Baby Scare

I mean my fuzzy baby, of course (no more human ones for us, thanks!). For those who don't know, we have two dogs; Anabelle and Isabelle (Belle and Izzy for short). Belle is a black lab/whippet mix, about 7 years old (a rescue from the Humane Society, so they're not exactly sure) and 55 lbs. Izzy is a blonde mutt, 5 years old this October and about 45 lbs. Belle is a mama's girl, and Izzy is her Papa's baby.

A typical morning goes like this: Mama gets up, and before I get to the bathroom, Belle is wagging her tail and tapping her front paws on my legs; trying to get a hug & kiss (yes, my dog hugs). Izzy is never too far behind her, also greeting me with kisses, but she's not quite as energetic about it. When I'm at the computer, Belle is next to the chair. When I'm making my morning mocha, she's at the edge of the kitchen, watching me. When I'm watching The Price is Right, she's on the floor at my feet.

This morning, there was no greeting. There was no tail wagging so hard, it sounds like she's knocking on the bathroom door. There was no nose poking into the bathroom to greet me in there. When I came out, she was lying down in her kennel. I thought, "Huh. That's weird. Maybe she's tired or hot," and I made my mocha.

I checked all my messages, responded to a few, and sat on the couch to watch t.v. At this point, I called Belle over to sit at my feet, and she just looked at me. It took some coaxing (TOTALLY out of character), but she finally got up, and meandered to my lap, then sort of flopped down next to me. I watched her walk over and noticed her back legs weren't functioning correctly. My first thought was, "Probably laying on them wrong," as she's done with her front paw (not sure if dogs get pins & needles, but that's about how she acted with one front paw a few weeks ago).

As time went on, she still wouldn't get up, and when she did, she didn't go very far, and looked like she was in pain, so I started to get concerned. I had her lay in my lap on her back, and moved her back legs around; feeling for broken or dislocated bones/joints. I didn't feel anything unusual, but I considered cancelling my one client, just in case. Ace told me that I should go (it was only a pedicure), and he would keep an eye on my dog while I was gone. If she didn't get better, we'd take her together when I got home.

He then called me when I was just starting my client, and told me he & the girls were taking Belle in; she wasn't getting better and he was now getting concerned. The only other thing we had to go on was the boy telling us that when she came in from being let out this morning, she was "walking really slowly."

The doc did a bunch of motion & manipulation tests on her, and (sweet girl) she didn't even whimper. No nipping, no trying to get away, just tolerated the whole ordeal very well. At times, she did give Ace that pleading look, but all in all, handled it perfectly. They found nothing with any of those tests, so decided to X-Ray her, just to be safe.

X-Ray results took about 1/2 hour, but came back clear. No broken bones, no dislocation, and no joint damage. Very healthy, probably just a sprain. Our best guess is that while outside this morning, she must have caught a hole just-so, and twisted. Docs gave us a couple days worth of pain meds for her, and now, she seems to be feeling better. She's walking stiffly, but still no jumping or anything. Only $214 for everything; and she's worth every penny, and I'd spend thousands more making sure she has a long and healthy life.

A Poll

I know I don't have a lot of readers, but I'm curious about something. I want an HONEST opinion, and a discussion of your answer. Thanks.

How old is an appropriate age to get _________ pierced?
Ears -- first, second, third holes.
Nose.
Belly button.
Other.

No, my "pre-tween" is not asking for her belly button to be pierced, but this discussion came up recently on one of my networking sites and I thought it was a good topic for discussion. What do you guys & gals think?

Kid-Free

Gamerboy left on the 16th, headed to Alabama for a week and a half (he returns Saturday evening). After they got his luggage/boarding passes taken care of, he shoo'd Ace on his way (he actually hung out 'til the boy got through security, then waved).

Squeeks was dropped off by Ace this afternoon for a two-week rafting camp (not all rafting, just rafting/water-focused). He told me that as soon as they went through the check-in process, she tried to ditch him. Unfortunately for her, he had to take some things to her counselor, so she couldn't escape right away.

