TheGirls

Happy Knit Year

2009-01-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so many of you know we (or at least I) have been somewhat obsessed with knitting the last few months. I did knit quite a few gifts, and photos like this make it seem worth it, right?

Lucy's First Snow Day

2008-11-05T08:51:00.000-08:00

We've experienced our first snow storm of the season, and it's Lucy's first major snow storm (not counting the skiff we had a couple weeks ago). Since she has a flare for the dramatic, she was running laps this morning launching herself into somersaults in the snow. She soon discovered that eating snow was also fun, so we threw snowballs around the backyard and took some pictures, snowy face and all.

Lucy stalking a snowball

OBAMA-GLO

2008-11-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

I was cautiously optimistic for an Obama victory, but silently and greedily hopeful for a mandate. We shed a few tears at the news as well as during various moments of Obama's speech. Whoever tried to persuade us that words don't matter has never studied history and its great orators. Now onto the greater challenge of taking words to action, but you've got to start somewhere.

Although Utah remains red, Salt Lake County moves further towards blue with a good county mayor and a county council with 5-4 dems to gop, and that should count for something for those of us who like living here and operate within a progressive and dynamic community.

Knitting

2008-10-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

L & I have taken up knitting. We figure as long as we're watching baseball (please even it up Red Sox!) or cable TV for the political scene (which sometimes feels like watching a train wreck -- i.e. no matter how awful, you just can't look away), we may as well get something accomplished. Like beanie hats. Or scarves. Or. . . well, that's all we know how to do for the moment, but be sure to watch for the fingerless gloves and felted handbags.

We got started knitting because a friend and client of mine opened a knitting shop called Blazing Needles. If you have always thought (like I have) that knitting was for other people, Blazing Needles will definitely change your mind, even if you don't take up knitting. Visit them at 1365 South 1100 East, and definitely come by for Knit Night on Thursday evenings, usually complete with a bit of cheese and wine.

So far, I've learned that I am a "twisted" knitter and that you need a few accessories in order to really become a knitter, including several sizes of needles (who knew!?) and markers and patterns. Unless all you want to knit are hot pads I suppose.

McCain under siege!

2008-10-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

The idea that Katie Couric is such a fastball interviewer is mostly laughable (and I actually do like Katie Couric--but not necessarily as a hard news anchor). Good thing Senator (Pouter) McCain straightened us out on that one (and Pat Bagley remains one of the most brilliant political cartoonist from our great state of Utah). Poor little Palin.

Stupid, careless people.

2008-08-25T09:13:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, just as we were heading home from the market and other errands in SLC, we entered the freeway at 21st South and as suddenly as a ball flying at your head that you didn't know was being thrown at you, we saw a giant obstacle on I-15. As the cars in front of us parted--like Moses parting the Red Sea--I spotted it and yelled and L. responded as well as could be given the circumstances, which is to say that she didn't completely drive over the top of the whole thing which probably would have flipped the car and resulted in a total disaster BUT INSTEAD, L maneuvered quickly to only hit with the front left driver side bumper and we were lucky no one was behind us in the right hand lanes as she navigated to the right shoulder.

Except for some damage to the car (front bumper and ripped out tire well), we were all totally fine, including little Lucy who I was holding in my lap in the front seat.

Looking ahead to see who might be the culprit, we saw two 20-something clean cut guys walking back along the shoulder from their pick-up truck that held several other of the large obstacles (we later found out were enormous ottomans--and if I didn't hate oversized furniture before, I really do now). They nervously asked if we were ok and went back to talk to the Utah Highway Patrolman who was attempting to get the ottoman off the freeway to avoid further havoc for others. I was just so angry at their carelessness and seeming lack of understanding that what the did could have actually killed people, that I just glared back at them.

Stupidity is getting on a freeway and going (at least) 65 miles an hour with 6 enormous ottomans in a pick-up truck that are tied down with bungee cords, incurring a large fine with citation and having to pay for a rental car and body shop repair work, not to mention ruining everyone's Saturday afternoon.

Blogging Slackers & NYC trip

2008-08-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so we've found ourselves way more busy than we intended for Summer 2008. It was, in fact, at the beginning of the summer supposed to be a relaxed-maybe-we'll-go-do- short-trips-to-the-Uintas- maybe-not kind of summer. We didn't anticipate a NYC trip (for L's work) or a California trip (for J's cousin's wedding) when we bought all our concert tickets, so the result has been a bit--for us anyway--like living like rock stars.

