Our Wicked Backyard

Poor Jersey had another run in with Mother Nature tonight in the backyard. This was much simpler than dealing with a skunk, but more dangerous in my opinion. She had a tick starting to burrow it's way in her neck. The dangerous part for Jersey (and for anyone really) is the potential for Lyme Disease. We looked online to find the correct way to remove it and started to prep for "surgery". I disinfected the tools and was ready for post op care. Seth snapped on his rubber gloves and the tick-ectoy took place in our dining room. I restrained Jersey while Seth took a tweezers (now in the trash) and CAREFULLY pulled it out. The trick is NOT to pull or yank to fast and to get as close to the skin as possible b/c the tick's head can easily become detached from it's body and burrow deeper in the skin causing infection. We placed the pest in a vial of rubbing alcohol and took a peek---it looked like we got it, head and all. I performed some post op care to Jersey by disinfecting the wound and then disinfected our surgical area. Jersey has recovered fine and is now chewing on a treat bone we gave her for being such a trooper. I'll be calling the vet in the morning (thank God for Saturday vet hours) so we can rest a little easier. Poor Jersey...She's having a rotten Summer. We may have to treat her to another weekend up north at the Cabin :)

Here is a picture (from the internet) of the type of tick Dr. Seth removed from Jersey. The tick itself is small, a little bit bigger than a pencil eraser.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

Jersey is such a GOOD GOOD DOG.

On the move and built in babysitter

Well, Kole is offically on the move and will not be stopped!! He's crawling faster each day and wants to pull up to anything he can get his hands on. The other day he tried to pull up to the dog while she was sitting nearby. Speaking of the dog.....she is like our own built in babysitter. Take a close look at some of the pics I posted. Jersey is constantly looking over Kole's shoulder to either make sure he's okay or to just be nosey. Either way, they are interacting more and more each day. Here are some pics and videos to share.



Kole on his rocking horse


Being goofy and trying to crawl underneath his exersaucer but also pull up and play with the toys from the "other side"


He's just really excited here, not mad or throwing a fit....yet.


Climing through his exersaucer


I think Jersey is giving Kole a kiss


Pulling up to the chair (and Jersey looking on)


Kole discovering a cord on the floor (no no Kole. and Jersey over his left shoulder)


Kole pulling up to the ottoman (and Jersey over his right shoulder)


Kole on the move! (guess who he's chasing??? here's a clue: it's not a human)


Kole in his new wagon (thanks Nanny and Papa Tom!)


Hi from my red wagon!


posing by Frank's (neighbor) flower's



posing by more flowers


He loved to turn around and see what was going on behind him

Kole talking to Grammy

On the move

Playing intently at his activity table

Playing with his babysitter

HERE ARE A FEW PICS I PLAYED AROUND WITH ON PICNIK.

Moving

Well, we all knew the time was coming, we just didn't know exactly when the big move would take place. Well, see the below video for more information.

Offically "moving" :)

Our Family Vacation Pics and Some Misc. Stuff

Here are some pics from our first official family vacation. These were taken by Mary Rose and Keri (since I was not good about taking pics and when I was my battery died). Those will be repeats for some since they are on Keri's blog too. There are a few misc. pics thrown in I think too.


Heading out to Mackinac City for the day


Papa having fun in the water with his little "fish"

THANK YOU Mary Rose for taking this pic from the waist up!!!

The family (with the sun in our eyes)

The two little munchkins in thier cute Life is Good sweatshirts. We have a Lovebug and a Tiger!

Dads and thier kids

Emma and her Aunt Jenny

Emma crawling through the "tunnel of fun".

Kole eating a beef pasta bake I made for dinner

You can't really see, but Kole is drinking his bottle (with one hand) in his pack n play AND doing some casual reading (with the other hand).

Sorry this video is crooked, you'll have to turn your head to watch it :(

The Smell of Summer (and some chicken)

Ah, the wonderful Summer nights: the warm air, the chirping noise of the crickets, the lightening bugs making themselves little flashlights for the yard, the sweet smell of skunk on your dog....  Yes, Jersey has officially been skunked!  Here's the story:

