Happy Birthday to Me (and Biscuit)

It was just my birthday and I had a great time with friends! I had been wanting to get a piano for a few years. I took lessons as a kid and thought it would be fun to try to learn again. I found a cheap one on craigslist and my boyfriend, Rob, bought it for me. It desperately needs to be tuned, but I’ll schedule that and in the meantime practice on it anyway. It’s nice to play again.

Now I have a piano just like my mom and my grandma do, and in about the same tune… haha

During the day I got to relax and work on gardening projects. I celebrate my birthday with Biscuit, my dog, who I adopted 11 years ago on my birthday (best birthday present ever.) Biscuit is now 12 years old and we usually go for hikes or walks on our birthday, but this year it was too hot out and he can’t walk very far anymore. Instead we drove to the frozen yogurt shop up the road and I brought along some turkey for him and we got yogurt and toppings and ate it outside in a little outdoor seating area. Biscuit had peanut butter flavored yogurt with caramel sauce and reese’s pieces and turkey on top. I think he had a good day.

Biscuit eating his birthday frozen yogurt

My new raised garden bed the Rob and I made

On my birthday some friends and Rob and I went to the Arizona State Fair. I’ve lived in Arizona for 9 years and actually never went there before. It was really great. I loved seeing all of the animals and LOVED the petting zoo they had set up. I think Rob and I spent more time in there than most kids. We ate shitty nachos and corn on the cob and drank beers and played stupid fair games. My friend Foz wanted to get me an “old timey” photo for my birthday and so me, Foz and Turner got dressed up and got our photo done. It was awesome! Weezer was playing at the fair and we got to see them for free. It was really cool. We road the ferris wheel afterwards.

 

I loved the petting zoo!

 

Rob and a new buddy

 

Rob playing fair games

We will seriously kick your ass!

Weezer show was great

 

La Grande Wheel is the largest portable ferris wheel in North America

Me, Rob and Turner in the car of the ferris wheel

Other friends in the next ferris wheel car (Foz is flipping us off)

View from the top of the ferris wheel

 

In the spirit of enjoying every day to the fullest I will happily say that my birthday this year was one of the best days of my life! I look forward to the next year and look forward to learning to play the piano and continuing to enjoy every day as much as possible.

I Love Gravy, My Special Old Doggie!

I have been trying to spend extra time with my little buddy, Gravy.  I adopted Gravy in 2007 and he was an older dog when I got him from the shelter.  I’m not sure how old he is now, but I know that he is old.  Every time I see a dog at work who looks like Gravy and approximately the same age, that dog is usually 15 or 16 years old.

Gravy has been the best little guy, and a great companion.  He is bursting with personality and a thinks that he is in charge of the whole house and that he gets to do what he wants.  He is always by my side.  There have been several times that I actually have looked for him around the house and even asked my boyfriend if he saw Gravy, and my boyfriend looked at me like I was crazy because Gravy was right behind my feet and I didn’t see him there.

A little over a year ago Gravy almost died.  I ran every test on him I could fathom, he had multiple blood tests, x-rays and contrast studies of his gastrointestinal system and I couldn’t find an answer.  He felt so yucky and wasn’t getting better with treatments that I tried and I was in the process of making final decisions for him and deciding how best to euthanize him and what to do with his remains.  He felt miserable but I still decided to give him one more chance and I took him to the specialist to get tests I couldn’t do myself, and he had endoscopy, ultrasound, and biopsies.  The short version of the story was that it was discovered that he had Valley Fever that wouldn’t test positive and helicobacter bacteria in his stomach.  He was treated and he rallied.  I almost couldn’t believe how well he did, and he has been doing really well since that time and back to his normal self, although he takes valley fever medication every day.

It’s been a year and three months of borrowed time now.  I have cherished and continue to cherish every day.  Over the past few months I am starting to see him feel slightly worse over time.  He still is happy most of the time and powers through most days.  He is sore a lot of the time and he has bad arthritis.  Most arthritis medications give him an upset tummy, which is unusual for most dogs, but part of Gravy’s valley fever symptoms have been a very sensitive stomach.  Some days he’ll stand staring at me and he is trembling as though he is working hard to fight gravity.  He can’t go on long walks anymore.  Most of the time he feels fine, but it is hard to watch him grow old and feeble.  I realize his days are limited and I’m so grateful for all the time I have gotten to share with this beautiful soul who has made my life so much better.

I recently started him on an injectable arthritis medication called Adequan.  I hope that will help him and he’ll have a lot more quality time with me.  I try to tell him every day that I love him.  I think he knows.  He’s the best!