Well, it's been the opposite of a quiet week here in our neck of the woods! What a lot has been going on!
For one thing, we thought our ancient Miser Dog was on his last legs, literally: he was having an increasingly hard time walking and losing large amounts of weight. We took him to the vet, dreading what we might hear. But what we feared was terminal cancer turned out to be "merely" a case of allergies and swollen feet. We brought him home with what I told the kids was "more pills than Grandpa takes"**: steroidal anti-inflammatories, allergy meds, fish oil for his liver (to off-set the anti-inflammatories), foot soak, a mystery medication, and antibiotics. Here's a picture of me soaking my dog's feet, which I'm supposed to do twice a day. His tongue is prominent in the photo because he licks peanut butter off a spoon while I torture him.
As if that weren't enough excitement, on Saturday I got to "unwrap" another gift: my granddaughter Baby A (and oh, yeah, K-daughter) came back home and will be with us for the foreseeable future. I've missed having them both so far away, where "far" is measured by Lancaster standards: a daunting half-hour drive from the house. Now they'll be just a stair-climb away again.
And that's about it.
For one thing, we thought our ancient Miser Dog was on his last legs, literally: he was having an increasingly hard time walking and losing large amounts of weight. We took him to the vet, dreading what we might hear. But what we feared was terminal cancer turned out to be "merely" a case of allergies and swollen feet. We brought him home with what I told the kids was "more pills than Grandpa takes"**: steroidal anti-inflammatories, allergy meds, fish oil for his liver (to off-set the anti-inflammatories), foot soak, a mystery medication, and antibiotics. Here's a picture of me soaking my dog's feet, which I'm supposed to do twice a day. His tongue is prominent in the photo because he licks peanut butter off a spoon while I torture him.
(**At Thanksgiving dinner, my dad disabused me of this exaggeration -- Miser Dog takes 'only' 6 meds, whereas Dad takes 7--10, depending on how many of his guinea-pig medicines are actually placebos. At any rate, the dog meds seem to be having the desired effect so far, thank goodness.)
We had a lovely Thanksgiving in the Miser Family tradition, with family (Dad and his wife brought some great homemade pies) and also with students from far-flung countries. And this year, I had lots of help preparing food. N-son helped by chopping vegetables with his new ceramic knife -- thanks, N-son's aunt!
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| Cardboard boxes are the best toys ever. |
With all that going on, it seems like minor news to say that J-son got to visit his birth mom for Thanksgiving, and that my husband rode his bike to Philly yet again, that I-daughter and I got to go see Tuba Christmas (one of my favorite down-town events) and that my husband and I went to Philadelphia to see the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But all that happened, too!
So glad to hear about K and A.
ReplyDeleteYou're so lucky to have a chef-in-training helping with prep!
I hope everything is okay with K-daughter. Such a blessing that you can take them in. I love these little updates on your family and wish I could find the time/energy in myself to do similar.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It is good to have them back . . . and nice to know they're in a safe space again. (I guess that's really all I can say about that.)
DeleteI'm glad you like the updates!