Friday the 22nd....

Hmmmm, is this a new trend? Posting on Friday? If it is, that will work for me!

This week has been a bit out of the ordinary for us. First of all we are dealing with Duke as he recovers...I really should take a picture of his incision..wow. We have to take him outside to go potty, and not let him out back loose, as if he finds a squirrel he would do something stupid and rip out his staples or something. So, of course, this is the worst week of weather we've had!

Just fabulous...snow, sleet, ice..ick. And I need to walk Duke around the yard to pee. Dandy. Somehow it was deemed so bad, we got 2 snow days for school...that is huge for around here. Not only did Travis have a 4 day weekend last weekend for Presidents day..he got Thurs and Fri off for sleet. Spectacular, a 2 day week, just watch his brain turn to mush.

Yesterday was supposed to be my last day at Pfizer, but didn't leave the house! So, today Travis and I went up to the office and did some final cleaning out of the drawers and I turned in my laptop. What a weird feeling. Usually when I quit, it is because we are moving, so this is tres bizarre.

Steve's mom was here last weekend, which was a nice diversion and we ate out at some new places for us....and now we know why we go to the same old haunts over and over and over again. Yes we are in a rut, but it is a good rut. Sometimes change just wasn't meant to be.

That pretty much sums up our week!

Friday the 15th

Today was a day off for Travis, the teachers had meetings or something so today is a day off, whatever. So we spent the day running errands. First we dropped off Duke for his surgery...more on that later. Then a variety of other things, including dentist for Travis, hair cut for Travis....well, you get the idea.

Duke is home now, quite groggy and not sure what to do, or where to stand or lay down. He seems to favor standing as I think the getting up and down isn't too much fun for him. He is all stitched/stapled you name it. Long and short of it is the Dr. found his 2 testicles and took them out. He even took a picture of them afterwards! Whew..what a relief! So he'll be uncomfortable for a week or 2 and then I think we'll have a whole new dog.

Travis is now watching a Marx Bros movie as he thinks they are awesome, even said he wants to be Harpo for Halloween. I'm ok with that...

There is our Friday..not a dull one in any way, which I suppose was inevitable after way too many ones before this.

The NOT so free dog

OK, when you go and get a dog through rescue, there are certain unknowns, and you take that risk along with the rewards of rescuing a dog and bringing him home. We consider ourselves very lucky to have gotten Duke, he is a great boy...he just came with more equipment than we bargained for!

Duke is a pretty beefy boy..no doubt. (he has pictures on a previous post several weeks ago) He has a couple bad habits with visitors at our house..he seems a bit too lovey dovey..if you get my drift. Sniffs every tree, and pees on each and every one.

Our vet says...I have a weird feeling that he hasn't really been neutered...perhaps an undescended testicle. WOW...ok, that thought never occurred to me, but whatever..you're the Doc. So we do a blood test... They measured his testosterone, and a normal neutered dog would come in around 50, a dog that has not been neutered, around 1000. Duke's levels were at 10,000!!

Doc couldn't believe it, and called the lab to re-run the test...double, triple check, and confer with the Internal med specialist.... Yes, we are sure...those are his numbers.

Now, he will have surgery on Thursday or Friday and the Doc and his wife Mrs. Doc, will go in and look for the elusive cohones. If we don't get them, they will more than likely become cancerous, and will lead to more problems and expenses later, so we'll take care of it now.

I am so glad we found this vet, he is amazing...how he could meet Duke and on the first day peg him as basically a juiced up hound...truly brilliant..way to go Dr. Moritz!!

More to follow as this saga continues!

A New Chapter

Big news around here is the job change for me. I am leaving Pfizer after 1 whole year!! I know, it is a stretch, me moving onto a new job...hah!

I've been offered an opportunity that I couldn't refuse, I wasn't even looking!! So, March 3 I will be starting at Edward Jones in the Facilities Department. Sounds like a neat job, and I'll be working with the folks that are running a huge new construction project at the headquarters here in St. Louis. I can see this one being a long term gig, lots to do there, lots of room to grow if I want...or stay put if I want. It will be a little longer drive compared to my current commute, but it is the price one pays for career advancement - ok, really more like a better job.

Wacky weather here in St. Louis this past week, we got 6 inches of snow Thursday night, a snow day on Friday, and on Monday it was 75 again! Next time it snows, I'm not shoveling!!