I have how many days until Christmas?  Well crap.  The good news is we know what we are going to get for Avery, and we have ideas for relatives that ask and for Santa - now to spot it at a price that makes me leap.  Santa is officially at the mall, so we need to find a time to get up there this coming weekend before the insanity begins.  I guess I need to put a few dresses on her and see what fits/can be used as a holiday dress.  Every year she's in a weird limbo between sizes this time of year that seems to resolve itself in January or February.

The weather was a bit chilly last week, but we had a decent day yesterday.  I should have gotten my Christmas wreaths out over the weekend, but that didn't happen.  Maybe if I pull them off of the storage rod and bring them upstairs I can squeeze it in over lunch one day this week.  I guess there is no rush until after Thanksgiving and removal of the pumpkins from the front of the house.

Jackson visited the vet last week to check his mouth/teeth.  Since then he has been taking steroids to settle things down in there so we can get a better diagnosis.  He seems to be more at ease, so I'm hoping he's feeling better.  He sure loves laying on my lap.  I really can't wait to find him his forever family and permanent lap.

I can feel that I was stretched out yesterday.  It doesn't hurt, but I'm aware of it.  Honestly, I feel like I will get results similar to my monthly massages - which are actually less expensive and, let's be honest, more relaxing.  Ask me again in a couple more days.

I got up a bit earlier today than I would have liked, I'll attribute it to being a bit tender.  I'm using this window of time to bake up some squash and to relax on the couch.  I need to get in gear after we return from Jujitsu this morning and get the Halloween decorations into their bins and away.  I think I may pull out some Christmas now (minus the tree)..

I booked one cruise for next summer using the next cruise booking I made while on Icon.  They continuously evolve these programs, and not in favor of the person booking, that's for sure.  While I appreciate a lower deposit being taken, there is little other benefit to doing a next cruise booking.  In theory I got an extra $100 off the price... but the price they calculated differed from what I was able to see online if it were a new booking.  I also had to push back to still get the $225 onboard credit that was showing for this sailing when walking the booking process online.  I think I'll stick to just booking what I find when I find it.

I also just ordered glasses online for the first time!  At my last visit my script didn't change, so to save a few bucks I stuck w/ my current glasses.  They're comfortable, I like the way they look, and the styles that were available weren't quite what I wanted.  Hopefully I made the right choice on lens coating through Zenni.  I am pleasantly surprised how easy it was to calculate my PD w/ their tool and to enter my script.  Fingers crossed.

A neighbor recently went to the StretchLab and raved about it, so it's been on my mind.  Between my shoulder, tight neck, periodic lower back, tight calves, and recent tight forearms I thought this might be an interesting thing to check out.  I go for a massage once a month as 'maintenance' otherwise I end up so tight that I will have a side of my neck spontaneously feel like it's shredding and I can't turn my head for a few days.  This isn't something that happens because I slept funny, I've literally had it occur when I was sitting at a red light relaxed in the driver seat.  It feels like a charlie horse or cramp comes on with a wave of pain and then ow and movement restrictions for days.

Anyhow, so I booked myself an intro visit for early Friday afternoon (fortunately it's a decent price to give it a try).  I am posting this pre-visit as a bit of a reminder to report what I thought of it since my posting is often sporadic.

I also never followed up on my ... do I call them biopsies?  Both came back ok, but the doctor has requested that I (non-urgent) return to get a larger sample taken.  Now that bits are nearly healed I will be heading in two weeks for that.  Fortunately, there was a bit of discomfort during healing, but nothing substantial.

Avery's free trial at Jujitsu/Muay Thai has ended and she agreed that she wants to continue, so that's exciting.  It's been 10 days and I already see her gaining confidence in what she's being asked to do.  The fact that there is a smile on her face the whole way though the Jujitsu classes is icing on the cake.

Finally, I want to give an updated on our foster Jackson.  He has been here for a while now.  He's started to really enjoy sitting in my lap and cuddling.  He's such a sweet boy.  The good news is his name has come up amongst several folks applying to adopt in the past week, so I am hoping he has something happening in the near term and can get on with his forever.

