Basketball Friend

Look who Miriam saw at our last game!



Alberta always makes us smile!

Boxer Post Surgery

Bobo on his bed.

Boxer has been home a few days now after his surgery. He's doing so much better than before. His breathing is fantastic. For those of you who don't know, Boxer suffers from laryngeal paralysis. Here is a description from the American College of Veterinary Surgeons:

The opening to the trachea (“wind pipe”) normally is pulled open on two sides when breathing in, and then these cartilages relax when breathing out.  With laryngeal paralysis, the muscles that normally pull these open do not function properly.  When an affected dog breathes in, the cartilages do not pull open—rather, they are sucked into the opening, or in severe cases sucked shut.  Early in the condition, this creates increased noise when they breathe (called “stridor”); later, it can completely obstruct their airway, and they can suffocate.

Interestingly, this disease is part of a progressive generalized neuropathy. There is some excellent information on this GOLPP study site at Michigan State University.

I love my couch.

 One of Boxer's favorite places to relax is on the couch. What a beautiful boy!

I also like my bed.

We recently bought Boxer a new bed and he immediately took to it. We were thankful because we never know what he's going to like or dislike. It has memory foam and we hope it will help with his arthritis.

The weather was beautiful today - shorts and sandals! This is Boxer today reposing on the deck enjoying the warmth. He's looking like an old boy - a sweet ole boy.

A special thank you to the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine! Thank you, Dr. Ellison and everyone at the vet school!

Our Boy

Here is Boxer after his lar-par surgery. We love you Bobo!



Thank you, Wendy, for the photo!

Celebrating the Holidays

Happy Holidays!

The holidays are over as I write this. It's New Year's Day and I've been watching football all day long. I enjoy watching good football games and there have been some good ones on today. The holidays began Christmas Eve at the in-laws. My sister-in-law introduced me to a sweet treat called Rum Chata. Mmmmm.

Inside the Ice show. It's incredibly cold. The ungloved hands didn't stay that way for long.

We decided to do something different this year, so we headed down to Kissimmee to see the Ice show at the Gaylord Palms. Friends, let me confirm that nine degrees is FREAKING cold! That's how cold the rooms had to be to keep the ice from melting. The ice slide was fun, too. Yes, this middle-aged female slid down as well as the younguns. 

M being funny. I still laugh at this one.

M looks thrilled to stand beside Santa.

Blowing my nose after Ice was necessary as the sign implies. My sister-in-law was going to take our picture going down the ice slide, but her fingers went numb and the iPhone stopped working after too long exposure to the cold. The good news was her fingers resumed feeling and the phone started working again.

Family photo the Colombia Restaurant in Celebration, FL.

Below a family photo just before going in to the Ice show.

It's snowing in Celebration. Actually, a better description is "it's foaming in Celebration".

 Part of the fun this year was also going to see Cirque Du Soleil. It was a very enjoyable show. Definitely recommended if you haven't seen it.

Like all good tourists, we headed over to the Boardwalk and saw some palm trees beautifully decorated with a light show.

The light director must have been a Gator. Orange and blue, so pretty!

So, we had a few fun Disney inspired days. Thanks to Nancy for wonderful hospitality.

A special thank you to Wendy for stepping in at the last moment to care for our boy. You rock!