July is winding down

I'll be so glad when this summer is over. It's been dreadfully hot, even by South Carolina standards. I seem to get less and less tolerant of the heat the older I get, and I just can't seem to enjoy anything this time of year. Even my friend's pool offers no relief; the water is as warm as a sauna. Forget doing much of anything outside, with heat values over 100 degrees day after day. I realized today that one of the reasons I don't mind working all summer is that I'd just be sitting inside my house hiding out in the a/c. I might as well be at work in the a/c earning money. I get paid for 30 more days of work each year than the teachers do, and I wouldn't be going on vacation during that time anyway. 

I've had a little bit of fun this summer, though. I've read two books recently: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (for my book club) and then the new book by Daniel Mason, Country People. The Midnight Library was a quick read and mildly entertaining, although nothing really special. It did lead to some interesting conversation at book club, though. Country People is wonderful. Daniel Mason wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, North Woods, so I ordered a copy as soon as it was released. I really enjoyed it. Reading is great fun when you're stuck in the house!

Then Marla came over last Saturday afternoon and spent several hours with me. I made strawberry daiquiris from some of the fresh local strawberries I'd put in the freezer back in April, along with some snacks: a hot Rotel dip in the crockpot, cold sour cream/ranch dip, potato and tortilla chips for dipping, King's Hawaiian Ham and Swiss sliders, and caramel turtle brownies. I also made a pitcher of iced tea for when the daiquiris got cloying (which never happened, haha). 

The dogs were absolutely thrilled to see her, as usual. She was actually with me the day I first met George at the Darlington County Humane Society back in 2013. She loves both the dogs like she loves her own pets, and they know it. As soon as I saw her car pull into the driveway I announced, "MARLA IS HERE!" and Poppy and George nearly tripped over themselves running for the door to greet her. 

Speaking of the dogs, we used to sometimes call Ginger "Gingerbread". This afternoon, Marco called Poppy "Gingerbread" and when I said, "That's not Gingerbread, silly. That's Poppy." he sat there for a second and then called her "Baby Bread" instead! How stinkin' cute is that? It makes me so happy that he hasn't forgotten Ginger even though she's been gone almost 6 years now. We still miss her so much.

Today was the first day back at work for the teachers and most of the staff. It was so good to see everyone again and to meet the new teachers coming on board! We started the day with a catered breakfast and some time to catch up, which was nice. After that my office was a popular place, because as the bookkeeper I had the teachers' supply checks to give out! (Every teacher gets a $400 check at the beginning of the year to spend on whatever they want for their classrooms.) 

Tomorrow most of the staff will be at professional development, including me. I'll be up at one of the administrative buildings all day for the annual bookkeepers' meeting/training. It was great the first year or two when I was still a newbie, but these days it's just a lot of the same old, same old and boring PowerPoint presentations. It will be good to see the other district bookkeepers and the accountants, but other than that I wish I didn't have to go. Still, I marvel every day at how lucky I am to have a job I love. I got my updated salary letter the other day and this year I have an annual increase of 8%...a really solid, nice raise! So I won't complain about boring meetings and training sessions. 

The students will return next Wednesday, so summer break is winding down for them, too. 

Thankful

 It's the eve of Thanksgiving and I'm grateful for so many things at the moment.

• It looks as if Gregg will keep his regular income for the next couple of months in exchange for going up to the store a few times a week to maintain the aquatic systems and to help the manager care for the animals. The late owner's brother is in town meeting with attorneys to sell the pet stores and settle his affairs. A number of potential buyers have stepped forward, but appraisers will have to come in and put a monetary value on the stores before they can be sold. This process could take up to two or three months, and in the meantime the brother will be cutting Gregg and the manager (as well as the managers of the other two stores) checks every two weeks for their regular salary. What a relief that is! It buys us some time to prepare for whatever might happen next.
•  I'm feeling much better. I'd caught a mild cold a couple of weeks ago that led to some chest congestion, and although I didn't feel bad, when I went for my (already long scheduled) follow up appointment with the allergist, my lung function had gotten really bad again. He thought my right lung sounded like an infection was setting in so back on antibiotics I went. He also prescribed another round of prednisone. Prednisone always makes me feel so much better that I wish I could take it more often but of course it has bad side effects. 
• Dare I say this? Let me just whisper it, lest the Universe should decide to smite me upon my return to work next week for my hubris: work has been going better and my boss has been much calmer and easier to be around. Everyone was happy, given that we had a two day work week, and things felt more relaxed and almost fun than they have all year. We had a giant Thankgiving staff potluck in the library yesterday, and with almost 50 people bringing dishes, it was a feast. I couldn't even come close to sampling everything. There were two cooked turkeys, lots of homemade fried chicken, dressing, casseroles, hot dips, meatballs, puff pastry appetizers, a huge crockpot of savory collard greens (those were one of the biggest hits of the meal), deviled eggs, rolls and biscuits, fruit salad, watergate salad, and I don't know what-all. The dessert table was also full: fruit pies and pound cakes and brownies and cookies, tortes and banana pudding and hot cherry crumble (in a crockpot). Two teachers got together to make an autumn punch out of sparkling cider and pomegranate juice and sliced fruits. There was so much left over that all of the staff was asked to please take food home for their families, and we all did. I also brought back my contribution, which was virtually untouched, much to my disappointment.

