LET IT SNOW

We had our first few snowflakes last night as the sun set and the temperature fell, the rain slowly turned into snowflakes that stuck to the ground, BUT not for long. So while it was our first snow, it sure wasn't much. Maybe next time...........

FINALLY HEALING

It's been 5 days since the last surgery and I think Button has finally turned the corner. She is still wearing her Depends, but what a difference. She is finally healing. She walks without being coaxed. She goes up and down the stairs by herself. She goes out and goes to the bathroom. She is acting like her old self again. (I don't want to say any of this too loudly though, because she's not completely healed and I don't want to jinx anything).

It turned out that she did have an infection from the culture they did at the emergency vet on Sunday, so she has to stay on the antibiotics for another ten days, but at least I talked the doctor out of keeping her on the $100 antibiotic at least for now. And we aren't feeling as guilty for putting her through all of this, to say nothing of our pocketbook.

So hopefully we are through with visiting the vet for awhile and being creative with Depends diapers.

RE-STITCHED

The Depends are working great especially having a shoelace strung through the top to keep them on, but despite that, Button's stitches came out on one side and yesterday she had to be re-anesthetized and re-stitched up. We should have known there was yet another problem when the technician said the doctor wanted to meet with us. So we go into the little room and in comes the doctor (perky young gal) and showed us the OTHER side that had been okay when we brought her in and she she left it alone when she re-stitched up the other side. She said that Button woke up so fast and her techs were busy and the next thing they knew she was licking and boom, it was open. She said she thought it would heal up okay, but to watch it and if it needs to be stitched up to call and she can stitch it with just some local anesthetic and no charge. They actually didn't charge us for the second surgery, only the second anesthetic and more pills of course.

We thought this was going to be just a simple little surgery. We did learn a big lesson that we are happy to pass along to anyone. Don't do surgery on your dog at the end of the week, because when there are problems you end up at the emergency vet which is $98 to walk in the door and be examined which we had to do on Sunday. This is probably true for humans as well and probably more costly to go to the ER, but sometimes we have no choice in the schedule and just want to get it done.

Right now, Button would just like her bottom to stop hurting and to be able to walk without something between her legs.

NOT JUST FOR GRANDMA

Depends are not just for Grandma anymore. They work great for post-surgical dogs too! She's much happier than wearing that cone-head around and Daddy's undies restricted her knees so YIPPEE for Depends!!!

POST-SURGERY

Here is Button post-surgery, wearing the latest in post-surgical fashion. She was actually sent home as a cone head and we figured that was just a left-over Halloween accessory and she hated it so we have made her more comfortable in some men's jockey's.



According to the pre-surgical consent form she had "soft-tissue surgery", but in plain English, she had a tummy tuck for her vaginal lips. Unlike human tummy tucks, it was not elective surgery for Button who needed her female parts to be reconstructed a little bit. This should do the trick!

IT'S BEEN A YEAR

It has been a year since I was admitted to UW at 6 am on Halloween. I was on two anti-seizure medications and still having seizures in my left foot every 30-45 minutes, 24 hours a day. Then in about two hours time, I had the top of my skull drilled, a little tumor removed and my skull glued back on and here I am 50 pounds lighter, no more seizures, feeling great and so-o-o-o-o-o happy to be able to celebrate this anniversary.

I wanted to be able to photograph my scar, but it is hidden in my hair and it is really a better touching experience anyway. So here is to many more celebrations of this anniversary...here, here!!!!!

SPARE TIME

This is what I'm doing with my spare time,
creating baby sweaters to sell at the hospital gift shop.

BIRTHDAY DAY AFTER

I had such a wonderful birthday from start to finish. The highlight was taking the Locks Cruise which begins in the waters of Puget Sound and they tell you about the history of the buildings on the waterfront and what can be seen from the boat. The weather for the cruise turned out to be PERFECT! When we took the ferry over, we were delayed because of the fog and we couldn't even see any buildings in Seattle until we got off the ferry, but by the time the cruise left about an hour later, it was clear and beautiful.

This is the bridge as the boat is approaching the Ballard Locks.

The captain steering the boat into the lock. We at still on the salt water side. Once we are raised up and the gate opens, we will be on the fresh water side.

This is lake water being allowed in as part of the way the locks are engineered. This is the same way the Panama Canal works.






Once through the locks, we were in the fresh water of Lake Union. This is Gasworks Park on Lake Union. We also saw the houseboat where they filmed "Sleepless in Seattle".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG

Tomorrow my blog will be a year old. WOW! I don't know that I can say the blog has grown so much as I have learned about the blog.

