Yes, again. Since I had to look back at my blog posts to see when the last time this happened and for med dosages, I thought it would be a good time to update the blog. Eh. We do still have some meds on hand from the last episode a few years ago, but we're contemplating what to do when they run out. Our vet is (surprise!) out of town for the weekend. The Man just got in touch with someone at the hospital who agreed to give him the needed meds, so he is off to get those.
So, update on us: New dog was added to our family the end of June. Weird story since I wasn't even looking to add another responsibility to our full-to-overflowing plates, but I clicked on a link late on a Friday afternoon, and then surfed, and somehow ended up on Petfinder.com. I punched in our zip just for kicks and a dog showed up that I knew needed a home. Any home. Not ours, because, of course, we didn't need another dog. I sent out a plea on facebook for someone to go get the dog. The Man thought it looked like a good dog and told me it was up to me if we got it.
First thing the following Monday morning I called the pound to get more information on the dog. Tuesday afternoon the kids and I went up there just to look. I took the Dog along, too, just in case I wanted to see how they got along. I still wasn't thrilled about getting another pet, but this puppy needed a home.
The lady at the pound said he was a stray that had been there 2 months! She said everyone that came to see him said he was too big, but he was a sweetheart that needed a home. He was a bit bigger than I'd anticipated. I was agreeable to taking him for a trial and the lady said she would waive the adoption fee since she wanted him to get out of the pound.
Since we got him for "free," it didn't hurt quite so bad to stop on our way home to buy a crate, dog dish, leash, collar, and harness. I told myself that even if we didn't end up keeping him, the Dog's 15 year old crate needed to be replaced anyway, so it would be too much of a waste.
The Man laughed at me when we got home. He seemed to recall me telling him in the not so distant past that I didn't want a big dog. OK, so this dog is pretty big. He tipped the scales at nearly 90 pounds. But he is a sweetheart...that runs like a horse...and should have been named something like "Houdini." Instead we named him Painter. No special reason other than it was a name that nobody especially hated, and when he wags his tail (often) he looks like a black dog that dipped his tail in some white paint and spattered it around. J also mentioned something about the amount of drool that comes out of his mouth, but that's kind of gross.
The vet has no clue as to what breed of dog he is. He was advertised as McNab x Hound, but the vet, we, and everyone else agrees that he doesn't have hound in him. The vet said he definitely isn't Chihuahua (hee-hee). The vet guessed that maybe he was McNab x Pyrenees. Possible, but he has short hair. The vet guessed he is probably between 2-3 years old.
I was hoping that he and the Dog would be pals. The Dog is nearly 8 years old, and with all of his poisonings, I don't want to think about his lifespan. The Dog tolerates Painter, but he was quite offended that we didn't ask his opinion before we brought him home. The Dog stayed under the van moping for the first two days after we brought Painter home.
So, a little over a week after we brought Painter home, we left on a 3-week trip. I know...getting a new dog right before a long trip was NOT one of my smarter moments. I marveled at my own stupidity. He did have an excellent dog-sitter while we were gone, and I know he was better off than being caged (or worse!) while we were gone. I don't know how much longer the pound would have kept him!
Our 3-week trip involved leaving home at 7 pm on a Thursday night, driving straight through to arrive in Walla Walla for an 8 am appointment at the college, visiting friends and the Whitman Mission, taking M & J to summer camp, visiting The Man's aunt and uncle, camping in Idaho, back to pick up M & J, camping under the stars in Montana, Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, Andrews University in Michigan (and visits with Grandma & Grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends), Indiana (another Grandma, Grandpa, aunt, uncles, cousins, and friends), more family in Kentucky, college visit in Tennessee and then we were ready to go home! We left Tennessee on Wednesday morning and drove straight through to the Grand Canyon. We arrived there about 3 pm on Thursday, left at 5, slept about 2 hours at some dinky rest stop between Las Vegas and Reno, and arrived home about 2 pm on Friday. Whew. That last paragraph deserves several blog posts of its own, but considering my blogging habits lately, that will have to do!
Life is too crazy right now to even sort out more blog posts.
I took this video of S yesterday. I dare you to watch it and not smile.
I'm in the middle of overseeing an SAT practice session for M, so I have a few minutes and a few pictures to blog!
We've had beautiful weather the past few days. The boys and Sacagawea have enjoyed relaxing in their hammocks. Three hammocks. One hammock stand. Sometimes they have hung up all 3 at the same time, but usually it is just one or two at a time.
Yesterday I was outside soaking up some sunshine and talking to S when a huge gust of wind whipped through our yard. Someone's hammock, which wasn't connected to the stand, got caught up in the wind. I thought it was pretty cool. S didn't. He might have thought it was cool if it had been J's or Sacagawea's, but it wasn't.
Fortunately The Man was at home, otherwise S would have had to wait for another gust of wind to loosen his hammock from the tree.
That tree definitely isn't strong enough to climb.
