Vet Bills

Well it's been an expensive week. Poor Wiska either has an ear infection, or problems with his neck. So he is on ear meds and pain meds right now. Sonny had a weird bump on his nose, so off he went to see Dr. Michelle as well. It's probably nothing, but if it doesn't go down I'll have them xray him when he goes for his annual cardiac ultrasound. And there's another bill. I'm happy to do it and I even get airmiles when I pay for it, so it's not a total loss. But somehow these silly mutts end up being a big drain on the pocketbook at certain times of year. This is one of those times. They're both happy though and running through the rain. They seem to love leaving little footsie prints in my kitchen.

I've started my Christmas shopping too. It's pretty fun this year. I missed last year so I have that to make up for. I'm kind of at a loss for what to get some people, but at least I'm starting early this year.

I dug out this photo and scanned it in. I'm pretty proud of it. It was a really lucky shot. It was on the safari ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. The male lion rarely makes an appearance any more. I think he got fed up with having his picture taken and tends to hide now. I'm amazed at how clear the pic is considering I was riding in a boucing truck zooming around the corner of the hill.

Leaves, hospital, and writing

My new best friend Carolyn arrived this morning.She and her son are doing the yard clean up and bush trimming for Mike and I. Thank goodness. The puppies were very happy to meet her and her son who is helping.

Mom stopped by this morning to drop off a bow for the present we are going to give Dad. Evil Mike and I (Evil Cora) are going to be taking Dad a roll of toilet paper to celebrate the removal of the colostomy bag. The poor guy is laugh until it hurts. And since he has a brand new incision, boy is it gonna hurt. But he'll appreciate the joke. We visited him yesterday. He has some more pain than the last surgery, but that is due to the fact that he had an epidural the last time and not this time. He was sleepy, but happy we came.

Just thought I'd add a picture of Sonny smiling. Mike took this a while ago. If you are afraid of big dogs, the teeth might not look so friendly, but trust me, this is a smile.

I'll (hopefully) be writing a bit this afternoon. I've got a short story in the works that I plan to send in to a contest. The deadline is the end of December. Knowing my propensity to procrastinate, I'm hoping I'll make the deadline. We'll see.

Flu shots went well

We had a bit of a wait at the clinic last night, but it wasn't as bad as other people have had. We had a time for 7 pm and got out of there at 9 pm. The folks there were friendly and very organized. So it wasn't a bad process.

Today will be busy too - errands and heading off to the dentist. I can't forget to pick up dog munch too. They're not getting my leftover pork chops if I forget the food. snicker. They're spoiled, but not that bad.

H1N1 day

So today was supposed to be the flu shot day. The roving clinic I was going to go to was just around the corner. Start time was to be 2:30 so I got there at noon. All the wristbands had been given out but I could have waited in the cold for an hour and a half because they were waiting for more wrist bands. The nice guy at the gate suggested I try Kanata - only 10 minutes away. I went there and got 2 wrist bands for myself and Mike with a return time of 7 pm tonight. It all went fairly smoothly with a minimum of fuss. I was pretty surprised actually. We'll see how it goes tonight.

Otherwise things are good here. I think we've found someone to do the fall yard clean up work. There is a great website called

http://www.helparoundthehouse.ca

I got a couple of connections for help and Dad is looking too. It's a great concept. There's a lot of young people who are looking for part time jobs as well as older folks looking to keep busy. They have categories ranging from house sitting to yard work. It's a good site.

Busy, busy, busy

Things are, as I said, pretty busy. I'm still going for weekly labs, so that always takes a part of my day at least once a week. I'll be waiting in line for my H1N1 shot tomorrow. I hope it won't be a busy location. I know that some of the roving clinics in other locations are not as busy as the main ones, so maybe I won't be forced to stand for 4 - 6 hours. I'm a little worried about the whole thing. Not the shot, but having to stand for that long. We'll see.

In addition to that I'll be finally going to see the dentist this week. I missed last year's appointment because I was in the hospital and I'm finally getting around to booking the appointment. My dentist is really good, so I'm not worried. I just hate having to take a boat-load full of antibiotics before I go. I end up a bit queasy in the afternoon when I have to do that.

Dad is going in for the reversal of his ileostomy on Friday. He's pretty nervous, but Mom and I know he's tough. He'll get through just fine. It's still going to be a pain for him diet-wise. But he's had to deal with no fresh veggies or fruit for quite a while now - a few more months won't hurt.

On top of all of that I have a tail light that is busted and a slow leak in one of my tires. Somehow I have to get around to getting the car in for regular maintenance and to get the stuff fixed. I keep promising myself to get to it and Mike keeps bugging me, but I seem to be suffering from a bit of inertia. Maybe I'll get to it next week.

Mike and I are teaching the dogs new words. Sonny seems to be twigging to what we mean by "hug". He's made the connection and when Mike asks him if he wants a hug, Sonny raises his eyebrows and then lets out a groan of happiness when Mike gives him  one. It's pretty cute.