Sam

Yesterday we had to put our 1 1/2 yearold dog Sam to sleep. Poor little Sammy had been viciously attacked by two other dogs in the early morning hours last Wednesday. Rob rushed him to the vet where he received excellent care for 5 days. His wounds were too grave and infection set in. We had to make the difficult decision yesterday to let him go in peace and not drag out his suffering any longer.

We rescued Sam from a litter of 13 puppies. His breed was undetermined. A little lab, a little boxer, a little this and that. He was riddled with worms and had to have two rounds of dewormer. As a puppy he loved to chew and jump and be a general nuisance. He never stayed at home, but would wander down the road to play with the neighbor's dog. He and Mack were always together. Lying together, rough-housing, playing hide-and-seek. So much so that Rob complained that we had wasted money having him neutered since he obviously wasn't interested in girls.

It was so hard to tell J.T. about Sam's death. He got this big bright-eyed, I'm-trying-so-hard-not-to-cry look on his face. Then it just all came out. We all cried together. The hardest thing to accept is that these dogs have attacked and killed before and the owners did nothing about it. We have called animal control and they have set a trap in an attempt to capture the culprits. We believe that the dog owners have already moved their dogs though.

More bad news. I have discovered we don't have a single picture of Sammy! I don't know how that happened. I hate that I don't have anything for the kids to remember him by. Perhaps we'll hang on to his collar.

Don't Be Alarmed....Rob Is Now In Control

That's right. I've hijacked Melinda's blog....because Melinda uses the same password for everything it was pretty easy. I thought I would tell ya'll a neat story (well I think its a neat story anyway). At first its going to sound like a lot of rambling but it will all tie together at the end.

I am 35 years old (thank you all for the nice birthday wishes by the way) and Melinda is 33 years old. When we first met I was 20 and she was 18. I lived in Statesboro and she lived in Metter. We had never met when we were younger, nor did we know the same people.

I've recently resumed collecting comic books after a five year hiatus and that is what reminded me of this story. I started collecting comic books when I was 9 or 10 years old and quit collecting in 2003 after amassing a 10000+ comic collection.....I know, I know, ya'll are jealous of Melinda. Anyway, way back when in the early 80's when I first started collecting there were two main comic book companies, Marvel and DC. Marvel put out Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc and DC published Batman, Superman, Plastic-Man etc. My collection at that time consisted of both Marvel and DC comics and around this time my friend and I decided that DC comics royally sucked and we only wanted Marvel comics. So there happened to be a used book store in Statesboro that had comics and you could trade 2 for 1. So I packed up all my DC comics and went to said bookstore and traded all my DC comics for Marvel comics so now my collection was purified with nothing but Marvel. Aside: I've long since gotten over my comic snobbery and now I collect anything that's a good story and while you may not believe it you can find some excellent writing in the comics industry. Back to the story...Years went by and I'm now 20 years old and I've just met the lovely 18 year old beauty named Melinda Rhoney and I'm completely smitten. We date, we declare ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend and we even use the "L" word. At this time I've started going to church with Melinda, so since we live in separate towns I've started spending the night at her house on Saturday (yes in separate rooms). Well one night I'm over at Melinda's house and I'm walking down the hallway and the hall closet is open, its never been open before, and as I walk by I stop and stick my head in because I'm nosy. On the shelf I notice a stack of comic books and since I'm nosy and I love comic books I take them down and guess what.....Yep, it's my old DC comics that I traded in at the used bookstore years earlier. Mrs. Pat had taken Melinda to the same used bookstore when she was a girl and Melinda had picked out the comics that I had traded in. Is that not cool?

A Smorgasbord Post

Yep, that's right. It's a little of this and a little of that.

Today is picture day at J.T.'s school. So of course he woke up with some serious bed-head issues. It took much combing and lots of water to get those wild hairs to lay down. I'm sure they popped right back up by the time he made it to school.

