My New Lapton

Santa Claus came to my house early this year. My Honey bought me a new HP Laptop. Here's a picture of it. I really like it. It's a Vista 64 bit machine which is causing a few problems, especially being able to connect to my desktop at work through the Cisco VPN client that I use. Cisco doesn't support 64 bit, so if anyone out there knows of any thing I can use, please let me know.

I have been making Christmas pages for use as cards this year. Here is one I did. Hope you enjoy!

Dusty is better and Sadie is a little stinker

Dusty is doing so much better! He hasn't had a sick tummy in over 3 weeks! I'm so relieved!

On another note. I was doing some filing Sunday afternoon and also tossing paper in the trash. I was wadding stuff up into a ball and happened to notice after the 3rd or 4th toss that my trash can wasn't filling up (it is very small). Dusty and Sadie were stealing the wads of paper and shredding them! There was paper from one end of the house to the other! I really didn't mind because they seemed to be having such a good time, plus I needed to run the vacuum later anyway. Well, Punkin decided to have one of her puppy moments and joined in with the shredding. After a few minutes she and Sadie decided to go after the same piece of paper and that turned in to one big "FIGHT"! Sadie has a problem with Cocker Rage Syndrome and it seems that competition triggers her. She went after Punkin but instead of Punkin backing down and screaming for help she went back at Sadie. Then Dusty came into the room to break up the fight. He cracks me up! He will get right in the middle and just stand there growling until the girls settle down. Well, in the meantime, I got involved. I have found if I remove Sadie from the situation things calm down much quicker and no one gets hurt. So, I grabbed her by the nap of the neck and lifted her up, scolding her all the way. She immediately calmed down but Punkin was still wound up which is totally out of character for her. Anyway, sometime later I realized I had been biten! Not bad, just a small puncture wound and I'm not sure which one did it. I was so involved in breaking up the fight I didn't even notice! This is the first fight they have had in quite some time but when there is one it's always Sadie as the instigator. She's such a little stinker but we adore her!

Dusty has been sick

I noticed last Friday that he seemed to be hesitant to eat. I didn't think too much of it at the time but by the time Monday rolled around he was one sick little guy.
I took him to the vet Monday afternoon and 2 x-rays, blood tests, urine analysis and health check the Dr determined that he was dehydrated, with low blood sugar. He also noticed that Dusty's looked like he had an imflamed pancrease. This can be deadly and I'm so glad we caught this when we did. He also had that blasted anal gland infection, ear infection (very rare for him), tummy infection and gingivitus. Seems the gingivitus is probably causing most of the problems. So, he now has his teeth brushed twice a day and his gums look much better. Instead of blood red they are going to a nice pink. He seems to be much better already and he should. The Dr. gave him 3 injections (one was an antiobiotic, one was pepcid for his tummy and the last was a steroid for the inflammation around his pancreas), he also received sub-cutaneous hydration. We won't know for sure until he goes back for a check up on Oct 11th which will be another huge vet bill. He's worth every dime for the joy he gives. He's such a great little guy. He's also on two different antiobiotics.

I spent most of Monday night up with him. He had to potty around 1AM and I just stayed up with him and of course, the other two. He takes his meds so well. No forcing, just toss them and he gobbles them up.

Sunday, Sept 14th, 2008

This past Sunday, started out like every other Sunday. I talked on the phone with my son for awhile, then went to take care of some things for my mother. While we were at her house her electric went off. This was about 1PM, it wasn't too long after that we decided to head for home which is about 15 miles away. As we walked out the door, there were dark clouds swirling around the sky and it was quite breezy. We hadn't gone two miles when all of a sudden it felt like the car had been pushed backwards about 10 feet and branches and other debris started sailing past the car. Ike had made his presence known!
I was so smug about the fact that I didn't live on the TX Gulf Coast anymore and here I am going through the remnants of a monster storm that was able to reek havoc as far as the Midwest! We had decided to take the back roads to get home instead of the expressway. BIG MISTAKE! We had to literally drive through and around tunnels of trees! Phil laughed when I asked if there was a treeless way home. He did manage to find a road with a little less trees about two miles from the house. When we arrived back at the house it didn't take too long to realize we didn't have any power, which meant we also didn't have any running water. Since we live out in the country we depend on a well and a pump. Fortunately, we had bottles of water that we keep on hand for just such situations. Well, anyway, we went the rest of the evening with no power. I had my cell phone which I laughingly had to take to the car to charge, cause I only had one bar of power on it and it was our only means of communication. So, while charging the phone in the dark in my little blue Nissan on Sunday evening, I listened to the radio and was shocked to learn that it could be days if not over a week before power would be restored. Our utility company alone had over 225 thousand customers without power. Kinda made me feel small in the whole scheme of things. We went to bed early that evening thinking that surely we would be back in business by Monday. Boy, were we wrong!
We got up at our usual time on Monday morning thanks to the alarm on my cell phone and of course, Dusty, who was letting us know it was time for breakfast. That boy is always hungry! We ate a breakfast bar and sat and cuddled the puppies for an hour, then my cell phone rang. I was told that Phil and I didn't need to report for work. The plant and front offices were closed due to no power. I smiled and was thankful we had another day off making for a three day weekend! At daybreak, we assessed the damage around us. We didn't even lose a shingle (thankfully, it a brand new roof)! Our neighbors lost trees but fortunately, no homes were damaged there was just a lot of debris to pick up. So, Phil started on that and I started to check and see how much food needed to be taken out of the freezer. We lost about $800 worth of groceries, which I don't think is at all bad, considering. I grilled fish and frozen french fries for lunch, along with a salad from the garden (what was left of it). I cleaned out my office of things I want to get rid of by either donating or selling. All in all it was a very productive day. We again, went to bed around 8:30 because it was dark and still no power. I had a book that I was reading by itty-bitty book lite and finally had dozed off around 9:45. At 9:58 I heard a click and thought we must have a mouse then all of a sudden the air conditioner started running! WE HAD POWER! I was so excited about having electricity again it took me hours to go back to sleep.
Many of my co-workers are still withouth power (Wednesday). I do know for certain, I will not go through this again, as soon as we can find one, there will be a generator living at our house just waiting for lights out again! I at least want running WATER!
I am thankful, we lost nothing but a little food and power was restored for us. It was just a minor inconvenience. I just feel so sorry for the loss of life and homes along the gulf region. My heart goes out to those people.