Nobody wanted the healthy option! :)

• George is doing much better. I'm SO grateful for that--it's been a real worry. We're pretty well convinced now that he doesn't have a torn ligament in his knee, just some arthritis. He's still favoring that leg a little, sometimes, but he rarely limps and wants to be active. I'm still giving him a (lower) dose of the NSAIDs once a day, along with fish oil at night, to try to keep that knee as loose and pain free as possible. We're also slowly building him back up to twice daily walks, and he seems much happier for it. So are the rest of us! Those walks have been sorely missed by us all.
• Last thing I'm thankful for: this girl.

She's brought so much fun and energy and lightness to our home this year. She's wildly playful, smart, and very affectionate. It's been a joy having a young dog again. And this is the start of her first holiday season with us!

Tonight, Thanksgiving eve, is special in our home because it was the night before Thanksgiving 2007 when a stray puppy showed up at door and became our beloved Ginger. Since it was her homecoming day, it became a personal family holiday and that hasn't changed since she died. Now we have Poppy, who shares so many of Ginger's good qualities that I think she's going to be a worthy successor to her. 

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow if you celebrate, my friends!

Random daily life stuff

 It's a most welcome day off for me. Today is, of course, Election Day, and schools are always closed on this day. As a matter of fact, the school where I work is my polling place. Gregg and I went early this morning, before he had to leave for work. I was grateful to be able walk in the gym, cast my vote (with no wait), and then head back home for the rest of the day.

Work hasn't gotten any better, unless you're judging by how well I seem to be managing to keep my head down and power through. * So far this has been a loooong year. For the first time in my six years at the school, I have a mild dread in the pit of my stomach on Sunday afternoons. Spring can't come soon enough; that's when contracts and work agreements start coming out and jobs start opening up. With 24 schools in our district, surely an opportunity to transfer to something better will come along soon! 

George's leg/knee is still a real worry. He still limps some half the time, despite almost six weeks of reduced activity and the NSAIDs he gets every morning. Arthritis in his left knee seems to be his biggest issue, and we're probably going to have to try to manage it for the rest of his life. He's gotten somewhat depressed because we haven't been taking him for his twice-daily half mile walk. Hopefully the vet will soon let us gradually get him back to walking more. We've just been making sure that if it's a ligament tear, it has some time to heal, but if it's just arthritis, then gentle exercise will be good for him. 

Poor George; we've been sneaking around with Poppy, taking her on walks. Not too often, and mostly when he's in a back room napping and so won't notice, but still. I hate going without him and I feel guilty. But as bad as I feel for making him rest for all these weeks, I can't deny an 11-month-old puppy the chance for exercise. She's got so much pent-up energy she's like a small package of dynamite!

Okay, well "small" might be the wrong word for Poppy! She was 50 pounds when I last took her to the vet. She's getting to be a big (and tall) girl. Although I'm a little sad that she's not really a puppy anymore, I'm pleased as can be about the dog she's becoming. She's turning out to be very intelligent, friendly (to humans and dogs alike), and playful, with the beginnings of a sense of humor that I didn't know was possible in dogs until Ginger came along. She's sweet, too. Very cuddly, especially late at night and early in the morning when she's sleepy. Poppy is already very much a part of our family.

Her only fault so far (and it's only really kind of a fault) is that she's stubborn and protective, and she'll bark like hell at people coming and going at neighbors' houses. She's also not fond of strangers (like the pest control guy that comes quarterly) who enter our home. She'll snarl and bark and put all the fur up along her spine, and no amount of scolding will make her stop. I always end up banishing her to the back yard if I have to let strangers into the house. But she's loving and loyal to all our friends and family, so at least there's that! Ginger was also protective, but she was smart enough to discern which people might actually pose a risk and which wouldn't. Since Poppy is so smart I expect she'll gain some discernment with maturity. She's still very much a puppy in some ways.

One last item of note: Gregg took down the last really large aquarium in our house. It was a 125 gallon that's been in our den since we moved in here 4 years ago. ** He decided he wanted to sell it while the tank was still in good shape, and he wants to concentrate on something a little bit smaller and less time (and space) consuming. He sold it for a very, very good price to a secretary at one of the medical offices where he gets paid to maintain their aquariums. He's known this woman for years, and she's been wanting a nice, large tank of her own. He only charged her $400 for the tank, stand, lights, filters, and several buckets of nice substrate. A real bargain.

The aquarium, cleaned and ready to go, right before the new owner came to pick it up.

Of course, we had to totally rearrange the den after the aquarium was gone. So far, I like what we've done in there, and today we're going furniture shopping for new barstools to go in this room! That's going to be Gregg's birthday gift--his birthday is tomorrow--and I'll post photos of the room once we're finished redoing it. I'm a little sad to see the tank go, but excited about rearranging and redecorating.

