Monday, Monday

After an extremely busy work weekend, it was time to get back to the VA. One of my fellow volunteers had to have her annual TB screening done today, and the person who does the screening doesn't like the dogs to come into the office, so I kept an eye on her pup while she got her test done.

Nira is a yellow lab and an absolute sweetheart! The angle of this photo makes Nira look teeny and Kona look JUMBO! I mean he's a big boy, but geeze, he's not that big!

All of the pups that visited today were retrievers....either goldens, a golden-doodle, or lab, and they were all shades of blond.  Today it was true, the blonds did have more fun!

In case you've been wondering

In case you've been wondering why I haven't been posting much...well, you know it's that time of year again, that crazy, busy, hectic, Halloween party time of year. We have been hard at work getting the invitations ready to send, painting, sewing, sawing, screwing (hey, now, get your mind out of the gutter, at least until party time!) and even having a little "eye scream"  and it is finally starting to really take shape. Here is a taste of how things are coming along. Less than 4 weeks until party time, and it's getting down to the wire!

 

 

 

 

I've got the send a special and very HUGE thank you to all of our awesome friends who have been helping to make all of this happen. You are superstars!

Feeling Jumpy?

I saw this and it cracked me up.

We have a 14' trampoline that we put up in our yard when we aren't preparing for our Halloween party. I wonder what our dogs would do if we put one of them on it. Hmmmm...

(Nearly)Wordless Wednesday - Wet Dogs!

I took Kona and Harley to a meetup at Del Mar Dog Beach today. It was fantastic!

Hands, touching hands....reaching out.

Today I spent part of my morning with one of the hospice patients "Mr. R." that Kona and I visit with on a regular basis. I wasn't aware that it was his birthday until we arrived. I was so happy to see him sitting up in his lounge chair, awake and alert. Recently when we've visited it has been tough as he hasn't been feeling well and is often drifting in and out of sleep during our visits and seemingly uninterested in us being there.  Dementia sucks.

Today it was a completely different story. We walked in and his face lit up. He had a huge smile and instantly said hello. One of the hospice staff told me it was his birthday and I told him how happy I was to be able to visit with him on his special day. He said hello to Kona, and reached out on his own to stroke Kona's back. I pulled a chair close to where he was and sat down next to him.  Kona sat perfectly in between us, at the exact level for "Mr. R's" hand to be able to rest comfortably on his head. We preceded to have a lovely conversation, and although I'm not sure that "Mr. R" understood that I wasn't part of his family, it certainly didn't matter. Today I felt like family.

The best part of the visit was when he reached out several times to hold my hand. The feel of his soft, thin skin reminded me so much of my Dad's hand that it actually caught me off guard it first and I got a bit choked up. The memory of my Dad's last day came flooding back, the conversation we had before he went in for his surgery, how I held on to his hand as the wheeled him towards the operating room....and how I held his left hand with both of mine as he took his last breath. 

It was such an odd mix of feelings today. I felt the loss of my Dad so deeply, yet I felt the joy of having this man's hand in mine, on his birthday, when no one else was there to hold it. It was almost as if we were exchanging gifts. He gave me the gift of feeling as if I was holding my Dad's hand again, and in turn, in his eyes I was a daughter he hadn't seen for so long, and had been missing terribly.  We both found comfort in each other and it was magical.

Thank you "Mr. R" for sharing your special day with me, and thank you Dad, for guiding me to do this work so that I could hold your hand today.

Is it just me...?

So, Hubby works for a renewable energy company. Among other things, his company builds and maintains wind farms. Hubby does a lot of traveling to remote (and very windy) parts of the country, and meets lots of people along the way.

Not long ago he met a particular employee of the company. This person was apparently proud of his work with the wind turbines. In fact he has decals saying as much on his truck.

 

 So tell me, is it just me, or are these just a wee bit inappropriate for a company's advertising? Now obviously, these are not company sponsored decals, and I would highly doubt that the mucky-mucks of the company even know this guy is cruising around in his big ol truck with these on the back window...I'm just thinking that Farmer John in the bible belt (where lots of these wind farms are located) might not find the humor in these stickers....what do you think?

USNA Spirit Spot

I'll admit it, I love men in uniform. What can I say?

I've seen tons of versions of this video, but this is one of my favorites. It's just some silly fun for a Friday morning.
 
Enjoy a little Gangman Style...