I think we have averaged at least 3 concerts a week since July. In August alone, we've seen Keb Mo, Ruthie Foster, and others up at the Snowbird Rock n Blues festival along with Wilco, KT Tunstall, and Broken Social Scene. We still have Bonnie Raitt and Neko Case left to go, not to mention Al Green, John Hiatt, and Joan Osborne in September. It has been a blast! But I think I'm looking forward to winter hibernation, or at least fall turtlenecks, more than I normally would.

Anyway, although we do have a fantastic California trip to blog about, I'll wait on that to review just briefly the NYC trip, during which I played and L worked. I spent a couple of nice unseasonably pleasant afternoons with old friends and wandered around a bit walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and to the Met. Fortunately, meals are mostly together and we like to find a gem now and then, so thanks for my cousin Andy who used to live in Brooklyn, our gem this time around was a place called Supper in the East Village. Although I know it might sound silly with all the choices there are in NYC, we actually went to this place twice, almost solely for the freshest mozarella we have ever eaten--a burrata mozarella imported twice weekly from Italy that practically fell apart on the plate but perfectly complemented all of the usual caprese salad ingredients--tomatoes, basil, olive oil, balsamic. In fact, this little appetizer actually cost more than either of our entrees, but it was completely worth it. Aside from the tasty food, the place had a great vibe and we definitely felt we were nearly living like locals eating there.

Summer Concert Junkies

2008-07-17T11:04:00.001-07:00

We are self-admitted concert summer concert addicts. This year--thanks to Red Butte's condensed July-August schedule because of their venue construction--is really challenging our marathon-type conditioning for the summer concert schedule we are keeping. By the time we hit next Tuesday, we will have attended concerts 8 out of 11 days (and we could possibly go 9 for 11 if we choose to visit that wretched USANA where the Police and Elvis Costello are playing). The great part is that we do manage to have a hefty concert schedule without going there where it's way too far west, drinks and food are overpriced to say the least, and it just seems like a good venue gone bad.

The diversity is always interesting as well--one night we're at the Roots and the Knux with an insane crowd and lots of pot smoke; the next we are among the upper crust (or crusty?) at Wynton Marsalis (who is a living legend--even if you're not a huge Jazz fan because it truly is the American musical art). We've heard bluegrass, american roots, folk, rock, blues rock, jazz, and hip-hop within the last 7 days!

Anyway, the bands coming out to check out include:
Josh Ritter
Andrew Bird
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Emmylou Harris
Susan Tedeschi (with Derek Trucks)
(And those are just the next 5 days' worth of music in SLC.)

Unfortunately, you have already missed other great ones including those featured at the Utah Arts Festival, but you can try to make up for it by hitting the Rock n Blues Festival in August featuring Keb Mo, Bettye Lavette, the Iguanas, and Ruthie Foster.

An American past time.. a good burger.

2008-06-23T20:13:00.000-07:00

Some random rambling about food...One of the truly great American dishes is a hot juicy burger. When J was in DC a month or so ago she told me about this great burger place that her sister took her too. It is the In and Out of the East but 10 times better. Much to my surprise when I went to pick her up at the airport there was a huge billboard announcing a location in Utah coming soon!!!!

Well last week on the way back from Red Butte we passed the new location and there was a huge "Now Open" sign so J did a massive U-turn in the crazy Fort Union area and we headed back for a cheese burger with the works sans mustard for me. We met the one of the co-owners who was mortified when our burger was loaded with mustard... so two burgers for the price of one. Without the mustard it was a great burger and the real fresh cut potato fries were pretty damn good too.

Little Lulu

2008-06-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

We have chosen this little cute thing to be our next best friend.

Giving back...

2008-06-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

As a native Utahan I have enjoyed the beautiful back country of this great state, so after all that the hiking trails, rivers, campsites, canyons have given to me it was time to give back. J and I volunteered for a "working" vacation this last weekend. This was a joint project with several groups to rehabilitate and protect one of the great canyons in Cache Valley.