* Knocking on wood as I type this. When your boss almost certainly has a personality disorder, and you manage to stay in their (mostly) good graces, it's best to stay humble about it. All that could, and might, change tomorrow!

**Today is the 4-year anniversary of us buying this house! That's so hard to believe. Time really does fly.

Life with boys

It's been five months since my girl Ginger went and left me as the lone woman in this house. Between her passing and the Covid restrictions on gatherings of friends, I find myself surrounded by males 24/7. This house is seriously low on female energy at the moment. But hey, I guess you could say I'm the Queen Bee!

The Marcoman "supervising" Gregg's  water change technique.

George looking sadly towards the door as Gregg was backing out of the driveway this morning, headed to work. George thinks we should all stay home as a pack, together, all day every day. He has no respect for the what it takes to earn a living! Speaking of which, here's a photo I emailed to the whole staff at work on Friday. My work-from-home office assistant helping himself to my coffee--and standing on my keyboard to do it. Talk about no respect!

With the exception of my husband,  the boys in this house are way more needy and troublesome than Ginger ever was. (Gregg's just a normal "husband" level of needy and troublesome! lol) Marco is naughty, but super cute and smart enough to charm you just when you're about ready to open a window and toss him out. Yesterday a wineglass slipped from my hand when I was washing it and shattered, dramatically, on the hard kitchen floor. Marco, who was perched on the countertop a foot away, stared, wide-eyed, for about 3 seconds and then said in a little doleful voice, "You bad bird." Even he rarely destroys something in so dramatic a fashion.

George is a total love these days, but he's so needy he's like an overgrown puppy. He depended on Ginger and probably loved her more than he loved us, and now we've had to step up and give him lots more attention. He's eating it up, and getting super spoiled. He's going to be a sad boy when I go back to work. Which, by the way, isn't happening for an extra week. He's going to have to suck it up and deal with it eventually, though.

One day we'll probably get a puppy or else a young dog as for a companion for George. We're still not ready in any way, but maybe by the end of this year. And it's going to be a little girl!

The ugly cry

 I'm sitting here sobbing like a baby. It's a real, true "ugly cry" and my face is a mess.

I went to the vet's office this afternoon to pick up Ginger's ashes. The local company that handled the cremation made everything so nice. The container that they put the ashes in was so pretty, and there was a sympathy card, and best of all they had made a little plaster cast of her pawprint. I sat in the car and sobbed.

Then when I got home I had a message from a friend that I used to work with at the bookstore telling me to go and look on my front porch. There was a gift bag with a beautiful hand crocheted shawl for me and another sympathy card, and the card said to consider the shawl a hug from her and Ginger. I really sobbed then. I can't believe the timing....that she left the gift on the same day I picked up the ashes. 

I'm so grateful for all the kindness I've been shown as I grieve for my girl. My heart is full to overflowing. My eyes, too.

Running free

 We had to say goodbye to our beautiful Ginger this morning. She went gently, peacefully, with her two humans beside her stroking her soft fur and letting her know how very loved she was (is).

 And now, I like to imagine that she's running free in the countryside where she was born, with her old pal Charlie by her side. 

                The best friends, Ginger and Charlie, years ago. I hope they're together again now.

Rest well, my sweet girl. There will never be another like you. We love you so much, and we always will.

Rough night, tough decisions

 Yesterday was a bad day for Ginger. She started swelling through the middle again, and by the time we went to bed she was hugely swollen and miserable. Not only that, but she didn't pee all day long. She could barely stand up, she was so swollen with fluid, and she didn't eat much. In the middle of the night she drank a bunch of water and then threw up the little she had eaten during the day as well as the pills we had given her. We were sure today was going to be the day we were going to have to have her put to sleep. And she had been doing so well all week!

After a terrible sleepless night for us both, we called her vet and took her up there this morning. We steeled ourselves for what we thought was coming. Dr. Causey, to our surprise, offered to drain the fluid off again and to check her again at the end of this week. We were so torn about whether to do it or not; she was so miserable yesterday that we hate the thought of this just happening again and again. But on the other hand, she felt so much better last week that she was able (and eager) to eat, go on easy walks, and sniff around the backyard after they got the fluid off. So we decided to try it one more time.

It only took a few minutes, and they got 5 pounds of fluid off her chest and belly. Doc says that her kidneys are fine despite the fact that she wasn't peeing yesterday, and he said she should be back to peeing normally today and we should continue to give her the heart pill and lasix. He wants us to bring her back Thursday afternoon to see how things are going. We do NOT want another weekend to catch us when we're helpless to watch her struggling.

We're trying so hard not to be selfish. We of course want her with us as long as possible, but on the other hand we don't want her to feel bad. Also, I'm not sure how many more times my heart can take staying up all night wondering if we're going to have to have her put to sleep in the morning, steeling ourselves to go through it, and then bringing her back home for another week's reprieve. But if she still can have quality of life, how selfish is it to put her to sleep just because the situation is causing us stress and heartache? Last night I hoped that she would just die peacefully in her sleep at home so that we wouldn't continue to be faced with these terrible choices, and so her last moments on earth wouldn't be spent in the vet's office. I feel guilt both ways. Especially when this morning she managed to climb willingly in the back seat of the car and willingly walked into the vet's office. She trusts us (and them) to fix things for her but I'm not sure how much longer we're going to be able to. This is so hard.

