Some Updates

Second Post of the Day

Here are some updates/things that don't fit in with other blog posts. But since this blog functions as my journal, I wanted to make sure they are included.

Molly - An Update on Her Biopsy

Two weeks ago Molly had four punch biopsies and a small slice of her right ear removed. She'd been dealing with a black, scabby something around her face, eyes, and ears for months and nothing has made it any better.

The results are in and poor sweet Mama has doggy MRSA, a very bad antibiotic resistant infection. Histology could not rule out other underlying causes because her skin was so badly inflamed they could not get a good read on it.

She has started two very strong antibiotics and she should begin healing within four weeks. We are hopeful that this will cure her.

Blue's Healing

Blue did well on the trip home to Iowa despite her injury from that husky in the dog park this past weekend. She's an active dog and really wants to get outside and run again, but she still needs to stay quiet until her chest wound heals.

Todd is staying home with Blue and Rhett while Sarah and Craig traipse across the western National Parks, and he reports that Blue is going stir crazy and wants to wrestle and run nonstop. She has to stay quiet until Sunday - no doubt she will explode with energy when she is finally free of her restrictions.

Boompa & Sarah Storm the West

(I didn't name the trip; Hawkeye Sarah did. Typical Sarah!)

Yesterday was spent traveling and then visiting the Grand Tetons. 

Sarah has been there many times and knows some of the best places to go to find bears. Craig said they saw a lot of elk, bison, moose, and a mama bear and cub.

I'm a midwestern flatlander and dislike heights, but the Tetons sure are beautiful.

Today they are meeting JC and Jaycie in Yellowstone at Old Faithful then they plan to drive together around the park. 

Sarah has followed Grizzly 399 for years and photographed her several times, so she knows where to look for her. She took these two photos in April, 2021.

I hope Craig gets to see her; she is a remarkable bear. (He said Sarah gave him his own personal can of bear spray and a primer on how to use it. Yeesh!)

BreyerFest Update

Breyer is currently doing a lot of promotion for the virtual BreyerFest option.

I was happy and honored to see that my workshop was selected to be included in their advertising. 

Already counting down the days until BreyerFest begins!

I think that updates everything that I want to remember. If I find something else, maybe I'll do a third post of the day! Hah!

Memorial Day: Saturday & Sunday

Second Post of the Day

Saturday was one of those beautiful days where you want to be outside enjoying the weather. And did we ever take advantage of it.

After walking the dogs en masse as a family, we headed to Dog & Suds, an old fashioned hot dog and root beer stand.

We chose to eat together outside in the pavilion rather than stay separated in our cars.

That was the right choice. While the food at Dog & Suds is pretty average, the experience is not. Craig and I like to go there occasionally in the summer and eat in our car at the drive in part of the restaurant.

I was glad to be there with everyone - earlier that morning I'd had to go to Urgent Care. My eye had been bothering me for a few days but I hadn't thought much of it. Hawkeye Sarah wears many hats, one being a nurse, and Trinity is in her fourth year of nursing school.

Between them, they both agreed that I needed to head to Urgent Care and have my eye examined. I did as they asked and now I am on meds to clear up an infection. My eye is still swollen and puffy, but it is improving.

After lunch, we packed up the dogs and headed over to Local Son Curt's home where we spent the rest of the day.

Vanessa has been experimenting with juice drinks - the one she'd made that morning was delicious and did not last long.

Some family members played indoor games, while others went outside for a game of backyard softball.

Pepper, Tammo, Gus, Nash, Mama, Blue, and Rhett were with us, coming in and out of the house at will and enjoying the beautiful weather, too. 

The indoor dogs waiting for someone to open the sliding door so that they can join the outdoor dogs. (Pepper, Tammo, Blue, and Rhett.)

Pepper keeping my feet warm while I played a game of Wizards.

Curt grilled brats and chicken for dinner and we stayed late, playing games and chatting.

Sunday was an unexpectedly topsy turvy day and I did not take a single picture. Not one. We all went to church together, and then came home expecting to spend the day relaxing, playing more games, doing more chatting, and then having pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.

Unfortunately, that did not turn out as planned. Instead, Blue spent over 6 hours in Purdue's Emergency Vet Hospital.

Todd had taken Blue, Tammo, and Rhett to the dog park and Blue and a husky got into it with each other. Todd was bitten by the husky while separating them and Blue ended up with a deep and painful open wound on her chest.

It was deep enough that the vet was concerned that she might have a pneumothorax, so she had to stay not only for cleaning and stitches, but also for observation to make sure that she could breathe okay. (I'm not showing any other pics of the wound than this - they are disturbing.)