I know I have friends and acquaintances who strongly disagree with me - or former "friends" I guess as I lost two of them on facebook in the past 24 hours, and yet I celebrate today -- not with a desire to offend the people who disagree, but because I too had fear of the alternative and strongly feel this is the best path for our country.

In 2016 I didn't vote for him, I went third party.  I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the numbers in Pennsylvania and my heart sank, I really did not want Hillary to win.  In 2020 I voted for him gladly.  In 2024 I was not only excited to go vote but I was doing his dance all day and my stomach turned all day with anxiousness and eagerness.

Ultimately, I want what is best for all of us.  I want our country to be free and prosperous.  Either way, it doesn't matter who is in office, but rather who is King and He continues to reign and continues to love each and every one of us.

There have been so many lies and twisted words in the past so many months.  I'm so glad the telephone calls, texts, door knockers, fliers, billboards, and youtube ads are over.  I believe he will do what he has promised and is capable of doing so... let's see what happens.  (Caveat, he never said he was going to do some of the things claimed I'm not talking about those things).

I'm not stupid.  I know the path forward isn't all sunshine and rainbows.  I am pleasantly surprised that we aren't hearing reports of things being on fire, honestly.  I think we'll see the wheels that have been turning to prop up the economy pulled out from under just in time to blame everything on the new guy (after 4 years of blaming everything on inheriting things from the previous guy).  God please protect us.

Today a check for $1000 showed up from my insurance company.  I had left a voice mail earlier in the week and hadn't heard back from them.  I don't want to sound ungrateful, as that was such a wonderful surprise...but, what about the $400 car rental?  Like I said, this is a nice relief.

A few months ago I had my yearly appt w/ my lady doc.  She noted something she wasn't sure about, asked if she had mentioned it before (because it wasn't in my records), and asked if I wanted her to take a sample/biopsy or if I wanted to see a dermatologist.  I already had the derm appt scheduled and the thought of getting numbing in my nethers and having a core sample taken didn't seem too appealing, so I waited.

Well, today was the derm appointment.  I ended up getting numbed and a core sample taken.  Fortunately, I hadn't allowed it to bother me up until this appointment, but now I get to wait for a week to see how big of a deal this is.

This past weekend was our first ventures in Halloween.  It was good timing as the weather was still quite pleasant.  It has since gotten a bit chilly and started with the intermittent cold rains.

First, on Saturday we hit the Halloween parade and then walked the Houston Pumpkin Festival attractions.  We couldn't stay long as we had other plans later in the day, but it was nice.  Then on Sunday it was the second Kid's Day at Hundred Acres Manor.  I learned that Avery is 110% not ready for a real haunted house.  It was cool to walk through the haunt during the day with no jump scares.  I understand why they cover the gory stuff, but it was sad to not get to see those details.  We had a good time, and it was nice to hit a local Halloween offering.

I really wanted to get to Kennywood this year - and was targeting the Halloween season, but that doesn't look so promising with our current schedule.  I guess there are two more weekends that I could make it happen... but it is kinda chilly at this point.

I ordered top soil to fill holes (Zero!), smooth the edges around my concrete so I don't twist an ankle, and to put down on the spots where the grass died this year (I'm hoping it will help grass take again).  I had originally ordered 1 ton, but after a "are you sure that's enough" from my favorite egg I promptly second guessed myself and got 2 tons.  Aside:  1 ton was probably plenty.

I did have the guy who mows my lawn do some spreading to address the issues highlighted above when he came to mow, that helped me out, but there was still plenty left.  Last night I moved several wheel barrows (my old as heck with a mostly deflated/won't hold air tire wheel barrow that is).  I'm filling in light spots in the flower beds, adding some quality soil around some of the larger plants, filling the gap behind the curb along the street, adding soil at the base of the fire hydrant and water pipe where there was a gap, and putting down a line of soil along the fence.  I'm also topping off my garden buckets.  This took quite a bit away from the pile, but I defn have more to move.