But for the next few days, she's at home again and already seems to be feeling better with all that fluid off her body. Hopefully we'll have another good week with her, spoiling her, but when this fluid builds up again I think we're going to have to say "enough" both for her, and our, sakes. None of the choices feel right and I feel like my heart is breaking afresh every single day. 

Two weeks left

I realized yesterday that I only have two full weeks left before I go back to work. Teachers and 190 day staff (that's me) go back on August 24th and the students return two weeks later, the day after Labor Day. It seems hard to believe that I'm so close to going back to a normal work schedule after being at home since mid-March. I've been so sidetracked with Ginger the last couple of weeks that all of a sudden it seems like I have a ton of things left to do to prepare and very little time left to get them done. I need to do a major closet overhaul, for instance. I know beyond a doubt that I need some new work clothes, and since I've avoided all non-essential shopping for months now even some basic items (like underwear) are wearing out and looking ratty. I'm going to have to brave the shops over the next two weeks to buy new clothes. I could really use a haircut, too. 

With the way Covid-19 is still spreading in our community, no one knows how long we'll actually be able to keep the schools open. I suspect another lockdown may be in our future. Our positive percentage rate in South Carolina is hovering around 20%, which is super high. At the beginning of all this they said that in order to reopen schools and businesses safely we needed to be down to 5%. So we're not even close to that. Still, my particular district has a very detailed, well-thought out plan to reopen schools as safely as possible. Our Superintendent has done a great job and I feel about as safe going back as I'm going to feel given the circumstances. There's a lot of fear and anxiety among teachers, staff, parents, and the community though. What a mess this whole thing has been. 

I'm dreading the thought of leaving Ginger, too. Gregg has always been her favorite person, but something has changed now that her health is failing. All of a sudden, as he said yesterday, "She's turned into a mama's girl." She's been sticking to me like glue, even following me around the house day and night. She sleeps on the rug beside my side of the bed. She tries to be near me all the time. I'm sure she'll be fine when I go back to work, and she sleeps a lot during the day anyway, but it still gives me a pang to think of leaving her for 8 hours at a time. I've also turned into the lightest sleeper ever now that she's been sick. If she starts to breathe hard during the night I instantly wake up and check on her. I'm not sure how to fix that, but I do know I need to be able to get a good night's sleep once I'm working again. I guess it's another thing I'll have to take as it comes. I hope Ginger continues to do as well as she has been so far. Here's a picture of her standing in front of George last night to beg for tidbits off my plate:

And here's another of her sneaking around in the bushes in front of our house. She loves going back in there to sniff around:

Doesn't she look happy? I didn't believe, at the beginning of this week, that I would ever see her like this again. I didn't even think she'd still be here at this point. I'm so grateful that we're getting some more good days with her, however few they may end up being. 

Well, I guess I'd better get off the computer and start making a list of all the things I need to accomplish in the next two weeks. I think returning to work full time is going to be good for my mental health, so except for leaving the animals, I'm really looking forward to it.

A thank you and an update

First of all, thank you to everyone who left kind, supportive comments on my last two posts. I've been too emotional to answer each one individually, I know I'll start crying if I attempt to! But please know that I've read each and every one multiple times and they've meant so much to me. The friendship and kindness of my blog friends has been a real comfort during these last few terrible days.

Ginger has been doing amazingly well since we got home from the vet on Monday. I can't believe how tough she is! She's been eating really well, going out to relieve herself, and even showing interest in short walks to sniff around the neighborhood. She even felt well enough last night to snatch a treat away from George and then to grin at us afterwards! Except for the fact that she's still slightly swollen in the middle, is moving very slowly, and sleeps a lot, she seems like her regular self. In two days she's figured out that we'll give her anything she wants to eat right now and she's turned into a stone-cold beggar at mealtime! She never did that before in her life, but things have changed and she's taking advantage of it while she can. I'm so proud of her! She's a tough girl!

I called the vet this morning and told him how well she's doing. I also asked him if there would be any harm in treating her for heart failure, which is the one treatable possible diagnosis we're dealing with here. (It's either heart failure or cancer, and more likely a heart problem since she had over a liter of fluid drained from around her heart and abdomen on Sunday). He said there would be no harm whatsoever in putting her on heart medication and seeing how things go. She was so ill when we took her up there on Monday that the option to try a treatment didn't occur to any of us. It was only after we brought her home and saw how hard she's fighting to rally and go on with life that we came up with the idea. Dr. Causey said he thought it was a great idea, and that even if it doesn't help, it won't hurt. He says we may even get lucky. Make no mistake, we love Ginger far too much to let her suffer. Once she's in pain, or can't enjoy anything anymore, we won't keep her alive just for the sake of keeping her alive. Her quality of life is the most important thing. As long as she's enjoying her food, her brief walks, and her family time with us, we'll care for her to the best of our ability. If nothing else, maybe the new medicines will improve the quality of what days she has left, even if there aren't very many of them.

