This N That

Here are a few miscellaneous pictures from things that were going on in our lives earlier this Summer.

Judah had strep throat 3 times in a several month period and he got to go to work with Steve one afternoon when Teri had to work. He wrote me a note (copied what Steve wrote) saying that he had missed me because he had strep. So cute!

Steve did a gravel road bike race near Kolona, IA in June. It was a very hot day. Afterward, we toured the back country roads and stopped in Muscatine for some dinner at the Old Button Factory and for Judah to play in the water spray fountain along the Mississippi River. Aside from TONS of shad flies that you constantly had to swat away along the river and Judah crashing full-force into a little girl and banging himself up pretty good in the fountain, it was a fun-filled day.

Here's Judah enjoying a "smoothie popsicle" that Steve made for him. He didn't make much of a dent in eating it but he sure had a good (and messy!) time trying.

We had our good friend, Dan, over for dinner one evening and he very graciously and patiently sat down with Judah to begin work on putting together Judah's new Lego Battleship. Needless to say, Dan was Judah's new BFF after that night. :)

Judah loves taking pictures and always wants to take photos of Cassidy. However, Cassidy doesn't stand still long enough so Judah usually asks me to hold Cassidy for him. As you can see, she's not too terribly thrilled with being made to stay put.

Cassidy, the Dog with 9 Lives

On Friday, Judah came running into the house frantic and upset. When I asked him what was wrong, he motioned me to come out on the deck and then, through his crying, told me that Cassidy had jumped over the side of the deck. For those of you who have never been to our house, you're probably thinking, "big deal" but our deck sits on top of our garage and is probably a good 15-20 feet off of the ground. Anyway, my heart sank and I prepared myself for the worst as I walked over to look over the side. I imagined a crumpled pile of broken yellow lab laying there in the grass. Instead, when I looked over the side, she wasn't there. I frantically looked over the other side thinking she had jumped on the driveway side (even worse) but, again, no Cassidy. Next thing I know she's coming up the steps with only a slight limp. After looking her over and giving her a big hug, I thanked God for this little miracle. After things calmed down a bit, I got the whole story from Judah. Apparently, a squirrel (Cassidy's arch enemy) decided to prance itself tauntingly along the ledge of the deck and Cassidy's natural hunting instincts kicked in. The squirrel jumped into the adjacent tree to safety while Cassidy--suddenly realizing she wasn't born with the same jumping and climbing abilities that her nemesis was--did a Superfly Snooka from the top rope (sorry, family joke). Thank you, God for protecting Cassidy from this fall...and from running into the sidecar of a motorcycle driving 40 mph...and from overeating to the point of stretching her stomach to 4x it's normal size...and...and...and. I'm beginning to think she'll outlive us all. We love you, Cassidy, our little furry girl.

SNOW!

Winter has officially arrived here in Iowa, despite what the calendar says. We got blasted with our first snow storm last week and ended up with about 8 inches of snow. Judah's been having a great time in it though. He and Steve went sledding on our neighbor's hill (on the other side of our backyard fence) and on our little hill in the backyard. Judah also loves to bundle up and play with his diggers and dump trucks in the backyard and on the deck. He scoops up snow with the diggers and fills up his dump trucks with it. He comes in all rosey-cheeked, wet and cold--ready for a nice cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows, of course. Cassidy loves the snow, too, and had a great time "sledding" with Steve and Judah.

Biopsy Update on our Furry Girl

Praise the Lord, the biopsy on Cassidy's tumor was...not cancerous. She is recovering well but has been sportin' the cone once again due to some scratching. It's been quite sad (albeit humorous) watching her scrape her cone on the walls, catch it on everything, get stuck in small spaces, etc. but it will help her heal faster so it's for the best. We figure she MUST be feeling better because she's starting to "counter surf" again looking for food. Ahhhh, labs, they live and die by their stomachs! Gotta love 'em! :) Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Update on Cassidy

Well Cassidy is home and recovering nicely from her "tumor" removal surgery. We won't have the biopsy results for several more days to know whether it is malignant or not but she is feeling much better. She really hasn't been bothering with her sutures so we're not making her wear her elizabethan collar but we did put it on her for a few hours after she got home to be sure she wouldn't tear the stitches out. She cried and whined so much that we took it off and have just kept an eye on her. Steve did manage to snap a couple of pictures of her though...for the ol' scrapbook. :)

A Little Excitement With Our Furry "Child"

Friday evening, as we put Judah down for the night, we noticed that our yellow lab, Cassidy, was panting a lot and her stomach looked really bloated. Over the next couple of hours I kept a close eye on her and began to worry that it was something a bit more serious than a little "gas problem." I got online to read about bloating in dogs and quickly found out that bloat in dogs is pretty much lethal unless caught early enough. Basically, the stomach twists and blocks the entry and exit of food, water, gas, etc. So, after making a call to the emergency animal hospital, we loaded Cassidy into the Jeep and headed across the Mississippi to the vet. After a quick exam and some x-rays the vet came out to tell us that Cassidy had what they call "food bloat." Thankfully, food bloat is not lethal, just really uncomfortable. The x-rays showed us that Cassidy's stomach was 4-5 times its normal size due to an enormous amount of food! I guess she must have been feeling like most of us feel after Thanksgiving dinner! :) The vet gave Cassidy some medication that caused her to "expel" the contents of her stomach so that she would at least be more comfortable. We left the vet scratching our heads and wondering how in the world she could have ingested so much food since we give her controlled portions. After returning home to my parents house, Steve remembered that Cassidy had accidentally gotten left in the garage for a few minutes...where her tub of food is located. Suddenly, we had our answer. She had somehow managed to pop the lid of her food tub open and ate and ate and ate...
She probably would have kept eating if the tub had not been nearly empty when she began. Thank God for small miracles! Cassidy is doing fine but is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning to remove a rapidly-growing growth on her face. I know she's "just a dog" but please pray that the growth would be benign and/or not have spread if it is malignant. Thanks for your prayers!