My Children

No, not my four legged ones, my actual offspring! I was talking with my son the other day and he was giving me a hard time about just a passing mention on my blog about him or his sister. So, to make sure the whole internet world knows that I did, in fact, give birth to two children.

My first child, Shannon was a special gift from God. Her name means one like an angel and if a name ever suited anyone, her name suits her perfectly. She is the sweetest dispositioned person I have ever met. There is nothing phony about her, she lives like she believes with an abiding faith in God that is inspiring. She and her wonderful hubby, live 13 hours south of Phil and me. I would love it if they or we could move closer to one another. It's hard to cram lost time into short visits we have with one another.

My second child, my number one son (well, my only son) is the light of my life. His name is Brandon and his name means a beacon of light and yes, he too, is one of my special gifts from God. He lives 9 hours south of Phil and me and our visits together are way too far and few between. He is a graduate of Central Bible College and when I have theological questions, I usually turn to him to get me started on the path to answers. He and I became very close after his sister got married in 88. Phil was working lot's of evenings at the college and Brandon and I would go do silly stuff together in the evenings. He was always so much fun to be around. When we moved back to Ohio from AR in 1995, he came with us. We weren't back too long before his childhood wish finally came true for him. He always wanted a Doberman and he finally talked me into letting him get one. Many of you will know her by name, Teri McKay. I was so scared of her when she first came to live with us but she seemed to know that and it was like she took extra pains to make sure I loved her, which I did. We kept Teri while Bran finished college then she went to live with him. Brandon works for a major computer company, so when I have computer issues, I usually get his help.

So, now the world knows that my universe doesn't just revolve around my three dogs and hubby.

Another Day At the Park

This is Dusty (white and tan) and Sadie (black) at the dog park. I received my Elements Techniques magazine on Friday and it had a lesson on doing a Triptych layout. I probably didn't use quite the right photo for this technique but you can still see the effect. I also had to improvise a little with the instructions, like making copies of the rectangle shapes. It's an interesting technique.

The fur babies had another day of grooming yesterday. It's a never ending task, actually. I bathed them outside in between thunderstorms, then later in the morning set the grooming table up, finished drying them and touched up their coats. Sadie, as usual, needed a full groom. Her coat grows so fast! Punkin and Dusty just needed a touch up. Punkin just hates being groomed. She can be so uncooperative and stubborn! It's funny in a way but also quite aggravating, especially when all you want to do is get finished. I'm looking forward to seeing my and Phil's salary increases in the next few weeks, this money is going to be used to send the babies to the groomer once every six weeks!

I'm doing laundry right now and Sadie is soooo funny. As I hang the warm clothes on hangers, she walks back and forth slowly, letting the warm material stroke her back. She does that with all sorts of soft things but especially likes the clothes just out of the dryer. When she sees me head for the dryer she comes running and just waits. Every once in awhile I give her a warm towel to snuggle with and yes, I do wash it again.

If you're watching your calorie intake, come on over to the Den for some heart-healthy, lite and fit recipes. While you're there, if you aren't already a member, sign up, it's free. And if you post 5 of your own recipes, you will get all the others that are posted in the month of Sept. There is also going to be a posting bonus. It's a win-win deal!

August 29th, I can hardly believe the month is almost over. Where does time go!?
I took the day off from work today, to have an extra long weekend. I needed a break from the routine, I was starting to get snappy with everyone, even the bosses.

My fur babies are enjoying the time with me. They are curled at my feet. I love being at home with them. Oops, Sadie thought she heard a chipmunk at the front door, I have it open so they can look outside and watch the world go by. Chipmunks just drive Sadie nuts, mice too. Who needs a cat with her around!

I've had two calls from work, just silly stuff. I don't mind, at least I know I'm needed. Yesterday was a very trying day. I was working on updating our security system on our exchange server. I started at 6AM and didn't quit until way after 5PM. Never did get all the licenses to load correctly. Oh well, I have 30 days to rectify that little problem. After I get payroll done on Tuesday I see a long afternoon on the phone with Computer Assocs. I hope they can speak clearly (LOL)

I've included a new page that I just put together of Dusty. Robyn, over at the Den, is having a challenge for the month of August. We were allowed to scraplift layouts of other members. I chose one that she did of her pretty little grand daughter. The title was called Precious and she certainly is. This was such an easy challenge, I don't know why I didn't do it before now, except maybe that Robyn's new kit wasn't available until yesterday. It's called Cottage Garden and everything in the kit reminds me of just that. I know this is a little prissy for a male pup but he looks so good with these colors!