Dog Proof Shower Curtain

I either need a waterproof camera or a dog proof shower curtain.

Hank loves water. Add this to his new found ability to invade the back of the house and we have trouble.

It all started with a poke thru the shower curtain and a large shadow. Then there was a pink/brown nose sniffing under the curtain, drinking water. He seemed to be confused about the entire shower curtain thing and couldn't figure it out. It didn't take long.

Suddenly I was not showering alone, I had my little buddy with me! Seriously, Hank was standing next to me in the shower. He was licking up water from everywhere and as happy as he could be.

I tried to shoo him out and keep him from getting sooo wet. This failed. I finally decided I might as well give him a bath while we were there. I grabbed the Baby Shampoo and lathered him up. Of course, after trying to get him out earlier now is the time he wants out. He goes tearing thru the house all wet and lathered up. I finally got him back in the shower and rinsed off. It took a lot.

I finally got all the hair out of the drain and it was a lot of hair. Seems like it's shedding time already. Anyway, I finally got myself all cleaned up.

I jumped out and realized I still had a problem on my hands. There was a big wet dog running around the house trying to dry himself off. There were wet marks with clumps of hair all the way down the hall. My entire bathroom was floor was soaked. A few beach towels later and we were mostly dry.

Today Hank stayed in his crate while we showered.

Banana MilkShake

My favorite homemade ice cream is banana. The closest thing to that is a Banana Milkshake from Cook Out.

I spent Saturday with Dad and hung out in Smithfield. Everyone rode back home with us so they could meet the grand-dog: Hank.

Of course on the way home, I asked for some dinner - Cook Out. I got a cheeseburger and a banana milkshake. It was awesome.

What I had forgotten/not realized is that part of my tongue is still ... numb. Think of the dentist but a small portion still with no feeling but the stuff around it working. Normally you compensate and no one really notices.

Unless you drink a milkshake and numb your tongue. Then everyone notices because your speech goes all to hades.

I was trying to talk to Sharon (aka Step-Mom) on the way home and realized my pronunciation wasn't working. If fact, my tongue was working that good. Didn't take me but a second to realize what the problem was. I'd wait a few seconds and then it was all good again. Until I took my next gulp.

I finally figured out it was just easier to drink my milkshake and not talk.

Happy Birthday Ronnie

Happy Birthday Ronnie! We're taking it easy, hanging out at home. Big steaks on the grill and baked potatoes (Hank will help me out). You can't ask for any better.

We have decided this is the start of a new year. This year is going to be great. We're ending a rough year and starting a new one that will be much mo'better.

You couldn't ask for anything more.

Hank is smarter than we think he is!

Hank is much smarter than we think he is. We all think he's just a big dumb lab but boy, we're wrong.

Reminder of who is involved:

• Hank: Crazy 100 lb. chocolate lab that thinks he's a lap dog. He's a little over a year old and thinks he's a little puppy. He can jump over the sofa in a single bound and I often have sloppy Hank kisses on my ears where he has jumped up and licked me.
• Tiger: The ruler of the house. We got her before we got married from the SPCA. She's declawed, weighs about 16 lbs and is known as the Meow-Meow Head. She demands food and Hank would be her little...."female dog"... if she had claws.

To keep everyone happy e.g., to keep Hank from constantly tormenting Tiger, We have a baby-gate at the front of the hallway. This essentially cuts the house in half. Hank has the front of the house: living, dining room and kitchen. He has access to front/garage doors to great any quest and the back door to go play in the nice fenced in back yard. This leave the hallway, bedrooms and bathrooms for Tiger to rule over.

Hank is very much a pack puppy, he wants to be with his people all the time. Actually he thinks he is people. This means he's unhappy when we shower or hang out in the back and he's all alone up front. He whines at the gate but he NEVER jumps over the gate. He could easily jump it but he knows that he's not allowed. So this is his new trick:

That's right. He has figured out how to open the baby gate with his nose!

No one is safe!

Alfalfa!

