Two week recap

I'm feeling lazy and not wanting to post multiple messages, so I decided to combine them all into one. Sorry!

Two weeks ago we went to Grand Ridge for the 3rd annual "Party Til the Cows Come Home". For the past 3 years Chip and I have gone to Grand Ridge with our friends Mark & Emma and Austin & Ashley to Ashley's parent's house to swim in their pool, bbq, and have fun. Ashley's mom always makes us homemade ice cream in chocolate and vanilla, and I always eat 4 bowls. Emma and I also have a diving contest. No winner is ever named, but she kicks my butt in technique. I'd like to think I get her in creativity. I like to name my dives.

As always, fun was had by all - even Frank. We swam most of the day, ate a lot, and had fun spending time together. This, unfortunately, marks the last year we will have this party. Austin and Ashley moved to Jacksonville a year ago and will be moving within the next year to wherever Austin gets accepted to medical school. Mark and Emma are moving to Ohio in 2 months. Mark is in the Air Force and got orders to go to his next station. It is sad we will all be in different locations, but at least we had 3 years of fun.

Here is a picture of us all - the trifecta, as Emma refers to us all. Good times, good memories!

In other news, I celebrated my 28th birthday on Friday. Am I seriously 28?! Where has the time gone? I had a pretty good day. For my birthday I asked Chip if we could do a double-feature at the movies. So we saw The Dark Knight and the X Files movie. I enjoyed both. It was fun spending the day, literally, at the movies. The last time I did a double-feature was about 8 years ago when Bethany and I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Gift in one day. Both were totally different movies, but they were good. I recommend trying a double-feature movie day in the near future if you haven't ever done that.

The day after my birthday we went to Mobile, AL to see what's there. Chip and I had never been before and decided it would be fun to check out. Our first stop was the Eastern Shore Center. It is a big outdoor mall-type place. It was ok. We then drove around some more and got stuck in some traffic around the George Wallace Tunnel.

One of the things I was looking forward to on our trip to Mobile was stopping at the Dew Drop Inn. Our neighbor recommended eating there because the food is good. He even gave us a cooler and some money to buy him a few of their hot dogs. Apparently this restaurant serves excellent ones. It also happens to be Mobile's oldest restaurant. So we find our way there and pull into the parking lot. I go to get out of the car and notice a girl is outside turning the open sign to closed. WHAT!! I look at the sign and see that they close at 3 pm on Saturday. I glance at the clock and it is 2:55!!! GRR!! We just missed it. I was crushed!

So we leave disappointed and probably destined for something lame like Krystal hamburgers. We get back on the interstate and make our way back to Niceville. We see a sign a few miles away for a bunch of food at the next exit. Since we were starving we decided to stop. We start driving down the road, but nothing jumps out at me. Since I was so bummed, nothing sounded good. We keep driving and driving and end up nearly to Foley. I remembered our other neighbors, Mike & Stephanie, talking about a place in Foley where they throw rolls. So we call them up and get directions to the restaurant.

It's called Lambert's and they really do throw rolls. We get there about 4 pm and there are literally a hundred people waiting outside to get in!! Something tells me it must be pretty good for so many people to be willing to wait. We had to wait 45 minutes before we got seated.

Lambert's prides themselves on big portions of southern style food. Chip got country fried steak and I got meatloaf. We both got mashed potatoes and fried apples as our sides. The servers bring "pass arounds" to all patrons. These include fried okra, black-eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes and onions, and the aforementioned rolls. The roll guy comes to the front of the dining room and all you have to do is raise your hand if you want a roll and he'll throw you one. It was quite funny to see bread flying through the air!

The rolls are quite large - one did me in, but boy was it good! All the food we ate there was quite good. Real mashed potatoes, yummy gravy, a huge piece a meatloaf. I was stuffed! It was good and helped sooth the disappointment of the Dew Drop being closed.

Well, I think I've hit the highlights of the past 2 weeks. At the end of this week I will be going to Kansas City to see my parents. It'll be nice to get away for a few days. I'm sure I have more stories to tell when I get back!

a kayak, a grill, and a "thank you" bean

Last Saturday Chip and I went kayaking in the Shoal River up in Crestview with our friends Greg, Lauren, and Gene. It had been almost a year since I had gone kayaking. Last year Chip and I tried kayaking in the Boggy Bayou (SO not even kidding about the name. Need I remind this is Niceville?) but there were too many boats wizzing around which made the water choppy. Prior to that I had been taking a little sabbatical from kayaking after a wildlife-filled trip down Turkey Creek in Niceville with our other friend's Nathan and Leigh Ann. We had several run ins with spiders, a snake, and I had a 5 foot gator about a foot away from my kayak! So I wasn't looking for another experience like that! Lauren and Greg had gone down the Shoal River before and told me I would be fine and have fun. So I decided to give it another go.

