzle on!  Success!

I called the vet and told them I was on the way.  They were thrilled, I am sure.

I got Coop in the car and he was not barking but was instead making a really weird noise that sounded like Chewbacca was in the back seat.  It was a guttural, vibrating, whining kind of noise. He was very anxious - even on drugs.

We pulled up at the vet office and Cooper's Chewbacca noises really ramped up. While he was distracted, staring at the building and panicking, I was able to feel all around the pad of his sore paw and couldn't feel anything at all.  I got him out of the car and he was walking pretty normally and didn't seem to be limping.

Could it be that whatever was bothering him was gone?

I think it was!  HOORAY!!!

I loaded him back in the car and headed home, spending zero dollars. I called the vet and told them the story. They were as relieved as me.  I pulled Coop's muzzle off in the car and he just rested his head on my shoulder.  He was confused, still doped up and so relieved that he didn't have to go into the vet office.

It was a good day all around!  Coop has been a bit lazy and catatonic today after his big adventure, but that is really how I like him best.

Hello Again, ASU

Can you believe that Chip is old enough to visit colleges?  It doesn't seem possible.  He was just a little boy playing with Legos and chasing his mother around with light sabers begging me to battle him.  He always wanted to be the bad guy!

I was pretty terrible at light saber battling - but I could come up with a whopper of a story about some stormtroopers coming into the cul-de-sac to attack our house that made it seem like we were in imminent danger.  Has the Death Star ever landed in your front yard? Doesn't that sound like wholesome fun?  Once I would start spinning a story, Chip would say "We have to get to our base!"  Our base was my bed and we would scramble up the stairs and dive under the covers to our tent hideout. We would whisper and try to come up with some way to defeat them.  He would keep peeking out to make sure we were still safe.  I would make him come up with a really, really good battle plan, which mostly consisted of him being the head fighter and me the backup.  He knew my limitations with a light saber.  I would tell him I could hear them coming into the house and it was time for action.  We would creep out of the bedroom, sometimes in an army crawl or with our backs up against the wall.  We would slowly go down the stairs whispering about how scared we were, but we had to protect the house.  By the time we hit the landing Chip would be screaming at me and pointing out where the bad guys were and where to cover him. Never mind, that there were no bad guys except in our imaginations!  We would tear through the downstairs, looking in every closet and around every corner, whacking them with our light sabers until we wiped them all out.  We defeated them every single time and would high five and celebrate. Then Chip would say "Let's do it again."

I just asked Chip if he remembered those days and he said "Oh yeah, they were the best!"  I asked if it scared him and he said "No, I loved it!"

Well, if you loved it then quit growing up and looking at colleges you little brat!

He won't.

He won't stop growing up. And so, we will continue to look at colleges.

Chip has already been accepted into Arizona State University's WP Carey School of Business and offered a nice little academic scholarship.  Go Chip!  Now ASU is Harry's alma mater so we are pretty familiar with the area, but Harry lived and went to school mostly at the downtown Phoenix location and ASU's business school is on the Tempe campus.  We had a two day fall break at school, so we flew out to Phoenix for the long weekend to check it out to see if it felt like a fit for Chip.

We were so lucky that Harry was able to join us for the weekend and we had the best time. Me and Chip flew in from Austin and Harry flew from Dallas and we both arrived by 7:30 a.m. in Phoenix.  First stop - breakfast at iHop.  Not sure what that crazy face is that Harry is making, but I was grinning like a cat to have both my boys together for four days of fun.

We checked into our hotel shortly after breakfast so we could watch college football!  It was a great Embassy Suites in Scottsdale.  What a lovely view.  

Saturday night we went to a sports bar to eat, drink and watch more football.  Happy, happy.  

The next day we had tickets to see the Arizona Cardinals play the Atlanta Falcons.  

We had a great time from the moment we tried to park until the final missed extra point that would have tied the game and sent it into overtime.  It was a wild ride!  

The parking attendants at the Cardinals games take their job seriously.  They have cones and signs and tons of people out there trying to keep things moving.  We needed to find a cash lot and just got into a line that looked like it could be favorable for cash parking.  It was not.  There were several cars in front of us and they obviously were also in the wrong line. We watched this tiny intense woman parking attendant lose her mind trying to get people to follow simple directions.  