I spent two days crying pretty much nonstop and just feeling.....despair. I feel better now. Having a path forward and a plan helps some. Getting a couple of decent nights' sleep definitely took the raw edge off my emotions (the vet told me on Monday "you look exhausted" and he was right) and I feel a little stronger and better able to cope with the situation. Poor George has been confused and anxious and woebegone, and Marco has been screaming for attention which is nerve-shattering. I realized I'm not doing any of us any good (least of all Ginger) by going around weeping and acting like the end of the world is here. Now is the time (I tell myself) to buck up and try to make the days as normal and pleasant as possible. If my good dog can be so brave and strong, then so can I.

Ginger yesterday after going outside to pee. She knew she was about to get a treat when she got back inside. :)

Aging dogs (updated in the comments)

Last night was another bad night with my beloved dog, Ginger. Something is going on with her and a trip to the vet may soon be in order. I'm afraid that most of the problems she's developing are all age related.

Having to admit she's getting old is so hard for me. I'm crying just typing this. I don't know how to convey how much our girl means to us and seeing what may be the first real signs of a decline in her is so very upsetting. She's thirteen years old now, and while the huge battery of tests she had done last September when she had Vestibular Disease indicated she was extremely healthy for a dog her age, recently she's had some odd behaviors that have me worried. 

To begin with, she's been acting a little more "scattered" in general. She's not hearing all that well anymore, and sometimes she acts a little distracted. More worrying, she's taken to pacing around at night and seems to have a hard time settling down to sleep. It's especially bad if we haven't taken her for a walk, but a couple of times lately she's refused to go out (which is in itself highly unusual). The heat is terrible right now, even at night, so I don't blame her if that's the reason. When we do manage a walk, she's not willing to go very far and she's been very slow, which also might be the heat, but she seems to settle down and rest better on the nights when she's had some exercise. Last night was horrible. She wouldn't go out to walk (which was fine, the heat index was so high even at 10pm that it probably wasn't a great idea) but she kept pacing and whining softly at the side of the bed and I kept getting up to see if she needed to go out and pee. She went outside briefly two of the 10 times she woke me up, but the other times she just walked around, got some water, and went back to the bedroom. Occasionally I wake up to her panting a little in the middle of the night, which makes me worry that she's in some kind of pain.

I called the vet this morning and asked if I could make an appointment for her next week. I also asked if I could give her something for pain in the meantime, to see if that's the problem. The vet told me to come by the office and pick up some anti-inflammatory medicine to try, and if that solves the problem (he thinks it might) I can cancel the appointment we made for next Thursday. I'm anxious to see if this helps! She's been slower about standing up and going up and down steps lately, so hopefully she's just got a touch of arthritis, which is relatively easy to treat. Easier than canine dementia setting in, which is my worst fear. 

I wish I could be at peace with her aging. I'm not sure if it's the timing, what with the pandemic and other stressors in my life right now, but I'm having a terrible time dealing with this. I've been crying all day today. I was even shedding tears as I picked up the medicine at the vet's. Nothing is so wrong with Ginger at this point that I need to be this emotional about it but I can't seem to stop. Maybe I need to join Ginger and George and take a nap. I certainly didn't get much rest last night. Hopefully Ginger's first pill (which she got just over an hour ago) will start to make a difference and she'll be back to her normal self soon. I'll let you know. Meanwhile, I'm off to try to distract my weepy self with some mindless tv, a healthy lunch, and hopefully (if Marco will be quiet for an hour or so) a good nap. Wish me luck.

Saturday pet photos

First of all, my Kitchen Assistant:

Next, a very happy dog grinning as she "fights" her big dumb brother. She always wins!

And finally, post fight: "Where's our breakfast?!"

There's never any lack of entertainment in this house with Marco, Ginger, and George around!

Small

My life feels awfully small sometimes, but even so, it's a comfortable, cozy kind of life.



Sweet Ginger stayed close by while we put up the Christmas tree Sunday night.



The Christmas tree this year. It makes me so happy.

First day of fall break

I woke up at 6:45am this morning with pink light streaming in my bedroom window. The sky looked so pretty that I immediately got out of bed and snapped a photo from the front porch.

It's good to be on fall break, finally. Thanksgiving falls really late this year. Once we go back to school on Monday there's just three weeks left until Christmas break will be upon us.

Today has been nice. I drank several cups of coffee on the porch first thing and watched the progress next door. The house beside us that's been for sale for some months now has finally been sold and the new owners are moving in. I saw a (probably) young woman out back with two dogs on leashes, but I haven't been able to get a real sense of what these new neighbors are like yet. I went out to do some shopping today and picked up a box of assorted cookies from one of the local bakeries, and Gregg brought home a package of dog treats from the pet store. I plan to take them over tomorrow as a little "welcome to the neighborhood" gift. I do hope they're decent people; we're doing what we can to get off on the right foot with them. The jerk behind us is plenty as far as bad neighbors go! Wish us luck.

While I was out today I stopped at a garden center/gift shop to have a look at their year-round Christmas items for sale. Nothing I saw inside was of much interest to me but I enjoyed walking around the outside and looking at the plants for sale.