I am feeling okay at the moment.  That means I'm going to be in excruciating pain tomorrow, doesn't it?  At least that exercised helped me get a better night's sleep last night.

One.  More.  Payment.  I have called and gotten that final dollar amount and I'm queuing up the last payment from my bank for my mortgage.  I'm so excited.  It was such a weight off my shoulders back at the old home to have this off the table.  To know that I could take a much less lucrative job if bad things happened and still make ends meet is an amazing feeling.

I guess it's time to talk about our cruise.  We were on Icon of the Seas, one of the biggest/newest ships - and quite different from the others in the features it has.  I wasn't sure going into it if I would love or hate some of the changes, and I gotta say, it was really nice.  We had a great time, despite the sadness that surrounded that timeframe.

The infinite balcony?  I liked it.  I don't know that I would like it as much over water, but over Central Park it was quite nice.  The chairs and footrest there were super comfortable and I spent a lot of time sitting and relaxing in those seats.  I don't think I sat on the couch even once.

The elevators?  Pretty cool.  You use a pad to select the floor outside of the elevator and it tells you which elevator to go to e.g., "Elevator B".  This greatly reduced wait times and the frequency of crammed/overcrowded elevators.

The shows?  Ice rink is circular, so that allowed for different things than the rectangle.  Pretty decent.  Wizard of Oz was excellent.  The Effectors was decent.  The aqua show amazing as always.  The aqua dome is up much higher on this ship than others and fully enclosed, making for a very different experience.  Comedians were good - this is the first time I've spotted an early show that I could drop Avery at Adventure Ocean and catch the comedians.

The food?  Dining room continues to become more mediocre, but there are lots of other options onboard, some included.  I loved hitting Surfside Bites instead of the Windjammer on day one for a snack - and it was so good that we ate there again.  The other free eatery at Surfside was great for breakfast too.  We went to the Hibachi in Izumi ($) for lunch and it was amazing.  We also went to Hooked ($) for dinner on the last night - it was a ton of food, quite good.  The creperie is yummy, but the quick chinese and sandwich place were less than awesome - my monte cristo was actually kind of gross.  Playmakers wings were HUGE and their fries were delicious.

The drinks?  Desserted ($) was not worth it.  It was just a messy messy milkshake that wasn't very tasty.  The lemon post had some unique and tasty drinks as did the lime and coconut - there is a frozen lime and coconut that I liked even more.  I also had 3 interesting concoctions at the Point and Feather along the promenade - can't think of what I only had maybe 2 lavender daquiris from the Schooner bar if that tells you how busy I was elsewhere trying different drinks.

The pools were JAMMED (I never did hit the adult only pool at AFT), but the water slides weren't bad despite some lines.  They are nicely shaded for the most part, so we didn't get sizzled.  Lots of waterflow, so I didn't get stuck like I did on Liberty - two are racer-style, two are tube where you ride together, and two are plunge.  The last two Avery wasn't tall enough for, but it was ok, we enjoyed the others.  Miniputt was nice.  Avery hit the rock wall several times.  Surfside was fun and also nicely shaded, but we're right on the cusp of outgrowing that area.

Cococay was lovely as always.  We returned to the free slides and the large pool for a majority of our time.  We also popped in at the little lake-like area and the beach proper.  St Maarten was super hot.  I hadn't planned a lot there, so we just jumped off for a little while and shopped around right at the port.  St Thomas was cancelled due to propulsion issues with the ship.  I hadn't planned on getting off there anyhow, so my only loss was having the ship more to ourselves.  Turns out they cancelled the sailing after ours to go for repairs.  That... and the hurricanes that have come through since?  I think our timing was amazing to get one more trip in for the year.

I really want to write a bit about our trip... but here I am this morning missing Saffy. It's been two weeks since she left this earth.  I probably did this to myself as I was digging through photos from the first year of her being with me (in Jingletown).

