Snap!

A whole month? Really has it been that long? I've been very busy taking care of the doglet (she's doing very well) and taking care of myself too. Between the 2 of us it's a whole lot of high maintenance. First, the doglet. We've been at this treating the disease thing for a little over a month. The doggy neurologist was very impressed when we went in last week. I got a little optimistic and asked how soon we could taper down the meds. He said not any time soon. Boooo. She's taking prednisone which makes her CRAZY. And hungry. Bad combo for a doglet. No sleepy sleep for me. Over all it's good and I'm grateful to still have her here.

The biggest reason I've been MIA is this new thing/life/journey I've started. I've dubbed it "operation truth in love". You know, from where it talks in the Bible about speaking the truth in love? Ephesians 4:15-16. I like the "Message" translation best. My friend Renate TWICE spoke some truth in love to me regarding my health. I'm dense like that. It took 2 heart to hearts and one more trip to the urgent care clinic with a crushing migraine for me to snap out of it - or in to it. I've committed to making a life change for the sake of my health, which frees up my energy to be a better wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. It's totally Biblical. I'm not always certain of what the will of God is for me, but I'm pretty sure He would like for me to take good care of myself so I can be a better me. I'll just say that the first step was seeking the help of a nutritionist, and making some radical changes in my diet. I'm saving most of those details for my next post. It deserves one all it's own. I'm just sayin' it's taken a lot of focus and I'm all in. So the blog, Twitter, and Facebook have all gone by the wayside, till now.

Now, especially for Vicki, I will leave you will some delicious video of my juvie owls. This one is of a goofy, wobbly juvie. It was a great rainy evening with lots of thunder and lightning.


If you don't have 4 minutes left, then don't click the next video. If you do, enjoy the visit to my backyard with the lightning and thunder. Listen close to the owls trilling and whinnying, and the bill clacking. All three (the 2 juvies and adult female) were in attendance. I'm pretty sure at the point the bill clacking started mom was trying to break up a sibling spat. Priceless.


Today my adult female Eastern Screech Owl returned to her old roost. Same branch, same spot on the branch. I've missed her while she's been out rearing those younguns.

read in a fortune cookie

Nothing. Nada. Zip. I got an empty fortune cookie today. First time ever (a shocker considering all the fortune cookies I consume). It may not seem like I'm eating them all the time...but I'll share a secret with you...there are at least a dozen that I don't post for every one I do post.

wonderful distractions part 3

I hurried back from Tampa and wonderful distraction number 2 so that I could chicken sit. My friend Renate has 4 hens that free range in her yard, and she needed sitter while she was on vacation. Every day for a week I let them out in the mornings, and put them up in the hen house every evening.



I loved it. And by the time Renate came home, my desperate need for distraction was over. It was perfect timing, and I made some new friends...Chiquita, Geeba, Jemima, and Matilda. Great girls all of them.

Flashback Friday

Seven years ago this month I married the man. My friend Kimberly over at Petroville had me thinking about it this week when she asked "where did you go on your honeymoon, and how much did you spend on the wedding?". After digging through some old files I found the wedding budget spreadsheet, and some snapshots from what seems like a lifetime ago. We spent $2,620, and that included EVERYTHING. Even the wonderful honeymoon to Cozumel. Thrifty me!

The kids were our wedding party. Brannon the best man, and April the maid of honor. They're all grown up and out of the nest now. Seems like just yesterday we were talking about drivers licenses and curfews.


*wonders...is that piece of frozen cake still in Mother's freezer?*



Who is the skinny girl? WHO? And with the bare feet. Some things never change. The curled toes give away the giddiness over all the presents. I love presents!

Cake, presents, unconditional love. What more could a girl ask for? It was perfect.

wonderful distractions part 2

Right on the heels of wonderful distraction number 1, I left on a business trip to Tampa. It was a lonely boring business trip, and I was pretty blue, but I had at least two things to look forward to. Dinner with my cousin Lindsey...who I adore, and almost never get to see...and special plans with my bloggy friend Vicki.

I had some free time one afternoon, so Vicki picked me up at the hotel and graciously spent her whole afternoon showing me the best of St. Petersburg. It was great to meet another bloggy friend face to face, and I felt like I'd known her forever. To quote Vicki, "you meet the neatest people here in the neighborhood". Ditto Vicki!

I got the behind the scenes tour of the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve where Vicki is a volunteer. Lucky me to have an up close and personal introduction to Stretch and Wheezer, the resident Eastern Screech Owls at Boyd. Stretch was the only one to grant me a REALLY up close hello. Wheezer was busy protecting the last owlet in rehab as all good mothers would. They made great foster parents I hear.


Another new friend made was Spirit, a magnificent Bald Eagle. I'm pretty sure I will never get this close to another Bald Eagle without a fence between the two of us. I really was that close, almost no zoom used for these photos.
It was really sweet the way Spirit recognized Vicki as we approached. They had quite the conversation. She volunteers regularly with the raptors, but had been out for a few weeks with Mohs surgery on her nose. I think Spirit really missed her.


Here's a shot of Vicki at Boyd Hill showing me a Red Rat Snake, who had just shed his skin and was unbelievably soft.

We also took in a quick tour of the fabulous Salvador Dali museum in St. Pete, and dinner at the 4th Street Shrimp Store...which was satisfied my craving for some good ole Florida seafood...with Vicki's daughter Abby and her husband. A rather enjoyable dinner, really.

On my last night in town, Lindsey and I had dinner at my now favorite place to eat in Tampa, Datz Deli. I had an egg salad and smoked salmon sandwich for which there are not words. And the wine? Oh man the wines. I chose an incredible French Rose (it was sweltering after all). Also no words.

So thank you Vicki and Lindsey, for the wonderful distractions from my blues regarding a sickly doglet. Vicki, I am better for knowing you. And Lindsey, I am proud to call you family.

she's home with her little chicken leg...

...and her bald neck. Her little leg was shaved where the IV was, and they had to shave a patch on her neck to do the spinal tap. I know from past experience that IV's hurt, and can't imagine how uncomfortable it was in her little bony leg for 3 days. Her legs already look like chicken legs, but with the hair shaved off, wow, naked chicken leg. She has to feel like crap just from the IV and spinal tap alone.

It was so good to pick up our little doglet and get those sweet kisses and tail wags. It quickly became apparent though that we have a long road ahead. She is better, by just a little. Her balance seems better but she is really weak. We'll give her 2 meds daily for months (an possibly life), and she will go back to the vet once a month for an injection.

I am hopeful.