We still have a lot of color left in the trees around here, as you can see.

Oh! And Gregg's birthday picture is framed and hanging on our wall. I picked it up last night on my way home from work:

Tonight he's working late like he usually does on Wednesdays, but once he gets home it will offically be a holiday! I'm having wine while beginning to prep some of the food for tomorrow's meal. We'll be having roast turkey, gravy, cornbread dressing, cranberry mandarin orange walnut salad (the recipe I invented years ago), deviled eggs (I cheated and bought the pre-boiled eggs for convenience sake!) and canned corn and green beans. For dessert I'll be making some sort of apple dessert from scratch, most likely a crisp. Tonight I'll salt and season the turkey, make the cranberry salad, and bake a batch of cornbread for the dressing so that tomorrow our meal will be fairly easy to pull together. With a 16 pound bird we'll probably be eating turkey until Christmas....I'll have to be creative with leftovers!

And tonight makes 12 years that we've had our sweet girl, our Gingerbread. She showed up on our back porch the night before Thanksgiving in 2007.

Puppy Ginger....Thanksgiving Day 2007.

 My sweet girl!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog friends here in the USA! I hope you all are surrounded by good food, good company, and lots of love tomorrow.

Good things

Things are getting better around here. The cloud is slowly (slowly) lifting a little. For once I have some good things to comment on!

Good thing the first:

Ginger has improved quite a bit. Except for a slight residual head tilt, to look at her you wouldn't know anything had ever happened. And you'd have to be looking for the tilt to notice that. Martina came over yesterday and told me that if she hadn't known what had happened with her, she wouldn't have any idea something so dramatic had gone down. Martina works as a veterinary technician so she's used to looking for health issues in dogs. We've also noticed Ginger get slightly off balance a time or two while out for short walks, usually when she's walking up onto the shoulder of the road. We're hopeful that these two minor things will resolve given a little more time. Today we're trying her without the motion sickness pill for the first time to see how she handles it. Of course, I'll be here all day to give her one if she gets dizzy or sick. Cross your fingers for us that she'll be able to discontinue it!

Good thing the second:

Martina came over yesterday to see Ginger, but also to take me out to the movies, her treat. She had gifted tickets left over from her birthday in July. We went to see Downton Abbey (something neither of our husbands cared to see) and we had such a good time! It was a lovely little escape from reality and very much needed. We're both fans of the original show.

Good thing the third:

Later this afternoon I'm going for Mexican food and margaritas with a few women from my book club group. We're celebrating the fact that one of the Karens finally landed a new job. It will be nice to have some time to catch up with them and I'll be back home early enough that Gregg and I can spend some time together doing the classic "Netflix and chill" thing! A night spent at home when (hopefully) nobody is sick or depressed sounds really good to me.

What kind of good things are going on with you this weekend?

Progress: an update

Thank you all for the wonderful comments on my last post. I know that many people might think it strange, but you all (my friends in blogland) and your friendship and support mean the world to me. I love you guys.

Ginger is improving a little each day. She still has a pronounced head tilt and some very minor balance issues, but every day she's a little more back to normal. She's eating well, drinking well, peeing and pooping well.... :)  Yesterday she started going back to her normal spot to sleep (on the rug beside my side of the bed) instead of staying in the den where she's been all week. This morning she made the first sounds we've heard from her since this all started--George ran to the porch door and started barking at the neighbor's Lab, and Ginger hurried over and joined in! She hasn't made a peep during all this ordeal, not even a yelp or a cry. That's one tough girl! She's even managed to give us a doggy grin or two when we've had to scold George for being too rough near her. She's always enjoyed watching George get in trouble! And she wags her tail at us sometimes in the circular motion she uses when she's happy. We're hoping she'll continue to improve and beat this thing altogether.

I had a great talk with Dr. Causey yesterday. First he gave Ginger a thorough exam and went over all her bloodwork with me. Then he closed the doors in the examining room and talked with me for over an hour about the situation the other day with Dr. Harper. He swore to me that it would be addressed and that something like that would never, ever happen at his office again. He hugged me three times and got teary eyed with me when I cried. He remembers Gregg having cancer 8 years ago and how much Ginger meant to us during that time. Then last year, Dr. Causey had cancer himself and had to undergo serious surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy. So now those shared experiences are an extra bond between us and he's not just our vet, he's our friend. I feel so much better now that we've had that heart-to-heart! He made some good suggestions regarding Ginger's recovery, like feeding her lots of fish packed in oil to support her brain while she recovers from this (primarily neurological, we think) event. He then talked to me seriously about finding ways to ease the stress Gregg and I have right now and taking care of ourselves. He said that dogs are so naturally empathetic to their people that our stress and fear will easily rub off on them and that might impede Ginger's recovery. He advised cultivating a sense of calm, peace, and as much as possible, normalcy in our home to help her keep her stress hormones down as she recovers. Isn't that wonderful advice? I just love Dr. C. He's going to see us again in two weeks to check on Ginger's progress. We're hopeful she'll be almost totally back to normal by then.

