Typhoid Mary Update

I went to the doctor yesterday...finally, only to find out I have a viral bronchitis that basically responds to nothing and just has to run its course. She then proceeded to tell me it can last over a month!! They gave me a steroid shot to try and quiet the inflammation in my lungs and a prescription for a numbing agent to quiet the cough. Neither have seemed to do anything at all. If anything, I think I am coughing more. Although I do feel less achy than before the shot so at least that's something. Nobody at work wants to be around me for fear of catching it too. Thank goodness I wear a mask and gloves most of my time at work, so I shouldn't be spreading around too many germs. It's also a good thing that I work in a different office every day, because by the end of the day, I am sure they are all sick of hearing me hack my head off. So, I don't have anything more to post for now. I have some vet lessons in the works, but just am not up to putting them together yet. So, hold fast gentle readers...did I actually type that? Perhaps the steroids have affected me more than I thought.

Tales from the crypt

I can't seem to shake this crud that I have. I feel like I have been ran over by a truck and I sound like I am dying a slow horrible death by coughing up a lung! I think it has progressed to bronchitis and I am going to have to go to the doctor and get checked out tomorrow hopefully. I haven't worked out in 2 days and don't foresee being able to for at least another couple of days. This has thrown a wrench in the spokes of my training plan, and I hope it won't put me too far behind target for my first race on April 4Th. Unfortunately, I am worried that hubby and son #3 are also coming down with something, as they both have sore throats and some congestion starting.

In other news, do you think these two may possibly be friends now?




They aren't. They just had a moment I guess, or else the fact that Dudley bothers Jitter even more than Huck she decided he wasn't so bad. Actually, he was on the bed first and he, unlike her, is willing to share.

And just a couple of pics to show you what an animal lover my L2 really is! These are so precious! The first one is of him actually sleeping in the pen with Dudley and Sassy when I first brought them home. (Sassy is his sister that went to live with my friend, L)






Hopefully, tomorrow I will have a vet lesson, or at least something more interesting than the family crud!

Come on...cough it up!

Can I just say that my ribs, my back and my stomach muscles are killing me? They are, and NOT from a great work-out either, but from almost non-stop coughing for the past week. You know the saying, coughing up a lung? Well, I will be pictured in the encyclopedia next to that term's entry in the next edition of Britannica. I must say that I am well known for having a cough that sounds like an 80 yr old, 4 packs a day smoker, and it is really annoying, not only to everyone else, particularly my husband, but to me also. I was once asked to leave a meeting because I was coughing so much, nobody could speak loud enough to be heard. Pretty embarrassing really! Needless to say, I didn't make it to church today because I didn't want Pastor Al to have to stop the sermon and ask me to leave! I seem to get this cough usually just once a year, thank goodness, but it always seems to last for a couple of weeks. I don't go to the doctor for it, I just deal with it till my family and my throat/muscles can no longer handle it, then I just take Mucinex to try and clear it up. I am not a huge fan of medication, despite my profession. I think I touched on this when L1 was sick and I was hesitant to put him on antibiotics (and by the way, he was better on his own in 3 days). So, here is hoping that this will be the last week of it and that the Mucinex does its job! It's really hard to run and bike when you are coughing up a lung!!

One down, five to go

L1 and I made our first college visit road trip today. It was an early start for us on a chilly Saturday morning. We visited Texas State in San Marcos and it is a 3 hour plus drive so we had to leave by 6 am. Which means we had to get up at 5 am. On a Saturday. Morning. Ugh. Unfortunately, it was an overcast, cool windy day. Neither of us had ever been to TSU before and we were pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be a small college with a somewhat junior college feel, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The student enrollment is over 28,000 students and the campus is a pretty decent size. It is also quite hilly, so you really get quite the work-out going from place to place. The college is a pretty strong liberal arts school, which is good since L1 plans on majoring in history and at least minoring, if not double majoring in theatre. The theatre building just underwent a $2 million renovation last year and it was very nicely done. We met one of the academic advisers for each of the two schools he will be in, and they were very helpful. We found out about the swim team, the history major, the theatre major/minor, visited a dorm, walked the campus, and went to the student rec center to check out the pool and other facilities. Surprisingly, he seemed to really like the school. He had briefly considered majoring in pre-med, that is till he found out he would have to do 4 more years of sciences, including one in physics, and he absolutely can't stand his physics class. His father is disappointed, but I am glad, because I knew it wasn't his passion. He was being driven more by the decimal place in the salary than a yearning to help people. So, anyway, it was a very fun day and I am looking forward to the next two at the end of March.

A Crate Success Story

Yesterday morning, I put Frankie and Huck in their crates, turned on the ceiling fan to keep them cool and the radio to keep them company and left for work. Six hours later I came home to find this.







I wish you guys could have all seen me doing the happy dance! No newly shredded walls, baseboard, windowsills or chair rail in sight. Nary a one!! No torn up crate doors, battered wire panels, broken teeth or raw noses from fighting the crate. Just calm, VERY GOOD dogs, lying in their crates waiting for me to let them out for some lovin' and of course, a potty break! Now that's what I'm talkin' about! I LOVE to give 'em some lovin' instead of screaming my head off about what they have destroyed. Hopefully, this will be the happily ever after ending I've been wanting.

In case some of you are curious, and even if you aren't, I'm explaining it anyway. The two giant crates are for Huck and Dudley. I have a regular size crate for Frankie, which right now is beside my bed for Dudley to sleep in at night. I take Dudley to work with me to potty train him (6 hours is too long for an 8 week old puppy to "hold it"). When he is completely potty trained, he will go in the other giant crate and I will put Frankie's cage in the office along with the other two. Our office is going to feel like I am at work, since it will look like a vet clinic dog ward! So, all in all, I am ecstatic about how this is turning out. And, life with 3 1/4 dogs (the chihuahua can't be counted as a whole dog) is pretty darn good now!

What a CRATE day!

Dudley went to work with me today for the first time. I take my pups to work with me everyday until they are potty trained. I came home to find these at the back door.



Woo Hoo!! I was so happy, because I am really sick of doing this every morning,




yet still coming home to see this.


and no that isn't old damage, it is the new damage from today! The flash is kind of bright, but the wood from the chair rail is completely missing down to the drywall on the right side!


I decided to put them in the office since there really is no other place I can put both of them because they are so huge. So I rearranged the office a bit to accommodate both new dog garages. L1 helped me put them together lickety split and here they are all beautiful, black and wiry.


They are so big that they make Huck look like a little puppy. I could fit two of him in one, so he has plenty of room to grow! I hope that they are going to be the saving grace for my house. I will let you know! And just to remind you what it is all for...

Global warming protest

Literally thousands showed up in the northern arctic circle for the million man march against the claim of global warming...










Sorry, I just couldn't resist. The whole global warming thing is such a farce!