Sometimes it's a bad day and sometimes its a good day and sometimes it's both

A real tragedy occurred today....

I have had this knife since I left for my first day of college in 1988.  I was 17 and now I'm 48- that's 30 years of service this knife has given me.  I use if for literally everything!!!  I cut everything with it, fruit, veggies, meat, bread, paper - I could poke things with it, stab things with it, wave it around in a menacing manner... it was my Go To Knife and now it's dead! :o(  I'm not sure what I'm going to do without it.  It certainly will hamper my culinary exploits!!

In the midst of my mourning, I had to go to the grocery store and it was as if the powers that be knew I was in a vulnerable state.  This is what awaited me....

Oh joyous day!!  I snatched them to my chest and skipped joyfully to the checkout!!  There's always a silver lining!

Plus when you are feeling down there's nothing like precious puppies to make you feel better!

Miracles DO Happen!

Hell hasn't frozen over...

But miracles DO happen... not very often, but they do!

There's not much more pitiful than a pet or kid who's got a boo-boo

       Took the Cooper boy to the vet today because he's been limping for the last two days and it's really messing with our walking schedule.  He wasn't putting any weight on his back foot at all and I noticed he had a red sore between his pads.  Seemed like the pain was disproportionate to the injury.  Always heard dogs were pretty tough especially with their feet.  It could just be the my Coopy is a sissy dog, but I thought I better have it checked out just make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious.  Like the time I let Zack cough for weeks when he was 3, until John guilted me into taking him to the doctor, and he had double pneumonia.  Or the time my brother was complaining, after a 4 wheeler accident, that his knee hurt and my mother told him he better toughen up because his school had stairs - and we found out after a trip to the doctor that his knee was broken!  It runs in the family... so better safe than sorry and off we tramped to the vet.
          It appears the Coopster has some sort of chemical burn on his foot between his pads and it was eating away at the pad.  Ahhh... YUCK!  The vet (who was wonderful) had to clean it and wrap it with honey!  And poor Cooper cried like a little girl dog the whole time.  :o(  So, now he's all limpy and pitiful and is raking in the treats at an alarming rate.  No walking and extra treats... hope he doesn't blow out his ACL next carrying around the extra weight.
          Yeah...about the honey...... apparently honey is great for burns, but I must say it makes keeping him from chewing on his bandage a little challenging since I'm sure it smells just yummy.  For the next 4 days I'm changing his Honey Wrap and feeding him pain pills and antibiotics.  And remembering to lock him in his crate every time I walk Zoey because he cries and howls until I'm sure the neighbors either want to shoot him or call the animal equivalent of child protective services on me. Plus, the bonehead will do whatever he can to escape the fence injured foot or no injured foot!  It's fun at the Hyzyhouse!

The puppies go to college

Brenna has been doing great at college.  We had a wonderful time at Family Weekend, but all we heard all weekend long was... "I miss Cooper and Zoey."  "Do you think Copper and Zoey remember me?"  Blah, blah, blah.  Puppies this, puppies that.  So, Zack and I decided to road trip down to Radford with the puppies and we had a great time.  I'm not sure who was more excited to see who, the dogs with Brenna or Brenna with the dogs.  We hiked and hung out in Brenna's room.  Fortunately the  weather was beautiful so we were able to hang out on the Quad and just generally relax.  I think it was good for Brenna and for us as well.  We miss our girl.

Hiking in the woods

Hanging on the Quad

Brenna's room

Together again!

College Boy

College Girl

Only proof Mom was actually here

She loves her pup

She missed her Bro too!

Weather, Walking and Weighted Vests

We have been enjoying unprecedented weather here in Va for the last three days, 60's and 70's and wonderful sunshine. So, I have been walking my ass off with the dogs, not literally... unfortunately. A good 90 minutes at least each day in my Reebok Toners! You know the cute ones, not the old lady ones. The ones that according to the TV will make all the handsome young men stop and watch as I walk by! They said it on TV so it must be true. Today I decided to go ALL OUT... Reebok Toners and...my weighted walking vest! They handy dandy one that will "pump up the volume" and help "melt the fat away" turning me into a lean, mean, toned walking machine while looking stylish and athletic. That's what the magazine said so it must be true. What???

Anyway, so the vest, it's 4lbs with 4- 1lb weights you can add to the vest to "pump it up" even more. I'm not crazy so I just wore it straight up, no added weights. I'm not sure it did much of anything except make me look bulky so in turn I probably walked a little faster in order to get home and take it off!

Unfortunately Cooper and Zoey seem to be casualties of the increased walks. They have raw sore pads and are limping when we walk. For whatever reason I can't imagine walking without them, it would seem a little pointless. So I find myself investigating Paw Wax and Dog Booties??? Really... do dogs wear shoes? I have always sworn up and down that dogs don't wear clothes - no sweaters, no jackets, no Halloween costumes. Clothes make Cooper look gay and Zoey look fat! But, now I'm looking into booties for the dogs, oh how the mighty have fallen. Just wait until I put Cooper in a sweater and booties, he'll never be able to hold his head up in the neighborhood again.

My dogs are just like children

During the "blizzard of '09" we ran out of dog food. When I schlepped to the store, I discovered they'd run out of dogfood as well, or at least the brand we buy. So, I had to substitute. Generally we feed our dog Iams minichunks. Nothing fancy, just plain, uniform little chunks of dog-flavored food. No complaints from either of the pooches. But as a substitute I chose Beneful... it had lots of different colored, different shaped and supposedly different flavored chunks. I thought it might be fun, a little change of pace. So, I brought it home, mixed it with the dog food we had left and began to use it.

As I sit here drinking my coffee (remember I'm weaning... not cold turkey...don't judge me!) I'm watching them eat. Here's what they do... they grab a mouthful of food. Then they drop it on the floor, spread it out and eat their favorite parts. I can almost hear them...." What's this green one?" "I don't know, what's this funny shaped one? You try it... No you try... I'm not trying it..." At which point they get another mouthful and pick out all the good parts. And I'm left to go in sweep up when they are finished. Now eventually when hunger overrides... they finish their bowls. It's just like my kids at dinner....when maybe a stray parsley leaf crosses their plate... "What's this green thing?" Holding it suspiciously to their nose and sniffing....

The other thing I've noticed is when I first put the food down in the morning... Cooper will go in sometimes and eat all his favorites out of the bowls before Zoey is hip to what's going on. Very similar to what happens when I first come home from the Commissary and the drawers and cupboards are full of "good stuff." Someone (no names) will come down and hoard all the most delectable items before the other one even knows they are there....

Ah siblings.....