And The Hits Keep Coming

This morning, for several mornings in a row actually, I have heard the old kitchen clock downstairs bong three times indicating that it is 3:00 AM and I’m wondering why I am awake. One of the reasons I was awake is because of Scruffy, my little terrier. Well I guess he is most or all of the reasons I am having trouble sleeping and wide awake in the middle of the night.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Scruffy just wasn’t acting like himself. Let me catch you up a little if you are new to this blog. Scruffy is a rescue. We have had him about four and a half years. When we got him he was in pretty bad shape. He had a horrible skin infection and was almost totally blind from Cataracts. We took him to the vet and had him checked out. Other than the bad infection on his skin and the cataracts he was in pretty good shape. The vet estimated that he was about six years old although we have been told by our current vet that he is older. So that makes him at least ten years old, probably older. We took him home. I fell in love with him immediately and he loves me. He never lets me out of his sight. I am his person. After we brought him home we cleaned him up and had to bathe him about every other day with a medicated shampoo. After we had him a short time we had the cataracts removed. He has been living his best life with us, all the kitties, and until last month, Molly. He is sort of the big bro to all of them.

As I said a few weeks ago I noticed that Scruffy was just not himself. He seemed like he didn’t want to go on the walks with us every afternoon. I thought maybe he was missing Molly being with us, and that may have been a part of it. He acted like he had no energy. He has always been a fairly energetic little guy.

Last week he started this horrible coughing. It was especially bad at night or when he slept and stretched out. He always sleeps with me and usually on my bed. So of course every time he did this I would wake up. I also noticed that his stomach felt tight and maybe a little swollen. I got an appointment with the vet. I also did a video on my phone of him coughing so they could see exactly what it was like. It was terrible.

On Friday Mark took him to the vet. They ran a series of tests and told us that Scruffy is in heart failure. I was afraid that was what was going on. I hoped for anything else but I guess that fear was in the back of my mind. My sister had a dog several years ago and he went through the same thing. I remember staying with him one night when they were out of town and he did the terrible coughing just like Scruffy was doing.

They tell us that they think they have caught it early. His stomach was swollen a little from fluids and he is on Lasix for that along with a couple of other meds. So we were are hopeful that he will be okay for awhile.

But the last few days Scruffy will not eat anything. I am having to coax every bite that goes into his mouth. It is really hard to give him meds. Normally I would put the meds in a bite of food but now he won’t have anything. Even his favorite foods, he simply sniffs and walks away. He also has terrible diarrhea. I went by yesterday and picked up some medicine for the diarrhea. So far it hasn’t helped. We go for a follow up tomorrow. Maybe we will know more after that. All I know is that in the last two weeks he has really gone downhill. He is very lethargic and breaths heavy. It breaks my heart to see him this way and after losing Molly only a month ago I just don’t know how to go through it again.

Scruffy is mine. He loves Mark but wherever I am he is right there beside me. Right now he is lying beside my chair in the office. He follows me every move I make. Even if I am making the bed he follows me from side to side. When I am at home he never lets me out of his sight. When I go to the bathroom he sits outside the door waiting patiently for me. I used to think it was annoying but I will never think that again.

***This is the day I brought Scruffy home, it was over four years ago. You see why we named him Scruffy.***

***After we got his cataracts removed and that nasty skin infection cleared up. And a haircut***

***Waiting to get the cataracts checked out at U.T. Veterinary Clinic***

***He loved his big sister Molly and misses her terribly.***

***He loves sleeping in mommy’s arms. Especially when it is storming***.

So as you can see I am terrified right now and can only pray for guidance on what to do. I am trying to be positive that we can get these meds going in the right direction and he will start feeling better.

I just wanted to share all of that with you. Hug those babies close they are special little gifts. And if you would whisper a little prayer for my Scruffy that he can stay with us for a bit longer.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Friday Favorites

Hello Friends and happy Friday. Just a few things I wanted to share with you this week. I hope you find some of these things useful.

First of all is this steamer. I have been wanting one of these for a while. When I was growing up my mama ironed everything, and I grew up doing that too. But through the years I iron very little. There are still things I take out of my closet and think, I need to iron that before I wear it. Then I have to go downstairs to my ironing board. I have always kept my ironing board set up in my laundry room even though I rarely use it now. A lot of times I just wouldn’t wear the clothes because they needed to be pressed. Now all of that has changed. I put a hook on my closet door, and I just hang the clothes there that need to be pressed and steam the wrinkle out of them.

This is handheld, very light weight and was about $31.99 at Amazon. I love it.

Next is this Poreless Putty Primer by Elf. This is very light weight and I put it on with a small makeup sponge just before I put on my makeup. It is light but gives your face such a smooth even feel for applying makeup.

