Happy Halloween

I know. I know. It's not right, but I just couldn't help myself.

I love my little Franken-Dog.

Play Time!

Bianka is a little fed up with this cage rest business.

It's hard to keep a good dog down.

I made this little video to document Bianka's recovery. She cannot walk, but she seems to be moving her left leg to help push herself around the floor. (PS the video is a mirror image of reality.) Plus the tail still wags and there is seems to be some muscle contraction when I scratch that special spot on her chest that used to make her leg "thump."

recovery - week one

When the vet first brought Bianka out to me, I saw her little tail wag and I burst into tears. I felt such a relief...so did she. When they handed her to me she ended up peeing all down my side. Luckily I was wearing a raincoat, and really I didn't care. I had my dog back.

After six days in the hospital Miss Bianka Dog is finally home, and her spirits are good.

She has a incision that's about 10 inches long running down her spine, and she cannot walk or stand on her own yet.

But this isn't what she's the Little Dog is sad about. No. She's not happy about the 2 weeks of cage rest.

It'll be okay Bianka. Just rest for now.

PS Bianka is still working on her "self-control" and in the mean time I continue to wear my raincoat when I take her out. ☺

Here we go again

A week ago Wednesday was just like any other fall evening around the Heis house. Before the sun set, Bianka and I took some time to play in the back yard.

We had a great time. We played fetch for a while.

Bianka rolled.

And rolled....

... and shook. She was living it up, until....

Actually, I'm not sure what exactly happened. All I know is that all of a sudden was acting "off." I'd seen this behavior before and I was pretty sure I knew what the outcome was going to be. Bianka had injured her back....again. You may remember I just went through this last Thanksgiving.

I was hoping I was wrong with my prediction, but after another sleepless night monitoring and worrying about the little dog. I found myself driving at dawn to the emergency veterinary hospital.

The surgeon confirmed that she had ruptured another disc. This time higher up toward the mid-back. This is apparently a more common location than her previous injury. When I had left my house she could still walk. When vet finally saw her, she'd lost most of the function in her legs. Paralysis was setting in.

One saving grace of having just gone through this, was that this time I knew what to expect in terms of the procedure and the recovery. Although, as I have learned the location of this injury put more pressure on the spinal cord, and recover will take longer.

Even though I wasn't nearly as scared to leave her, it is never easy having to say goodbye to this little face.

She was at the hospital for almost a week. Now she's home and we're starting recovery. I'll keep you posted on how that is going.

Something to think about.

I recently watched one of my favorite films, Lost in Translation. In this one scene, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) talks to Bob (Bill Murray) about feeling "stuck."

Charlotte: I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know like horses... you take dumb pictures of your feet.

I watched this scene and then thought to myself. "Oh my God. That's my life. Horses...photography...dumb pictures of my feet. Am I just a cliche`?"

I guess that's something interesting to think about and in the mean time, I'll still share this.

It's the Great Pumpkin Chuck Taylor!

Got Margaritas?

I saw this as I was leaving work last week.

Horse Shoes

Still Free Range

Tuesday as I left the office I was telling a co-worker about my father and his "free range" cow.

Wednesday morning this came through on Facebook from my mom.

Well, Steve has another free range cow on the loose. This one is hanging out near the New Life Penticostle church on Trebein Rd. Although we don't have 10 inches of snow on the ground and it is not 12 degrees outside, it is still a pain in the neck trying to chase down a stupid cow. I think we need prison high fences to keep this suckers in.

When I called home to talk to Dad, he sounded tired. Chasing cattle across the county 8 weeks after a hip replacement will take it out of you. I asked how he was doing, he said "Well. I have another flyer." Interestingly this cow came from the same original herd as the the first escapee. We're thinking it was a co-conspiracy or ... a cow-conspiracy. ( I know...I couldn't resist)

I found this article yesterday and thought it might be appropriate given recent events.

The Kentucky Gazette October 24, 1789

Sandcastle Art

Who knew Kentucky had a Grandmaster Sand Sculptor? It must be because we have all those beaches. ;-)

I saw Damon Farmer working on this when I popped by Lexington Green last weekend. I stopped back by this evening and amazed at how quickly everything has progressed.

Check out more at Sandcastlecam.com