sunshine and puppydogs...

And going out and about with teenagers...

Suzanne, me, friend Irene, and Sonja...

Sonja had to go to the doctor for her post surgery check up, and she's doing fine. She is clear to go to Washington D.C. with some of the girls for some sightseeing this weekend. She just has to rest, elevate, and ice the knee if it swells. But overall, she is doing well, she has good range of motion, and minimal pain.

We went to Marshall's after the appointment, and dang it, we found too much good stuff. Clearance stuff...our receipt was full of $2, $3, and $4 items. I also bought a really pretty throw rug for the living room. They don't look nice for long, with all the dogs and the general traffic through here, but a new rug always brightens things up.

Then to Walmart...for shaving cream and laundry starch to augment the little girls' latest obsession: making the perfect slime. We also needed doggy chow and kitty food, milk, and apparently several other things that jumped right into the cart.

Home...ah, home. Suzanne and Camille helped me make kabobs from the beef I had marinating...I cubed it all up, cut up zucchini, yellow squash, sweet onions, green pepper, a few sweet potatoes, and tossed it all in olive oil and rosemary, some salt and pepper...we made piles of skewers, then I grilled them. We also had seasoned potato chunks, which we ended up microwaving...they went well with the kabobs, which were SO GOOD. And so easy, just grab a few, and sit out on the deck for a lovely summer dinner.

Today, little Miss Lydia Eleanor is coming over with Mali, for a visit. Maybe Miss Anya Jade with join with her mama Ashley. I cleaned out and filled both little pools this morning, one on the deck, and one in the yard...I had to get up and get going this morning because Sam had to bring his car in for inspection and needed a ride home.

Tomorrow...tomorrow is Duke's goodbye day. I am trying to just be normal...and not fall apart. It's sad, but for Duke himself...it's not so sad, because he.doesn't.know. He has no idea. Part of me feels like a huge trickster, like, "Okay Duke, let's go bye-bye!", and he's going to be happy just to be going in the van, even though he'll need a boost to get in. He'll thump his tail, because he is like that. Happy with just anything. And I'll feel super guilty and like a horrible person. And it'll be sad. Really really sad. But it's time. It seems like once we were all on the same page here about it, and I made that phone call, he really declined, almost like he might suspect something. He ate not a bite of his breakfast yesterday, then no dinner either. He had some treats, but no kibble. Then this morning, I thought he'd be hungry, but no sir, he ate one bite and that was it. I bring his bowl to him where he lies, he hasn't been able to actually stand up and eat a meal in a while. He is mostly lying on the couch these days, although he'll still follow me around sometimes, which breaks my heart, because he lies down, then I move, he gets up so painfully slow it hurts my heart, and lies down again near me. He did this while we cleaned up under the deck yesterday. But mostly he just sleeps. At night, he has been sleeping in Sam's room. Bless Sam's heart, he lets these dogs sleep with him, all three of them. They give him very little room in his bed, ha. Sam is going to be having a rough time too. But we know it's time.

And is it horrible that we plan to go to the beach, after the vet? It's going to be 82 degrees and sunny. And I'm going to feel like a horrible person.