We have gotten back in the swing of doing some volunteer work, attending a couple of meet and greets and hosting two adoptions for VAGA.  First one to a young couple.

Then a few months later to her parents.

The hounds, now known as Millie and Molly, are littermates.  🙂

But most of our time has been spent with home upgrades and renovations.

We installed some much-needed cabinets in the utility room.  Two shelves over the washer/dryer was just not sufficient for us.

Cabinets below are on one wall in the laundry room. We also installed these same set of cabinets x 2 over the washer/dryer.

One cabinet below beside our dog food containers.  A counter top will be added at a later date.

Then we did some much-needed landscaping in the front yard.  I put some red mulch around all six trees and the two flower beds.

Next, we removed 7 of the 8 Azaleas and planted some lilies and hostas.  We still have more to plant in the bed on the left.  Have not made up my mind what I want just yet.

I also planted some Astibule and Hostas in the back yard flower bed, which is an all shade bed.

Before:

After:

There are lots of projects left to do in the backyard.  Primarily removing the remaining leaves and getting some grass to grow.  We are making progress though!

Our latest project is renovating the kitchen. We are doing this in four phases:

phase 1: move refrigerator to other wall, install pantry cabinets around fridge

phase 2: demo upper cabinets, install new cabinets

phase 3: demo lower cabinets, install new cabinets, add peninsula and install stone countertops

phase 4: remove vinyl floor, replace with tile floor and tile backsplash area.  create pass through to livingroom???  not sure if we will do the pass through or not.  Not sure how that will look.

Phase 1 complete:

All hardware has been installed since taking these photos.  We do have crown molding to install but we are going to do all the crown molding at one time when the other cabinets have been installed.

We have also acquired a renewed love of Antique furniture and are happy to have found a gem of a place locally with some great furniture at unbelievable prices!

Our latest project is converting this Mahogany desk to a TV cabinet.  This is how we found the desk in the store.

We have cleaned, have built shelves for the desk and are in the process of staining.

Most recently we had a bit of a health scare with Booyah.  He is doing very well now but had us quiet worried.  Luckily, I was home on staycation and was able to be with him during this time.

It all started with a limp one morning.  He got up from laying down, yelped, starting limping and then pooped in the house.  As the day progressed, he had two more accidents and had lost function in his back legs.  He was very weak in his back-end and favored his left side.  I got him in to see my primary vet that same day.  They examined him thoroughly and felt it was a neurological issue and referred us to see a specialist to get an evaluation and possible MRI.  In the meantime, to keep Booyah comfortable, they sent him home on Rimadyl, Tramadol and a Muscle Relaxer.  He could not sit down without help guiding his rear legs and rear into a sit position.  When he did sit, he was in a lot of pain.  During the exam at the vet’s, they flipped his paws down, he had a very delayed reaction for his back paws in “righting” them.  That was so scary and painful to watch.  He had no concept spatially where his back legs were.  Could not lift his back paws up on to a dog bed.  We were very worried.  We made an appointment to see the neurologist on the following Monday.  They did a 4 x-rays and a complete blood panel.  Everything came back normal.  The next step was to schedule an MRI, as they were unsure what was wrong with him, but felt it was likely cancer or a ruptured disc.  I had to sleep on this before making the decision.  I had Booyah comfortable before going to the specialist on his med regimen.  After the visit to the specialist and going through mild sedation, we took 20 steps backwards.  The sedative made Booyah mean.  He attempted to bite me four times as I tried to keep him comfortable.  He was unable to get his meds that evening and was in significant pain the following day.  He could not stand for any amount of time without his back legs sliding into a sit position. After weighing all the pros and cons, we ultimately decided against the MRI. We do not have a DX.  He continues to do well on his meds and has a f/u appt in two weeks with our primary vet.  I did reach out to Dr. Couto at OSU and sent him Booyah’s neurologist consult, x-ray and bloodwork results.  Dr. Couto responded very quickly and advised that Booyah’s symptoms could be compatible with a clot on the spinal cord and suggested we start a baby aspirin once daily.  He advised to discuss with my vets to see if they agree.  I did and neither vet agreed with this DX nor did they agree with starting the Aspirin.  So we have continued with his current regimen.  We are happy to report that he is doing quite well.

We share all this in hopes someone in cyber world has experienced this.  Any insight you could give, would be helpful and very appreciated.  We would still like to have a DX, but aware we may never have one.

Booyah did celebrate his 9th birthday on Saturday.  A very special birthday indeed!  He is on restricted activity (no stairs, leash walking only, no rough play etc.) but seems back to normal in every other regard.

I am way behind on keeping up with blogs, but hope to get a chance to catch up this week. 🙂  We hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!