Flat Gypsy...

Some of you may have heard of "Flat Stanley"? Well, we have a Flat Gypsy!

Gypsy is one of our cats and she is... special. In her own way she is... unique. Absolutely nothing, and I do mean NOTHING bothers her. She can get trampled by the dogs, fall off furniture or be thrown over your shoulder as you walk around the house... she never blinks. One time, I was painting my toenails and she came to check things out. She leaned in to take a whiff of my polish remover and it could have been water for all I knew... not a flinch or shudder. She just walked on like it was a normal occurrence to smell acetone!

For all of her quirks, she is very loving cat that knows no stranger (much to the dislike of some of our visitors). She has a funny growl that we will often hear as she chases a piece of dog food around the house. Oh, and she talks to things. We will hear her carrying on conversations with toys or a piece of trash she finds interesting. She is quite a cat and we love her for all of her weirdness.

Ever since we first brought Gypsy home she had a funny way of relaxing on tile or wood floors. She fully extends her back legs behind her so that her stomach and tops of her paws are flat on the ground. Gypsy is a big cat but she manages to flatten her body out.

Then
(She had a chemical burn on her neck when we first adopted her... its all better now!)

Now

It actually looks kind of uncomfortable but she is totally relaxed. I am not sure if it is the stretch that feels good or the cool floor along her belly. No matter how many times I have tried to get a picture that truly shows how this looks, it has never worked. Then the other day, I had the idea to lay down on the floor with her so my camera was level with her. It worked...

One endearing thing about Gypsy? Even though she can be a pest some times, she is always by my side. She sleeps with me, follows me around, talks to me and always, always wants to be petted. One of her favorite things to do is to lay on the desk in front of the keyboard as I type. Sometimes she watches the mouse on the screen, sometimes she plays with my fingers as they type and sometimes she just sleeps. In fact, she did just that as I wrote this blog...

Sadness is...

Sadness is seeing Lake Travis these days. The drought in Texas has made nationwide news... it is bad folks. It is on our local news every night and they talk about the dangerously low lake levels. When you don't pass it every day, it is easy to put it out of your mind. Well, I DO pass it every day... back and forth to work.

I have always said that I wanted to stop and take pictures so I could blog about it. Well, a few days ago, I finally did. They just don't do it justice though.

This is what I see as I drive down 620.
This what I see as I round the corner behind the Oasis.
Yes- those "islands" are in the middle of Lake Travis. Normally you would ski boats or jet skis racing by. Instead you see islands that have steadily grown larger as the hot summer progressed. They have become so established, they are growing vegetation on them!!!
At one point during the middle of the summer, they closed ALL boat ramps except one. Another thing I happen to pass on my drive is one of those boat ramps...

You can see what was some one's personal boat dock sitting in the dirt. At one time they could walk from their lake house to a ramp that would take them out the dock and their boat. No need now.
If you look VERY closely you can see where the water finally does begin off in the distance.

"They" say we will have a wet winter... let's pray they are right.

It is official...

This is now in our front yard...

Sigh.

How Much Is That Baby in the Video Store?

A couple of weeks ago I had a movie night with Kasi. It was a slumber party complete with Coke & Cream Soda floats, pajamas and Troy!!! We headed to Hollywood Video to choose our movies and Troy cracked me up... so out came the camera.

After Kasi and I made our selection, it was Troy's turn. At some point as she looked through the children's movie, she removed a bar code sticker from a video and placed it smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Then once it was securely in place, she seemed to forget about it.

She spent the rest of the shopping trip (and part of the ride home) with her sticker proudly displayed.

As we checked out, some of the folks in line were giggling at her cuteness. And of course, as soon as Troy realized she had an audience... the show began.

Personally, I think she is worth WAY more than the sticker value of a Strawberry Shortcake video. :o)

Death of a legend...

As a child of the 80's, I grew up watching John Hughes movies. The music from the soundtracks are also tied to vivid childhood memories. My best friend in 6th Grade, Ginger Gentry, looked JUST like Molly Ringwald.

Every girl I knew, including me, wanted Jake Ryan to pull up in his sport cars and point at them. "ME?"... "Yeah, you!" And wouldn't this have been the best 16th birthday ever...

I don't know about you but I never had a detention as adventurous as "The Breakfast Club". But who could forget Molly Ringwald applying her lipstick from her cleavage??

The list goes on and on... Weird Science, Ferris Bueller, Home Alone...

With all of my memories and reminiscing, nothing has been quite as profound to me as a blog entry I recently read. This blogger did a better job remembering John than anyone could have. So, I will let her do the talking. Here is the link to her blog.

Conversations with Tucker...

Tucker had a lot to say yesterday, so I thought I would share...




(If you can't play the video, please click here.)

Visiting The Chosen One...

Yesterday I spent the better part of the day cooking food for the Chapman's to ease their schedule some as they adjust to having a new child in their home. That afternoon Jason and I delivered the food and got to meet little Luke Brandon.

He is adorable. Admittedly, I know nothing about babies however, he was supposed to be a "big" baby at 9 pounds and he still looked TINY to me!!! I was fascinated by his tiny little fingers and toes! He has a head full of dark hair and the undisputable Chapman chin.

