Billboard

Ok, sometimes it pays to know people.

My niece Sara, and her husband Aaron, just had a new baby. Yippie! Aaron works for an advertising company responsible for putting up billboards around the city. Apparently, a couple of his friends from work got a picture of Jack (aka Camron) and created a billboard that can be seen at various locations throughout the city. Is that cool or what? It's beats sending notes in the mail!

This is what the board looked like.
It pays to know people in high places!

Yard Sale

We had a long weekend. We had Friday off for Rodeo Day. Having Rodeo Day off here would be equivalent to the first day of hunting season off up North. Nobody would go to school that day so they made it a holiday. Of course, we had to trade it for President's Day. So rather than pay homage to our forefathers, we pay tribute to the cowboy! Yahoo!

Anyway, since we had the long weekend, we decided to try our hands at a yard sale. We've been talking about having one for a long time and every time we come across some little knick-knack, rather than throw it away, we'd save it for the yard sale. So on Friday, we pulled out a bunch of "junk" and put it in the yard. Paula came over to help. (Thank you Paula!) We put a sign out on the median on the main drag and customers started pouring in. By the end of the day, although we didn't really sell anything major ($10 for a dog house that Shae won't use was the biggest ticket item), we ended up making about $260! Not bad for mostly quarter and dollar priced items!

The thing about yard sales is you get all the "bargain hunters" who want everything for nothing. If I asked a dollar, they wanted to pay 50 cents. A few things I didn't mind as I was happy to get rid of them, but most stuff I stood my ground. They either bought it for my price or they could easily walk away. I didn't care which they chose. I'd say about half paid my price.

Today was day two of the sale. We stayed open about 5 hours today. Sales weren't as good, but overall I can't really complain. Again, nothing really big went (we had patio furniture, end tables, chairs, and a dresser set for baby--sadly we still do!) but we did sell a lot of little junk. I had two very old purses that were in halfway decent condition. One was never used (John's mother bought it years ago..the tags were still on it) and I was asking a quarter for each. One lady offered me a quarter for both. I said no 25 cents each. She said, but the one is damaged and it's not good. She'd only pay 25 cents for both. I looked at her and said "Lady this is a yard sale. Twenty five cents each." She didn't buy the purses, but good grief! (By the way, there really wasn't anything wrong with the purse. The leather straps that were decorative on the front were peeling like leather does when it gets old. Sheesh! Go to Walmart and buy yourself a new purse for $15 then and leave me a lone!)

Our sale is over and everything is packed away again. Maybe we'll try again next weekend or maybe we'll wait until Spring break. I'm not really in any hurry to sale again. But from now on, to heck with saving things for a yard sale...everything is going in the trash!

It's my hematoma month

Poor Shae. She had her surgery today, and from what I was told, she came through with flying colors! Of course, I shouldn't be surprised. She is MY dog after all.

She looks a little silly actually. Poor thing has her ear bandaged like a unicorn horn sticking out of the side of her head. Much to my surprise, she hasn't been scratching at it at all either. Perhaps she's still a little groggy from the surgery, but I'm hoping she continues to leave it alone. Otherwise, we'll have to put the lamp shade on her. I have a feeling that she won't like that very much!

We go back on Wednesday to have the bandage removed. The sutures don't come out until March 13th.

In the meantime, she's like her mommy, using this as her excuse to be spoiled. "Gimme a cookie, mommy...it's my hematoma month!"

Pay attention!

A good reminder...pay attention!

The Dead Cow and Vet School



First-year students at the UC Davis Vet school were receiving their first anatomy class, with a real dead cow.

They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, 'In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the animal body.' For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it and stuck his finger in his mouth.

'Go ahead and do the same thing,' he told his students. The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes, but eventually took turns sticking a finger in the anal opening of the dead cow and sucking on it.

When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, 'The second most important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my index finger.' 'Now learn to pay attention. Life's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.'

Poor Shae

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I slept in late. I lolligagged around just enjoying the day. And baby Jack (I mean Camron) was born! That sounds like a great day, doesn't it?

Yesterday was also a scary day for me. I happened to notice that my puppy's ear was not laying flat. She is a floppy eared dog, so her ears usually flop over neatly. However, I noticed that one of her ears was not folding properly.

I called her over to check it out. When I flipped her ear over, I found a huge hematoma. Now that was scary! It was so big that it was beginning to close over the hole in her ear.

Being a floppy eared dog, she's prone to ear infections. Usually she just scratches more and we know it's time to visit the vet for more meds. She's also been known to develop rash-like blotches on her belly and lower under region. It can usually tell when she's bothered by another infection as she will itch and shake her head a lot. She has been itching some but not enough that I was alerted or concerned by it.

