Life and how we *spend* it

 What a weekend!!  Where to begin...?

Leon was here!  We watched another episode of one of our shows and he rode his scooter over to Meri's to meet me there to care for the cats.   I'm still pet sitting.  While I was working outside, I saw him cross the street and as soon as I turned my back for a second, heard him start screaming.  He'd hit a patch of gravel at the end of the sidewalk and wiped out.  He had scrapes and dings all over and just wanted to go home.  I helped him to the car, finished my chores and took him back.  He claimed he wouldn't touch his scooter for probably 3 months.  :) that changed the next day.

On Saturday, he went with me to a couple garage sales in the morning.  Then in the afternoon, he attended a meeting with me and our pastor to get ready for confirmation classes coming up.  He's growing up!

There were also free carousel rides and yes, I rode one too!  I was so afraid it was going to break with me on it, I clung to the pole!  I won't be doing that again.

I made 9 trays of flavored dehydrated cucumber slices and ate a whole quart of some just this morning.  I may need to ease up on the salt for future batches if I'm going to plow through them like that again.

I got to hold Agnes a lot this weekend and I think we've imprinted!  

She calms down when she looks me right in the eye and she's smiling more!  

I had planned to burn branches but the breeze kicked up late in the day so that plan was cancelled.

Reedus being lazy.  Yeah, I always lay down to eat too!

Maddy and Matthew came on Sunday and we all got coffee after church and hung out with Aggie for a while.  

The dogs all had a play date in the backyard.  

Like Maddy's bones costume?  She got them all matching ones for Halloween!  Cute.

Speaking of Halloween... It's not even September yet and it's all up at Sam's Club!  While I am loving it, yikes it's too soon!  Leon has already decided that I'm going to sew him a Link outfit, like from Zelda.  We'll see how it goes.

I took him back to his mom's yesterday and when I got there, they noticed smoke coming from my engine...  !!!  Looks like an oil leak somewhere is leaking onto the engine and causing the smoke.  I've got some long car rides coming up this week and don't want to get stranded on the side of the road!  I put in a call to my car guy but no answer yet so put in another call to a different company and have an appointment set for tomorrow.  We'll see what we find out.  Hopefully nothing too expensive.  I've already got the rider lawnmower in for repair this week too. 

Living is expensive! shoot.

School, Babies and more

 Leon is loving school so far!  The first day, he made 5 new friends, only remembering the names of two of them.  He called me after school and gave me the low down.

and get this...

There is NO homework in Middle School!!!  *really?* I gasp.  Nope, they give you enough time to get your work done in school.  *no study halls?* Nope - just home room.  And if you don't get enough time to finish it at school, you take it home to complete it. *um, that's homework.*

and yeah... you're going to have some...

Anyway, there was a heatwave in Iowa the 2nd day of school and they got out early. So, so far, he's having a wonderful time!

And yes Kathy, he has a cheeseburger backpack.  Seems like a lot of pockets to lose things in, but he'd picked it out and his mom obliged.

Wouldn't you just know it?  His first open house and it's the same night that I'll be at a Rick Springfield concert with my sisters!!  Oh well.  Ryan is going and will let me know all about it.

Practical Parsimony - Your suggestion on the porch goose costume is duly noted!  I'm in the middle of watching North and South and that idea would be perfect!!!  Will keep my eyes open for something Madelyn or Brett would wear and go with it.  Ashton's Southern Belle outfits are JUST too sleazy.

My baby photo dump for the last couple days.  I didn't realize how much cat hair and general lint is on my shirt! sigh.  But her hand is exquisite!  Piano playing hands...

She got to sleep on me yesterday and I loved every second of it.  I watched a virtual movie with my bestie who moved to the east coast and Aggie got to be with me for most of it. 

If I didn't explain a virtual movie, it's when Julie and I are both on our phones, streaming a movie at the same time.  It's difficult to line them up right so sometimes you get an echo, but it's a good second to watching them together in person.  And we talk a lot, for example, last night we watched Vertical Limit and most of it, we're gasping a lot and saying "NOPE! I will NEVER mountain climb!" 

If you want a cling to the edge of your seat movie, that is the one. *burrrrr*

Meri is still on vacation and sending wonderful pictures of their time away.  The three of us had a video chat on Wednesday and she showed me the property around the yurt that they're renting.  I think they're hitting the Grand Canyon today.

And Reedus and I are becoming buds.  He wears a cone when we're not going to be with him for a period of time, but even a trip to the bathroom can give him enough time to do damage.  I don't have the time to put the cone on him for that! yikes!  Come on in the bathroom with me so I can keep an eye on you Reedus!!

Have a wonderful weekend!  There are a couple garage sales that I feel like I need to hit tomorrow.  Crossing my fingers for a dehydrator!!!

Planning naps for tomorrow already

I wanted to sew yesterday!!!  So over my lunch break, I found some uphostery fabric in my stash.  That'll make a dent!

Oh and a piece of memory foam from our old mattress!