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_9451625

We hiked into the work site with our 40 lb packs. It felt like hiking at a 90 degree angle (I know that is impossible unless you are on a ladder) but it was over 2000 feet in elevation in 4 miles. A very interesting group. We had the 19 year old that wouldn't stop talking about Yellowstone, the Ohio transplant that loves the outdoors, the consultant who has been everywhere and done everything, the intern, the forest ranger, our fearless conservationist leader and the amazing 80 year old married couple. Who also packed their packs up 2000 ft. I hope I am still on these type of adventures when I am 80. We camped at about 7500 ft. great elevation for temperatures when you are working hard but it is a little cold at night.

The elevation increase in the hike made me jettison any extra weight, including the box wine. I didn't know we were going to have horsemen to haul up the fencing wire, spikes, hammers, and a little water for us, when they arrived the first afternoon the whole group asked them if they could bring us some red wine the next day when they came to pick up the equipment.

The main objective was to build fences and natural barriers to stop off-roaders from venturing in to unauthorized areas and damaging the habitat and building water bars and check dams to help prevent and repair erosion. Some of the most physical work that I have ever done, but well worth it.

At the end of the day the there was supposed to be a big "group hug" dinner with all the diverse, but we didn't have the energy to hike to two miles down for the dutch oven grub. The horsemen came to pick up the tools "sans" wine, no dinner and no wine. We made the best of it, an Asian fusion mixed soup/stew. Great chat around the fire and off to bed under the stars. We realized the importance of our work at 2 am when a group of drunk ATV riders roared up the trail and by our camp, as we hiked out the next morning we saw meadows that they had torn up and the garbage that they left all over the canyon. Hopefully, the work that we did will keep some of that damage from happening in the future.

Ode to Pugsley

2008-05-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

The snow has melted and so I am now back to blogging. There isn't a great reason other than being lazy or busy that we haven't blogged but that have been a few unfortunate events have impacted us lately, like having pneumonia for 4 weeks.. But this blog is not about that.. it is dedicated to a great little man "dog" that we truly miss. We lost our little male Boston terrier right after Easter. We came home from Easter dinner with family and he had a little seizure, or so we thought, I stayed home from work watched him for one day and then it was off to the vet. The vet heard something in is heart and thought he might have a leaky valve but he would be just fine and we could take him home after a few tests....They called a couple of hours later to let us know he was ready to pick up, but before J could pick him up they called back to sadly inform me that he had passed. Some of the hardest news I had to hear in a work setting. I tried to call J to catch her before she got there. She came and got me instead and we went to the vet's. We have the best vet in the world. So concerned they gave us tissue as soon as we walked in, tried to cheer us up, but we were and are heartbroken. He was fine one minute and the next was gone, an apparent massive heart attack. We had great support through it.. Jen came over that night with flowers and sat with me so I wouldn't be alone while J went to a meeting. I took a day off work and busied myself with projects around the house...

Some might say he was just a dog, but he had been in my live for 11 years. It was driving to get Pugsley as a puppy that I almost died of laughter when I heard KG sing the wrong words to the soundtrack of "Grease" .... Grease is the word it's the word that you heard it has food it has meat in it".... I laughed so hard I cried. I guess to an islander that is what grease is about food and meat.. :).. We missed the exit in the canyon because we were laughing so hard.

He was the little dog that we pretended to give to a niece that was heartbroken that she couldn't have a dog of her own. We even took her to get pictures taken with him.

He was J's first real pet. She was raised with fish and lizards (things that could be flushed if necessary).. She was a little hesitant about dogs at first, but he became her little man too.. She would give him baths, go for walks and ofcourse tolerated the stinking gas from time to time.

He was a sweet little man, he will be truely missed, especially Maggie(our female three legged Boston) his playmate and friend. She is now struggling, she seems lost and so sad. He can never be replaced but I think for her and for us we are going to have to look for a puppy sooner than later. I really thought she would snap out of it but she misses having a friend.

So there you have it... We are back in the blog 'o' sphere..

Snow Day!!!

