AtomicMrX

Since Shannon can’t use his hand with the lawn mower, I have lawn duty now. I mowed the front and back yard, weedeatered both and along the curb, driveway and all edges. I was so tired when I got done it took two hands to take a drink of water without shaking the drink out of my hands. I also got a present from doing all the work. A nice blister on my thumb. The power mower really pulls you and I was using my thumb to help direct the mower. I will try NOT to do that next time.

The yard looks great now! It was a beautiful day to do yard work.

I even swept out the garage, driveway, and sidewalks after mowing. It really made it look sharp.

I got groceries and went to the day old bread store after lunch.

Shannon got off work early today so we are going to treat ourselves to meal out at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. Tomorrow I am going to grill burgers and hot dogs for the weeks meals.

Well, all day Thursday I thought it was Friday. So, again, Happy Birthday Bill on your real birthdate.

What a disapointment to find out I have to go through another Friday! At least I get paid on this version of Friday

Today is my brother Bill’s 51st Birthday! I usually send him a box of Dutch Letters but couldn’t afford it this year. Turns out that was a good thing, in a way.

Happy Birthday Bill! I hope you get to eat cake!

Jaki is doing great! Too great even. She is back to bouncing around like a crazy hyper little dog he is. She still has 4 more pills to take before all the medicine is gone, and it ain’t slowing her down at all. This is a challenge!

Despite the some what sad look on sleepy Jaki’s face, she really does like her new bed/kennel. Here are some pictures of her taking a nap. Well, she was before I snapped pictures of her with a flash.

Here is a picture of Mom, Dad, and Jaki enjoying the wonderful weather we had over last weekend. This was taken during Mom and Dad’s visit after we toured my work’s Open House.

The vet visit went pretty well. They took X-ray’s of Jaki’s spine. They showed that she has three vertebrae that are a little more close together than the rest of her vertebrae. So it’s good that there were no bulging discs or any other problems. We will just have to keep onto her about jumping and irritating her problem. The three vertebrae are in her should area (9-12). She had a fairly smooth ride to and from the vet and went home with some pain pills.

We will have keep her from: jumping up or down, no stairs, we have to pick her up differently, and she needs to be kenneled while we are gone to insure she is a good girl. So that meant I had to buy a kennel.

Kennel shopping for her is crazy. She’s tiny (8 lb.) but she is shaped like a giraffe with her long neck. The vet specifically told me that Jaki needed plenty of head room so she wouldn’t spend her time in the kennel hunched over which would be totally pointless for her injury. Shannon and I finally found one that is for a medium sized dog (which she is not) and is 21″ tall. Perfect height for Jaki. It is about the right size in width but slightly too long. If she stretches out while laying in it, it’s actually the right size. It did come with a wire “wall” that you can use to block off a portion of the kennel if it is too big, but we won’t need that (I think).

She took to the new kennel quickly. I put her bedding from the soft round bed she slept in all the time and put it into the kennel. This told her right away “what” the kennel was for. The kennel is about the same size (floor space wise) as her bed was. She was excited she got a new thing! She even took a nap in it while I watched TV. The nap could have just been the drugs working on her.

She gets to sleep with me over night and when I go to work I will put her in the kennel until Shannon gets up for work. Then Shannon will let her out for a few hours till he goes to work. Then she will be in the kennel for a few hours, about 4-5, before I come home and let her out for the night. So it really won’t be too bad on her. She hasn’t wined yet that she’s kenneled up. Plus since Shannon’s days off are different than mine, she’ll spend a lot of time out of the kennel.

The hard part is keeping her off the furniture. She IS a lap dog and loves to be on the couch or chair with you. It will be okay for her to be on our laps but we will have to pick her up and put her back on the floor. No jumping up or down from our laps or funiture. I’m training her to use a ramp I made out of an old table leaf and rug stacked on pillows next to my bed. She is a little puzzled as to the importance I place on her using the ramp. I can get her to use it “if” there is a treat involved but I don’t know if she’s even aware she’s walking on the ramp. She is totally fixed on the treat in my hand.

We also can’t let her run in the backyard without being on a leash and harness (not a collar). She can’t run off the deck like she loves. We will need to put something up around the edge of the deck with a little gate at the stairs so she can go out onto the deck and not run off it hurting herself.

I think Shannon and I will have to do more training than Jaki will have to learn!!