It has been quite a year, blog, it has been quite a year.

SHOUT OUT

Let's give a big shout out for HOT WATER! You never know how much you love it until you don't have it. Our 15 year old hot water tank stopped suddenly on Saturday morning. Old age was what the final diagnosis read (I am taking Medical Vocabulary I). The plumber gave us an estimate and promise of delivery and installation of a new one for Monday the 8th. We could all hardly wait. We hadn't showered. The laundry was piled and the dishwasher needed to be run.

Monday morning the company calls and says, "Oh he gave you the wrong price. It's $600 more than what he told you and we have to order the tank. It will take 10 days."
Thank you anyway.

To make a long story short the plumber's who were able to install the heater same day were the one's who don't advertise on TV and who drive the beat up van. They answer their own phone and actually return your phone calls. We ended up putting in an electric hot water heater which was half the price and available for same day installation. By late in the afternoon we really didn't care, just put it in already so I can wash my hair!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAFNA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAFNA

I don't have a picture to post so I can only send our wishes from the Pacific Northwest all the way across the many time zones for you to have health and happiness in the coming year. Enjoy the celebration and all the best from all of us.

A BIRTHDAY WEEKEND

These two didn't want to stop eating their crab long enough to even smile for a photo. I could barely get them to look up. They enjoyed every last bit of it.

The Pumpkin Cheesecake looked better than it tasted. I'll have to keep looking for a recipe on that one.

The birthday weekend was lots of fun with movies and lots of time on the Playstation 2 and we aren't done celebrating yet. We plan to take the Locks Cruise in the next few weeks and that should be great fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO OUR LITTLE BOY
WHO IS ALL GROWN UP

A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP

It just looks like a normal bed in the picture, but to us it is so much more. It is waking up without our back's hurting. It is waking up feeling like we actually got a good night's sleep. It is delightful!!

Yes, we finally got our new bed delivered yesterday after many phone calls to 'customer service'. Abbie got our old bed and we had them take her old one away which was really Steven's old mattress and a cheap box spring that we bought when we moved here. So we are all sleeping better now :-)

NEW BED

I woke up this morning with the same old backache. That's strange. This new bed is supposed to be so wonderful....oh yeah, that's right, they didn't deliver it! Ha! Ha! The joke is on us right now. We have been dragging our feet, no, I have been dragging my feet to even shop for a new bed and finally last weekend I agreed to go look. It wasn't as bad as I had been dreading it to be. Of course I did refuse to step foot into Levitz so that eliminated BAD. We sealed the deal on Sunday and got a delivery date for Friday the 31st. We have been counting down the nights all week and could hardly wait. Thursday morning they called and said the bed would be delivered Friday afternoon. Yippee, all is going well. Then we got another call at 3 pm saying the delivery was canceled with no new projected date. Are we talking days, weeks, months? I called them on Friday morning and asked that question and it turns out that OUR mattress missed the truck and that they (customer service) are waiting for an e-mail from the vendor (the company that makes the mattress). So now we can't even entertain ourselves by counting down the nights. I have a beautiful new headboard waiting for its new bed and a back waiting not to ache. Stay tuned.........

BOOK: DOGS OF BABEL

I just finished this book given to me by my recent house guest. She didn't say much about it, just "Read it." O-k-a-a-a-y. It is written in the first person from the man's point of view which is interesting since the author is a woman and has a way out there experiment that he is trying to pull off. Most interesting is his perspective of the relationship he has with his wife.

ANNIVERSARY OF ANOTHER SORT

This is an anniversary that probably only I care about, but it was one year ago today that my life changed so dramatically. It was one year ago today that we thought we were living a normal life. Then at 6:30 in the morning, I had that first seizure in my foot. That was the beginning of it all. The first symptom that something was wrong. The first trip to the emergency room. The first stay in the hospital. The first tests to be done. The phone wires started lighting up but there was no news to report because no one knew what was wrong. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of it all.

One year later where are we now? So much has happened and it is all so positive. Most importantly from my perspective... I'm feeling great and we are all living on the west coast. The rest of the details are insignificant. I'm starting on a new career path and trying to live life to the fullest each day which is all any of us can do.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PETER & DAFNA

Happy Anniversary to you both as you celebrate 32 years together! Hope you have a great celebration and a wonderful and productive trip.