The Princess went for a six-day "Challenge" camp at her church's private camp near the coast. This one is meant for children aged 8-11, so she should fit right in. She had a ride up there (one of the boys in her class was also going, so his mom offered to drive up 4 of the kids), so I just met them all at the church parking lot. Once everyone was gathered, and introductions were made, I got my goodbye "loves" and was waved off too.

It's odd when they try to act all mature, but seeing their behaviors at home, I know better... I know they want to be "grown up", especially around their age-mates, but they still have a lot to learn from home. Anyway, I hope they have fun, and I, for one, am happy to be kid-free for the week!

New Addition

Ace and I have lately been discussing, in between "what's next for the house", when to get a new motorcycle and what to get... After his ride to the coast over the holiday weekend, it suddenly became more of a necessity; the wind during that 2 hour drive made it a lot less fun than it could have been if his bike were heavier.

We talked to T, Ace asked questions on his M50 forum, and we hunted the internet to find out what was available. We had it narrowed down. The two major selling points for him were (1) big enough to not be affected by the wind so much and (2) a big enough engine to not require an upgrade in another year and a half (the amount of time we had the M50).

Monday before his birthday, we headed up to Washington to look at a couple they had. On the way, we stopped at another dealer who had a C109r in black listed on their site. Seems that one was sold over the weekend, but hadn't been removed from their site, yet, darnit! Oh, well; we didn't want that one. We just wanted to look at it and see if it was worth going up to WA for the other one...

We got up there at just after 130p. Ace looked at two models -- the C109r and the C109rt. The "rt" model had a lot of mods we didn't like, so it made more sense to go over the "r". They let him take it around the building and in the parking lot for a test drive (2008 model, but only had a couple hundred miles on it). Then, the negotiations started.

We decided to go for trade-in for our M50, and give it to them stock (we can sell all the after-market parts that we can't/won't use on the new bike), but didn't have it with us (we weren't planning on buying that day, so had the car with us), so they had to go with sight-unseen and work up the paperwork based on that. Our M50 was only 2 years old, so it was in perfect condition, and of course Ace kept all the stock pieces for this reason. After a lot of back and forth, we settled on a price, signed some paperwork with our intent to buy, and headed home.

We didn't leave until almost 4p! We were STARVING (thank goodness I bring water and snacks when I go anywhere), so we got KFC Snackers on the way home, since we were going out to eat that night. By the time we got home, the older two were buggin'; wanting to know if we bought it, where it was, why we didn't bring it home, why we were gone so long, etc... He spent a big chunk of that night removing the after-market parts and putting back on the stock ones.

Tuesday, Ace got up a little earlier than normal, had his coffee, and went to the bank to get the title out of the safety deposit box. He came home, we took a couple of "goodbye M50" photos, and he left. Three hours later, he arrived home on our new ride. I reminded the kids that the same three rules apply: (1) He rides alone until he is ready for a passenger; no bugging him about it, (2) All riders & passengers will wear proper gear or will not ride, and (3) I ride "bitch" before anyone else; wife's right.

We are now the proud owners of a beautiful maroon Suzuki Boulevard C109r. So far, mods include: new seat/backrest set, passenger floorboards (it comes with floorboards for the rider, but only pegs for the passenger), grips (held over from our M50 mods), and a lightbar (instead of the one front lamp, this one has three). Future mod will include some sort of gear bags and possibly a windshield; especially if we tour (as we're planning) with it...

Safe?

After an early morning and not one, but two, airplanes with different things wrong leading to a longer than anticipated layover in Dallas, the boy landed safely. This trip is longer than last year's, so I hope they get to do all that Uncle Ricky has planned and more.

There's a water park nearby, a shooting range we were asked permission to take the boy to, and the annual VW show my brother is a big man on campus for... Baring no further issues, the boy returns around 6p on July 25th.

One down, two to go (the girls go off to camp on Sunday)...