Big yawn.

When we got there, Luke was sleeping which made it easy to pass him around. When Shaunna asked me if wanted to hold him, I froze. She just smiled and told me to sit next to her and she would put him in my arms. I am told that this is something that comes naturally when it is your own child... but it is very foreign for me. After some coaching on the best arm position and where to support him, he was sleeping in my arms. So, everyone pay close attention to these pictures because it is a RARE sight!!

He was so sweet. He just laid there making funny faces as he slept and made cute little baby noises. Jason and I visited with Luke's very tired Mom and caught up on the events of the past few days. Then Jason took his turn holding Luke. He just scooped him right up like an old pro. He has more experience with babies being the Uncle of 6.

Heath came in from running some errands and joined us to visit.

We reminisced about how it was just over a year ago that we were all in the US Virgin Islands for their wedding. One of my favorite pictures from the entire trip is from when we randomly bumped into the Newlyweds on St. John.

Their dog, Mali, had just come home from staying with friends and she still hadn't quite figured out this baby thing. So, she checked him out too...

It was nice to see Shaunna, Heath and Little Skywalker. We are so happy for them!!!

Happy BIRTHday Luke!!

July is a Baby Boom for my friends. We celebrated with Kara as her little man, Dylan was born earlier this month. This week one of my oldest friends, Shaunna had her baby!!!

Shaunna's husband, Heath, has made us laugh throughout her pregnancy with witty one liners. However, I believe he may have topped himself when he put this sign on their door a few days before Luke's arrival...

Shaunna had hoped to have Luke without any medical help but apparently, he was a happy little clam in there and didn't want to come out!!! Also, the Chapman family has a history of large babies and they had been watching Luke's weight pretty carefully. Since he didn't seem like he would be coming out very soon and he was getting larger every day... Shaunna had to be induced. This made for a long day... Luke's didn't arrive for almost 12 hours after they checked in to the hospital.

Luke Brandon Chapman
Wednesday, July 29th
5:41 PM
9 lbs 0.5 oz
21.5 inches long

Here is some Luke cuteness...

His big sisters Nicole & Paige meeting him...

Jason and Heath have had a lot of fun sharing Star Wars quotes regarding little Luke. It all began when Heath commented that he was looking forward to saying, "Luke, I am your father" in his best Darth Vader voice. It has continued since then.

So on Saturday, we will go see "the one that will bring balance to The Force". I am sure I will have more pictures to share!

A Conehead once again...

You may remember a blog I did back in January about Cheyenne having to wear a protective cone collar. That was just for a minor scratch she had. Well, unfortunately, she is sporting the cone again, but this time the injury is little more serious.

Poor Chey apparently had an encounter with another dog while at work on Monday. In general, our dogs all get along pretty well. My honest guess is that they were playing too rough and it just got out of hand. They all have their moody days and like to chase and wrestle. So, there is no dog to blame- its just part of having a group of dogs together. Consider all of the different breeds we have out there... 3 Labs, 1 Heeler, 1 Labradoodle, 1 Cavalier/Terrier and 1 Cattle Dog (Cheyenne). We occasionally have a Bulldog and Basenji too. So, the temperament and activity level of these dogs vary greatly. However, that mixture is also what is so great about it... its Doggie Day Care. They get to be social and play ALL day. They are exhausted when they come home!

At my office, the dogs have their own play area. Its a large, nicely fenced in area. The house offers air conditioning and water.

As soon as we arrive in the morning, Chey runs to the gate and is ready to go in!!! Her buddies, Cyphus and Tucker (the Labs), greet her and they usually roll around for a while and talk.

After I get her settled, our Tucker and I head into my office for the day and I don't see Cheyenne until it is time to go home. I noticed when we loaded up to leave on Monday that one of her eyes looked a little runny. Dogs have this occasionally, so I didn't think a whole of it. By the time we went to bed that night, it was looking worse. Then by the time I woke up the next morning, it had badly swollen and looked awful. Luckily our vet was able to see her within the hour so we headed out.

She stayed glued to me while we waited for the vet to enter the exam room. I am sure it was a combination of fear and that she didn't feel good. However, I LOOOOVE our vet and he was so good with her. As he worked with her eye she whined and even growled. He said she was in a lot of pain. After thoroughly checking her out, he said that is appeared that she had been bitten on the eye!!! It could have been much, much worse if the tooth had made contact with the eye itself, but it had apparently only punctured the inside of her lower lid. On top of that, it seemed that it had already become infected! My poor baby girl!!!! He had to give her some medication in her eye and she was NOT having that. He had to muzzle her and she made the saddest sounds I have ever heard... it broke my heart. I tried to stay in her eyeline and talk to her, hoping that could help in some way.

So, she is home now. She has to wear the cone 24 hours a day so she doesn't scratch or rub her eye. I know she hates that thing. Plus, she bangs into walls, doors and has a hard time negotiating the stairs and furniture. We have to give her eye drops 3 times a day. She also has a week's worth of antibiotics, pain killers and anti-inflammatories. The worse part, as far as she is concerned, is that she has to stay home for a least a week.

Other than being slightly drugged and sad from being home constantly, she is her normal happy, tail-wagging Chey.