"Can we park here?"  

"No, please turn around and go down two blocks and you can park there."  

"Can we just drop off people here?" 

"No, you have to go down to the drop off zone.  No one can get dropped off here."  

Well, people were hard of hearing or gave no damns what she just said and van doors were opening and people were getting out. Right after she told them they could not do that. 

She says again "Hey, you cannot drop off here - go down to the drop off zone."  They all look confused and climb back in the car.  Then they drive twenty feet away and the doors open again and they start climbing out and she runs down the street yelling "Get back in the car.  Do not get out of your car!"  Now she is pissed.  AGAIN, they look so confused, but comply and get back in their car - but this time they slammed the doors and were obviously not happy.  We were cracking up. 

The next two cars in front of us make similar mistakes.  One car was going the wrong way and one was going into the wrong parking lot and the tiny intense lady didn't know which car to go running after first.  She was trying so hard to do a good job and it was just futile.

It is finally our turn and we pull up to this guy and I say "I have already gathered that I cannot park here.  Please tell me where to go."  He super casually points to a car doing a three point turn in the middle of the intersection and says "Just follow these idiots."  We laughed so hard.  

We followed those idiots and found a spot to park.  It was a gorgeous day! 

We hung outside and grabbed a little something to eat in the FanZone. 

Then we went into the stadium and walked all the way around.  There was the smell of coffee in the air and me and Harry were on the hunt for it!  We found it and then headed to our seats. 

I absolutely love walking a few steps behind my boys and watching them interact.  It makes me insanely happy.  They say the funniest things to each other (and also the meanest).  

The home team was about to go back to the locker room and we were trying to hustle over to our seats to get a close up of Kyler Murray warming up.  I started speed walking behind a guy and following him as he bobbed and weaved through the crowd.  The boys were hustling to keep up with me, so of course I went even faster.  The boys were wowed by my moves, laughing trying to keep up and were also very confused about what was happening and why.  I'm not even sure, but it makes me smile now just remembering how out of breath we were and how funny they thought it was.

Good times!  The two teams played awful, but damn if it wasn't a great game!  The Falcons tied it up at the last second and just needed the extra point to send it to overtime and they MISSED the extra point.  Brutal. 

That evening Harry went out with some of his old college pals and me and Chip hung out at the hotel. 

Monday, we did a little walking on the golf course.  We went out for lunch, went to the movies and at the last minute decided to catch the Phoenix Suns pre-season game.

Love these guys. 

Tuesday, was our college tour day.  It was a beautiful day.  They did a great little presentation about ASU and then we got broken into smaller groups and went on a walking tour of the campus.

This is the WP Carey School of Business.  Isn't that the coolest looking building? 

It is a beautiful campus....feels like you are at a resort instead of a college.  Chip still isn't quite sure that is where he will land, but I am happy he has seen it and has all the information he needs to make his decision. 

Then it got sad.  We had to split up and head to the airport and return to our respective cities.  I

know this is the longest post in the history of the free world - but I have one more story that I just have to tell.  

Our flight was uneventful from Phoenix to Austin, right until we were about to land.  Our plane descended as normal, but when we were maybe 30 ft from putting wheels down on the runway, the plane accelerated and went back up in the sky.  Like we almost landed and then the plane sped up and went back up.  What?  The pilot never came on a said anything.  NOT a WORD.  We flew around for about 10 minutes making turns and banking this way and that and then started to descend again.  Still no announcement from the airline staff.  Me and Chip were looking at each other like, "Does anyone think this is unusual?  Did our landing gear not come down?  Did we almost crash into another plane?  Did our pilot try to land on the wrong runway?  Did he overshoot the runway?  WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON???  We landed fine.  Never knew why that happened.  Isn't that weird? 

If you made it through this entire post, thanks for sticking it out.  This is what happens when I don't blog for a while.  I have a lot to share!  I promise to keep it shorter next time!   

I'm Going to Live!!