She ran off the deck the other night to do her nightly business, but instead decided to chase something that caught her eye.  No huge deal, I thought as I watched Jersey, she loves to chase the occasional bunny around the yard this time of night.  She never catches them anyway.  This time was a bit different though, as I heard her growls and barks from the back corner of the yard.  I yelled for her to get inside (not too loud, it was going on 11pm) and within seconds I knew something was not right.  Her hair was standing on end from her neck to her tail, she was "chomping" on something with saliva dripping from the corners of her mouth, and then.... I SMELLED IT.  I closed the slider faster than you can say "skunk" and my heart sank.  My poor dog, the one I cuddle with at night and who used to sleep in the extra bed with us at night, never again will I be able to get close enough to love her up when she smells like this!!  I woke up Seth (clearly not happy with our dog) and we devised a plan:  Put Jersey in the garage and we'll evaluate the situation, but do NOT let her in the house.  We could already tell by the heavy scent in the air that it was a skunk that had indeed sprayed.  We corralled Jersey in the garage and sniffed her good..  We determined that she didn't smell like skunk at all; it smelled like something was burning.  We needed to investigate a bit more so we hauled her crate to the garage, locked her up good and tight and headed inside for the internet.  According to a site appropriately named "what does it smell like when my dog gets sprayed by a skunk?", the smell resembles a hot burning vacuum belt or burnt rubber.  Oh, I'll just go ahead and say what we were thinking at this point: "shit."  More searching told us to "act fast!" and that the tomato juice method was okay but there were better things on the market now.  Seth made a run to Meijer late that night to pick up whatever he could find in the pet department.  He returned home with a couple of options, one being a nice fragrant smelling dog shampoo.  We brought Jersey into the front yard and hooked her up to a big tree with a collar and a rope so we could give her a good bath with the yard hose.  Seth put on rubber gloves for the task.  15 minutes later a damp Jersey was back in her crate in the garage (which still smelled horrible), our clothes were in the washing machine, and the shower was running.  We discussed that she'll be quarantined to the garage for AT LEAST the weekend.  Our heads hit the pillows at 12:35am.  Kole and I ventured out to the pet store yesterday morning to see what else could find to rid our dog and garage of the smell.  I found a solution to use on Jersey but the groomers at PetSmart told me it probably won't work as well because we've already bathed her in something else.  Oh well, better than nothing dog groomers, I have a dog that smells like a burnt vacuum cleaner belt, I'll take what I can get.  I gave Jersey a bath in this solution at the big tree in the front yard again and sent her off to her crate when she was finished.  Poor thing, all she wanted to do is go inside.  She ran up to the front door and the garage door hoping to get a chance to see the inside of her house again.  Not to mention that when I take her in the backyard to do her business, she sits on the deck pining to get inside.  Today she was actually pawing at the screen (which now has a few small holes in it).  Night two in the garage for Jersey with only a minimal amount of crying on her part.  I gave her another bath today with the solution and she seems to be smelling much better!  The garage is another story.  I've been leaving it open all day when I'm home but it's still stinky.  We might cave over the next day or two and let Jersey sleep in her crate in the basement; she HATES the fireworks and I feel bad that she might be scared  all by herself in the garage.  I'm such a softie.....   I'll include some pathetic looking pics of our sweet dog in her crate.  Poor Jersey Girl :(

Oh, and the chicken part:  Kole has started to eat chicken!  The pediatrician said that he can start having table foods and this includes meat.  She said that his gums are strong and he can "gum" the food as long as it's small, like cut up pieces of chicken.  So I've cut up leftover chicken the past couple of nights from our dinner and given it to Kole and he loves it!!!  He gobbles it right up and uses his jaws to mash the meat.  I gave him a few pieces of cut up potato the other night and he loves that too.  What a good growing boy!!

Poor doggie

Eating chicken

"chewing" his chicken

Kole enjoying his chicken dinner!

Family Vacation

We took a trip this week over to Bay City and then to Mullett Lake to visit with family. We suprised Jay and Keri when we arrived in Bay City on Thursday evening. We were supposed to meet up with them on Friday at the lake but we made a last minute decision to go over to Bay City instead to spend a little time with them and Emma. Kole and Emma had fun taking each other's toys and playing in "The Tunnel of Fun" that I brought over. Emma is getting SO BIG and it was so fun to see her "live"!! She cruises over the whole living room and hangs on to the furniture to be sure she doesn't fall. I could kick myself for not taking more pictures and then when I did decide to haul the camera out, the battery died! I will await the photos that Keri and Mary Rose took and post those when I get them.

Seth, Kole, and I made a stop to Mackinac City on the way to Mullett Lake on Friday. We walked around and had a nice time. We met up with Mary Rose and Carey and had a nice dinner Friday night after we checked into our hotel. Seth and I fished off the dock for quite some time after dinner and went to bed late. Saturday found us at the lake. We relaxed, hung out, and played in the water with the two kids. Emma was not a huge fan of the water but Kole didn't mind it. He managed to take over Emma's floatie and had a fun time with his legs dangling in the water. It rained later on that evening so there was no campfire for us. Naturally though, just after we left, the rain subsided. Seth and I fished a little more off the dock near outside our hotel. Sunday was a bit cool and windy so we didn't stay long at the lake. We left around noon and made our way home. Our family vacation was now coming to an end. Monday was back to reality :(

Seth's fishing trip

Click on this link for pictures of Seth and Carey's fishing adventures. Here is the little ditty that the fishing guide wrote about them (sorry Carey, they spelled your name wrong):
Well Seth and Kerry father and son duo had there first taste of night fishing,,,,,,,,The really big fish w0n the battle but we did get a few to hand........I have monday off the 29th and the 3rd and 5th of July,,,,,,,Come join in on the night fun
Check out Seth and Carey's pics, they look good!!