2008-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

I know we are awful posters. We are trying to revamp the blog and be better about sharing the things that are going on. Now that we live up on the "semi" bench we get a lot of snow. Hence the necessary purchase of a small snow blower. However, because it is small, the intensity of the last few storms have forceds us to brave the elements to clear the snow more than one time during the storm. A few pics to share our winter wonderland. A drift by our driveway. I am truly standing it in. We had 18 to 20 inches all over our yard.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2007-12-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

We have discovered that there are trail heads about 2 minutes away from where we live, so when the snows fell last week, we knew it was our chance to get out with the snowshoes that haven't been used for a couple of years.

Our friend, Lynda, and her dogs, Duke and PJ, joined us for the snowy romp.

It was gorgeous, serene, and lovely spending the afternoon outside viewing the snowy city from afar. The dogs acted as though the live in the Arctic and had endless fun running at break-neck speed past us on the trail and then sniffing out critters.

Enjoying a beverage. . .

Home Improvement photos

2007-11-25T20:16:00.001-08:00

Crazy Busy...

2007-11-25T19:02:00.000-08:00

OK, so I know we haven't blogged in a long long time. So many things have happened. The Red Sox won the series, the Utes lost, work is crazy, Bill Clinton came to town, home improvements, etc. Clinton, what a charmer. J and I went up to the U to hear him speak. I'll let her blog more about that if she wants but he made a compelling argument to vote for Hillary. Work- J has been really busy with new clients and acting as "help desk" for old ones. I stayed home one day and in the midst of my projects overheard her literally tell a client to click here and open this and "Do you see the back button at the top of the page?" No wonder this part of her job drives her nuts. My work has been crazy lately too. I found out that my boss was being laid off and then had to help the company lay off about 50 people. I usually love my job but ending someones employment is horrible and a little stressful.

So onto to more important and happier things. Our good friends J & M celebrate a Korean harvest festival every year around this time. Their house has been undergoing a big renovation so we volunteered our new place for "Chusok" this year. Of course 50 people coming over to your house is a great motivator for home improvement projects (like I really need an excuse for those things). In prep for Chusok we retiled the fireplace. It was all white before and just blended into the wall, we painted our bright gold brass shower surrond silver, we installed new outside lights (house warming present from my mother, she thought our old ones were awful), we painted the outside trim stucco and the front door, new doorknobs, and the bigger project... we renovated the downstairs bath. The previous owners had tried to stain the oak cabinets by just slapping on some dark cherry stain and they looked horrible. They also painted the bathroom mustard brown/yellow, kind of the color of baby poop. So it was due for a face lift.

We stripped/sanded and stained the cabinets. Painted the walls and ceiling, twice, we didn't like the first color, it was too light. We got new cabinet hardware, a new sink and faucet and a new countertop, a few new accents and Voila, a new bathroom. We wanted everything to be a perfect as possible for Chusok. The party was a success but those of you who check out J&M's blog can see for yourselves.

Do brunettes have more fun?

2007-10-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

After being a not-so-natural blond for a while now, I decided to give the brunette thing a try. Not sure it will be a lasting look, but since I barely get out of my pajamas most days, I guess it doesn't matter that much.

It does go well with my Red Sox gear, however, and you know, they are in the World Series!

The Nation

2007-10-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's lovely when it gets to be October and there's a crispness in the air and the leaves are turning and indian summer is trying to hold back the chilly winter. But let's face it. . . sometimes it's lovely because you're not outside enjoying it, but inside watching the Red Sox in the post-season.

I admit, I do not watch many games during the regular season. There are just too damn many of them to take up precious spring and summer outings, but L is a monitor so I always know how the Red Sox are doing anyway. I don't even have to look it up on ESPN because she does practically every day. I don't know how many evening conversations have a non-sequitous insertion of "The Red Sox won" or "The Red Sox lost" (though this hasn't happened very often this year). Yes, our Red Sox Nation boasts the best record in baseball, the cutest pitchers, the big Papi, and the dredlocked Mani.

So if you wonder where we are, just check to see that the Red Sox are still in the playoffs, and if they aren't, we've gone on a very long long bikeride.

Country Cousins

2007-09-19T22:16:00.001-07:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!So if you haven't checked out Jib-Jab, you should do one of these, though trust met, you'll burn a couple of hours doing it. These are my niece and nephews.