Sunday, I was feeling puny.  I described my symptoms to a friend as I had a sore throat, was achy, a little clammy, got the chills, almost like a flu "lite" version.  It was not like I had been hit by a Mack truck, but maybe just run over by a golf cart.  I started taking some Motrin and alternated all day between laying on the couch and taking a hot bath.

I didn't hardly sleep at all on Sunday night and knew with certainty by morning that I had strep throat.  My throat was KILLING me.  My whole neck was swollen.  You could see the giant swollen lymph nodes in my neck...see them, not feel them.  My ears hurt...my teeth hurt...touching anywhere on the outside of my neck was painful.  I was at the doctor by 9:00 a.m.  Strep test was positive and antibiotics were in my body by 10:15 a.m.

The rest of Monday was a blur of thinking I was dying to just wishing I was dead already.  I don't know if this was some kind of super strep that planted little tiny knives or razors in my throat or what, but swallowing was so, so painful.  Maybe it is because I am 53 and not 8.  I have had strep too many times to count in my life and probably should have had my raggedy tonsils removed when I was young.  But never have I had to put my hands on my throat, brace myself and then swallow.  At one point yesterday night I started spitting in a cup so I wouldn't have to swallow any more.  Trying to even drink water hurt so bad.  My neck ached so bad, the outside of my neck, not just inside my throat.

I had another terrible night of sleep last night and woke up every 3.5 hours to take either Motrin or Tylenol to try to ease the pain.  I chugged more Tylenol and crawled into another bath this morning at 5:00 a.m. and thought to myself, if I am not at least a little better by noon I am going to the emergency room.  I either need some IV antibiotics or an emergency tonsil removal (is that even a thing?)

Well, about 10:30 this morning (right around the 24 hour mark) - FINALLY - I felt a little better.  The neck swelling has continued to go down over the last several hours.  Swallowing is not great, but it is not excruciating, so I am grateful.  I don't feel clammy any more. No more chills.  Ears feel better.  So relieved and grateful to finally be improving.

I am so grateful that antibiotics are available to me and that they work.  Also, I really hope I don't share this mess with anyone else.  If I saw you this weekend, I am sorry. At the first sign of a sore throat go get a strep test!

Weekend in Bama

I have done it again....taken a big pause in blogging and now lots of good things have happened and it feels like a lot to catch up on.  Life comes at you fast and unfortunately, I can't remember all of it.  It is a problem. Can't see, can't hear, can't remember things.  Getting old is not for wimps.  

Let's just do the best we can, alright?

I recently spent a fabulous weekend in Bama with my people!  We worked hard - but we laughed hard too! Our goal for the weekend was to do a big yard clean up for the parental units and paint the floor in their screened porch.  Now all of these pictures will give you the impression that it was only me and my sister, "The Nice One" doing all the work.  That is not true...although we did do a bunch!  We had some help from my brother, brother-in-law and nephew and lots of supervision from Bob.  Though to be honest, the men seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to fix a chainsaw while me and The Nice One were cutting everything by hand and taking a ton of trips to the curb to pile up all the clippings. 

When you trim bushes by hand it can look pretty bad!  Look at this nightmare of a bush! 

It was almost up to the roof line and we were reaching into the bush and trying to give it a real good haircut.  It looked like a hot mess!  I stepped back at one point and said, "Let's take a picture and send this in to Disney to see if we can get on the topiary garden team to shape bushes into animals."  We are still waiting to hear back from them.

Here is a little bit better work that we did.

We clipped, cut, dug up, weeded, mulched and got the corner lot back in great shape!

Now the hedge below was a monster!  Seriously, it was like 15 feet tall and tried to kill two of our people.  My brother-in-law FINALLY got the dumb chainsaw working and was getting to work on this hedge and stepped in a hidden hole and fell down with the chainsaw running.  He threw the chainsaw into the hedge on his way down to his face plant and thank goodness the chain quit moving and he was unharmed.  

