We went to Moya park last weekend. Max loves to be outside and had a blast sliding and playing like a big kid on the playscapes.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
September pics
One of the good things about the Ike situation is that Mom was here for over a week and got to spend some time with Max. Here's some pics from the first few days of her stay.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Visit with Grammie
Two weeks ago, which honestly feels like a lifetime ago, we took a trip down to San Antonio. Jen's maternal grandmother, Grammie, was there visiting an old friend and we trucked down with Max for their first meeting. Of course he was in fine form with all the usual charm. I think they hit it off splendidly. It was good to see Grammie, we hadn't seen her in almost 2 years. Now we just have to get another Wallace reunion scheduled and we'll be in business.
Ike damage at Mom's House
Mom and I drove down last Wednesday to check out the damage from Ike. From what we saw in our brief assessment I'm relieved to say that I don't think it's as bad a Rita was. Mom didn't have major structural damage. The house and roof, the shed and the carport all appear to have have held their own against the wind and rain. A tree on the lot behind her did take out a section of her fence and her trees are missing a lot of limbs. We got word that power was back so she is heading down today and I'll be down later this week.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Scully "Bug" 1996-2008
Last Friday we lost Scully "Bug" our Rhodesian Ridgeback. She was nearly 12 years old and we had her for 8 of those years. We often joked that she was part cat. In addition to being nimble and taken to the occasional fit of pouncing, when we got her she hadn't been around other dogs. We would go for walks and she would walk around water rather than get her paws wet. Slowly but surely she did become a dog, and a great one at that. So much so that she would swim along with Zooey and play in the water.
Buggy was an eccentric pet. She had her weird ways, she liked to block Zo while Zo chased the ball, she would never chase the ball itself, only block Zo. She was also a bit, well buggy. She never seemed to be aware of her surroundings, would constantly run into the table or other furniture, or people. For some reason she would be walking in front of you then suddenly would come to a dead stop. But she loved to chase sticks and especially squirrels. Even the "sq" word would send her into DefCon4 scanning for any movement to chase. Not to mention that she would frequently clear a room with some lethal fumes.
But above all of her many quirks and Bugisms, she was a very sweet and playful dog. She had a very expressive face. She loved to cuddle, especially if it was chilly, she always made a good blanket. After dinner she would get the full belly friskies and she and Zo would romp through the house.
She had always been active and it was very hard to see her slow in the last months. But up until the nearly the end Scully loved to go on walks, she was always good on walks. Sadly she declined very quickly last week and while it was very hard to let her go we know we made the best decision we could for her. The vet and staff were with us all and she was surrounded by love in her last minutes.
I'll miss her rubbing against me and leaning into me with all of her weight, the standard Scully greeting and expression of affection. I hope we gave her a great life. She gave us much love and many memories. We will miss Scully very much.
Buggy was an eccentric pet. She had her weird ways, she liked to block Zo while Zo chased the ball, she would never chase the ball itself, only block Zo. She was also a bit, well buggy. She never seemed to be aware of her surroundings, would constantly run into the table or other furniture, or people. For some reason she would be walking in front of you then suddenly would come to a dead stop. But she loved to chase sticks and especially squirrels. Even the "sq" word would send her into DefCon4 scanning for any movement to chase. Not to mention that she would frequently clear a room with some lethal fumes.
But above all of her many quirks and Bugisms, she was a very sweet and playful dog. She had a very expressive face. She loved to cuddle, especially if it was chilly, she always made a good blanket. After dinner she would get the full belly friskies and she and Zo would romp through the house.
She had always been active and it was very hard to see her slow in the last months. But up until the nearly the end Scully loved to go on walks, she was always good on walks. Sadly she declined very quickly last week and while it was very hard to let her go we know we made the best decision we could for her. The vet and staff were with us all and she was surrounded by love in her last minutes.
I'll miss her rubbing against me and leaning into me with all of her weight, the standard Scully greeting and expression of affection. I hope we gave her a great life. She gave us much love and many memories. We will miss Scully very much.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Life (and death) do not stop for a hurricane
So, I work for an electricity provider that services 14 counties in the central part of the state. When we were tracking hurricane Ike, many of the "spaghetti models" had it poised to hit & severely affect a portion, if not most of our service area.