So today I took her to the vet's office. I picked her up after work and spoke with the doctor. She will be having surgery on Friday and reduce the swelling of the hematoma by draining it. According to the doctor, it is a big blood blister. It can reduce in swelling on it's own, however, it could cause some problems for her later if it's not properly reduced. So, I opted for the surgical route. It will cost a little more, but at least I know it will be drained properly and shouldn't cause her any problems with hearing. It will also more likely heal better after surgery than it would if left to it's own devices.

Fortunately I have Friday off! I'll be able to take her to the hospital and pick her up early in the afternoon. Plus I'll be home for the weekend to help her with the healing.
Until then, she's on antibiotics to help ease the itching and redness.

Poor Shae!

And his name is....

Today I found out what Jack's name is. They wanted to let the name be a surprise since everyone already knew it was a going to be a boy. And even though Jack was born yesterday, it wasn't until this morning that I actually found out what Jack's name really is.

Sadly, it's not Jack. And the name they have chosen instead is...Camron Aaron. Not too bad. It flows nicely. It's a good name.

I think I'm still going to call him Jack. :)

Happy Birthday Jack!

He's here! He finally arrived!

This is my great nephew! He's brand new right out of the box! It was a difficult delivery, but mommy and baby are both doing great.

Last night Sara had texted me to say that her water had broke. As it turned out, it was only leaking, but since she was having some contractions, the doctor told her to go to the hospital. By that time she was already 5 cm dialated so they said she should stay.

At 6:30 this morning, after a long night of contractions starting and stopping, they finally induced labor hoping the baby would continue on the path of delivery. Of course he had other things in mind. Apparently he was quite comfy where he was and didn't want to come out. He was still very high and not turned quite right so they attempted to coax him out, but he wasn't having any of that! After several hours of hard pushing and labor, the doctors decided to do an emergency C section. Baby couldn't say no to that and out he came. He has 5 fingers on each hand, ten toes, and passed all the tests they threw at him. He came out at a whopping 8 pounds 10 ounces. He was a little early (her actual delivery date was March 4) so they took him to intensive care for observation. Overall he looks healthy and appears to be in great shape. He does have a small abrasion on his head from where they were trying to turn him for natural delivery, but other than that, all is well.

Sara is doing well but quite tired. I'm told she did her best to push him out, but you know how men are...stubborn! Even in the womb!

But we've been patiently waiting for him to arrive and he's finally here. We couldn't be more excited about it!

To top it all off, today would have been my Uncle Jack's birthday. I told Sara that it's a sign from above that Jack was born today and that he should be named Jack. She and Aaron however have other plans for the name and it's not Jack. Call him what you want, I'm calling him Jack!

So baby May has finally joined the rest of us in the outside world! Happy birthday baby Jack!

I'm normal

I now have medical proof to back up this statement...I'm normal. Yes, that's right. I have two sets of X-rays and MRI results that basically prove that I'm normal. Well, if normal is a shooting pain from your lower back to your knee, then yeah, I guess I am normal.

So there you have it family and friends!

MRI

As you know, I've been having leg, butt, and lower back pain for a little over a year now. The pain varies but for the most part, it's a constant twang making lying down, standing up, and walking sometimes difficult. Not that you do much of any those things on any given day....

When I finally told my doctor about the problem, he sent me for a hip xray. That came back normal yet the pain continued. The next time I saw my doctor, I told him the pain was still there. He decided to send me for another xray, this time of my lower back. That xray too came back normal, but again, the pain continues. He decided that what he needed to diagnose the problem was an MRI.

Today was my MRI. My appointment was actually for yesterday but they called and asked me to come today instead. For starters, I'm claustophobic so I can't do the tube and had to go to an open MRI. I arrived 20 minutes early to do the required paperwork and at 8:10 (after having been there already for 30 minutes and 10 minutes after my scheduled appointment time) I was guided back to change and get ready. What caused the delay? It certainly wasn't patients! I was the only one in the waiting room. My appointment was for 8:00pm (that's just too late) and the place was deserted!

Finally, I entered the MRI room. After saddling up and being properly positioned, the testing began. The nice thing about an open MRI is that it's not quite as loud as a closed MRI. But noisy nonetheless. The doctor says the pictures are quite as clear either, but I really don't care. I hate being in the tube.

I can't be certain, but I do believe that I may have fallen asleep. Not snoring, sweet dreams sleep, but half way between reality and lala land sleep.

So I'm back to waiting for results. That will take 3-5 days before my doctor receives the results. Shortly after that I'll probably get a note from my doctor's office saying "everything looks normal". Ugh!