Lunch Nerds

Furry Chloe.

Here's how Chloe looked when we got her. Her hair was terribly matted and we had to shave her practically bald to fix the problem. Once she gets a little fluff grown back, she'll look great!

Meet Chloe!

So I came home from work on Wednesday, and this little guy was hiding under the kitchen table.

Actually, it wasn't after I examined her and couldn't find the dog's guy business that we realized she was a girl...

Her name is Chloe.  Nina and the boys picked her up from a kill shelter in St. Pete.  It's really hard to imagine this dog getting put down.  She's a full-bred, AKC-registered Shih Tzu, and her previous owners apparently cared for her, because she's micro-chipped, although she hasn't been fixed yet.  Nevertheless, animal control found her wandering around with another dog, and no one claimed her.

The shelter gave us until Tuesday to decide if we want to keep her, at which point we could return her and get her money back.  It didn't take us very long to realize she's a keeper.  She's already house-trained and very well-behaved, showing no signs of any trauma she's endured.  She doesn't bark.  Her favorite activity is perching herself on laps and getting scritched.  If you stop scritching her, she'll dig her snout under your hand to remind you that she requires additional scritching.  She loves taking walks around the neighborhood, and from the first time we took her out, she knew which house was hers.

Seems like we've gotten very lucky...

Mount Carmel

If all goes according to plan, today was the last day mom would be visiting Mount Carmel for rehab.  It's hard to believe that it has been only since the middle of May that we even heard of this place.  Also, sitting downstairs in the physical therapy area, it is strange to think that mom used to actually live in this place.

Mom expressed her gratitude to her therapists, but we booked it out of there very quickly.  There isn't much more to tell, but I thought you might be interested in the last few pics and videos I shot.

This first one was just a grassy excursion - one more time - to give Kelly, her therapist, some piece of mind that mom will once again be able to scamper away into the woods.

Then, in this next one, you can see her making mom trudge up the biggest hill in the place.  Sisyphus would be proud.

This last video is just a bit more proof that mom is on her way back to climbing down long flights of stairs like she never, ever has to do.

A few parting pictures:

The window on the second level next to the balcony was mom's room.  Now it is someone else's room and let's pray they did not see me taking pictures of it.  I am not a stalker of the elderly.

The steamy back patio.

The stairway from heaven.  Or to hell.  Or just from some storage room down to the occupational therapy area.  Either way, it's a lot of steps.

Speaking of OT, here's a final panoramic shot of the OT room.  It's janky and crowded, but mom made a lot of progress in here.

 Coming soon...Rehab Part II: The Day Institute!

root beer floats

I just read that root beer floats can cause your blood to thicken..

Ragbrai in Dallas Center

Mom's Birthday Shenanigans

A few pictures and a video from the birthday extravavavavavaganza.

Baking Grandma's Cookies

T.F. = Tooth Fairy

Nate's First Wiggly Tooth

Underwater Camera!!

Some summer fun caught on the boys' underwater cameras!

So this is the best pic of Dave and me together.  

Messing Around With The Green Screen

Here's a video we did with the new green screen and lighting!  Not sure why there's a shadow at the top of the frame - the screen may not have been pulled tight enough.

Cool Bday Gift!!