Let me bring y'all up to date! A photo editorial. :)

Hi! Sorry for being out of touch for long. Honestly? I didn't get many followers/readers and I got discouraged. :-/ But, I'm going to start posting all these on FB like crazy! lol :)


So here is a collection of photos of what we've been up to :) :


GARDEN ANTICS

 I finally caught our groundhog on film! (well, you know) It's sitting around and casually eating a discarded tomato. I loss the buggy ones in the yard. My trap worked!!

 

 



 Silly girl! Lana pulled a green tomato off a plant and ate it all up! She's so crazy. :) We have SO many tomatoes!



Hehe. Tigger with a tomato. :) Sweet boy.

 

 

 

DEJA VEU! We spent another anniversary in the bathroom sheltering from tornados! Thank God unlike in 2011, there were was no power outage or major damages!

 

 

 

 

 

CHINESE NEW YEAR- YEAR OF THE HORSE! I THINK I made it know I love My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! I got to snag one of the most awesome item this year!

 

So pretty!

 

 

 

DEN IS FINALLY PAINTED!

I really should haven't needed 7 months to pick a darn color! And it's nearly the same color... But, less sage and more blue. :)

 

 

 

LEGACY CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY!

Chris was asked to help others in the birth of Legacy Christian University under Dr Lee Barnett.

 

 

Sexy Man ;) MY man. :p

BACK TO SCHOOL! For me!

"Encountering the New Testament" and "Microsoft Office 2013 for Dummies"

I am using the opportunity afforded to me because of Chris's association with the University to go back to college! I only have my associates degree and now I can get a Bachelors in General Studies with religious education. :) I start tomorrow (8/11/2014) and I'm so excited!

Funnily enough my Block A class is Intro to Microsoft Office which Chris is teaching! And for Block B, New Testament Survey, we are both enrolled! :) Hehe.





 

 

Well, that's most of life for now! Check back soon! :)

 

 

 

 

Planting the Garden 2014: Tomatoes & Peaches

                Dog Days already?

                 Can dogs tan? ;p

Welcome! How's YOUR weather! It's routinly hitting the 90's. Chris & I knew it was almost past time to plant our garden ASAP or forgo it two years running. 

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But first, I HAVE to show you our peach tree! It's looks like we may actually get our first handful (or more!) of peaches! Here, check it out! :)

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As a sort of Mother's Day gift Chris took me to pick out tomato plants! So, on Sunday evening (5/10/14), by twilight and head lanterns, Chris planted & trellised five plants in the garden. I planted four container style varieties also. :) Nine plants! Yes, nine! I like to go for variety-a few slicing, canning, cherry/grape tomatoes, and a color variety. Here they are:

1.) Containers:

*Husky Cherry Red" *to be replanted to a large pot ASAP.

Right to left: Bush Goliath, Patio, and Bush Early Girl. Just lacking another Biiig pot for Husky Cherry and to two trellises.

3.) Tomato Garden: 

*the cinder bloc holes get filled with flowers and herbs. :)

*Atkinson

*Early Girl

*Herloom Rutgers

*Golden Jubilee.

-- Missing from photos is our Better Boy plant. :) 

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The rest of our gardening plans are cukes -for bread & butter pickles- plus and a few of the burpless slicing variety. The last garden will go to my very favorite fresh steamed veggie- thin,stringless green beans. Sort of like French green beans. These will be vacuume packed & frozen No real photos until their trellises go up. But, here are the gardens themselves. 

Our original sf garden had given up the ghost. The wood frame will be replaced with a quick & hearty cinder bloc retaining wall. Here is a comparison. On the right is the new cinderboc style and left is original weather resistant garden:

They'll get spruced up & planted real soon!! 

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A note to all my faithful readers, I love blogging and I especially enjoy knowing people out there are reading. But, this blog is going to serve as a big of a weekly post-card from the Kennedy house. So, let's say by Tuesday evenings I will have a new post every week. Hoping to keep things short & sweet. :) 

For my side, please leave me comments! I love hearing from you. There are security measures so you won't get spam or "boted". Please? I should have the comment feature up in the next few days. :)

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And now for recent pet photos!

*I woke up to THIS one morning...

Love to All! Don't forget your sunscreen! 

Settling in With Lana :)

This had been a big week for us all, with Little Miss Lana in our home. We love love love her! It's fun to see her come out of her shell and trust us more and more every day!

Well Baby Vet Visit: Monday Lana saw the vet, and aside from a case of ear mites that's a common ailment in floppy eared pups, she's a picture of health! One big shocker though! We were told Lana was about 2-2.5 yrs old, but Dr Chancellor said he's put her age at barely a year old! Wow! Our Little Miss Lana is a very accurate nickname. :) 

Potty Training: We were  told Lana May or May not be housebroken, but any big move can confuse any dog. She only had about  3 accidents and first she needed a short walk to go potty. We've advanced to going potty in the yard, but she doesn't want to be alone.

Back Yard Ambivalence!: Lana loooves playing in the yard and sniffing all around. :) But, as of now she's hesitant to be outside alone. I get it- new place, anxiety separation, etc. She just needs time and we can phase her out alone with incrementally larger time periods.

"Why no chase kitty?" "Dog! She'll kill us all!!":

It seems Lana and the cats are getting more comfortable living together. Hunter is pretty much ok with Lana, but Tigger isn't so sure. :-/ He's getting there. Last night be slept in bed with Lana being there too. Today she came down from the china cabinet for the day to his normal day long nap on the sunny bookcase. Lol. :) 

Beginner's Obedience Training Class! :D As luck would have it we got Lana into an obedience yesterday (Nov 19th)- the actual day I went in to sign up for a class in Dec 4th! For the next six weeks, Chris, Lana, and I will be at PetSmart helping Lana learn some better manners. In my opinion, people view obedience just for getting your dog to listen. But, the other half of the equation is your dog is now clear what you are asking and that cuts down on everyone's stress and confusion.