As for me, the congestion in my chest is about 75% gone and I'm feeling better. I'm still tiring easily, and sometimes at work this week I'd break out in a sweat and feel kind of weird for a while, but all in all there's been a lot of improvement. It felt good to go back to work. Two days back to a normal routine were enough to banish the last of that awful, anxious, "end of the world" dark cloud that had been dogging me for days. Keeping busy is good medicine, and it's hard to be sad when you're surrounded by lively young teenagers all day. :)

Thanks again for all the kind comments and concern for us. I'll update again soon. In the meantime, please send our girl plenty of good vibes as she recovers!

Ginger relaxing on the porch this morning after breakfast. She was smiling at me. ❤

Change is in the air

Summer seems to be on it's way out. The signs of fall are undeniable now. It's not just the cooler weather (although that's my favorite part) but also the rapidly shortening days and the difference in the angle of light, mornings and afternoons. The leaves on the trees, while still green, have started to turn a more golden shade of green. There are red berries on the dogwood tree. The very air seems different.

Sunday night was delightfully cool after the awful heat of the summer. I actually slept with two bedroom windows open, and it got down to 69 degrees with a good strong breeze. I put freshly laundered sheets on the bed, took a shower, and then settled down under the covers with lots of fresh cool air circulating in the room. Heavenly. I woke up a couple of times during the night, still feeling all nice and comfortable, and was reminded both times of hurricane weather. The gusty winds stirring the trees outside and the fresh cool air felt just like when a hurricane is approaching.

Speaking of which, there's the storm Dorian down in the Atlantic right now. The latest forecast predicts that it may strengthen to a level 3 hurricane and approach Florida (most likely) or else maybe Georgia or even South Carolina. It doesn't seem like a big deal yet, although my husband thinks I should go ahead and stock up on supplies early. The stores will be overrun in another day or two if Dorian continues to head this way. There won't be a loaf of bread or gallon of milk left anywhere! Ha! People make jokes about "milk sandwiches" around here for a reason. Those two things sell best in the grocery store right before any kind of weather event and I once saw two middle aged women get in a screaming match over the last loaf of bread when it was supposed to snow.

(Southerners are crazy.)

Moving on...…...since we had cooler weather last weekend, I cooked a nice pot roast in the crock pot and made mashed potatoes for the first time in months. It wasn't really pot roast cool outside, of course, just cool compared to the rest of the summer. I was finally able to cook a meal like this without worrying about breaking a sweat while eating it:

Moving into a new season is always exciting in the kitchen. As much as I love sweet corn, fresh tomatoes, peaches, new potatoes, grilled chicken, and summer salads, I'm longing for soup, stews, chili, and beans. Apple pies and pumpkin bread.

And oh, how I love sitting on my screened back porch these days! Now that it isn't quite so hot in the late afternoon we've been sitting out there every day after work. There's a ceiling fan, so even on warmer days it's pleasant, and the birds are becoming more active at the feeders. We're seeing three hummingbirds right now, but I know they'll be leaving soon. It's a fact that hummingbirds will travel the thousands of miles from South America and back and often will return, year after year, to the exact same feeders. Maybe these three will be back in March. I hope so! As to the seed eaters, their feeders have been invaded by a giant flock of Cowbirds. They're greedy and loud and pushy and I wish they'd go away! And some of the Cardinals have a second brood of fledglings which are pretty cute to watch. I usually have a glass or two of wine while we talk and watch the sun go down.

 The dogs like to hang out on the porch with us in the afternoons. George watches the feeders with us, but Ginger naps a lot these days. It's hard for me to admit that she's getting old. But she's definitely slowing down a little and is maybe a little hard of hearing, too. But she's sweeter and smarter than ever and a truly great dog. We're trying hard to notice and appreciate every day with her right now, while she's still healthy and engaged and sassy. Who knows how many more good autumns a twelve year old dog will have? It makes me cry to even type those words. We love her so much. But we're conscious of the passing of time and the need to make the most of the time we still have with her. And George is getting to be a better dog by the day. He's improved so much since we moved here; now he lives inside and never has accidents, or chews anything up, or does anything bad, really. Quite a change from when we first adopted him from the shelter as a wild, undisciplined, mistreated youngster! He's really growing up to be a good dog, too.

I find I'm  really looking forward to my last new season in this house. We bought it and moved in last November, so autumn is the only season left that we haven't seen in our new home. I'm trying to notice and make the most of every single day of it. We're finding that we really like it here.

It's time.

You all know that I love my pets. Our two dogs and our bird bring lots of love and happiness and fun to our home, and I wouldn't want to live without them. However....

They're driving me crazy this summer. If I don't go back to work soon I'm going to lose my damn mind.

First there's been keeping the dogs in the house this summer. It's too hot for them outside, so we've allowed them indoors since I'm here to keep an eye on things. With Ginger, that's no problem. She's good as gold and would never think of peeing in the house or chewing something up. George, on the other hand....well, he's been mostly good, except when he's not. We've caught him chewing up two paperback novels and the cover of a heating pad I'd left on the side of my bed. One night I fell asleep with both the dogs still in the house, and I woke up at 3am to find that George had peed and pooped in the hallway. I was not a happy camper cleaning that mess up in the middle of the night! Since then we've had to make sure they go outside at night to sleep. Ginger has gotten spoiled, though, and now she has to be forced out at night, which makes me feel terrible. And of course, Marco deserves time out of his cage and that has to be when the dogs are out of the house. It's been a constant struggle accommodating all three of them this summer.

