Still kicking

Ok, Ok. I know it has been waaayy too long since I posted anything. In fact, I believe it was before Christmas. Beth, don't be mad at me, just hang in there, you know I get to it eventually.

Ok, Lots of updates for you.

In December my aunt got the bright idea that Kiki is getting old. LOL. As if I didn't know. Anyway she found an ad in the paper from a guy in South Dakota that breeds shih-tzu puppies and once a year he brings a bunch to Las Vegas to sell and she wanted to go "looking". Yep, we looked alright. She went prepared to buy a pup and not for herself. We now own 3 dogs. Kiki and she is on the down side, more on that later, Marty, the fat boy and Lil Bitz, just as the name inplies. Yep, that's her right there on the right.

She is just about as energetic as 2 people can stand, but she surely provides lots of entertainment for us. She is now 6 months old and has plans for a hysterectomy soon. There is no reproducing in her future. Marty loves her dearly and Kiki just tolerates her as an old lady should. Although Bitz tries to play, Kiki is having none of that and just goes to bed. She house broke very easily and participates in poop producing in the back yard, which we frequently depoop.

Kiki has had some sort of cognitive episode that has sent her into some kind of thinking that she needs to dig out of the yard at every opportunity and if not digging she is barking. She now sports a bark collar and a fence collar most of the time for preventative measures. Having gotten used to those she now just stands in the back yard and looks at the fence, then comes in and patrols the house, then back outside for a permiter check then the whole thing starts again. Some nights she thinks she needs to get in the shower, for what I don't know, but she will dig out the bathroom scale and open the shower door. On those nights she ends up in the garage in a crate with a feather topper wrapped around it. That seems to comfort her and she will sleep all night without barking. And sleep soundly. She doesn't even know we are up most mornings for at least 30 minutes. I peek just to make sure she is breathing. She launched herself off the bed a few weeks ago. Jumping just doesn't cover it. Anyway, she slammed into the dresser and now when she gets up in the morning she looks like me. It takes her a few steps to work out the stiffness and get the legs working in the right order. She is down to 3 teeth, the eye still roves to the side so she is looking at you with one and scanning the room with the other. What's not to love about that!

Marty is just as fat as ever, but he thinks he is Bitz's dad I guess. They groom each other's faces and play all the time. Best friends forever. Even though he is 8 years old, she has put new life into him. Treats are his favorite thing and he has taught her how to sit and look precious to get hers.

Bitz loves to get into things, just like any kid. This picture is of her getting into my knitting bag. I don't know how many times I have come home to find knitting and/or supplies scattered around the living room. One day she got into it, dragged it around the kitchen table 3 times and was so happy to see me, along with Kiki and Marty that all 3 of them had it wrapped around their feet along with the table. I was in a panic. It took over an hour to untangle the yarn. Now of course, I put it out of reach, but still things get scattered around, though it's not yarn.

We were in Ohio over the holidays, man was it cold. The weather here in Vegas in the winter is cool with highs in the 50's and 60's and lows in the 40's. Some days even into the 70's and now here in early February some of the trees are already starting to bloon. Spring in Nevada! I love it. Anyway, we were only home for a couple of weeks when my step mother became ill following gall bladder surgery and she passed very quickly. That means I made another trip to Ohio and it was even colder than in December. It was a short trip and funds were tight, but while I was waiting to catch my flight out of Vegas I stuck $5 into a slot machine about 30 minutes before my flight and low and behold I hit a bonus and won $1500. That made it much easier on the pocket book for the trip home. So both bad and good happened in January.

We took a trip to Mesquite, a small town about an hour North of Vegas, a couple of weeks ago. Small town as in population about 5000. We had a nice time and it was for my birthday. I came home with a little more money than I took, which is always a good thing.

LeRoy is doing great. Over the holidays, Morgan got him to participate in her little beauty pageant and he was "cutie" . Couldn't get him to wear the tierra, but he did let her put lip gloss on him. He's not going to be happy that I included this picture. Somehow he thinks it is unmanly. Anyway, it was a very fun time. Ooops! He just saw this picture, now I could be in trouble. Very funny.

As for myself, things have been fine. I feel great, my job is steady most of the time. There are times when I have to stay home because of low case volume, but I take my turn like everyone else. We have our slow days, but there are some days when our little surgery center feels like a big city hospital, though our surgeries are not nearly as involved. We do lots of urology, and plastic surgeries, and we are about to open a new endoscopy suite to do GI procedures. We used to have one, but only one physician came, our equipment was antiquated and the room environment was to conducive to smooth operation. It should be much better away from the surgery suites, and new Olympus equipment, which is what I am used to, with HD will entice more physicians. Besides, the one that used to come has left the city and he was a pain at times to work with.

I have been knitting and knitting. Socks, shoulderettes, shawls, you name it and I can probably knit it. I have become a knitting addict. Some days I can't wait to get home, just so I can knit. I go to a meet up group on Saturday mornings with my aunt just to knit, then we go to lunch and play bingo somewhere. Don't usually win, but there is always that hope.

While we were home for the holidays we got together with my family, including the brother that lives in Alaska. Can you tell which one he is. Yep, the one on the left. Looks like Grizzily Adams, doens't he. Talk about an adventure! I'm not into the cold and isolation but he and Myra seem to love it. Also the bugs. I have only seen one fly and no mosquitoes since moving to Nevada. The summers may be hot, but it's only 3 months and the perfect day is humidity 8%, light breeze and temp of 100-105, just like the perfect day in Ohio with a temp of 80 and humidity of 50%. It's all relative I guess.

Anyway, thanks for checking in with us. I'll try to keep more up to date with the blog so it won't take you so long to read. I apologize. Love you all. Kaye, LeRoy, Kiki, Marty and Lil Bitz.