Saturday, February 19, 2011

Goodnight Moon.

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Saving Bono

Bono. 

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He is our one year old foster dog with New Spirit 4 Aussie Rescue.

For as much as he was blessed with good looks and  interesting markings,

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a sweet personality and a love for children,

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he was also cursed with extremely deformed and painful hips.

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A deformity brought on by humans who either refuse to spay/neuter their animals or intentionally breed dogs with known medical issues in an attempt to make a few dollars.  We as humans did this to him and we as humans need to fix it.  

The surgery he needs has to be done on both hips.  One at a time with a six week recovery period in between.  And it is expensive.  Bono had his first surgery the week before Christmas.

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After an 8 week recovery period he was sent to the University of Illinois' veterinary clinic for a week of physical therapy which included aquatic therapy on an underwater treadmill

and exercise on the lamb treadmill

The therapy is an attempt to strengthen the repaired leg sufficiently to support his weight when surgery is performed on the other hip.  And I am happy to say it worked!  Bono came home yesterday a lot stronger than when he left, his limp is minimal, he is able to negotiate stairs one leg at a time and, most importantly, he is able to herd the cats.  Because herding cats is a necessity!

With another surgery looming like a black cloud, we know he still has a long road ahead of him.  But Bono is worth saving.

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If you’d like to make a donation to Bono’s cause, click on the link below.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sweet Shot Tuesday

I was not going to enter a photo this week.  Just not feeling inspired.  I'm cold.  Cold to the bone. Love the snow. LOVE IT! Negative temps with wind chill?  Not so much.  This morning as I was searching for the frozen pancakes I saw this picture.  I printed it, as well as several others, on magnet paper.  These are what adorn the front of our fridge.  This picture though, it is a favorite of my girl.  Taken last May.  Nothing puts me in a better mood than watching her play sports. 

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And what makes me smile most when I look at it is that she was trying her hardest to appear tough and mean in front of the other team.  Trying to scare them.  But I know the truth.  She is sweet and kind and, although she is pre-teen and can exhibit that pre-teen nastiness sometimes, she does not have a mean bone in her body.

If you get a chance, go check out the other sweet shots HERE.

Sweet Shot Day

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The first time.

There is a first time for everything.  And our recent blizzard was a first for the kids and I.  Not many blizzards hit Florida in the 31 years I lived there.  As much as I prayed for one as a child, it just never happened.  I remember the pictures my grandmother would send me when they had blizzards in Massachusetts.  Mountains of snow piled high outside the bow window of her living room.  Photos of their dog, Sissy, standing next to the freshly plowed bank of snow bordering their driveway. I spent a lot of time starring at those pictures.  Wishing and dreaming that I was there.  I would pretend that my clothes were damp because I had stood outside in the falling snow with no jacket to protect me.  When reality came rushing back I’d know that may damp clothes were not damp from falling snow but because of the oppressive heat, humidity and buckets of perspiration that were a part of everyday life in South Florida.

While everyone was moaning, groaning and complaining about the forecasted 20+” of snow, we were eagerly awaiting it’s arrival.  Sure.  We’ve seen 20” of snow in the four years we’ve lived here.  A few inches at a time.  20” of snow all at once?  BRING IT!

At first it coated all of our windows like the hurricane shutters we’d place on the windows of our home in Florida.

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This was the only window we could see out of.  But only for a short period of time.  That hole closed up quickly.

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Several times during the storm Eric, Syd and I would put on our coats/boots and run out into the madness to get a first hand view of the growing snow drifts around our garage.

When morning came it was time to dig out.

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and it looked like it was going to take us HOURS!  But then….a knight on a shiny green tractor backed into our drive.

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and did this:

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Look at how thick that glorious snow is!  I love it!! 

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It took him all of 5 minutes to clear our driveway.   And we were not sad about that.  Thank you Tom!

Friends came to play.

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Some of us continued to shovel.

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A friend and I walked to the local bar for lunch because, well, what else do you do after a blizzard?

At noon Main Street in our town still looked like this:

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At the end of the day we took a walk to see what we could see.

We found snow piles as tall as street signs.

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A good spot to take a load off.

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A perfectly plowed sidewalk.

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And Mount Lexington.

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And as the sun went down, we vowed to do it all again tomorrow.

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