A Better Day...

Yesterday I took Max in to the vet to get him vaccinated and look in on Tater. She looked really bad. :( She was rather lifeless and didn't want to be bothered. Today I took Fluke in to get her up on her shots and then looked in on Tater. She looked soooo much better! She was sitting up and had a slight sparkle in her eyes. She was happy to see me and had been eating and drinking a little. She had a cute bright pink bandage with dog prints on it. I thought it was a nice touch, kind of like the colorful bandages they give kids in the hospital. The vet said that they were going to change her medication for vomiting since she was having a slight problem still keeping food on her stomach. The vet also said that it was good that Tater hadn't had any diarrhea during this whole ordeal, which means a faster recovery. If all goes well, Tater might be coming home some time tomorrow afternoon. (keep your fingers crossed and all the thoughts and prayers coming) Now all the dogs are vaccinated and up-to-date with all their shots. ::phew!:: There is one other little pup at the pet hospital named Oliver going through the Provo treatment. I think that he's also doing well. He looks a lot like Max and is just the sweetest little guy. I didn't take any pictures because I don't really want to remember a sickly looking Tater. Anyway, I think that she's over the worst of it all but not out of the woods just yet.

After I got home from all my running around I saw a Ginny in the tree....

And boy are they annoying! Just imagine 4 of these guys sitting outside your bedroom window screaming their heads off while you try to sleep! errrr....

Not the best day....

A few days ago Tater wasn't acting like herself. She didn't want to do her usual 8:00 a.m. romp-and-stomp around the house with Max. Then she lost her appetite. So I made an appointment to take her to the vet. Well, when it came close to time to take her to the doctor I couldn't find her. Chris found her sitting by the barn all hot (it was about 85* out) and we were worried. She ate some and licked at some water and went to lay down. After he found her I rescheduled her appointment for the next day. Well, that night she went and drank some water and then jumped up on the couch and I sat on the floor in front of her and, the poor dear, threw up all the water that she had just drank. BIG RED FLAG!!! I made sure to keep her in the house the next morning so that we could make it to her 11 a.m. appointment. The morning of the appointment I went and installed some Norton software on mom's computer and I told her about Tater and her hydration issues and mom mentioned parvo.....uh oh. I remember Marsha's hard time with the dreaded virus, and Tony with his issues with parvo... NOT GOOD NEWS!!! Needless to say that I was distraught when I took my little Tater to her appointment. Thoughts of having to put Tater to sleep to keep her from all the treatments ran through my head!!! Well, when I got to the vet's office there was a nice older lady in the waiting area with a cute little white dog (you know the kind you carry around with you everywhere?) and when she saw me teary-eyed holding a very sick pup she also became teary-eyed and tried to make me feel better, which she did. (nice lady) Anyway, the doctor tested my little Tater and she tested positive for parvo.....great... I opted to admit Tater into the pet hospital and have an IV put in. The vet said that she hadn't lost a puppy due to parvo who was admitted to the hospital....I still broke down....this is Tater we are talking about here! While we were waiting for the doctor to examine her, I was holding Tater in my arms and she layed her head on my shoulder and I had the thought, 'I saved her one time (the rest of the litter died) I'll be damned if I'll let parvo take her'! I also promised her the night before that I was not going to give up on her, and that I would make everything all better. I haven't felt this way since Sydney was just born and had to stay in the hospital an extra few days. (I didn't leave her either)
Medicine has come a long way and now the treatment isn't all that bad. I called this evening and Tater is doing ok, she's resting nicely and no vomiting or diarrhea. It will take a few days for my little one to come home. Max misses her. He took out a toy and started squeaking it in front of me and when I threw it he just looked around wanting someone to play with....we all miss Tater. ::sigh:: Max has an appointment tomorrow to get his parvo booster (I'll be dammed if he gets sick!) and I'll see how Tater is doing then. Not the best day.

Sydney's Birthday "Party"

For Sydney's birthday this year I encouraged Sydney to just have one or two friends over for a slumber party instead of the whole pricey, stressful (at least for me) traditional party. It turned out FABULOUSLY! Sydney's bff, Makenna, came over and Chris and I took the girls out to Pizza Hut. They had their own booth. Chris and I felt like we were just on a chaperoned date. lol.

After pizza we went and played putt-putt. The girls had never played before! Can you believe it?? Needless to say, everyone had a great time.

There wasn't any water going through the water falls, but the little water that was in the pools was FILLED with tadpoles! All that black is the tadpoles. I would love to do a time laps video and watch all the little frogs that hop out of there!

