Another ending

Today I'll finish up another thing I told you about and never finished.  Our deck and patio area are finally complete although there was one thing we were going to do that isn't necessary now.

This was after the cement was finally poured. Now I have to say here that when I first mentioned this idea of putting in a cement slab, someone wasn't all that impressed with the idea. Now that it's all finished and we've been out there enjoying it he's changed his tune.
That black on the foundation of the house has since been painted over with a nice gray color and it looks much more attractive.

Here we go, all finished. Steps are in and the bottom of the deck is enclosed. Notice the chiminea. We absolutely love that and spend most weekend evenings out there. Wade stays out later than I do and the one night he fell asleep on the swing.

Originally we had planned on putting a railing around the patio area with a gate . That way that area would be totally enclosed and it would allow Duke to have a little more freedom outside without having to be tied. Since that's no longer necessary it was left open.

Something old and something new

I'm going to to finish up an old story today and then tell you a new one.

Long time readers here will remember the flooding problem we've had in the back yard and all the work that was done to try and correct it. If you want to see how bad my back yard used to get you can look at this post

Well the work was completed this year and it seemed like it took forever for them to get here because of how wet the spring started out.

But hey, they did eventually get here and the work was completed. I can't say that I'm entirely satisfied with my lawn but we went the entire summer with NO flooding.  We no longer have to stand by the basement door and watch for water to come in.

Here's what the back yard looks like now. I swear they must have used the cheapest grass seed they could find. Not only did it not come up very good but it's more weeds than grass.

After this was planted we ended up digging up another section when we put in the patio and we also installed a drain from our back door to the new drainage pipe they put in. That way any water that may accumulate near the back door will now go be drained off.

Since we dug that part up we planted grass ourselves.  This is a picture of the grass we planted.

This is what they planted.

Will we complain to them about it? Maybe, maybe not. 

So the new story.

A few days ago, Wade comes in and says that while he was sitting on the back step smoking his cigarette a little white butterfly was flitting around the back yard. Then he said it was the oddest thing, it landed on his leg and sat there for a few minutes. He said it must have been sent by Duke. 

All weekend long we've been seeing these little white butterflies (probably more likely moths) flying around the back yard. The timing of their appearance could be coincidental but we think not. 

My cabin in the woods

I have a little cabin deep in the woods.

It's surrounded by magnificent pine trees

I sit on my front porch sipping my morning coffe and watch the deer and the antelope play.

OK, so my cabin in the woods is really just a lantern that sits on deck but I can dream can't I?

Remembering Duke

I pulled some pictures out of the files that I took back at the end of July. Duke and I thought it would be fun to do a little photo shoot in the back yard.

Ok so I thought it would be fun, I don't think he agreed with me.

Now that you mention it

Yesterday, Jerry left a comment saying "Oh no, you are planning on getting crafty again--aren't you?" Well, I certainly couldn't disappoint him after that. (insert evil laugh)

Now I'll confess that this is not something new. The picture has been waiting in a folder for me to get around to showing it but it is something crafty.

The embroidered center was done on my machine and the design was part of a collection I purchased a while back. 

Happy hump day everyone

Time flies.....

...even if you aren't having fun.

I was off last week for vacation and yesterday was my first day back at work. It seemed like the week was over before it even got started. It was however, possibly the worst vacation week ever.  That doesn't mean that I was thrilled to go back to work though. That would be pushing it.

So fall is here and it feels like it was just yesterday I  was looking at this pepper plant with it's pretty little buds.

We bought this plant from Home Depot for $8. We didn't get a ton of peppers off of it but enough that we enjoyed some stuffed peppers as well as chopped pepper in several different meals that we made. Sadly it's now looking like it's life is just about over.

I have so many different things that I can blog about, As soon as I get my act together and get pictures ready for posting I'll have something to show you.

I want to thank everyone for your thoughts, prayers and kind words on my last post. I can't tell you how much it meant to me. Even though Duke has moved on from this world he will remain in the hearts of so many. He'll also remain on this blog. I'm sure that I have plenty of pictures left that were never posted as well as some that are worth showing again.

Yesterday

This is one of the hardest posts I've ever had to write. Yesterday (Thursday) Duke crossed Rainbow Bridge. He carried with him a big piece of our hearts.

Good bye sweet boy. You gave me joy and I miss you so very much.

My poor neglected blog

I thought I should stick my head in here for a few minutes to at least dust the cob webs off. It's been next to impossible to write a blog post since I have absolutely nothing positive to say. Too many things lately are dragging me down and the last thing I want to do is be a whiny blogger.

I know you're all wondering about Duke and I wish I could say that he's completely recovered but that hasn't happened. Some days I think he's better, some days I think he's worse. He does eat a little bit every day but he's very selective. The pills remain an issue. He knows I'm incompetent and he plays on that big. As of yesterday I'm taking him in to the vets office twice a day so they can give him his pills. No matter what I do I can't get them down him. I've got the pill popper and yes I can get the pill in his mouth but I can't make him swallow it. I've also tried the treats that are designed to wrap around a pill. He won't eat those.

Other than that, my creative mojo has up and left me, my brain is fried and my energy took a hike. None of that makes for an entertaining post.

I'm hoping that there's a ghost of a chance that I can get back to a regular schedule of posting and about something fun or at the very least something that isn't so poor poor pitiful me.

Help

I hope there is someone out there who can help me escape the torture my human is putting me through. She took me to that drug pushing place yesterday. They injected me with more poison and sent her home with more vials of things which I will never take willingly.

Twice a day that human tries to make me take those things and I refuse with every ounce of energy I have. I got her good this morning though. I chomped down on her finger twice. Of course I didn't mean to and I can't help it if she stuck her finger in my mouth while I was in clamp down mode.

I'm not trusting any food that she tries to give me either. The male human doesn't seem to be in on this conspiracy so I will take food offered by him..

My breathing is a little bit better and that drug pusher said that I need to keep taking those things in the bottles.

Update

First I want to thank everyone for your concern, comments and prayers. It's appreciated so much. I just haven't had the energy or ambition to respond to comments individually. I've also been doing some reading to keep up with all of you but have backed off on the commenting because my brain just can't think of anything worth saying.

Duke was back at the vet Thursday afternoon as she wanted to redo an EKG to try and get a better reading. She doesn't feel that there is any abnormalities with his heart and although she's investigated other possibilities she's still sticking with her diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia. At this point it's just a matter of finding the right combination and dosage of medications to get him better. He hasn't been eating at all but last night he did have a little bit of chicken broth and a small piece of a treat. He looked at me like I lost my mind when I was jumping for joy over the fact that he was eating a treat :)

I'll try and update you again over the weekend and hopefully with positive news.

Nothing major

Holy smokes, has it really been 6 days since I posted last? Nothing major has been keeping me away from it. I'll blame it on several small things going on and a lack of enthusiasm for anything computer related.

I know you're all wondering about Duke and I wish I could give you some highly positive news. While he doesn't seem to be getting worse, I don't see that's he's gotten much better either. He went to the vet last Friday and she said to continue on with his medication and he's got another appointment scheduled.

For today I'll just give you some previously posted pictures of Duke

If you don't hear from me for another week don't worry, I'm probably on the couch reading.