Sunny Seattle

2007-09-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, we were a little quick to judge the visibility in the northwest in the last post because as it turned out, we may never have such clear view of Mt. Hood AND Mt. Rainier, not to mention a brief drive by of Mt. St. Helen's. Seriously, I don't believe the odds are good we'll ever see all 3 again in the same trip. But we were lucky enough to see them this time around.

After a couple days in Portland, bike riding, Body Worlds III, and a hike to the backside of Mt. Hood where we could see glaciers showing off their blue hue in the sunshine, we set off for Seattle with Aunt Joy and my cousin Hayley for bumming around the city. Taking the regular commuter ferry to Bainbridge Island (for a mere $6 compared to the $25 that the tourist boats were charging just up the street), we were able to see the entire city of Seattle with Mt. Rainier in the background. We celebrated Joy's birthday that night at the Wild Ginger, a great nouveau Asian restaurant (that just happened to have a great wine list, so L was happy, even if there were shrimp and scallops all around her).

On Sunday, after hunting down some food and coffee, we headed to the Space Needle for more blue-skied views of the city. It was pretty cool though the glass elevators were not my favorite.

We headed over to Pike Place Market after that to just take in the breadth of humanity. After we collected all the pieces for our picnic--Greek grape leaves, Chinese pot stickers, French bread, French cheese, Greek baklava, American-grown Concord grapes and peaches--we found a nice spot on the grassy park nearby.

While we ate our lunch, we were treated to the great American pasttime: drug dealing. In the broadest sunniest daylight that Seattle probably sees, there were all the players: the two well-dressed men (casual but definitely looked as if they were living in some nice loft in Seattle) who were the top of the heap, the middle man with the flannel shirt, jeans, and backward baseball cap, the less-than-middle-man young black kid in a hoody and baggy pants, the half a dozen people buying (young college age kid who looked crushed when his $ didn't buy him enough of a fix; the older guy who also had some beef with the hoody middle-man; etc.), and the few desperate tweakers, one woman in particular who was trying to sell her unattractive self to any of the buyers for a little junk. We saw bags exchanged, money exchanged, beefs started and worked out, and no cops to be seen. Really, anybody watching for about 5 minutes could have seen it happening, but most of the locals and tourists were going by or enjoying the view of the water and sun and Rainier and oblivious to the whole drama. There was a 6-7 year old girl who stared at the action from less than 10 feet away while her parents busily engaged in a conversation with their friends. Even she knew there was something going on that shouldn't be going on in broad daylight.

Drug dealing aside, Seattle was fabulous and Portland was amazing! We ended the trip with a neighborhood party at Joy and Ralph's and a trip to Trader Joe's and our usual bootlegging stash for the border.

Hey, nice abs!

2007-08-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like a trip to the northwest in August. It's still green here and the weather is nice (knock on wood) though Mt. Hood is still not visible today for our hike. We rode our bikes around the city yesterday on a little adventure. We had a little lunch down by the river and in general just chilled out. The scenery was great and the people watching was just as great. It was amazing how many Portlanders ride their bikes around.

After dragging our out-of-shapes butts back to Aunt Joy's house, we met up with Uncle Ralph to go to BodyWorlds III, the exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Being a squeamish type about blood and guts, I wondered how I would enjoy the "plastinated" bodies in all their muscle-y glory. But it was actually amazing. We saw organs, muscles, tendons, vessels, aortas, femoral arteries, etc. Most of the bodies were displayed in some artistic way, like The Archer.

Interestingly, they left the outside view of the penises, testes (they are after all supported by a little muscle) and the vajayjays and nipples. We saw brains, hearts, livers, kidneys, spleens, intestines, stomachs, appendix (they are tiny!), and everything else. We also saw healthy lungs vs. smoker lungs (all of you smokers, stop now!!).

The "plastination" technique was developed by Dr. Gunther von Hagens. People donate their bodies to be plastinized (there are 6,000 currently on the list). They put plastic polymers in all of the cells and then the bodies are posed in certain dynamic positions and then cured (i.e. baked) in those positions. This provides a great opportunity for people to learn about the body and appreciate the complexity of the body's movements and functions. Some of the bodies that are not posed are sliced into 1/2 inch cross sections so that you can view a person's entire torso in slices--which gives you an interesting viewpoint on how all your body parts work together.