The other night Ginger was having a terrible attack of seasonal allergies. Once or twice a year we have to take her to the vet for an allergy shot to make her feel better. On Thursday night we had made a vet's appointment for the next day, because she was miserable. Her eyes were red and swollen and she was rubbing the fur off her nose. Well, George did something to piss her off (we didn't see what) and she snarled and jumped on him and bit him on the side of his mouth. Poor George was bleeding and cowering in a corner, Ginger was sulking, and the whole house was in an uproar. George is always pestering Ginger to play, and sometimes when she's not feeling well she lashes out at him. I imagine that's what happened. I took her to the vet yesterday and got her a shot, and today she feels much better....

but now something is wrong with George's skin. We noticed the other day he had a couple of swollen red spots on his legs that looked like mosquito bites. All of a sudden there are several of them and they're turning into small sores. I freaked out this morning when I saw that and called the vet to see if they could see him. Well, they're only open a half day on Saturdays and they said they're booked solid this morning, and also that they have an emergency surgery. The receptionist said that unless something life threatening was going on, they couldn't see him until Monday morning. They advised me to give him Benadryl in the meantime. My friend Martina  who's a vet tech (and also happens to be out of town this weekend, of course) also advised me to pick up some antibiotic spray to put on the sores to get him through until Monday.

I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another.

I told Marla the other day that I can't wait to go back to work. These pets are driving me nuts!! It's definitely time.

Shelter

My sweet Ginger girl hates thunderstorms. Really hates them. I went out to lunch with a friend this afternoon, and while I was gone it started to pour rain, thunder, and lightning. I had left Ginger inside the house, and when I got home I couldn't find her...at first.



She had taken refuge inside a closet we had left open! Poor baby!

Dog vs Storm

A line of fierce thunderstorms is headed our way. They say we're in for strong (40-60mph) winds, heavy rain, and the possibility of both hail and tornados. I don't mind at all; in fact, I kind of enjoy big storms, provided no one gets hurt and there's no real damage. Our dog Ginger, on the other hand, hates bad weather and will go curl up in a corner of the laundry room and refuse to move if it even rains hard. We hate knowing she's scared....but we may have found a way to help her!

The owner of the pet store where Gregg works went to a trade show in Atlanta recently and brought back all kinds of freebies and samples. Among them are these treats that he gave Gregg to bring home for the dogs:

Active Ingredient: 4mg Phytocannabinoid Rich (PCR) Hemp Oil per chew.

That's right! Cannabis Chews for dogs! Apparently, it's the hot new trend in holistic dog care. Who knew? 

If the storms that hit tonight are bad and Ginger gets scared, I'm going to try these out on her. Will she get stoned and mellow? Go to sleep? Get extra hungry for treats? All of the above? We shall see!!  I'll report back tomorrow in the comments, if you're curious. 

Wish us luck!

An anniversary

Ten years ago today (on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving) I came home from work and found a stranger hiding under a chair on our back porch.

Thanksgiving Day, 2007

At the time, I was less than thrilled. We had lost our beloved spaniel, Nicky, the prior December, and I was still devastated by the loss. I wasn't even close to ready for a new dog. The previous spring we had moved to a house in the country on a large piece of land (14 acres) and we only had a couple of close neighbors. It was pretty obvious that someone had dumped an unwanted puppy from a car and left her to fend for herself. (We heard later that that's a pretty common practice out in the country). It's a terrible thing to do to a dog.

The young dog was friendly and determined to make her home with us. The original plan was to try to find someone to take her, someone who was ready for and wanted a dog. Of course, that never panned out.....

....and thank all that's good or right in the Universe that it didn't! Ginger has been a blessing to us. She is the best dog I've ever known.....fiercely loyal and protective of her people, intelligent, loving. She's never done bad-dog things like chewing things up or barking excessively or getting into trouble.

Ginger is country girl at heart. Her first three years with us she lived a wild and free outside life on the property we were renting. When we finally moved back to the city she adjusted beautifully to life in a neighborhood, much to our surprise. She still prefers being outside almost all the time, especially as the sun comes up in the morning or when it sets in the evening. She likes watching the birds and squirrels and people waking up and moving about. She loves her daily long walks, and still requires a good deal of exercise. She has a certain dignity now at ten years old.

She's helping us raise George (we need all the help we can get with that wild boy) and has no problem putting him right in his place. He shows her ultimate respect and understands she's on par with us in the family hierarchy. It's funny to watch him defer to her now that he's so much bigger than she is! He loves her devotedly, though. It's really sweet.

Happy anniversary/homecoming to our beloved girl! We had no idea on that Thanksgiving eve 10 years ago how much joy and love this abandoned puppy would bring to our lives.