Odds and Ends

I'm sitting here listening to the thunderstorm as I write this. April has been such a busy month!  I took and passed my Nebraska Real Estate Salesperson exam, and am joining CBS Home Real Estate.  I heard so much about how hard the exam was that I basically had a panic attack the morning I took it.  Fortunately, I did well.  Is there a profession that pays well for being good at taking tests?

Brynley is maturing into a very handsome fellow. He is so smart and is learning so quickly.  We are going to a Tracy Sklenar seminar this week, with a working spot in Monday's puppy session. Tracy is one of Susan Garrett's trainer's, so I'm really excited about this!
Son got his braces on early this month.  He is doing well, and we are looking forward to junior high in the fall.
Duane finished painting the living room.  Here is the accent wall.  On to the kitchen next, with lots of taping to be done and priming over the bright yellow before the new color can go up.
Brynley did some product testing of our Petlane items.  So far, he really approves. This is his hide-a-squirrel toy.  It is a favorite. 
Solara, our almost 11 year old cat also got in on the product testing.  She loves this kitty toy! This is the kitty calisthenics toy.  Anything that can get this fat, old cat jumping around and playing like she did, gets a big thumbs up from me!

Home Makeover

Big, white walls are no longer white, hooray!  There is a lot more to go, but painting is off to a great start!

Stylin'

We girls went and had our hair cut to update our style.

Then I found these kids in my tree!

Puppy Stuff

I love how this reinforcement stuff works. We brought the pause table into the living room (everyone does, right?).  I have yet to actually do a formal training session on it with Brynley, but I frequently give him a treat for getting on it, just a charlie bear from my pocket.  I've progressed already to holding out for a down.  He gets on it all the time, just to check if he might get something!  Meanwhile, all the dogs like to play on it, and Brynley has decided it's a pretty good place for a nap, if only Mom wouldn't disturb him by taking pictures!

Here's a couple of pics of the growing boy at 15 weeks old, on Monday.  He's a little oversize, but I can hope, can't I?

Cycling

I'm dedicating this post to my brother.  Today, we headed out on our first family bike ride of the year.  We made it 5 miles.  Both kids just moved up to bigger bikes.  Son is now riding a small adult bike!  Eastern Nebraska and western Iowa are great areas for bike riding (weather permitting).  We have literally hundreds of miles of bike paths.  The only issue is that being in the plains, the wind always blows.  Head winds, cross winds, both together.  I want to point out that the prairie is not even close to flat.  This is the only place I've ridden where somehow you can be going uphill, into a head wind, both coming and going.  Seriously!  Ride it and you'll believe me.  The weather today was so perfect, it seemed like everyone was out on bikes. We saw people and bikes of all shapes and sizes.  Families, kids with training wheels, serious roadies, and even a couple on a recumbent tandem.  I wish I could manage to take pictures while I'm riding, but I'm not that good!

Here's Duane and the kids on the bike trail not far from our house.
Moving up to bigger bikes.
Daughter loves to ride her bike.  She is so thrilled to have inherited Brother's last bike.

Spring

We are enjoying some very nice, springlike weather today.  I dusted off my bicycle and went for a short (very!) ride.  I also took dogs for a walk.  Brynley has had a major growth spurt this week.  I took the camera outside and followed him around for a while.  All my pics looked like this! He seems to think he is a goat rather than a puppy.

Casey enjoyed the warmth, and is feeling much better.
Brynley has learned how to lay down and relax and take a nap without being confined to a crate, hooray!
Maverick was checking out the view.

Troublesome Toy

This is what happens when dogs eat things they shouldn't. Two weeks ago, Casey got sick and was vomiting blood.  We took him to vet emergency, where he spent the night and had a series of x-rays.  The vet thought she saw a foreign object. The next morning, we transferred him to our regular vet, who was less sure it was a foreign object and thought he might have a tumor.  The condensed version is, that they got him feeling better, and he came home.  Fast forward to this past Monday.  Casey again threw up, and I took him straight in for an x-ray.  The apparent foreign object had not moved.  Tuesday, he had exploratory surgery.  The object was located and milked out of his colon.  Casey came home, and has been feeling very sorry for himself.  He has slowly been recovering this week, and seems to begin to be in less pain.

A 10 inch incision, no wonder he came home in a lot of pain.
The source of the problem, a little helmet from a Star Wars stormtrooper, no bigger than a penny.  It is only slightly squashed and discolored after a trip through Casey's digestive system.
Not a happy dog.  He is feeling better today.