Our New Party Palace

2007-08-15T21:35:00.001-07:00

As soon as it got down to a cool 96 degrees outside, we decided we had to create a bigger space for us to be outside. So through a couple weeks of preparation (ripping out shrubs, killing slugs, moving sprinklers), we got our space ready for the new deck extension.

I'm sure L could tell more details about the process--about attaching some board to the foundation or doing the "underlayment" I think is the term. Yes, L can... Our favorite handyman was up for the adventure so, after the prep work we woke up early Thurs. morning had a few cups of coffee and we were ready to go. Pugsley, joined for a cup of joe from Jeff's thermos. He needed the energy so he could run around, get in the way, and bark at all power tools. For the underlayment we had to dig post holes, pour cement, set posts and a 4x8 beam, which fell on my leg, more bruises, drill holes in the foundation and then use anchor bolts to anchor the ledger board to the house. Once all the joists were hung the Trex could begin.

We pre-drilled to screw in all the Trex, making sure to space them. Of course, I've skipped over the endless trips to Home Depot and the carrying of all of
the supplies--Trex are freakin heavy--and the bruises I have on my forearms prove that. And then there was the stairs, the railing, the staining of the railing, and the creation of the doggy tripod ramp (I insisted; L figured out how to make it happen--now all we have to do is train the dogs to use the doggy ramp).

In short, I lost 4 days of my life, found new bruises practically every other hour, begged L to let us have a break after 2 full days (until seriously 9-10pm at night), and I couldn't be happier with the new party palace. Seriously, it's awesome. If you haven't been to visit yet, you should. We've got a few new patio furniture pieces and we have eaten outside every night since we finished. It is my new favorite thing about the new house.

Scenic Road Trip and Patty

2007-08-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite things are road trips and Patty Griffin. So when she skipped Utah on her latest tour a road trip was in order. We had been wanting to do a trip through Durango, Silverton, and Ouray for a couple of years and as luck would have it... Patty was playing in Durango. So on an early Friday morning we set off for the four corners area. Patty wasn't the only item on the agenda but a good start, there weren't any wineries in the area but there was a honey mead store (brought a bottle home for some of you to try), some great hikes, good shopping, and great food. My lastest foodie magazine had a restaraunt in Durango listed as award winning, so we had to try it out (twice :)). We also had a great sweet surprise when there was a cold bottle of bubbly in our room when we arrived. A little gift from our dear sweet Superman, who we couldn't thank enough. On day two we asked a local about a good hike, I think we missed the trailhead he described but we stumbled upon a great hike.. Haviland Lake, wild flowers, turtles, brilliant frogs.

The drive from Durango to Silverton and on to Ouray has got to be one of the prettiest in the country. There is an overlook where you are supposed to be breathing the cleanest air in the country. That point was lost on the bad hair, bad a#$ biker chick behind us who took a deep breath and then proceeded to light up another cigarette...

2007-08-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

This short post is just for K so she will stop giving me S#*) for not blogging, and to commemorate our one month blog anniversary. We will blog about Durango and home improvements soon.. More to come.

Saga of the Tripod

2007-07-15T11:16:00.001-07:00

We've had a little surgical emergency in our household (and it's a long story--but here are the highlights). Maggie the dog had been suffering from a hurt back leg for the last 2-3 months. We'd taken her to the vet in Orem at the beginning of all of that, but at the time, it appeared it may just be related to jumping off the couch or bed or something, so got an anti-inflammant and then got caught up in moving and everything as Maggie continued to limp around a bit. We took her to a new vet in Draper about 2 weeks ago, expecting to hear something about surgery to repair a ligament or something like that since it hadn't seemed to heal. Instead, the vet kept her for the day to do some X-rays (resulting in a without-warning-$600-bill--our other vet would always provide a quote before services--so it seemed very unprofessional and dishonest at the time--but we were reeling from the diagnosis--so how do you argue?) and delivered a callus cancer diagnosis of bone cancer (that he was 99% sure of even though she didn't have the accompanying tumors in her lungs) first to me and then to Lisa, who he talked to literally for all of 45 seconds and told us to google osteocarcinoma in dogs if we wanted more information. He told us that she probably only had 30-45 days to live, so we took her home very sad and gave her the prescribed round of antiobiotics and pain pills, hoping that perhaps his unsure 1% might turn out to be true, but willing to accept the likelihood of no recovery and putting her down sometime soon.