NEW START

I am officially registered for the fall quarter of classes with 12 units and best of all.....IT IS ALL ONLINE!! I am so excited to be getting a new start. When all is said and done, I will have an Associate's degree as a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) as well as a Coding Specialist Certificate. Who could ask for more? The program does take two years to complete, but I think it will be well worth it in the end as this appears to be a growing field. Why didn't I do this 20 years ago?

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Just finished this second book by the author of 'The Kite Runner' and really enjoyed it too. It was difficult to get through certain parts as the author's descriptions make you feel like you are right there with Miriam and Laila as they walk the difficult journey of their lives.
Another great read.

PORT TOWNSEND

Spent a glorious day in Port Townsend with my friend Mary Jane, Abbie and Kol and shopped and shopped and shopped.

FUN VISITOR

We have had a great visit with Mary Jane here. We have explored most of Kitsap County and especially the shopping in Old Town Silverdale and Poulsbo. It's been fun just hanging out and catching up on all the gossip from Rohnert Park and of course, some things never change.

Mary Jane loved Button!!!!

BUTTON TURNS 3

Button is so happy to get a new toy
for her birthday. Such a GREAT dog!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Happy Anniversary
Iris and Rick
37 years
Congratulations!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRIS

Happy, Happy Birthday
Wish we were there to
help you celebrate!

'WIN' AT BOWLING

Jennifer, the Director of Able Opportunities and one of
the masterminds of the WIN program is chatting with
Reid's dad on the left and showing her best bowling form

on the right. Kol and Donna were on their best bowling games too.

BEST PLACE TO LIVE

I was hoping you all could
read the article, but
obviously you can't. Money
Magazine named Silverdale
in the top 100 Best Places
to Live and we could not
agree more.

WHALING DAYS

Silverdale's annual Whaling Days are happening this weekend and we decided to participate. I volunteered to help with the "Whale of a Run" which has over 800 participants between a 4 mile run, 1 mile run and kid's dashes.









I was originally assigned to the "chute crew" and more specifically given the task of being a 'people pusher'. I thought it sounded quite distinguished. At the last minute, someone came up to the chute crew and said they needed one person for a different task and I volunteered and soon became a 'tag taker' a job that I relished and will volunteer to do again next year. This was my view from my designated position looking down the chutes waiting for runners to return.



Immediately after the Whale of a Run, the parade begins and this is one of the Central Kitsap Fire trucks at the beginning of the parade.






Here comes Harrison Medical Center with Abbie and Kol walking along and waving.

ASTORIA

It's Sunday morning and we are supposed to be waking up in Astoria, however we are at home. We got up bright and early Saturday morning. packed up the car and off we went just as planned. We drove down taking the inland scenic route as opposed to the I-5 faster route and arrived in Astoria around noon and decided to head down to Seaside and wander around there since we would have all day Sunday to see Astoria. So that is what we did. We went to Seaside and had lunch and went to the beach for a few minutes and went into a few stores. Then we went a little farther south to Cannon Beach and wandered around a little bit. I really liked it there, not quite as many tourists as Seaside and seemed to have more B & B's and cottages than hotels. We then thought it was time to head back up to Astoria.

I go inside to check-in and the clerk says, "You were supposed to be here last week-end." I told him I had changed the reservation to this week-end.
He says, "Oh, yes, I see you changed the reservation. The following day after you changed it, the corporate office changed it back. I have 1 room available with a King bed."
I asked him if 3 adults and a dog would fit into the King bed. Then I asked if I had been charged for not showing up last week-end and he avoided my question and said to call the manager on Monday. I think he knew I had been charged, but didn't want a ranting customer in his lobby with no manager on duty to bail him out. He was nice enough to call a couple of other places to look for a room for us that would take the dog. We could have driven back to Warrenton which actually isn't that far away, but we decided to save the $200 and drive home. We drove around Astoria for a little bit and could have gone to the maritime museum, but at that point, we were pissed and tired and didn't want to have anything more to do with Astoria for the moment so we left and drove home. It's about 60 miles along the river on the WA side to get to Longview and Kelso on I-5 and then once on the freeway it goes real fast and so we just drove home and slept in our own beds. When we got home, I checked online and sure enough I was charged for not showing up. I can hardly wait to make that phone call tomorrow morning to the manager of that hotel.

OH NO! NOT A TREE!

This was the scene on our street as our neighbor apparently lost his mind and decided to cut a beautiful and huge pine tree with the help of this tall, tall crane and lots of men sawing and doing whatever they had to in order to bring it down. The noise was deafening as they shoved branches into their machine and quite honestly the noise combined with the image of this beautiful tree being cut down just turned my stomach. I went to my back door and looked at my trees that aren't going anywhere if I have anything to say about it.

