New Angels

Just to update, the procedure went fine. His veins were so weak, they sedated him so he wouldn't feel the needle poking and he fell asleep with his head in my lap. She had warned us that he might vocalize or lose bowel control, but he did neither. He just looked up and us and sighed before he passed and it was over.

They allowed us to bring the body home and we buried him in the backyard after letting Dagny say goodbye. She seemed to understand that he had gone to heaven, bu later asked me if she could go out and kiss him to make him come back, like they do in the stories. She placed the first handful of dirt, and when the hole was full, we moved over a pot of pink geraniums and sang Amazing Grace.

God has a new angel now. Thank you so much to all of you who sent messages of support and prayer. It's so lonely in the house this morning without him following me around and I keep thinking I can hear his tags jangling as he scratches. It'll definitely be a new experience, having a quiet house.

And to the dogs waiting for him to join their pack in heaven, he's a good boy. Be nice.

Thank you.

Death of a Beloved Pet

Today, at 4:30, we're putting Atlas to sleep. He has lived a long and full life, but he is no longer happy.

He stopped eating three days ago, and no longer comes to greet us at the door. He is failing internally, as is evidenced by the problems he's having going to the bathroom.

Marc doesn't want to come home and find him dead, nor does he want Dagny to find him, and since it's the end, we would rather be with him when he passes.

Please say a small prayer for all the dogs in heaven. Atlas will surely be an angel.

Canning Success!

Well it worked. I've got seventeen small jars of apple butter, all lined up on my counter and the seals took, so they're all good. I'm quite proud. If this wasn't so time consuming, I would do it as a fundraiser.

I've got a newfound respect for farmwives and women who would preserve food like this all the time. After all the time it took to process the food to the stage to can it, and then the actual canning (which is really hot with all that boiling water), I am amazed that I got anything done at all. Huzzah to women who do this all the time!

And to think, my tomatoes should be ripe in another few days and I can do it again! I hope I have enough for a respectable batch of pasta sauce, and maybe some left over for salsa. Even if it's just one or two jars, I would really like to look at them on my shelves and think "Hey, I made that from our garden."

Besides, it gives me something to do so I'm not thinking about referrals!

Apple Butter

I made apple butter yesterday, from scratch. And when I say from scratch, I mean I even picked the apples off the tree in our front yard. I spent an hour and a half peeling, then had to make applesauce, then pureed the applesauce smooth, then put it in a crockpot with cinnamon, sugar, allspice, and cloves.

My house smells goooooooooood! It's thickening up pretty good (cooked overnight) and this afternoon I am going to attempt to can it. This is my first attempt, so who knows if it will work or not! I certainly hope so. I'd like to give it to people as gifts. And if it works, I'll have to do it again!

Whoo hoo! Hooray for trying something new! I feel so domestic at the moment. If the canning works, I've got a whole bunch of winter squash that I will cook up with brown sugar and can. And when my tomatoes all turn red (they're close), I can do salsas and tomato sauce, too! Nothing is better than the stuff from your own garden!

First Day of School!

Movie Star Dagny, off to school. Gotta wear the glasses to keep up the cool appearance. Right, so Dagny did just fine getting off to school with her new shoes and her backpack, but mommy was quite sad. I know, I take her to daycare four days a week, but somehow school was different. She just looked so grown up!

Here she is, sitting at her table and making a nametag. She tells me the only thing they did was play outside and swing on the monkey bars, but they also made a cute crown with construction paper crayons, because that was in her bag. She has her own hook for her coat and bag, and her name is written over it. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. She's having lots of fun and I am so proud of her.

Now let's see if I can get the house cleaned up this afternoon. If I manage some of it, we're going to go outside and pick apples later. Whoo hoo!

Top Ten!

We are in the top ten. Wow. It affected me a lot to finally see our name at the bottom of that list. With ten referrals a month, we could get a call anytime between now and October. It's happening faster than I thought now that we're this close.

I don't know if I should be scared or insanely happy. Ha.

The Light and the Darkness

I'll start with the darkness first, since its always better to follow bad with good, so you end on a better note. Our dog is very sick. The vet asked me if I wanted to hear the word (starts with 'c') and I said no, so she didn't say it. He's throwing up every day and not finishing his food and Dagny is starting to realize something is wrong. It's very hard. He's 13 and has been with Marc since he was 8 weeks old and he is my first dog altogether. I've never had to really deal with the loss of a large pet (my parents dealt with our cat) and I'm terrified every day that I will come home and he will be dead. I just don't want him to suffer at all. The vet says we will know when he's got a bad quality of life and we should just manage the symptoms until then. All right, I'll go along with that.

There's a lot of stress at Marc's work right now, so he needs a few prayers sent his way. I'm not going to go into details, since they're many and varied and would get boring, but suffice it to say that he needs a bit of a boost. Got a board meeting this week, so we'll see how that goes.

In lighter news, we just got back from a weekend up at the cabin and the weather was perfect. We fished and took walks and rode around the lake in the boat (it was very windy) shrieking happily with our arms spread out wide while Marc drove us really fast. It was quite fun. We also visited a winery that we had never seen before and got a few books at a sale. When we came home, it was hot, but our tomatoes were turning red and we had fresh tomato sauce on pasta last night and it was divine.

We are also about number 5 in line for a baby boy now. The wait is almost done and I'm fairly trembling with it. I've been crying every day but I'm not sure if it is from joy or terror. I guess we'll see. Maybe we can have this baby home for Christmas. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

And now I leave you with something a bit offensive, but I just have to post it. The following is a photograph of a squash that was growing in my garden when I got back and it's suggestive to say the least. Enjoy.

Come on, admit it, you laughed.