From the X-rays, it was pretty clear that her knee joint was damaged and something had been eating away at it. Usually bone cancer in dogs is quickly accompanied by spread to the lungs, but Maggie's lungs are totally clear of any tumors (which the Draper vet pointed out--but discounted as an anomaly) so while of course we thought the doctor was probably right (he should know, right?), after 10 days, Maggie seemed actually a little better (running around the backyard, sucking on her stuffed animal, chasing the water hose), though still doing most everything on 3 legs and definitely didn't seem like a dog dying within a month. The vet wasn't really all that helpful in terms of information--like what were the options; is there a way to clearly diagnose (rather than guess?), etc. When I took her back to the vet 10 days after his initial diagnosis to have her checked again and get more pain pills, the idiot vet delivered the same news "I'm sorry to tell you this, but your dog has cancer" as if it were the first time he'd seen me or Maggie, and gave me pain pills and a lecture about "knowing when it's time" and "not being selfish." All very strange; and not helpful.

The interaction with the Draper vet just didn't jive and was really unsatisfying in terms of information, so Lisa called the vet in Orem that same day to just find out what is the usual course of action. Since they had been treating both dogs for the last 10 years, they immediately asked if we could bring Maggie on Friday afternoon and if we could contact the Draper vet to get the most recent X-rays. We managed to get the X-rays (though only after some grumbling from the vet that he was offended about us 2nd guessing his diagnosis) and took Maggie to Orem. Dr. Weber and Dr. Pew both took a look at everything on file and determined that 1) bone cancer was probably 3rd on the list of possibilities, 2) a fungus was #1 possibility (and the vet wanted to rule out any fungus that might have been affecting our health as well) with an infection #2, and 3) in any scenario, the best option for Maggie was to remove the leg because the joint was causing a lot of pain and was too damaged to repair and removing the leg would allow the doctors to make a more accurate diagnosis, plus at this point, she was essentially only using 3 legs. We also found out in all of this that 1) the Draper idiot vet took crappy X-rays for $600 (like as in the Orem vet felt that a new chest X-ray needed to be taken so she could actually see--which cost us $60 not $600); 2) surgery and related expenses to take care of the problem was only going to cost $400-$500 (after the Draper vet's bill, we though it would cost thousands) and 3) dogs recover and adapt quite well--not like humans who lose a limb. At that point, it was frustrating to have already spent $600 on no solution and a bad bedside manner, and yet it was sort of impossible not to spend less to properly address the problem.

So on June 30th, little Maggie became a tripod. She rested comfortably at the vet's office through the weekend and came home on Monday. The vet's office told us that she was her social and snuggly self shortly after recovering from the anaesthetic and charmed everyone there, even with just 3 legs. Since she's been home, she's done well though had to restitched on Monday because she was so active and licking her wound that she opened up about a 2-inch hole (gross!). We're trying to keep her from jumping and going up or down stairs, but you'd be surprised how well she manages them when her owners are too slow to grab her. Her only problem is the hardwood floors through the kitchen and living room area. She doesn't quite get the grip there like she does on carpet, so she slips from time to time. But honestly, sometimes when she's running, you wouldn't know she was only doing it with 3 legs. Maybe we'll have to enter her in the special doggy olypmics. Seriously, she's happy and normal and I think she'll be around for a while longer to snuggle and bring solace to her humans.

The biopsy results came back this past week, and it turns out she has a cancer, but not bone cancer. She has sicle cell sarcoma, a very slow-grower and has no other indications of cancer anywhere else in her body. The prognosis is that she will probably be with us another 3 years or so and will likely die of old age at that point rather than cancer. We're really glad that we followed our instincts and took her for second opinion. The leg had to go because of the pain it was causing, and now we know that had it not been removed, over a long period of time, it would have spread and been a very uncomfortable life and death.

We can't wait for when she's well enough to take her on . . .er. . . walks (?). Maybe we can jerry-rig a little back wheel for her?

We do laugh that we now have two "special needs" dogs.

Initial Voyage

2007-07-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

We have finally ventured into the blog world. We really need to keep all of our friends all over the place, up to date on our adventures. Stay tuned... really... for updates.