Feel Like Complaining

Tony's birthday was last week so we had a nice dinner at Applebees, thanks to a gift card from a client. We were dog free so it worked out perfectly. His acupuncture visits didn't help much, as well as some physical therapy. He finally pushed again for an x-ray which showed that he's got moderate to severe degenerative disc disease in his lumbar into sacrum. There's really not much that can be done other than pain management and physical therapy, but since that's out of pocket, he won't continue except at home. Recently we were in a thrift store and I found a wheelchair for 10 bucks. It's missing the foot rests and I can order some; but for now my Mom's foot rests fit perfectly so we just keep them in the car. That way he can push it himself until pain takes over, then we can push him on our walks. It's the best solution for now and at least we don't have to leave him behind or limit our outings to places that have seating available. I'...

Kona arrived one afternoon when I was at my Mom's. When new dogs come, I'm never sure how I'm going to be greeted if I'm not there at drop off. I was ready for barking when I got home but she came up to me with a toy in her mouth and ready to play. Our meet and greet was several months ago but they had to cancel their trip and she didn't get to come back until now. But she came in like she's been here forever and started digging toys out of the box like a little kid. She's a 9 year old Black Lab mix and is simply adorable. She loves to play ball so Faith and Tony did that twice a day and I walked her in the afternoon. Once she's had her activity, she just lays down or plays with stuffed animals by herself. That's the kind of dog I love; one that's not in your face every minute bugging you for attention. When she has stuffed animals in her mouth and wants you to play; she makes the funniest noises. It's kind of like a cross between a growl a...

The rockery is still standing and we put in a variety of transplanted ground cover. In the spring we will add more and it should fill in nicely. My special little plant was delivered and I'm excited for it to grow into a nice big shrub like this. We planted the other corner of Iris and part of a Coneflower order. The other part of the order has been back ordered. I bought the best tool to help us get through the cardboard and sod. It's a garden auger drill bit and works great. It's not as large as it looks but sure makes the work a lot easier. Faith and I had a great time picking rocks for our path. We went to a landscaping business and picked about 120 rocks but I must have miscalculated because Tony and I had to go back the next day for about 80 more. We got rainbow rocks that come from Montana. They are so pretty, especially when they get wet. The girl at the business told me that it's a common rock there so they pay to have our type of rocks shi...

I haven't been writing much about our dogs because for the last month as we've had all repeats. Our favorite boy Chico was with us for 2 weeks while his dad was in Italy. Sometimes it takes a dog a while to feel 100% comfortable with us. I thought Chico had been a while back but this time we got to see the real deal and it just made us love him more (most of it anyway). We went on a nice walk along the river and found out that he will try to chase people on bikes. One woman was not too pleased about that; but honestly we didn't know. When out walking, and we take a corner to head home, he digs in his heels and won't move. For a little guy, he's got superpowers. He loves running around the yard and will bark at people walking by, but also crows and airplanes in the sky. He's a class A snuggler and seems to like my lap the best. We bought a sweater for him because we had a real cold snap and his dad didn't think to pack any. We would do anything fo...