And after work, until the oven timer went off, I sewed, sewed, sewed!

Reedus needed a dog bed.  Previously whenever we bought him anything nice, he'd eat it.  

I found him sleeping on it this morning!

But Meri reminded us that he is 5 years old and wow, I guess I've just thought of him as a puppy still.  And he's been laying on the hard wood and I feel sorry for him.  

I also bought him some tennis balls for fetch and he LOVES it!  Although I've been told that you don't want them to chew on the tennis balls as it could harm them if they swallowed chunks of the rubber.  I can see that...  So it gets put away at the end of play time.

His wound is healing nicely and the cone of shame has kept him from escaping the back yard lately.  We're kind of used to it now...  Well, I am.

So I made him this.  The pillow is attached on one end and can flop for either side.  

It's adorable that he loves it!

And time for second nap of the day.

at 8am...

*gasp* and he uses the pillow!

What a life!

Reedus Bo Beedus Fo Feedus REEDUS!

This dog... is depressed.  But loving the additional attention he's been getting.

Even with the cone of shame, he's managed to lick and chew through whatever we put on his front leg wound that he's developed himself with licking and chewing...  

The pepper sauce that we doused it in was even tasty after a while.  You'd think he was a Chihuahua...  

AND he decided that he'd try to scratch through his elbow pad with his hind leg.  REALLY?  Our floors are a bloody mess when I get up in the mornings...

So yesterday, I got down to business.  WHAT would keep him from chewing on his wound???  

Then I was inspired by Robb's casual comment, "what if we got a piece of PVC and put it around his leg?"

 hmmmmm  What have I got around here???....

I bandaged up the sore yet again...  and then took an empty sugar free creamer container and cut off the top and bottom.  Cut a slit up the side.  Taped it on with the only packing tape that I had.

And when Reedus started to sniff around it, I can only assume because he needed a snack...  I gooped on a bunch of Metholatum nighttime lavender rub, because Robb said he bought it by mistake and I can use that and not his good stuff.

If nothing else, Reedus's congestion is non-existent and he smells faintly of lavender.  It's even cut down just a smidge on his monster quality snoring.

BUT he doesn't like to lick his leg now! Ha HA!

THEN because there is nothing I can put on his elbow of his front leg without him clawing it off with his back leg, I've been clipping his nails more and thenI bandaged up the back leg to keep it somewhat straight so he can't reach the front elbow. HA!  And to keep him from chewing THAT reusable bandage off, I smeared the hot pepper sauce on that.  

That is NOT blood... But it does look gross.

For some reason, that doesn't taste good anymore or maybe he can't reach it now, so he doesn't try to pull that off.

What a hot mess he is...  I can't wait for his wounds to heal and for him to get over this self mutilation bit... I feel like he'll get over this phase eventually, just like a human teenager.

Just a L I T T L E more maturity.

He is so much more calm now and reminds me a lot of his daddy Duke.

He is becoming the "old yellow dog" that I always wanted...

Depression has it's benefits.

He can't even dog...

Robb made pancakes this morning. Since I said, I only wanted one, he took the second one that he made and offered it to Reedus.  

Reedus looked up expectantly and then down again and the pancake landed flat on his head before he finally got it.  What a crack up!  So I got my camera real quick and said make him another one!

And here he is.  

My dog who can't even...

Big, Dumb, Beautiful Dog's Son

I haven't blogged much about Reedus...  Probably because he can be pretty annoying...

But he can be pretty adorable too sometimes!

This dog has had a history of climbing under fences so when he is outside, he's on a chain.  Only for about 10 minutes at a shot, so he's an inside dog.

The other day I was putting him outside and only when I was bringing him back in, I noticed that the chain had gotten caught in the door and had broken.  So Reedus was waiting by the back door for me to bring him in with about 7 feet of rubber coated chain hanging off his collar!  

I'm sure he felt it on his legs and thought he was still being restricted to a certain part of the yard.

So for the last week, we've put the broken chain on him and let him in the yard.  

The only sign that he's starting to figure it out is that yesterday when I brought him in, he ran from the other end of the yard to me.  hmmm...  The weather is too cold to work on the fence until spring probably. 

I hope he doesn't smarten up more!

Probably not a problem.

Here is the story of Duke, his father and the original Big, Dumb, Beautiful Dog...

Yesterday as I was letting Reedus out, we got to the garage door and I don't know what happened, but I heard a loud cat howl.  MEEEEOWWWOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!

Reedus and I looked at each other, looked around and then to the door.  I have no idea where that noise came from unless it was his stomach!  I looked around the garage later, wondering if some boxed up toys had gotten hit with his tail or something.  Nope...  

One of life's little mysteries...

Anyway, that's Reedus.  The dog named after Daryl from The Walking Dead, whose name in real life is Norman Reedus and shares a birthday with Meri.  She was convinced that she'd end up marrying Norman Reedus someday... or his son.
She'll have to be content to be the original owner of his namesake.

Reedus will grow up (hopefully) to be a wonderful dog just like his dad.