I have a new nickname: Alfalfa!

My hair is growing back in nicely and I have one little spriglette (a group of hair) on the top of my head sticking straight up. Therefore I am Alfalfa. I always wanted to be Darla but this means I can be a member of the He-Man Woman Haters Club. There is always an upside.

Since my hair is looking suave I'm not wearing a hat. It blends pretty well with a pony tail since there isn't hair "missing" then. I've not gotten too many strange looks or even had a chance to tell my Hippo story again. I've only come to one conclusion: teenagers sux!

Case in point. While at dinner I had a couple of the servers do a walk by. They got right behind me and went psycho " OMG " and ran away. Geez people. I don't mind the stares but I can still hear. I hope I wasn't that crappy as a teenager.

Get me a 2 and a 5

Mom came up over the weekend and got me out of the house for a while. We had lunch, did a little shopping, watched the Kentucky Derby - you know that kinda hanging out, resting some but throwing in some outside stuff too.

On the way home we stopped for gas and lottery tickets. Mom had a $20 winner in the LIFE TIME RICHES!!! scratch off game so told me to do the following while she pumped gas: Get us 2 more like the one she won ($10 tickets) and a 5 and a 2.

So I head in, cash in the winner and ask for 2 more just like it and a $5 and a $2 scratch off; no matter which one, just grab'em. I paid and headed out for the car. Mom had already finished gassing up and was waiting for me.

I get into the car and we scratched off the $10 tickets. I won $40 and Mom had a loser. She then asked me where her 5 and 2 was. I handed her the scratch off tickets. "here's the 5 and here's the 2. Just got whatever was at hand."

She died laughing. And kept laughing.

I was very confused, I had followed orders (I thought) and didn't know what was up. She finally told me between fits of laughter. She had wanted a Cash 5 (5) ticket and a Power-Play PowerBall ticket (2) for tonight. Then I started laughing.

We scratched off the $2 and the $5 - no winners. I went back in and got us another 2 LIFE TIME RICHES!!! and pocketed $20 I had won. I then ordered a Cash 5 and a Power-Play for tonight.

Finally all was right.

My day so far

I arrived home from lunch and had a message from the Neurologist about my blood work. If they are calling this quick, it's not going to be good. It probably means I'll have to take more or less of a medication or they might switch me to something different. They said they would call me back so I'll post an update when I have more info.

UPDATE!
I get to increase my Carbatrol intake from 4 pills to 5 each dose. That means I take 5 pills in the AM and another 5 in the PM. In addition to 2 Keppra in the AM/PM and 5 Dilantin in the PM only. Fun Times!

Ronnie is very good about getting me out of the house. Today he took me out to lunch at Bojangle's and to pick up my nausea meds.

I don't eat a lot, I think my body has gone into starvation mode because I'm not really losing weight. This isn't a such a bad thing because the Dr's want you to maintain your weight while on Chemo.

Lunch! We hit Bo's and went inside. Line was long so we had plenty of time to figure out what we wanted. I decided to try out the Chicken Tenders so I had 2 options: Special of 3 chicken strips and a biscuit for $2.99 then add on more for Tea OR Kids Meal of 2 chicken strips, FF's, biscuit and child size drink for $3.59. I went with the kids meal. More food for less money and I get a drink!

Ronnie lost it (laughing), he could not believe I was ordering kids meal. He gave me a lot of grief. What did I eat of my Kid's Meal? Exactly 2 chicken strips and about 4 FF's. Oh yeah, I pinched off a couple small pieces of the biscuit because my mouth was burning up.

I'm sure everyone else has this ringing in your head as well:
Somewhere in Africa there is a child starving who would love to have all my leftover food. Well, they can have it if they want it. They just have to come and get it :)

I almost forgot!
This is what I found when I let Hank out this morning

I ran inside and called Ronnie. He had killed a Turkey (YEAH!) and couldn't get home quickly. By the time I got out of the shower IT was gone.
Great now I have a rogue snake roaming around my yard.