***I got this at Walmart, but you can also get it at Target or anywhere that sells E.L.F. Cosmetics. It is usually $8.00-$10.0***0

I guess I am all about some hair accessories right now. My hair is longer than it has been in a long time, so I am having fun with the headbands and the hair clasps like I showed you. But I just had to have these large flower hair clips. They are so much fun. They are colorful and large, and they hold a lot of hair. I keep several of these around the house and in my car. When I feel the need to put my hair up, especially if I am working in the house and get hot, or on my way to work and need to tame my hair a little, I have one handy.

***Aren’t these adorable? I also ordered these from Amazon and I got an assortment of colors 8 for $15.99. They are very durable. Not flimsy at al***l.

I am loving these little mascara wands. These are by Equate. There is about 20 in a pack. These were $4.99 and I use them after I put my mascara on and feel the need to brush out my eyelashes. They also work well on your brows.

Have you ever tried this Power Paste? I tried it a few weeks ago. It comes with a little tub of cleaning paste. There is a scrubber that you wet and dip into the paste and it works great!!!!

***This is about $10.00 at Walmart. I thought that was a little pricey but it lasts for a long time.***

These peds work great when you don’t want socks or footies showing. These are light weight and really stay in place. You can get several different colors.

***These are around $9.99 for a pack of 3 at Walmart.***

You know I would have some snacks as part of my favorites this week. This popcorn is Carmel and cheddar. It is like the Chicago Popcorn that you can buy at Costco. These are smaller bags and I got them at The Dollar General Store for $3.50 a bag. Mark and I love them. It’s a pretty good sized bag. I bought every bag they had. It’s a good snack.

***I saw this beautiful rainbow on my way home.***

Some other favorites this week:

I saw a beautiful rainbow.

We celebrated my Sister’s Birthday this week with a lot of our family.

My niece came for a wonderful visit and brought her daughter. It was so wonderful spending time with them. They live in California, and I haven’t seen them in several years.

I had Sister Lunch with my Sister and another lunch with my good friend Dann.

I am making a special Birthday cake for my Sister in law for this weekend. I will take pictures.

So, lots of good things this week.

What are some of your favorites?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

The Dog Days Of Summer

Well the Dog Days of Summer end tonight. When I was a kid I heard my parents and grandparents talking about the Dog Days of Summer. It would be really hot and they would say “oh this is nothing we still have to get through Dog Days”.

I always thought that dog days had something to do with a dog and it does just not the hound dog variety I was thinking of. Dog Days are from July 3 to August 11 each year.

The phrase “dog days” is a reference to Sirius, the Dog Star. During the “Dog Days” period, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, The brightest star visible from any part of Earth. Sirius is a part of the constellation Canis Major, The Greater Dog. The heat is due to the earth’s tilt at this time. Source Farmer’s Almanac

In the summer, Sirius rises and sets with the Sun. On July 23rd, specifically, it is in conjunction with the Sun, and because the star is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it actually gave off heat and added to the Sun’s warmth, accounting for the long stretch of hot weather. They referred to this time as “dog days”. Dog Days are from July 3 to August 11 each year 20 days before and 20 days after this alighment of Sirius with the Sun. Source Farmer’s Almanac

Ancient people often believed that this was a time of drought, bad luck, and unrest, when dogs and men would be driven mad by the heat. I know I have felt that way a few times. And even though “Dog Days’ officially end today here in the south we will still have hot hot temps and high humidity which makes the heat even hotter and stickier.

Since I have been recording the temperature every day for my temperature blanket I thought it would be interesting to show you just how the temps here have been. These are all Fahrenheit:

July 3, 88. July 23, 93
July 4, 95. July 24, 87
July 5, 90. July 25, 85
July 6, 90. July 26, 86
July 7, 88. July 27, 87
July 8, 95. July 28, 85
July 9, 85. July 29, 81
July 10, 85. July 30, 84
July 11, 86. July 31, 83
July 12, 88. August 1, 75
July 13, 84. August 2, 90
July 14, 90. August 3, 90
July 15, 92. August 4, 85
July 16, 90. August 5, 88
July 17, 88. August 6, 86
July 18, 85. August 7, 88
July 19, 87. August 8, 88
July 20, 87 August 9, 84
July 21, 88. August 10, 85
July 22, 89. August 11, 82

I always checked the temperature around 1:00-2:00 PM and this gave me a fairly accurate reading for that day. You can see that the “Dog Days” haven’t been very bad at all this year. I think once or twice it got close to 100 degrees in the early evening but that is all. And as I said we could be in for even hotter weather I have often known August and September to be very hot and sticky here in East Tennessee.

My mama always said you could get an infection easier during dog days. I remember if we ever got a scrape or cut or Lord forbid stepped on a nail we were sure to get an infection if it was during “Dog Days.” Is this just a myth? in 2009 a study was done in Finland to test this theory to see if the rate of infection was higher during Dog Days. The myth was actually found to be true. I guess my mama knew what she was talking about.