Bob also tripped while working on this hedge and took a serious stumble!  I heard it happen, but didn't see it thank goodness.  He damn near impaled himself on some small trees that had been cut off but were still sticking out of the ground about four inches. We were actually in the process of clipping all of those close to the ground to prevent the very thing that happened to Bob.  He was definitely being watched over by God, because he had sticks coming out the ground on both sides of him within just a couple inches.  That would have been so bad.   

The hedge didn't kill or injure anyone, but I am going to give it the stink eye every time I walk by it. 

All the while, the pile of refuge at the curb kept growing and growing.

The Nice One got scratched and cut up while working on our topiary masterpiece.  Dangerous work.

But it didn't slow her down.  She started straightening up the garage and before you know it she had us all involved in that bonus project!  We got it organized and it will be time for Can Man productions to get fired back up. 

We took a break in the afternoon and watched gobs of football and ate some of Lana's awesome Gumbo and Chicken and Dumplings.  It was a great day! 

Sunday morning, we got started early painting the screened porch floor.  It didn't take any time at all. 

While it dried, we took some triumphant pictures of our hard work by the big pile of limbs. 

We also staged some pictures to look like this rug was really heavy, but honestly we could have carried it with one hand. It doesn't take much to amuse us.

Just looking at this finished porch picture makes me laugh.  You would never believe how long it took us to figure out what was wrong with the chair cushions.  We could not figure out why they wouldn't fit back on the chairs.  We flipped them, turned them upside down, worked as a team to try to stretch the fabric that was not stretching.  So exasperated, only to finally realize the corners were flipped inside out. Once we got those flipped around they went on perfectly.

Before we headed back to the airport we took this cleaned up photo on the refreshed porch.  Sisters that share "Acts of Service" as their love language....nothing makes us happier than a working weekend.  We often wish we lived close enough to help each other out with house projects like we did back in the good ol' days.  We get stuff done! 

Well that wraps up one fun event!  Happily, I remembered more than I thought from my weekend in Dixie!  Hooray!  

Next up, a college visit to ASU!  

Bevo's Big Adventure

Monday afternoon, I received a call from my neighbor Judy...her 12 year old practically blind, mostly deaf pug Bevo had gotten out of the fence. Apparently, the pest control guy did not shut the gate very well and Mr. Bevo had walked right out of the backyard and out into the big, beautiful world. Only about 15 minutes had passed before Judy realized he was missing and she searched all over the cul-de-sac and could not find him anywhere.  Some of our neighbors were out playing and they helped her look and could not find him. By the time, she called me her voice was cracking and she was in a little bit of a panic.

Chip and I sprung into action and joined the search party!  It was a hot afternoon and since Bevo is impaired in the seeing and hearing department it felt kind of urgent that we find him quickly.  Now Bevo is not a particularly peppy pup. In fact, I often call him Eeyore because he really does more of a mosey than a walk.  Occasionally a trot if there is some yummy turkey for him and very rarely does he ever run. Based on that, I assumed he would be close by just slowly smelling all the things as he meandered around the neighborhood.  There are lots of different directions he could have gone once he left the cul-de-sac, so we split up.  Judy went one way, I went another and Chip went another. We walked the sidewalks close to the house and then spread out further and further. Finally, I rounded a corner and I saw Chip headed my way with a smile on his face and a pug on the end of his leash.

I hardly recognized Bevo because he was trotting along like a dog half his age with a new found purpose.  He had been exploring and you could tell it had been an absolute thrill for him.  He was all the way over by the hospital, which means the old boy left the yard and started hustling!  There was no mosey in his adventure game.  His tongue was practically dragging the ground, but his tail was up high and he was just proud.  If Bevo could have talked, I just know he would have spun story after story about his break out and his half hour out in the world. I would love to know what he saw and how he felt!

There were of course a few tears as Judy reunited with her pup!  She was so relieved. Then they both headed into the air conditioning to get some water and some wine to recover from the adventure!

I gave my search and rescue hero, Chip a pat on the back for a job well done!  We both wondered  how far The Worst Dog in the World would have gone in thirty minutes.  We agreed he would have gone very, very far and it would require motorized vehicles to cover his search and rescue area!  Let's hope we never have to experience that with Coop!

Signing off....gotta go check the gates again and make sure they are closed!  Have a fabulous day!