It's odd the dumb things you do that make you sad after loosing a pet.  I did a deeper clean on my bedroom on Saturday morning and as part of this I packed up a few extra beds that were in there to give her options for comfort.  I'm sure there is still plenty of her fur in there, as I didn't move the bed, but I felt like I was kicking her out of our bedroom.

I don't know where that Saturday motivation came from, but it also had me trimming things outside.  I now have two garbage cans full of cuttings (hopefully they'll take them from the bin and won't make me try to cram things into garbage bags).  I still need to tear down plants as the colder overnight temps are coming, but I didn't get there yet.  I will probably pull the tomatoes off later this week as I monitor the anticipated temps.

Now if I could carry that deeper clean along through the other rooms, that really needs to happen.  I'm hoping to be in a position to get someone coming to do the periodic cleans again relatively soon, I hope.  It really is a load off of my shoulders to have that support.

The piece of information missing from my post memorializing Safyre is that I wasn't here when it had to happen.  Avery and I were away on a cruise.  In the post prior perhaps you could sense my anxiety which was the uncertainty combined with my upcoming absence.  While she wasn't doing great, she was still doing the stairs w/ me walking behind her and needing a bit more support and encouragement... so I really thought we weren't to that point yet.

Within 36 hours of dropping her (and Zero) at the kennel, shortly after I got to Florida they were calling saying she didn't want to eat.  Then she wasn't standing on her own.  Then a wound on her hip, which I thought was a hot spot, opened up oozing and my favorite egg brought her home from the kennel, spent the night with her, and got her into the vet's office.  While there another wound that we had no idea existed opened up and the vet said they were bed sores.

I was able to video in and see the state she was in.  Hopefully she could hear me and/or see me.  I realized looking at her face that she was definitely hurting and it was time.  I'm grateful my favorite egg was able to be there with her since I wasn't, but I'm so heartbroken I wasn't there when she needed me.

Our trip was good, I'll post more about that after I've had a bit more time, and maybe that way was the best for me long term.  This one really really hurts.

Safyre Qwynn, Saf, Saffy, Roo, Safaroo-Kangerpuppy
She joined me on January 3, 2009, but we celebrate her "birthday" on the 4th.  I thought she was maybe a year when I got her, but it is so hard to tell, so I don't have an actual age for her.  From what I learned from the Huntingdon Humane Society is that she was initially in there as a stray, adopted out, and returned because "it just wasn't working out".  I can only imagine it was a family that was not experienced with a siberian.

I wasn't looking to get a third dog.  I don't know why I was looking at Petfinder the day I spotted her.  But I knew I needed to go see her.  When I went I took Danika with me.  They met briefly through a fence before joining together in a play area where they immediately romped and had a blast.  Danika needed a friend to play with (since she and Vixen didn't get along) and I had room in my world for this wild child.

I'd call her gray and white.  They named her Keesha at the shelter.  Those bright blue eyes and little dark spot above her mostly open face made me think of a diamond which led to the name Safyre.  She spent the first night in a crate - cried a little - and then from there she started sleeping with me (and continued to for quite some time).

She and I were good cuddle buddies.  I've never had a dog that would curl into your side so perfectly.  Then when I would flip to my side so did she - pressing our backs together.  We continued on this way for many years, until I decided to feng shui myself (for lack of better phrasing) into a real relationship.  If there wasn't room in my bed for someone, ya know?  But the fact is, Saffy made it okay for me to be single and sleeping alone.  She healed me a great deal.  Periodically we do still cuddle up and I enjoy it immensely.  While I was pregnant it was hard to cuddle just right and I think it frustrated her a good bit.  At one point she got kicked pretty solidly and then she stopped cuddling into my side with her head on my belly like she used to.

I know you shouldn't have a favorite child.  So let's just say she and I really got each other.  We needed and loved each other in the same way.  It didn't take long to realize that she was meant to be mine - that's why I spotted her when I wasn't even looking for another dog.

If my age guestimates are right that made her nearly 17 years old, and the oldest Siberian I've had in my family, beating Vixen by a few months.  She was a trooper, despite the aging issues she's suffered, like having an eye rupture!  In recent months she's had a hard time holding her poos and getting up from a sleeping position has gotten more difficult.  She was still doing the stairs with me behind her for reassurance and an occasional boost.

