Recent happenings.

So, I don't have photos of the living room walls yet, but I decided to write anyone because it's been awhile. Yes, we finally finished something. The living room walls were textured and painted weekend before last and we're very excited to be moving on to something else. Er, so we thought.

That's the next topic. We pulled up the carpet to expose hardwood floors in the living room months ago. But, we didn't want to refinish them until we pulled the rest of the carpet up in the kitchen, dining room and both front and back halls. Well, this past weekend, while I took a Dremel tool to the guest bathroom's 1 inch floor tiles to prepare it for re-grouting, Clint started to pull up the carpet in the front halls working his way to the kitchen. Not good news. There was more vinyl under the carpet (there were two layers of vinyl at the entry way) and the kitchen hardwoods are ruined at least beyond repair we want to get into. So, we brainstorm and decide we'll just do alternate flooring in the kitchen and dining room and refinish the wood floors in the front hall along with the living room. That's when it gets sticky. See, I did some research, being the thorough person I tend to be, and found out that there is a 99% chance the vinyl flooring we pulled up has asbestos in the backing. Not good. After careful thought and consideration, and weighing our options we've decided the safest and easiest thing to do would be to cover up the hardwoods in the entry, front halls, kitchen, dining and back halls with vinyl. His grandpa recently had installed some pretty floating vinyl tiles that interlock and have a wood backing that are supposed to be just awesome. It's not the warm hardwoods we envisioned, but with the expense of a complete kitchen remodel in the fall, we figured this is more than we want to spend on this place. So, onward and upward.

More flowers continue to bloom in the yard. I'll spare the photos, but I did find out we have several batches of Calla lilies. I was excited. That coupled with the neighbor's cherry tree that happens to have most of it's branches over our fence. They were yummy! Even Baxter got in on the action and would happily gnaw on the cherries and spit out the pits to play with them. He bats things around with his paws like a cat. He's a strange one!

We have some potentially troubling doggie news. Baxter's had the same reaction to the rattlesnake vaccination as he did to his initial one so he's going to the vet tomorrow to get his second "hunchback" lanced and drained. Gross. The scary part is Sissy. Yes, I know. In the back of every one's mind they've been waiting for something to happen to sweet Sissy. Well, after doing some research (there I go again), I think she has what's called Cushing's Syndrome. Her symptoms: darkening of the skin, excessive thirst, pot belly (though hers is slight), panting, lack of regrowth of clipped hair on her trunk, lethargy. She has all the ones they list on several different websites so I think it's a safe bet. The cause: well, there's two potential causes. Either a tumor on her pituitary gland or her adrenal gland. Either could be benign or malignant. The treatment is the same so they may not even do diagnostic testing to determine which gland is affected. There is a drug that treats it very effectively and most dogs do very well and have good prognosis. That's the best news. I hope and expect Sissy will do as well. This is common disease among aging dogs (horses and cats, too) and is often undiagnosed because people attribute the symptoms to old age. I knew there was something really wrong when her hair didn't grow back from her clipping 10 weeks ago (she usually has to go every 6 weeks) and her skin started to get dark which really shows under those blond locks of hers. We all go to the vet tomorrow afternoon so I'll keep you posted.

So, that's the latest. Adios, amigos! Let me hear from you!