Home for the Holidays

Well, we've made it most of the way through the holidays -- knock on wood! K has suffered through several dialysis sessions now. They really do take a big bite out of our lives, but they give back life itself, so I guess it's a fair trade. The swollen legs seem to be improving, but very slowly. It's one of those things where we have to take it a day at a time. Then on top of everything else, she got a huge blister on her heel before Christmas, and now that needs to be watched very carefully. We got her to the wound care people two days later, which seems like record time, after our previous experiences. They trimmed it up neatly and bandaged it, and we'll be checking it tomorrow for the first time since then.

It's snowed several times over the holidays, totaling perhaps two or three feet. We even had a nice thick coat of fresh white snow on Christmas day, a real treat! I've been shoveling the snow off the deck, so the dog has a safe place to be outside, and lay around and experience the neighborhood sights and smells and sounds, when the sun is out. While I was taking this picture, I noticed later that a local fox was sleeping down under the pine trees in our neighbor's yard to the West.

Mandy and I are getting used to driving K to and from the dialysis center, in various weather conditions. She's been snuggling into her little bed in the back seat, all bundled up with a small blanket and a sheepskin cover, and has stayed very warm, even when the outside temperature has dropped into the single digits. We've tested our new all wheel drive on several occasions, and it passed with flying colors. The heated seats do help take the chill away quickly. Mandy and I have ventured out for walks in several unfamiliar snow-covered parks, as we've been killing time running errands and exploring. I've discovered that regardless of how warm her little coats are, her feet don't survive for more than a little while, after venturing into the deeper snow. She'll stop and lift a foot, as if it had been stuck by a thorn, and I'll pick her up and warm her feet, before we proceed on. She's not very keen on those little dog booties, but they sure seem like the best solution to the problem. I sure wouldn't venture out into the snow barefooted myself, so I'm not sure why I thought she'd be able to tough it out.

Mandy seems to have hit critical mass on dog toys. For the past few months, she's been totally uninterested in playing with any of the little toys we've gotten her. Then this week, a friend gave her a couple more little stuffed toys, and suddenly she's completely into hoarding all of her toys, moving them around the house from one favorite spot to another, and taking them out and playing with them. It's such a delight for us, to see her perking up and getting a new level of enjoyment out of life.

Here's a little movie clip, of our little toy monger discovering that her new goose makes a honking sound when she bites it just right. It's kind of like a "baby's first step" thing for us. We hope you enjoy it!