ROOT CANAL DONE AHHHHHH

It was Friday the 13th and off I marched to Dr. Root Canal's comfy dental chair one more time, but wait this time we turned left into the 'Disney' room. The walls were covered with framed pictures of Disney characters and the right ledge had stuffed Disney animals hanging over to cheer up the saddest root canal patient. As he was working on my tooth, I found myself staring at the pictures of Snow White and each of her seven dwarves, Dopey in particular for some reason and thinking how ironic it was for me to be surrounded by these Disney characters while my son is currently in Orlando and maybe seeing parts of Disney World.

The rest of the root canal work went quite easily as it appeared he did most of the job the first day. He gave me a prescription for more antibiotics "just in case" any swelling came back, but this time my mouth was not even sore. Next week I get to go back for the next chapter which is a visit to my regular dentist for a new crown!

BAD RAP

Quite honestly, I think root canals get a bad rap in life. They really aren't so bad. You don't feel anything. You just sit in the chair, hold your mouth open, well, you do hold your mouth open for a really long time, but you don't feel a thing. I'm done now with the root canal phase and have parted with a large chunk of cash in order to end the pain I was in two weeks ago. Today went very smoothly and I left with another prescription for antibiotics, just in case my chipmunk cheek returns. Next phase together with another chunk of cash will be to replace the crown. Hmmmm, I wonder if it's too late to get fluoride treatment.

ROOT CANAL - THE DAY BEFORE

So, I've finished two antibiotics and almost two weeks have passed and tomorrow is the big day. (I was given an extra week's reprieve for good behavior!) Friday the 13th is root canal day. My expectation is that my last visit to Dr. Root Canal was much worse than tomorrow will be and hopefully he won't let me down. As my cousin told me, I was toxic with infection last time I was there, which is why I came home, took the antibiotic and Aleve and slept all afternoon. I felt horrible all weekend, and on Sunday had a chipmunk cheek as a war wound. That swelling lasted most of the week. Now that I have all these drugs in my system, I'm sure that tomorrow's procedure will go smoothly and the worse of it will be an achiness from holding my mouth open for an hour or however long it takes him to work his magic.

THE KITE RUNNER

This book has been around since 2004 I think, but I just read it and IT IS GREAT. The author just came out with his second book called 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and they are making a movie based on this book. I had a little trouble at the beginning getting into it, but then I was hooked and couldn't put it down. Loved it! Loved it!

TOOTHACHE

I think it's a generational thing...bad teeth. My parents had bad teeth and my best friend was the dentist since I was a little kid because I always spent so much time in his office. Luckily for my kids they invented FLUORIDE and so far they have escaped sitting for hours in a dental chair for anything other than cleaning. Last Thursday I was trying to deny that I had a toothache, but when it kept me up that night I knew I had to make the call to my dentist, who by the way, doesn't work on Friday. He kindly calls the Endodontist for me and I get an appointment for mid-day. I can hardly wait for the moment to arrive to be put out of my misery. I will sit in the chair for 2 hours and yes, my mouth will be sore for the afternoon, but the pain will be gone once they give me the shot of novacaine and work their magic with the root canal. NO SUCH LUCK! New scenario this time. They said I have an infection in the root which must be cleared up first BEFORE they can do the root canal. ACK!!!! I did get the massive dose of novacaine I craved and he "opened up the tooth" whatever that means, because there's no big hole there.

He sent me home with the same sore tooth, numb at the moment; prescriptions for TWO antibiotics and ONE painkiller (not a good omen at all for the week ahead) and said see you in a week. Right now my left cheek is swollen like a chipmunk and while the tooth feels better, my ear hurts every time I swallow. I'll be glad when this is over and somehow I don't think the Endodontist has such good treasures in his treasure chest, just a big bill at the end of the road.

WIN

The web site for WIN, the program that supports Abbie's job at Harrison Medical Center has been launched. Her cute face is there. Go check it out!
http://www.ableopportunities.com/win_v3/winentry.html

GOOD DOG

ABBIE AT WORK

HENRY FORD MUSEUM #3

Apparently Henry Ford was friends with the Wright Brothers too. Seeing this plane of theirs reminded me of all those reports Steven did on the Wright Brothers back in grade school.

HENRY FORD MUSEUM #2

Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were good friends. At some point
they moved Thomas Edison's entire factory from New Jersey to
Greenfield Village, outside Detroit. Both men lived well into their 80's.

SIGHTS IN DETROIT #1

We went to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Together they have an amazing collection of American history.