Road Trip!!!!!

Tasha, Skol and I are on a road trip; we are heading to New England to visit my family. Today was the start of our journey, we drove from McDonough, GA to Staunton, VA. I have some great pictures of our trip so far:

Tasha wanted to make sure that no matter what, we remembered to bring her Frisbee with us. She wasn't going to take any chances, so she decided to bring it with her everywhere for the day before our trip started.

It took an hour this morning to figure out a way to get all the suitcases and boxes into the SUV rental and still allow Tasha and Skol to have the entire back of the vehicle to stretch out and sleep for the long drive.





We went from GA into South Carolina, then into North Carolina, and finally into Virgina for today. We are now stopped at the hotel for some much needed rest before we make the rest of our journey tomorrow.

Below are some cute shots of the pups in the car, during the drive:

They were both wide awake for the start of the trip. They wanted to make sure that they didn't miss a car or truck passing us.

Then Skol started to think that he might just start to fall asleep, if he could just get comfortable.

OHHH YEA THAT'S THE SPOT!

Finally Tasha puts her head down and tries to take a short nap.

I will post more pictures of the second half of our trip tomorrow. Thanks for all the well wishes today, they made the long ride fly right by!

A Tribute To Our Friend!

Buster! Even though Skolby, Tasha and I have never actually met Buster, we have heard of him through our friend Julie and we want him to know that we are thinking about him and hope that he feels better soon.


Buster has been suffering with terrible pain in his back and has just started seeing a chiropractor to see if they can get him off steroids and walking comfortably again. It is horrible to see your beautiful pups suffering with any pain, so we wish him luck in his treatments and hope that he is up and walking around soon. Tasha and Skol simply adore Julie, so any furry friend of Julie's is a dear friend of ours!

Daily LIfe

I know that it can be stressful to take care of someone that you care about who is sick, however, I wonder if it is a state of mind. Don't get me wrong, I have many days where I look at the pups and can only think of the fact that they are sick and I am overwhelmed with sadness thinking of the day that they won't be here with me. But what I mean is that there is a sense of joy that I get from the daily routine that we have made for ourselves. I used to think that my days were so full, that I couldn't possibly add any more to it. Yet, what I have found is that there is always time to do things for the ones that you love. What is our routine like?

Every two weeks I sit down on a Saturday (like today) and make a menu for the next two weeks. The key to making your own dog food is that you need to change things up on the vegetables and fruits in order to make sure that your pups are getting the nutrition that they need. Once the menu is selected, then it is a trip to Sam's to buy supplies in bulk.

Sunday is the day that we cook for the week, I have always tried to do this for Kevin and I so now I just add cooking for the dogs at the same time. The funny part is that I can typically cook 3 meals for Kevin and I in the time it takes me to cook one week's worth of food for the pups. Making dog food is like making your own Chinese food, there is so much chopping and prep work that it takes longer. But again, instead of looking at this as a chore, I enjoy the methodical nature of chopping and cooking and knowing that I am making food that helps to keep the pups feeling good.

Each morning we get up early so that I can get the pups breakfast together. There is the warming of the food, the mixing of the medicine/herbs, the making sure that the pups are eating their own meals and not the others, cleaning the bowls, and letting the pups out to go to the bathroom and checking to make sure that everything is ok with their poop. Yes that's right, I have to check poop daily to make sure that they are solid, do not contain blood, and the pups are not straining. The reason for this is because all of the drugs/herbs that they are on can have side effects which need to be watched for and adjustments to their diet and meds if needed.

The routine starts again at dinner time. Then there are massages to help keep circulation in the pups legs, as they both had lymph nodes removed and we need to make sure that they are able to keep fluid from building up.

Right before bed, there is another snack, as we have discovered that going from dinner to breakfast is too long and cause the pups to vomit in the morning without the snack in between.

You would think with this routine each day, that it would become tiring or that you wouldn't be able to find other things to do in between. But it has become my way of starting the day and my way of ending the day and the time between is plenty to work and build more memories.

So for those that are taking care of a loved one who is sick, I know how tiring it can be, but it can also be rewarding when you watch how your efforts help to make them feel better. I look at my pups each day and am in amazement at how well they are doing. My goal of keeping them as happy as possible until they are ready has been a great experience so far.

Time Worthy

I keep remembering the Seinfeld episode where Elaine learns that they are no longer going to make the contraceptive sponge, which was her favorite method of birth control. From that point on whenever she thought about having sex with a person, she had to decide if he was worthy of using one of her remaining sponges; thus coining the term "sponge-worthy."

I have become that way with my time. This weekend, I was looking at potential cars, as we are looking at purchasing a hybrid. Not that car shopping is fun, because it is actually a chore that I only do when needed; but as I sat waiting for the Sales Manager to come back with an offer, I kept thinking to myself, is the time being spent "pup-worthy?" After all, I was spending time away from the pups, it was something that I didn't enjoy doing and in the end they did not offer me a good price, so I ended up spending three hours doing something that didn't end up producing anything and it was three hours that I could have been playing with the pups and enjoying them.

I find myself wanting to take this idea and wrap it around my life; how important life is and how I need to be created more memories. I have been so focused on work and the daily grind of life that I often make it from Point A to Point B without remembering how I got there. My goal is to not only appreciate every moment that I have left with my dear pups, but to learn how to step back and enjoy the journey of my life.