It threatened to storm on us but just made for a very nice lightning show.....and a nice sunset.

After we were done outside we went in to play some arcade games. They had a Tarheel basketball game, which Sydney loved....go figure!

Then they got to play some Guitar Hero....

We didn't do the birthday cake until lunch the next day. I bought a little cake and had some script put on it. It turned out real sweet....

Red Green

I can't believe that I missed the Red Green duct tape signing! bummer!

Red Green reminds me of dad....makes me smile:)

Indoor Skydiving

The last day of our anniversary trip we did something like this...well the beginner version... I want this job!!!

Just for Beauty....

This afternoon Melia and I headed off to the grocery store and I decided to stop by Lowes and look into the large flower pots that I want to put on my deck. I had checked out the large pots at Wal-Mart so I had an idea about what I wanted to get. Well, I priced the pots at Lowes and they were twice as much!!! So we headed to Wal-Mart and I bought 2 smallish pots, 12' diameter, and one large pot, 24' diameter. I found that Lowes had arrangements already put together for pots. Yay! That saved me a lot of looking!

Our back door (the one most used) was less than welcoming. I'm embarrassed to post this quite frankly.

It took Chris, Melia, Sydney, and me about 15 to get the porch cleaned up and the flowers planted and now I am proud to have people come to my back door. The pot by the back door turned out to be my favorite. Geraniums are my least favorite flower and this pot has 3 pink ones, but they will look very nice here. Melia was a big help with the shopping, planting, and watering and is looking forward to all the watering this summer! It should be fun watching the plants fill in.

The Sky

This evening the sky was simply gorgeous! Gorgeous and friggin COLD!

This one is my favorite.

Our Anniversary Trip

On April 4th Chris and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary! We took a weekend trip out to Gatlinburg, TN and had a wonderful time. Gatlinburg is a 2.5 hour drive from home and was quite enjoyable since the weather was so nice. Our first stop was a place called Wonder Works. The outside of the building is upside down and the inside is 3 floors of lots of different exhibits.

The lobby of Wonder Works
There was a space room with flight simulators and this cool space suit.

There was an art floor with optical illusions. One piece was particularly cool it's made of iron...
Then when you turn the overhead light on it, this is what the shadow looks like....cool!

When we were done at Wonder Works we found a room at the Clarion, which was walking distance from all the shops and attractions of main street. We were greeted by this guy (I think it was suppose to be a bunny) I should do this with our towels and wash cloths....yeah, right!
And I felt great knowing that the strip of paper was put on the john for our protection.
I just though that this looked silly.We had a great view of the Smoky Mountains!

Once we got situated in our room, we went out and hit the streets. I had to get a picture of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant.....Bubba was Forrest's best good friend!

And we found a happy place....:)

This guy made me smile, I guess this was One Happy Place....lol We made our way down to Ripley's Aquarium....such an awesome place! We went to the aquarium at Myrtle Beach last summer and just had to check this one out too. We saw big catfish (though not as big as Chris thinks! LOL).
This picture turned out really cool...
While going through the underwater tunnel, a fish caught my eye (it freaked me out actually!). It looked like it was sitting on the outside of the glass. I thought, "Holy crap!!! Loose fish!!!"
Kitty tells me this is a cuddlefish....odd looking fellow.
And then we saw the creepiest mothers!!! Spider Crabs....OMG! These guys were 3 feet wide (at least). The lighting didn't help the creepy factor! The video needs music, I know, just hum some sinister music.....

The Jellyfish were just so pretty....(someone answer that child!!!) Again, needs music, ummmm...hum some very lovely music for this one.

I had never seen a stingray dance like this guy before....go ray, go ray, go ray it's your birthday! .......Party music obviously!

We had dinner at a nice little cafe/pub. There was live music and a nice view of the street below, good for some people-watching.

Chris' meal came with a fried pickle of all things! Huh!

Our waitress was very nice and took our picture.

Still in love after 11 years of marriage.....aawwww!

The next day we floated in a wind tunnel like skydivers! I purchased the video and I'll share that sometime. Fun! Fun! Fun! We are exciting people I tell ya!

Then we went home.

The End

Num num num!!!!

AAwwwwwww!!!! I didn't realize how much of an animal lover I actually was/am until I started to blog....wow! Kids and animals seem to be my main subjects, but who in their right mind doesn't think that watching little hamsters eat is not just the cutest thing???? (probably the lady standing on the chair!) I just love to watch rodents eat!