Old-timers believed that rainfall on Dog Days was a bad omen. You may have heard this little poem:
Dog Days bright and clear
Indicate a happy year,
But when accompanied by rain,
For better times, our hopes are vain

The old Farmer’s Almanac, 1817

You probably knew how the name Dog Days originated but if not now you do. I wonder what Cat Days would be like?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

A Long Fun Weekend

Hello friends how are you. Just catching up for a minute about my long weekend.

Friday night the babies had a sleep over with their little cousin Maxx. My sister and her husband went out of town overnight. I offered to keep Maxx. Maxx is a Malipoo and a very active and hyper little guy. The last time he spent the night with us was a few years ago and he was quite a handful. The babies just couldn’t get along with him. Scruffy was obsessively jealous and Kitty Kitty could not be found the entire time he was there. So I was a little worried about him spending the night last Friday. I reasoned with the babies that it would only be a matter of hours. I would pick him up at his house when I got off work on Friday and take him back Saturday morning. I explained to them that it was quite literally a few hours that he would be there. They all looked a little concerned except Gus who had not been with us last time and didn’t know what to expect.

Friday evening after work I picked Maxx up and took him home with me. As soon as we walked in the door Kitty Kitty took off and Gus started circling him. Scruffy walked right up to him giving him the sniff over. All the while Maxx was barking his head off in his yapping little voice. I finally told Maxx to shut the heck up and surprisingly he did. From that point on all was well. He and Scruffy made friends. Even Kitty Kitty came down to see what was going on. Only Gus was still a little wary. We took a walk and then I fed all of them and we settled in for the night. We watched some TV and Scruffy and Maxx both jumped on my lap and settled on either side of me. That night Maxx slept on the bed with me and Scruffy, and Kitty Kitty slept in her basket beside the bed. Gus slept downstairs. It was a very peaceful night. I was shocked!!!

***At least this time they were willing to share my lap.***

***Gus just doesn’t know what to think of everything.***

Early Saturday morning we all got up, and again Maxx and Scruffy hopped on my lap while I drank my coffee. I took Maxx home fairly early because I had a lot of running to do.

I first went to visit my brother who had open heart surgery a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t been to see him and his wife so I went to visit with them for a bit and took them some goodies they like to eat.

I went to visit my mother in law. She is currently in a full facility nursing home instead of the village. When she suffered the heart attack a few weeks ago it set her back a little bit and her doctor felt like she needed some physical therapy before moving back to the village. She is getting physical therapy at the nursing home. I know the nursing home is very short staffed but she was still in her gown and in bed at almost noon. They were delivering lunch and when I asked if someone could help me get her up they said they did not have time to get her dressed but they did get her up and help her into her chair. I later found out she would not get up when they had come to get her up that morning. I don’t think they should have left her until noon but I know that they have only so many people doing everything. It’s hard to do anything when we are not there. We have a meeting with the facility administrator on Friday to determine how close she is to getting back to the Assisted Living Village. She wants so bad to go back that has become her home. She has been there for four years. She loves it and the people.

After my visits I went with my niece to get a pedicure. It was the first time I had gotten a pedicure at this particular place. The guy that did my pedicure was terrible. He did a great job but he acted like he did not want to be there. It’s a family business and the dad had gone to the back to get him to make him do the pedicure. He was not happy. He huffed and puffed and did not speak one word to me. I felt so weird. My niece was next to me and the lady, his mom, who did hers was so much better. I was finished way before she was. Needless to say I won’t go there again. I usually do my own pedicures and manicures but I had gone with her so we could have a little time together.

After the pedicure debacle we went to have lunch with my other niece. She is currently visiting from California. She and her husband and four year old daughter had planned to visit for two weeks for her mom’s birthday. Her husband got Covid at the last minute and didn’t get to come. Anyway we had lunch and caught up on everything. We hadn’t seen her in several years long before Covid. We are planning a big celebration on Sunday for her mom’s birthday. I am making the birthday cake.

I picked up groceries and headed home. I had been gone all day. Sunday was a quiet day. It was hubs’ long weekend to work so he wasn’t around much for all the adventures. I cleaned and did laundry and worked a little on the temperature blanket. I did manage to watch one of my favorite movies, Bohemian Rhapsody, the story of Freddie Mercury and Queen. I love this movie and have watched it so many times. If you haven’t seen it you must watch it.

***Rami Malek did such an amazing job as Freddie Mercury. He received the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, for his performance.***

Sunday morning we had our second fog of the month. I have always heard that the number of fogs you have in August is the number of snows you will have that winter. So two so far. We will see. Old southern lore or something like that I am sure.

Monday evening we had a birthday celebration planned for my sister. We had several of our family members meet at a local Mexican restaurant. We had such a good time together.