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!

My Favorite "House Hunters" Episode

Merry Christmas

To: Miriam
From: Santa

Yard Changes....

Check out our Remodel Blog. We've begun a landscaping project.

A Dog With A View...

Peanut watching for critters to chase.

And it's one, two, three strikes you're out....

I said I never would - but I did. I attended a baseball game at Tropicana Field yesterday - the Mets against the Rays.

I live with a die hard Mets fan. So, we jumped at the opportunity to see the Mets play so close to home.

Our seats were pretty good. David Wright, Mets 3rd baseman, treated us to some fantastic defense. All I can say is, wow!

I can't stand artificial turf - no matter what sport. And I really, really hate domed stadiums for sports that were destined for outdoor play. That opinion still exists today. Tropicana Field wasn't as bad as it looked on tv, but I kept looking up at the sky wishing I could see blue. I'll even settle for a retractable roof - but let's get some real grass out there!

Highlight of the day! Look who got a foul ball. Thole, the Mets catcher, hit a screaming line drive foul right to our seats. We all ducked low - the ball hit Emma's seat back and became pinned between her and the seat. Santos, with lightning speed, scooped up the ball in his hands. A Tropicana usher was at our side quickly to make sure no one was hurt.

Miriam holding the ball. First time ever to touch a major league foul ball. If you're snickering then you're not a true baseball fan.

And, oh, yes - the Mets won! A sweep! Let's Go Mets!

 

Mary Poppins! Mary Poppins!

I met one of my childhood heroes recently. We were at EPCOT meandering through the different countries when we arrived at Great Britain. To my utter surprise, I saw that Mary Poppins was going to be stopping by. I do so love Mary Poppins. And, yes, dear friends, I stood in line with the other children to get my opportunity to meet the woman who brought us supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

She was everything I remembered - practically, perfect in every way!

I love you, Mary Poppins!

 

Moe's Question of the Day

As I was waiting in the drive thru at the bank last week, I was also listening to Larry Vettel on am850. The question of the day was "Who's your favorite George?". I thought briefly and knew I had the best answer. So, I pulled out my iPhone and emailed Larry my answer, "Jennifer George, of course." Larry read my answer on air and said he liked it. At the end of the show, Larry chose my answer as the winner. So, Friday evening we enjoyed Moe's for dinner and watching our Gator baseball team beat William & Mary.



Go Gators!

Get a Job!

- Posted from my iPhone

Tis the Season

Found on my desk this morning...brings a smile to my


face...



- Posted from my iPhone

Comfort Food and Yuletide

It's during these cold winter days that we really appreciate comfort food.

The setting: Pandora playing a holiday theme, candles burning brightly and fried chops, pan gravy, mashed potatoes, sautéed veggies and a delicious favorite red wine.




Peace and love. :)

Another Lost Pet

Just in case...

The Grass is Greener - NOT!

This is what the area between the hedges and the street looked like one short week ago. The grass was dead and curb appeal was, well, unappealing.

We tossed around the idea of bringing in a landscaper, but we're not yet ready to work on the entire yard - bringing in someone to handle just this small portion of the yard would be throwing money away. Instead, we decided to tackle it ourselves.

We tilled the land with an old yard tool of my father's that's one of the best I've ever handled. I'd tell you the name but I don't know how to spell it. Anyway, it made relatively short work of the tilling.

Next, we placed the plants into the ground. We were interrupted a few times by rain but that was good for it cooled us down tremendously.

We splurged and bought ten bags of mulch to place around the plants because we couldn't wait to see how it was going to look. Then the next day I went to Griffis Lumber and bought a truckload to finish the job.

M is dutifully watering our new plantings. We aimed for full sun drought tolerant varieties.

Now, curb appeal is once again appealing.

Thanks to M for her hard work in making this a reality.

God bless! :)

Remember Good Ole Pine Straw?

Miriam took a few days off of work last week and was very productive in the yard. She found some pine straw at Griffis lumber and distributed it around the back yard.

Ah, so nice. I personally like using straw when possible. It means a tree didn't have to die to serve.

Later, Gators.

Pizza On the Barbie

Yes, there is a familiar theme in these last two posts. Sorry, but food is where it's at.

I had been wanting to make my own pizza and Miriam, bless her heart, did a google search and found a good recipe for grilled pizza. I made the dough according to the directions here and grilled the pizza according to the directions here. The result was very good. We kept it simple as you can see by the image - just cheese and mushrooms - but our next venture will get more creative. The dough recipe makes two 12" pizzas - so, we've frozen half of it and will probably grill again on Saturday. Yummo!

Kabobs - It's What's for Dinner

Yummo!

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Fledgling in the Bush

Just wanted to show you one of our babies. It does seem likely that one chick didn't make it - we've only been able to account for two in the bush and they stay close together. No sign of the cat this weekend, thank goodness.

If you click on the picture and look carefully you can see part of the other chick, head and beak,  just below.

Ciao.