*gulp*
When I say, "hit", I mean HIT - wide spread power outages, upwards of 200 people mobilized to either perform, or support the performance of power restoration, - the works.
I am the Food & Lodging coordinator for my company, which means I had to establish a plan, assign personnel, acquire food, secure lodging etc for all personnel working the storm. I've never done that before & while I have lots of people assigned to assist, it was (and still is) a scary undertaking.
Everything I was working on at work was immediately suspended in order to prepare for this storm.
Life, however, does not stop for a hurricane. There are still bills to pay, you still have to keep a child entertained, clean house etc. If you are hit by the storm, it's even worse - assessment & clean up, dealing with insurance agencies......
Death also does not stop for a hurricane.
Scully suffered what we feel may have been a stroke. At the vet appt Friday, the vet said she was beginning to go into heart failure. Things did not look good for Buggy & while we were preparing for that to be the case, we still had to make the tough decision to end her life. Her quality of life had deteriorated such that she could no longer run and play & rough house with Zooey, much less comfortably get off the sofa. Even if we had chosen to run test & begin treatment, she may not have ever fully recovered. We felt it was time.
We were so impressed with the level of compassion expressed by our vet & the technician that were there with us. Amy, the tech, has a Rhodesian of her own & Scully immediately took to her. Scully LOVED going to the vet. After we decided it was her time, both Amy and the vet came in to be with us & Scully in her last moments. They petted her, and cried with us, and you could tell they genuinely cared for her - not just as a patient, but as the good dog she was. We are very thankful to them.
Scully Bug would have been 12 yrs old next month and we were privileged to have her as part of our family for the last 8 yrs. I know Chris is going to write some about her & will post some pictures later on. We'll miss the old girl.
So, go hug your dog if you have one. Hug a person if you've got one. Hunker down for the storm - prepare for the worst & pray for the best.
*gulp*
When I say, "hit", I mean HIT - wide spread power outages, upwards of 200 people mobilized to either perform, or support the performance of power restoration, - the works.
I am the Food & Lodging coordinator for my company, which means I had to establish a plan, assign personnel, acquire food, secure lodging etc for all personnel working the storm. I've never done that before & while I have lots of people assigned to assist, it was (and still is) a scary undertaking.
Everything I was working on at work was immediately suspended in order to prepare for this storm.
Life, however, does not stop for a hurricane. There are still bills to pay, you still have to keep a child entertained, clean house etc. If you are hit by the storm, it's even worse - assessment & clean up, dealing with insurance agencies......
Death also does not stop for a hurricane.
Scully suffered what we feel may have been a stroke. At the vet appt Friday, the vet said she was beginning to go into heart failure. Things did not look good for Buggy & while we were preparing for that to be the case, we still had to make the tough decision to end her life. Her quality of life had deteriorated such that she could no longer run and play & rough house with Zooey, much less comfortably get off the sofa. Even if we had chosen to run test & begin treatment, she may not have ever fully recovered. We felt it was time.
We were so impressed with the level of compassion expressed by our vet & the technician that were there with us. Amy, the tech, has a Rhodesian of her own & Scully immediately took to her. Scully LOVED going to the vet. After we decided it was her time, both Amy and the vet came in to be with us & Scully in her last moments. They petted her, and cried with us, and you could tell they genuinely cared for her - not just as a patient, but as the good dog she was. We are very thankful to them.
Scully Bug would have been 12 yrs old next month and we were privileged to have her as part of our family for the last 8 yrs. I know Chris is going to write some about her & will post some pictures later on. We'll miss the old girl.
So, go hug your dog if you have one. Hug a person if you've got one. Hunker down for the storm - prepare for the worst & pray for the best.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Gustav evac photos
As most of you know, my mom lives on the upper TX coast. She had to evac for Gustav. Fortunately there was no real damage or problem with her area. Now if we can just figure out what Ike is going to do. Here are the pics from her evacuation weekend.
Mom's pics
Mom's pics
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