Needless to say, it was a long day for us all as we waited for Blue to be released. She came home late that night, slept fitfully, but seems better this morning.  She's been cleared for the drive home plus her pain meds will make her drowsy, so she will sleep most of the trip back home to Iowa. 

The visit closed on a somber note. Still, it was fun to be together as a family, and the family dogs had a lot of fun together. They know each other well, and while Tammo was the new kid on the block, he integrated well and he played hard and slept hard. (I expect he and Pepper will crash and sleep as soon as Sarah, Todd, and Trinity leave!)

One more thing... Sarah surprised me with a request about a piece in my collection. She asked if I would put her name on the tag of one of my Breyers so that she could have it. Any guesses as to who she might want? Hint: she's a wildlife photographer.

Stay 'tooned for the answer!

50th Anniversary: Mrs. I Goes to School

In 1995, it was time for me to go after a long held dream - getting my teaching credentials. By then my kids were all in school and I had an open block of time from 8-3 every day. We were financially stable and so I quit my early morning vending box route and enrolled in school. (We did keep the kids' afternoon paper routes.)

I graduated from the University of Illinois in 1998 and was hired to teach at Yankee Ridge Elementary School in Urbana.  

I'll never forget walking into my classroom for the first time and opening a desk drawer.

Inside was an amber blown glass horse that the previous teacher had left behind. I kept that little horse in my desk throughout my teaching career and it's in my desk here at home now.

I had some interesting horsey connections while teaching. Remember Royal Kaliber and his rider Chris Kappler? Chris's cousin was in my 2003 - 2004 class, and she and her mom kept me up to date on Chris and Royal Kaliber's appearance in the 2004 Olympics.

They took team silver and the bronze individual in show jumping. Sadly, Royal Kaliber injured his leg and then died of colic shortly after his medal winning appearances. (Photo by Getty Images.)

Breyer honored Royal Kaliber by making a model of him in 2004. Only 750 were released but I was able to get one. (Photo from Google Images; mine is boxed away.)

In 2006 we moved back home to Indiana where Craig finished out his career at Purdue. I had been teaching as well as working on my Masters degree at the University of Illinois but was able to wrap it up and graduate a few short weeks before we packed up and returned to Indiana.

Despite being in Boilermaker country, I decorated my new classroom in the orange and blues of the University of Illinois. (They are also the colors of the high school my students would graduate from so the kids didn't mind.) 

Imagine my trepidation, though, several years later when I looked at my new roster of students and saw a very familiar last name on it. The father of one of my new students was Matt Painter, the head coach of Purdue's men's basketball team. And my classroom was decorated to celebrate one of Purdue's main rivals!

Good dad that he is, Matt came to parent/teacher conferences despite his very busy coaching schedule. I'll never forget him coming through my classroom door that first time. He stopped in the doorway and surveyed all that orange and blue a moment before coming all the way in. Flustered, I  greeted him and apologized, mumbling something about having graduated from the UI and that I really did root for Purdue, too.

Matt burst out laughing and told me not to worry - his grandfather had been a professor at the UI and he'd spent his summers there as a kid. He told me that he was quite fond of the University of Illinois and we had a good laugh together.

I taught a lot of really nice kids during my career. And sometimes they would bring me horsey gifts.

Take a look at this orange balloon horse  - a student made that for me!  His hobby was making balloon animals, probably the most unusual hobby any of my students had.

The color in the photo is off, but this is an orange and blue horse plus a blue I for Illinois/Mrs. I, the name I went by at school.

After reading the classic, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, another student gave me a Black Beauty ornament one Christmas. I still get it out every year and hang it on my tree.

The passion for orange and blue spilled into my hobby life, and I switched Windsong's colors from blue and yellow to orange.

And open my tack trunk and you find a lot of orange and blue, too.

Why am I so attached to the University of Illinois? After all, I am from West Lafayette and did three years of study here at Purdue before becoming an Illini. My grandfather came to Purdue in 1927 to be a professor in the Horticulture Department, my parents and siblings all went to Purdue, and so has Local Son Curt. There is a long Boilermaker tradition in my family. So, why?

I interrupted my own education when I married Craig in 1976, and I vowed at the time that I would finish. All that orange and blue represent the hard work it took to go back to school at age 38 with six kids still all at home. They remind me of the culmination of that dream of finishing my education and then going into the classroom and working hard to make a difference in the lives of my students.

It took me 22 years, but I did it. 

Look for another blog post later today announcing the winner of the fourth giveaway!