I took her to the kennel while I headed out on vacation with some concern, and I had gotten her a hamburger from Wendy's as a token of affection just in case earlier in the week - but no feeling that there was anything imminent.  The day of we noticed a spot at her hip that I thought was a hot spot, so I had sent meds to keep that in check.  Turns out it was a bed sore of some sort.  It ruptured the day after I took her to the kennel, so it was being tended to. Then she wasn't able to stand.  My favorite egg came and brought her home as to take her to get checked the next day and during that time another spot that we didn't know existed opened and was clearly causing her discomfort.

With the heaviest of heart I had to decide to let her go when I wasn't here.  Technology being a blessing I was able to video in so she could see and hear me and I could see her.  I am still so sad that I wasn't here with her and for her.  My heart is broken either way, but I didn't get to say the goodbye I wanted.  Coming home from vacation my house has a hole in it.  Zero is clearly noting her absence.  She will come home once she has been cremated.

Through the years...

Like I said - she was the best cuddler ever.

The little booger liked to dig when she got a chance, so we were constantly fighting.  I'd fill the hole and she'd open it back up.  This stopped in later years, thank goodness, but it is who she is.

She was quick too - one heck of a sprinter when she was young.  She would get a crazy look in her eye and then the zoomies would ensue.

She scared me a few times when she got away from me and ran off. My "nightmares" were dreams of her being missing or running away.

She was a healthy girl through the years with the exception of the eye in the past year and a steady decline as one might expect for her age.  She's had a few teeth fall out in the front, but never had broken teeth or any need for care in that regard.

She got on well with everyone - people, dogs, and even the cats that I brought into our home in the past few years.  Heck, I think she was more irritated about Zero joining us than Church.

She loved to go to the Meadows for ice cream and would jump up placing her paws on the ledge at the ordering window.

Saf even walked well on leash.  She wasn't perfect, but compared to other sibes she didn't pull much and walked along side me nicely.

There were moments when she would give me a look like my mother would.  Perhaps Mom was working through her from the great beyond.

I'll never know what her life was like before she came to me, but I hope she was as happy in her life with me as I was to have her.  Saffy will receive an individual cremation and will get her own container to stay with us forever.  I pray to see you at rainbow bridge Saffy.  You were a good girl and one of my very best friends ever.  I love you more than you could know and there would never have been enough time with you.  My heart is broken.

1/4/2008 - 09/23/2024

For a long time before my mother passed I prayed that her time would be peaceful.  I prayed she would be at home and not long-suffering.  Sure, her COPD wasn't ideal, but in the grand scheme when you see people suffer through months of cancer or years of dementia -- I still feel like my prayers were 100% answered.

I find myself saying similar prayers for Saffy.  It's been a bad 24 hours for her and she's really struggling.   She was pacing the room at 5am and didn't go when I brought her down and took her out.  This time she doesn't want to eat, even the  moist food.  I did get some pain meds in her, even though they are supposed to be taken with food, so she is at least resting now instead of trying to pace and slipping/sliding about.

I know it's rare that a decision doesn't need to be made for a pet.  The whole peaceful passing in their sleep thing doesn't tend to happen, but it could, right?  The thought of taking the very best buddy I've had to a vet's office just isn't okay.  I've been through it 3 times.  I watched and tried to comfort Vixen as she fought the sedative.  I sat beside Satin and Danika as they passed, unable to stand up on their own -- Danika in the back of my car thanks to COVID and the vet not allowing people into the building.  I just want Saffy to be here at home.  I suspect a point will come when I know she needs my help and I will of course, do what is right for her so she doesn't suffer, but I hate it.  Here's praying she bounces back like she did this time last year or that resolution comes quickly.  Speaking of last year (yes it was late August), I really thought she was gone then.  Since she's had her struggles, like with her eye and some days were better than others, but she kept pressing on.