Week One:  Intro, "Sit", "Watch Me"

I'm sure you understand the sit command. :) The "watch me" was new to me. You are asking your dog to look into your eyes or at least your face. Great command for getting your dogs attention, especiallly when they're going a bit crazy!! :) In class Lana simply was too timid/insecure about the intimacy of eye contact. But, she finally would look in our eyes -not the instructors- very briefly. Before next Tues. we just have to work on those two commands! :) 

Lana's First Week Hwk: Weds- going nicely! She is showing me I need to do the same thing each time. We were practicing "sit" and I had to hold my hand position (palm open facing up, finger & thumb in a circle holding the treat) the same way of she took much more time to sit. Obedience 101 for Pet Parent: Patience, Repetition, and Consistency, Consistency, CONSISTENCY!

Very encouraged with her "Watch Me" command- a sit followed by a command to look at my eyes/face. She struggled with this in class on Tues because of insecurity, but in the calm of her home :) she's going pretty well! She makes definite eye contact & we'll work on increasing the length. 

I love getting to look into her gorgeous eyes. :) I've never seen brown eyes like hers. :) Not being gushy! They are a sort of a caramel-y light brown with a hint of red. So pretty. :) 

Fun!: It's so cute to watch Lana play. :) She really enjoys her "babies", her stuffed animal toys. They follow the beagle breed as hunting breed. :) She's got a pheasant, a rabbit, a fox, and a MIA porcupine. I guess she felt it didn't fit the criteria. :p She finds great joy in "hiding" her babies.  She just doesn't want to share I guess! She also loves small nylabones, Kong, and crazily this crackle ball cat toy with a bell. 

Cuddle Bunny!: One big benefit of the house breaking is we can trust (fingers crossed, no jinxes!) Lana can sleep in bed with all of us. :) She is such a cuddle bug! This week it seems about 2pm I've GOT to take some length of nap and of course Lil' Lana joins me too. Since my arm surgery I sleep with a pillow under by left arm for support. Today I fell asleep with Lana on the far side of the pillow and woke up with her cuddled up between the pillow and me. :) 

Silly puppy :)

This took a few weeks to post, but Lana is going great! 

Good Night, My Beautiful Boy.

*Writen in November, but now I feel up to sharing what was on my heart immediately after Buck's passing.

Buck, my sweet boy. My snuggle bunny and my shadow. My life will never be the same without you. You came into my life when it was just me & you against the world. We were happy to adopt Daddy when he came along though. :)

*If you would like the medical facts & info, stay tuned for the end.*

You are the best dog ever. Kind, gentle, and sensitive. You certainly loved naps with Mom, bike rides with Dad, and to watch birds at the feeder with the cats. I felt very safe with you here when Daddy wasn't home. I loved your company. We never had to be alone. :) 

We know your in Heaven now. You can run as long and far as you want now. You can follow your nose for hours and hours.  Sunny nap spots that never end. You enjoy a body that never feels hunger, pain, or sickness.

We love you, thank you for being our dog. Thank you for loving us. 

Carolyn & Chris

*skip to the asterisks below if you wish to skip the medical details.

What Happened:

Our sweet beautiful boy passed away last Saturday, November 10th. He wasn't feeling well for 3-4 days and had been into the vet 3 times in 4 days. 

On Saturday, Buck was diagnosed with epilepsy. While beagle are strongly predisposed to epilepsy, having it emerge at 9 years of is very strange. But! The reassuring news was Epi. is very rarely fatal and our vet started him on a medication. We were to return Tues. for a few more tests and observation.

After we got home Buck started acting very strange, he had what we now know was a tonic clonic (formerly grand mal) seizure. Afterwards he was a bit more alert, responding to our voices, etc but, began walking in wobbly circles. After he tumbled off the bed, then "got stuck" after walking up against the back of the house, we crated him for his own safety.

In his crate he seemed to be doing better, we hoped the medication was helping. He snored his way through a 3-4 hr nap. But, about 4 or 5pm his breathing became labored. Eventually, he stopped breathing completely. :-/

Chris performed CPR while I drove Buck to the emergency clinic, but our sweet boy had slipped away from us. While it was a traumatic event for us, we take comfort in the fact two vets have reassured us for Buck he wouldn't have had any distress or pain. He was happy and content at home with Mommy & Daddy, took a nap, and woke up in his forever home. We anxiously await seeing Buck again in our time.

While we don't know for sure, our vet believes Buck suffered a bleed in his brain that would have caused his death on Saturday. Two front runners are stroke or brain tumor. Seizures cause high blood pressure and this pressure could have caused a stoke to bleed or pushing on a tumor also causing a bleed. 

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Ultimately, Buck's death was a terrible anomalie. It couldn't have been detected. The possible diseases are all inconsistent with life. While it's cliche, it was a great mercy Buck passed like he did. He didn't linger and we didn't face the added heartache of having him put down.

But, our hearts still ache for out Buck a Bee. There really isn't words... Soon I'll try to compose myself to write your story. 

Buck & Chris asleep for the night. This was taken two nights before Buck passed away. During this week Buck was extremely comforted by physical touch & contact.

Hug your babies tight! 

Buck's earthly remains with his collar and favorite toys.