No, not a good old-fashioned one where I run down the list of brilliant bloggers and share the latest sterling tidbits they have posted, but one of a more personal nature.

First, I apologize for not posting pics of the new store fixture. If you want to see it, you are welcome to swing by the store any time we are open – we’re in the Agua Caliente Center, 69th St. and Shea Blvd. M-F 10-7, Saturday 10-6, closed Sundays.*

Second, a word about Cinnamon:

Diabetes mellitus is frequently diagnosed in dogs five years of age and older. This is also known as Type II or adult-onset diabetes. There is a congenital form that occurs in puppies called Type I or juvenile diabetes, but this is rare in dogs.
Diabetes mellitus is a disease of the pancreas. This is a small but vital organ that is located near the stomach. It has two significant populations of cells. One group of cells produces the enzymes necessary for proper digestion. The other group, called beta-cells, produses the hormone insulin. Simply put, diabetes mellitus is a failure of the pancreas to regulate blood sugar.
courtesy of Drs. Burnham and McConaughey at Acoma Animal Clinic

Cinnamon has been fat and happy since we were called by TMBWitW’s niece, BoBanney. BoBanney found Cinnamon, thin as a rail and hungry, sitting on a street corner with no tags or collar near the Taco Bell where she was working about eight years ago. She called us, and being the kind-hearted animal lovers that we are, we came down and picked her up – and she hasn’t been lacking for love since then. About a week and a half ago, TMBWitW started coming home to a puddle on the floor every day – very unusual, since our furkids are very well house trained and haven’t piddled inside since they were puppies. After the experience of losing Sara, we (meaning, of course, TMBWitW) have become hyper-aware of changes in our now-geriatric dogs. We figured out it was Cinnamon since she was the one wanting to go out at night now, instead of being able to hold it until morning. A few tests at Acoma and the diagnosis was in – diabetes mellitus. After a week of insulin and a more regulated diet, Cinnamon has not had any accidents in the house for the last several days, and she is actually looking a little thinner. Dr. McConaughey told TMBWitW that the fact that we didn’t have a doggie door probably allowed us to catch this very early in the onset, which means a much better prognosis for treatment. Most cases they see the diabetes is so advanced that there is nothing they can do, because the dog had access to the yard throughout the day and the owners didn’t catch other, more subtle indicators. (Cinnamon had been drinking close to one and half or two gallons of water per day, by herself, which is one of those subtle indicators. with multiple dogs, unless you watch, you can’t really tell who’s drinking what. on the days we are at home, we were noticing that Cinnamon was hitting the water bowl pretty often.) Cinnamon is even getting a little frisky – she’s trying to dance for her treats again, and she is sassing us when we ignore her hints for treats.

Third – tomorrow, being a Friday, I’ve got a honeydew about a mile long. I don’t think that woodworking is anywhere on that list, however. I do have another work-related project, but it’s at the store, and kinda boring, so I won’t tell you about it. OK, if you insist – I’m rebuilding the “floor” above one of the stock closets so that a person could actually stand up there and move stock around instead of trying to reach four feet to the wall from the top of a step ladder. See? I told you it would be boring.

Gotta go – almost time to leave.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

* – this is not a compensated advertisement.

Living here in the Valley of the Sun, having grown up in other parts of the United States (where they have four seasons instead of two), there are times when I miss weather related things. For instance, the turning of the leaves in the fall. Around here, even the “deciduous” trees hang on to their leaves most of the year. My two Chinese Elms, in the back yard, do lose their leaves, but if I happen to be doing something else at the time (like, for instance, blinking), I miss the whole changecolordrop series.

I miss waking up to the sound of silence that accompanies a heavy overnight snowfall. The whole world is blanketed in a muffling cover of white, and the only sound is of the furnace kicking on, or, in rougher times, the sound of someone slamming the woodstove shut after throwing another log on the fire.

( side memory – early eighties, Flagstaff, winter, the small cabin the family was renting at the time, home on a winter weekend pass from Pendleton, dressed for cold weather, standing around the ‘stove, lighting the first cigarette of the day off the top of the stove, the smell of pine sap burning and cigarette smoke mingling in the cold air not two feet away from the source of the “heat” …)

Back to missing the snow – this morning, here in my corner of the Valley, it is a “brisk” 46 degrees outside. The news tells me that the East Coast is, again, being slammed by more Global Warming. I miss the thought of snow, sure – but I don’t miss the logistics – keeping the vehicle operational through a dipstick heater, starting the vehicle five minutes before needing to leave so it gets used to working in the cold and so you have time to scrape the night’s frozen remnants off your windshield, dealing with drivers who don’t know how to drive in the snow (hint: having a four wheel drive vehicle does NOT give you immunity from the laws of physics or the right of way), and, of course, the whole shoveling part. There were days when I just said the heck with it and drove the snowmobile to work.

But I sure miss the thought of having snow right outside the door.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Well, according to Larry “it’s a miracle you posted” the Scoundrel, this post will qualify as a miracle, since it’s the second one in a row!

Larry is a good, solid, Navy man. Go check him out.

(amusing side story – I just went to snag his web address for the link above, and ended up commenting on one post, and following a link to another, and then getting distracted three ways from … SQUIRREL! … Sunday as I tried to remember what I was doing in the first place …)

ANYways – what was I going to talk about? – Larry mentioned that my last post was a miracle (it’s in the comments – those of you who drop in from Facebook should really visit this place in person – much cooler, and you can leave comments directly on the blog, so all my readers can share in your insight) so I thought, since I have a later start time this morning, I would try to get a second post in.

And then I resolved to myself that I would quit hitting the snooze on my 0600 alarm, maybe even set it earlier, and do some blogging and some exercising, you know, get in better shape, keep this thing active, maybe even get the railroad blog rolling again and look at helping McQuire and Murphee keep the toy blog going …

… and then I rolled over and hit the snooze button.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

In Honor of all the veterans who have made this day possible to still be celebrated – thank you.

In your travels today, make sure you thank at least one veteran in person. It’s the least we, as citizens of this Great Nation, can do.

I have been considering something very deeply lately. I have always been one to donate – mostly blood – to those in need. Since 1980-ish, while I was in the Corps, (i think i was trying to ‘bank’ against the possibility of needing an infusion) I have been donating blood to various organizations (Red Cross, United Blood Services) on a regular basis. That has fallen off lately, with a lack of time right now, but it will be picking up again soon.

As I said, I have been considering something lately. I have felt as if I needed to do something a little more, a little beyond the norm. You could say that I felt led to take another step.

An article in yesterday’s paper sealed the deal.

Back in another lifetime, I used to listen to Bob Mohan on KFYI. Sometime I agreed with him, sometimes I disagreed with him. He always got me to thinking about the WHY behind the agreeing or disagreeing, though; as opposed to today you have the right and the left with their talking heads and precious few people willing to think out their positions and actually be able to defend the stance they take.

I’ll be calling the Mayo Clinic on the way to work tomorrow, to find out the details.

I will keep you all updated.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

UPDATE:

Left a message at the number provided. We’ll see where this goes.