Liver Update

On Thursday Ahi had her liver checked.  The above pic is her coming home from the blood draw - she got herself so worked up that she was panting the whole way home!

The results.....GREAT news - her liver enzymes are back to normal!  The vet was surprised as that level of healing doesn't usually happen with a liver as sick as hers. 

Jim's response..."LONG live the Weener!"

Mari's response:  "Take her to Vegas!  She's one lucky weener!"

Marty's response:  "We should get another 5 snarky years from her!"

Long live the Ween!

Total Devotion

Grace took this pic today on our hike today to Sanborn Park.  I love that pup!

TNDC at the Giants game

Beer batter haul

TNDC, with Grandpa Tom, Grandpa Roy and Grandma Anna, went to the San Jose Giants game over the weekend.  

A good time was had by all!

Brusking Day

G played "Here Comes the Sun"

Today was my favorite day of the school year - brusking day!  It's the day that G's music class goes to Santa Cruz to street perform.  I drove again this year - I had G and 2 other students and a bunch of guitars!

This homeless guy stopped and watched the whole thing - and I loved that he had his guitar in his backpack.

The whole class at Burger

Night Night Right Now

My coworker got masks for Jim and Drew for their Alaska trip so that they could sleep when the sun was still out.  But they are not normal masks - they are Japanese Anime masks from the Philippines!  Everyone finds them a bit creepy.  Jim had it on the other day when I turned around from getting something out of the pantry!  Scared the bejeezes out of me!  Then he chased Hops around the house with it on!

From South Africa

G brought this home for me from South Africa - and I could not love it more!

True Story

I came home from a short doctor's appointment at 2:30 pm  today and went to let the dogs inside and only #1 and #2 came in.  Missing was #3 - Hops - which is totally unusual.  She is ALWAYS at the back door ready to come in.  Sometimes, #1, Daisy doesn't hear us come in and is still out laying in the yard.  But the young one with good hearing is always there.

I ran around the back yard and looked for her: 

I looked on the side yard to see if she got stuck behind the fence
I looked under bushes - did she die?
I checked all the gates - they were closed

Full on panic set in....someone STOLE my puppy!

I ran out front and started calling her thinking maybe she got out and she wouldn't go far.

Then I decide to call Grace, who isn't normally home from school until 3 pm....

As soon as she heard the panic in my voice, she said - "I have Hops"!

OMG - I thought she was gone!!

I ranted about how worried I was and how freaked out I was....and then I hung up.

Then Grace sent me the pic above with the statement: "Hops isn't worried at all"!

Apparently she got out of school early and took Hops with her to get some graph paper.

South Africa - April 2017

Road to Mama Agnes' house

Grace went on her second Mission trip over Spring Break this year and went back to the same community in South Africa- Freedom Park near Rustenburg - that she went to last year.  She was gone for 9 days and spent time:

• Helping Mama Agnes repair her home (she feeds poor children)
• Visiting people in their homes who were church members
• Testing people's vision and handing out reading glasses
• Playing with children who were orphans

A store on the road to Mama Agnes' house

Like last year, they went on a safari the last day.

Rebuild

Jim started a project about 6 weeks ago to rebuild the BBQ.  First he had to identify and order all the parts - which was no easy task.  Then once he got everything he needed, he took everything apart, cleaned it and put it back together.

All done!

It took most of the day and 3 bottles of easy off oven cleaner to get it cleaned and put back together!

Before

After

All the screws left after the rebuild - oops!

Easter Day

Just us and the hounds!

Me and the best brother in the world!

Uncle B checked with a coworker who identified this skull as a bobcat skull!

We had Easter brunch at the cabin -without Drew and Grace, who were in Scottsdale and South Africa.  We enjoyed a yummy brunch and Easter egg hunt done by Grandma Kathy.  Grandma put money in the eggs to garner more interest than candy.  Unfortunately for the kids, there is one lost egg with a $2 bill in it.  It is fortunate for me because I will keep looking for it on each trip back to the cabin!

What is Easter without dyed eggs and liars dice!?

The whole family - even all the hounds!

New Lights

Before                                           After

Jim put up some new lights on the deck at the cabin.  The beautiful new awning made the 40 year old lights look cheap!  I love the new ones!

Easter Weekend Red Hills Hike

At the beginning of the hike!

On Saturday of Easter weekend, my bro and family agreed to join us for a hike at Red Hills, which is an "area of environmental concern" within the Bureau of Land Management, near Chinese Camp.   Unfortunately, the maps of this area were not good and a hike that we would have wanted to be about 2 miles was about 4 once we found our way back!  Thanks goodness that Jim was with us or we would STILL be there!

Luckily it was not a difficult hike so we just kept wandering and enjoying the beautiful wildflowers.  I have never hiked anywhere where there were so many wildflowers.

Ahi went with us but because she was 4 weeks out from an almost exploded liver, we carried her a big part of the way.  Too bad we didn't do that for Hops because unfortunately, her feet hurt so badly after the hike that she wouldn't get off her bed that nite.  AND wouldn't get up the next morning without a lot of prodding.  It took about 18 hours for her to get up and start moving around.  That is how she earned her new nickname "Tenderfoot".

This was Hops at the end of the hike when we were waiting for Auntie D and Uncle B to catch up -  and it should have been our first clue!