We got in the river around 9 am and started off just fine. It was a nice day, slightly overcast and a little humid. The river was a decent width so we weren't constantly ducking trees. Shortly into our almost 4-hour trip it started to sprinkle. No big deal. Then it started to rain pretty steadily for what seemed to be 30 minutes. We all got soaked to the bone! Then the sun came back out and helped dry us off a little. Luckily the rain helped to cool the temperature down a little, so it actually made it nicer.

A little while later, I didn't wear a watch so I had no concept of time, it started to get dark again and then the thunder started. So we all started paddling faster so we could get to the end before the lightning started. My shoulders got quite the work out! We finally got to the end and the sky opened up, so we got a nice soaking again. Oh well, at least we didn't get struck by lightning. My poor weenie shoulder muscles were SO tired from paddling I could barely lift my arms to have Chip help me out of the kayak. As soon as I got back to Lauren's house I took some ibuprofen...I know, I'm weak!

All in all it was a fun trip, one that I'd do again. Though, Chip apparently saw an 8 foot alligator. Luckily I didn't find out until we were way past it. Other than that we only saw a few turtles. Now that's my kind of kayaking.

After kayaking we went back to Greg & Lauren's house to grill out. Michelle, Gene's wife, was their watching the babies so we could go kayaking. At least she got to stay dry :) The guys grilled the meat while I made some less-than-stellar mac & cheese. I have got to find a better recipe! If you've got one, send it my way please!

On a random note, Chip and I received a gift two weeks ago from our neighbors, Mike & Stephanie. It was a "thank you" bean. Basically it is a tin can with some sort of metallic soil-type stuff and a bean inside. You water the dirt and a bean grows up and out of the dirt and the word "thank you" will be written on it. The bean then turns into a plant and you can replant it and enjoy it. Mike & Steph were intrigued by it and decided it was a fun way to say thanks to us for taking care of their plants while they went on vacation.


So we've been faithfully watering the dirt and little by little and stalk and a pod appeared. Then yesterday afternoon the pod fell off revealing the bean. Sure enough, it did say thank you! It grew pretty quickly, almost so fast I swear you could stand next to it and hear it grow! In a few days I will probably transplant it and try to keep it alive. We'll see...I don't exactly have the best track record with plants. I have been managing to keep an aloe plant alive and kicking! :)

one hour and $75 later

**I forgot to mention in the original post that this isn't contagious to pets or humans. Those of you who have pet Frank or had your dogs around Frank recently need not worry.**

My poor, sad puppy! As you can see above, Frank is wearing the dreaded lampshade - or an Elizabethan collar as the label on the cone called it. Sure, try to make it sound like a fashion accessory! It doesn't make him hate it any less.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed Frank had a spot near his butt that looked a little reddish and the fur looked like it was falling out. There were also small black spots on the skin. Chip and I thought it was a mild skin irritation, or hot spot, and bought him some hydrocortisone cream to put on it. We did that for about a week, but nothing happened. Then it looked as if the spot was getting larger. Luckily Frank wasn't biting at it or scratching at it, so at least we knew it wasn't really bothering him. Since it didn't appear to be getting any better, I decided to take him to the vet.

The vet took a look at Frank and thought it could be one of two things. So she did a skin scraping so she could check it out under the microscope. It was quite a sight! Frank was already freaking out being at the vet with all the other dogs, but now the tech had pinned him down on his side while I held his head down and the vet took a scalpel and scraped his spot till it bled a little. Luckily he didn't yelp. It did bring back memories of a similar incident that happened to my guinea pig, Dusty. He had scarcoptic mites that caused him to itch until he bled. My mom and I took him to the vet and they did a similar scraping. I'll never forget the screams, yes screams, that came out of that tiny animal's mouth. You would think we were killing him!

Anyways, the vet looked at the skin under a microscope and diagnosed him with Demodex or Canine Demodectic Mange. It is a parasitic skin disease caused by microscopic mites that live under the surface of the skin. All dogs, and even some humans, have this mite on their skin. As long as the body's immune system is functioning properly, these mites cause no harm.

Apparently Frank has a "immature immune system" as the vet called it. His immune system isn't strong enough to keep these mites in check, so they can flare up and spread rapidly and erupt into an irritated patch. This immune system problem could be a temporary thing, something that he could grow out of, but there is a chance he won't and he could have flare-ups of this for the rest of his life. The immature immune system is a hereditary trait passed on by Frank's parents. So the other puppies in Frank's litter have this too. Apparently when this trait is discovered, the affected dog shouldn't be bred and the parents should not be bred together again. That was kind of sad. I have a defective dog :(

The vet gave us some ointment we are supposed to put on him and hopefully it will clear up the spots. We also have to put the cone on him so he won't lick off the ointment. The poor dog is like a statue when we put it on him! He just stands there paralyzed. It is kind of funny. The cone has to be a little longer since Frank has a long snout. Sometimes his upper lip gets stuck on it and it looks like he is smiling. It's hysterical! I laughed so hard I cried.

Anyways, so that is the current drama going on in our house. I know, I have the most exciting life!