I choose this lovely shirt for him to wear. He didn't like it. He wanted to wear a Spiderman shirt instead. Which would have been okay except that he has grown since last summer and his Spiderman shirt is too small. The last I saw of him this morning, he was reluctantly clothed in the lovely shirt, but had bundled into a jacket to hide it. Of course the jacket doesn't match the shirt, so hopefully he will remember to take it off. And did I mention that he is now missing two front teeth? This will be the definitive school portrait: messy hair, snaggle-toothed, mismatched clothing AND an inopportune pimple. I know. A first grader with a pimple. What kind of picture day bad karma gives a 1st grader a pimple?

I have a few new southern phrases for you, courtesy of the very handsome, very southern drawling, very manly Brett Favre, American Football player.

"He's slower than steam coming off a pile of horse s***."

"It's hotter than two rats doing it* in a wool sock."

"These (foot)balls are slicker than owl s***."

Small Town Love

I grew up in a small town. Population not quite 4,000 people. As a teenager I looked forward to leaving that small town in my rearview as quickly as possible. Nothing to do. No career options. No future. I got married and moved one town away to a college town that is still on the smallish side.

But there are advantages to living in a small town. Safety is one of them. Everybody knows everybody and no one locks their doors. The Farmer's Market is always stocked with fresh, locally grown produce and homemade cakes, pies and pastries. The best things, though, is how people come together and help each other in a crises.

Mama has to receive shots that boost her white blood cells. This week, they didn't help. So her doctor wanted her to have shots on Saturday and Sunday. No big deal.... except that the office is closed on Saturday. It looked like our only option was to go to the ER, sit and wait and pay ER fees to get the shots. They had increased the dosage and Mama was very, very sick. Nauseous, dizzy, weak and exhausted. Not really up for the eternal wait you are certain to have in the ER on a weekend.

Small town calvary to the rescue. Our pharmacist's wife is a Registered Nurse. She agreed to give mother the shot at the Pharmacy on Saturday and at their home on Sunday. So at 9 a.m. Saturday, I drove Mama to the pharmacy, ushered her inside where she was given a shot. This sweet lady (whom I, of course, went to school with), got her boys up and brought them in their pajamas so my Mama didn't have to go the ER. She was even upset that we came inside! She would have come out to the car and given it so Mama didn't have to move. How sweet is that?

We could not have asked for more support from family, friends and community. There have been phone calls, meals, cards, gift baskets, books, and many other expressions of love. When I feel discouraged with the world at large. These generous, kind people remind me that there is hope and that caring, selfless people do still exist.

No Pain, No Gain

I have always found that cliche ironic when applied to exercise. Isn't gain the opposite of what we are trying to achieve?

Fairlie posted on her blog about the benefits of Pilates. I believe M recommended this to her. It reminded me that I have an old Pilates tape (yes, tape... that's how long ago I purchased it) languishing in the cupboard with the other barely used exercise videos.

My weight has been creeping up ever since I got pregnant with J.T. I'm now quite embarrassed at the size label attached to the clothing in my closet. I need to be healthier and more energetic. So I dug out the Pilates tape yesterday. Those ladies have the look I long for..... long, lean, and fit without looking mannishly muscled. I thought it would be a good complement to my aerobics workout.

But dear, sweet Lord, I hurt in places I didn't know I had muscles. These poor long-ignored bits and pieces are SCREAMING at me. But I have to stick with this. No pain, no gain.

Our Cup Runneth Over

Almost, anyway. Our septic system has been at a stand still due to this:



Luckily it didn't back-up. But no water is exiting our home. Which means we have to do this:



(note the phallic mailbox, no it's not ours, in the background, Jennifer)

So it's a good thing my father-in-law has one of these:



because it's saving us thousands of dollars.

and we can do this:



in Ma Ma's 'cuzzi (jacuzzi) tub.

Once - Falling Slowly (Oscar Winner 2008 )

Love this song! I like the simplicity of just the piano and guitar and voices. So beautiful. And of course, now I'm going to have to see the movie. I needed some lovely today. Crappy, crappy today.