20/20/20/20

Tonight at 8:20 it will be 20:20 of 2020.  What will you be doing to celebrate?  We will probably spend hump day evening watching Downton Abbey.  We were very late to this party.  We just started watching after Christmas.  Heck we are late to the Netflix thing, only signing up for it a year ago.  But we are enjoying it quite a bit.  We have that and Amazon Prime.  Actually Downton is Prime.  We start today on the last season and are loving it.  Then we will round up the movie.

We are having Tuscan shrimp and beans and buffalo roasted cauliflower.  I am sitting here waiting for the vet to call us saying our two little chihuahuas can be picked up.  They had their dental cleaning appointment today.  I got up early and got their harnesses on, took them out to potty and then drove to the vet with their favorite blankets so they would not be cold and scared waiting in their little area.

Chihuahuas are known to have bad teeth and require a cleaning every couple of years in which they are put under anesthesia and on an iv if they are older.  Mine are both at the age where the may or may not need iv/blood test, since they are rescued we don't know exact age, so we opt for these safeguards just to be safe.  Well the vet has called twice saying my little girl now has developed a heart murmur and has at least 2 teeth to be pulled.  I am sad for her.

At least they will be good for coupe more years, fingers crossed.  And hopefully the little boy we just rescued a few months ago will not require any teeth being pulled.

The weather is great today.  Enjoy your day, wherever you are.

Expensive and exhaustive weekend

I am here at work this week doing Wed thru Friday, since my DH had dental surgery yesterday.  After he was finished, we got our smoothies and I took him home, fixed soup and some yummy zucchini bread for him (soft foods).  We were so concerned about how quickly our elderly male dog had deteriorated in past 3 days, we took him to vet.

She confirmed he was in congestive heart failure.  Had fluid in lungs, around heart/heart enlarged and in abdomen.  She suggested a medicine for us to see if we can get him to breathe easier and give us some time to accept we are in process of losing him - but more likely to be a more peaceful decline and little longer.  W/o medicine he was struggling to breathe.

That, plus dental surgery + several household problems - was an EXPENSIVE weekend.

Thursday night I got home from work in the city.  I took this cool picture of the moon and planet/star? with the train.

We caught up, I enjoyed a show to relax and then we went to bed.  I heard an owl outside, so I went to open the blinds so I could open the window and the blind broke the bracket.  We could have just replaced the one blind hardware - but they were the ugly thin (and yellowed) cheap looking kind - so we just went ahead and replaced all 3 windows plus door - yikes, cost like $370 and was a LOT of work for DH.  I mostly just handed tools and provided moral support.

Then next morning our dryer broke.  So we googled what might be wrong and DH watched a couple videos on You Tube and off to the appliance place we went!  We got the small part and DH put it it - viola!  Saved $1200 there!  So happy, we went ahead and went to a 'junk' festival in a pretty town about 30 miles away.  SO glad we went, we found a metal trellis that perfectly fit in between our garage and detached carport-turned-shop.  Looks very nice and prevents people from just creeping in there (I watch too many Dateline - type shows!). 

I got some more landscaping finished in my yard.  Some I was NOT planning.  We got over 6 inches of rain on Sunday, washed a bunch of my mulch out - so I will now gradually switch out the mulch to river rock.  Since it is pretty expensive, I will have to do it gradually and perhaps over time, the time saved not always having to replace mulch from a portion of our yard that has drainage it will pay for itself.  You can sort of see the water flow under deck from right and go out the far side.  I need better pictures.

Next day I was going to vacuum but my $600 Dyson (about 4-5 years old) just quit.  We tried getting it to start again, just not working.  So we bought a Shark this time.  Hope it works well and lasts a while!

Now I am tired and broke!  At least this is my last week of work for a while, which makes me have anxiety.  I just hope that my DH and my sweet boy do OK for 3 days without me. 

Finances

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1

How appropriate, today I was gonna tackle F and I thought F...finances.

2 things.  DH and I are pouring through about 800 coins for my DGM that she collected with my grandfather.   He was killed in 1977 in a horrible accident.  So, she still has part of their collection.  All but 2 circulated.  Less than $80 face value...about 225 coins are high silver (earlier than 1965).  We will see what we can get for her, some melt,  some numismatic collector value and most face value.

Other thing on my mind is how sick both of my dogs have been.  It started when I took to a vet not my usual vet...for their ear allergies.  They received medicine for ears and a week latter my 10 yo male chi mix got very sick...cried for 4 days and we had all kinds of tests and got better in about 4 days; then our 4 yo chi female got very sick and we took her to emergency vet one night and then back to ear vet.  Ear vet was in surgery, so they told DH drop her off and get would check her after surgery.   DH back to work.  No word till afternoon.  Tech told me more tests...said after DH dropped her off she was not acting as if she was as miserable.   Called, said we could pick her up after work, get tech said possibly virus.  Asked me to bring back fecal sample.  She seemed little better overnight while we waited for results.  During afternoon Friday vet called and said she had pancreatitis!  Suggested we bring her back for admittance and iv drip!  I was angry (they did nothing for her all day thursday!) and scared...raced home...she still seemed ok.  Wow, had been quite the couple of weeks...my credit card very busy...I am really angry about how the vet handled things...need to let it process and pray about it.  I will gladly pay the expensive bills... just want my dogs to be ok...and to get a good night's rest.

My Dear (Male) Dog

I have a dear (female) dog too. 

Our Boy was much better after we got off work and got home yesterday.  Compare first to second photo, you can tell a difference.  He seemed to be almost his old self again.  Vet cannot find anything wrong, other than heart murmur/enlarged heart - we have know about this several years.  He also has some arthritis, but nothing to clearly explain sudden bursts of pain.  She wants me to bring him back today for 2nd film to see if he has a kidney stone.  He did fine all night last night, except in the middle of the night had another episode of about 7 to 10 seconds of yelping.  It was horrible.  So, we are a bit bleary eyed today, but hopeful he improves.  I was convinced he was declining.  Now, maybe not. 
Weather here is gloomy and gray.  Forecast the rest of the week is chilly.  One never knows in the Midwest, even up to Easter.  I am driving my kitty down to my friends house about an hour from RH.  She is gracious enough to foster my kitty until October when we will be moved completely and out of the monthy extended stay hotel we will be in for 3 - 4 month after city house sells.  DH going to stay home and keep Chico calm.  I am taking a load of small stuff I can unload myself and one large antique I will swing by my sister's after RH on my way to my friend's house Sat to drop off kitty.  That way, I can get my new truck licenced in new state (and avoid the higher taxes here) and clean up the tile mess and put books away/clear clutter in RH Fri night.  I will pop in on my Father in Law, as he is having some health issues too.  At least my DGM here in the city is doing well right now (she is 99!).
Have a wonderful Wed.  What is the weather like where you are?  Any fun Easter plans?  I just thank God so much for his grace and blessings.  I need to slow down and remember to check in with him every day.  Let that guide me and keep my mind at peace.  Know that all this busy-ness can be a way to avoid thinking about what really matters.  Peace to you.