This tree is strong enough, and S and J decided they wanted a tree house.
Originally, I heard that Sacagawea wouldn't be allowed, but since I saw her carrying boards up the hill yesterday while J & S nailed, I think she has struck a deal. I heard that even G and Baby S were up there yesterday with The Man, so I'm pretty sure it is safe.
We (not me) tilled the entire garden area (~150' x 150') a few weeks ago. So far we've planted potatoes, peas (actually planted a few weeks prior), onions, spinach, radishes, and turnips. Strawberry plants were put in yesterday.
We tried planting strawberries a few years ago, but something ate all the plants. The day The Man and boys tilled the garden, the Dog eradicated about a dozen moles from the garden area. We also just purchased one of these to try to get rid of more of the bigger rodents quickly. Hopefully it will be worth it and we'll get more than a dozen potatoes this year!
G and Sacagawea helped me plant some seeds and we have lots of baby seedlings soaking up sun during the day. We'll continue to have frosts through the beginning of next month so we'll be doing the daily seedling transport for a few more weeks.
Don't you just love his giraffe hat? It was made/given to him last winter by a friend and he adores it!
Here is a "just because" picture I took a few weeks ago. Have a great day!
I came to make this post and realized I had a few unpublished posts waiting to be "touched up" before I posted them. Obviously that didn't happen, so I published them tonight as-is. Check the previous posts if you want to see what little I had time to write about the past few months.
7 month stats for Baby S...13 1/4 pounds and 25 inches long. Please don't be too hard on this mom of six who neglected to do 6 month stats. Baby S really gets around now with her rolling, scooting, and even some up-on-the-knees crawling. She started eating solid food on Sacagawea's birthday, April 12.
G is talking! He's says "Mama" and "Dad-DEE" and all sorts of other lovely words. He actually has a very broad vocabulary, but it is hard for most people to understand him because he tends to leave off the beginning consonant sounds. I even have him on video calling his baby sister "Eew-ie." That should be worth something someday!
Sacagawea turned 9 years old and three days later M turned 17. Seventeen? Yes. Wow. I'm starting to think I'm getting old. Seventeen. We were in the store yesterday and I heard a song on the loudspeaker. "That's an old song," I told him. "I remember it from when I was a kid."
"So," he replied, "are you saying you're old?" Ummmm...
We're all working to get an actual garden in this year. Lots of seedlings are started and the garden area is tilled.
Going to go to bed now...I've got to sleep while the babies are sleeping!
5 month stats for Baby S...24 1/4" long and 12 lbs, 4 ozs.
G has enjoyed using his potty chair the past few weeks.
Too tired tonight to write more, but I wanted to get these milestones posted!
4 month stats for Baby S: 11 lbs, 12 ozs. and 23 1/2" long. She rolls easily from front to back and occasionally from back to front. She sleeps all night (usually about 11 hours) in her crib at night. She is such a good little girl.
G went to his very first non-daddy doctor appointment a few weeks ago. His height and weight is consistent with his siblings at his age. I don't remember right now his stats (bad mommy moment), but they were in the 5th percentile. Actually, I think M was off the bottom of the charts at that age. The doctor said we were already doing everything that could be done for G's allergies and eczema, so we'll just keep doing what we're doing.
I was sick for most of January and I'm still dealing with a lingering case of conjunctivitis. Fortunately it didn't seem to be the contagious type. I'm very slowly starting to feel normal again.
Last weekend we made our very first road trip as a family of 8. Whew! The baby and all the rest did well on the 6 hour trip to visit Weimar College. That is one of many that M is interested in attending in a few years. It turned into a wonderful surprise reunion getting reacquainted with friends and family from all over the country.
S has taken up trench digging. Instead of digging random trenches all over the property, I gave him permission to dig trenches within the garden area. He and J started pulling apart old pallets today to construct a compost bin. After a bit of discussion they started researching worm compost bins. I've offered to donate the Rubbermaid containers if they'll do the rest.
This past week has been unpacking, enjoying the sunshine in our part of the country, and yet another trip to the big city for music lessons for M. The highlight of my week was finding FIVE 100% cotton shirts for The Man at the Goodwill. Not only were they in colors/styles that he will wear, but they all fit. It is the small things that make me happy!
I was a bit late getting Baby S on the scales for her 3-month weigh-in. Tonight before her bath I remembered! She weighs just a hair under 11 pounds and is 22 1/2" long. This was up from the 10 pounds and 21 1/4" that she measured at 2 months.
Guess what else I did tonight? I went and got the box that had been sitting on my dresser since before her birth. I opened the box and removed the baby book! After finding a pen, I sat down and filled in all the information I had available (the book has places to fill in weekly weights until six weeks...that didn't happen!) and looked over the rest. Why is that exciting? Because even though all the children have baby books, I'm sure at least one of them is still blank, and the others are sorely lacking information.
I usually record important milestones on the calendars and I've kept all of those so I do have records. I just need to sort through those dates and fill in the baby books.
