No Cell Phone Zone

It must be important if they've got Oprah on top of this. I just thought this was a great statistic to point out.
"Every year, about 6,000 people are killed and 500,000 injured because of distracted driving."
Yet, people get sooooo upset over our brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, sons and daughters are in a war giving their lives for our freedoms and not so many of them have parished as a result like this stat. My message : Care more about your children and family here in the US and put down the phone. As my mom and dad used to say "If its important, they'll call back!"

Its not Winter anymore...

Weatherman Go Away!

.. FREEZE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING... ...

TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE AREA HAVE NOW WARMED ABOVE FREEZING WITH DAYTIME HEATING.

LOWS TONIGHT WILL LIKELY FALL TO THE FREEZING MARK OR SLIGHTLY BELOW ACROSS THIS REGION.

A FREEZE WATCH MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE POSSIBLE. THESE CONDITIONS COULD KILL CROPS AND OTHER SENSITIVE VEGETATION. 

So much for getting all the flowers to bloom for May Day!

Wrong Sign for Me

Article titled:   Oil above $85 on signs US economy improving.  That also signifies the other sign:

 
 

 

 

So high oil prices is good for economy even though its now above $3/gallon to fill your tank? Confusious says what?

Late Post : Jay's Birthday Gift

I almost forgot to post this....For Jason's birthday this year, I decided to tug at his heart strings just alittle. For years now, he's wanted to get a nice painting or picture of all the dogs to hang somewhere in the house. Somehow, I was able to snap a great shot last spring I believe. Unfortunately, I never did anything with it until this year. Below is the original shot of the 3 kids and then our friends impression of them done in a watercolor with a black antique frame. I was shocked at the realistic comparison between the photo and painting. And the best part of all, Jay's gift was a hit, I was able to get a few tears to fall and its now hanging in the living room for all to see and for Jay to have a snapshot in time of the kids together as they were all grown up.

Spring Cleanup

Finally going to get outside today and do the yearly rituals.
Rake up the yard and get rid of all the crap that fell after our cleanups in the fall, move items back into their places, and get out the black and white spray paint to give any touch ups where needed. Jay got a jumpstart yesterday since the weather was so nice on some of the items. When I drove up the road after work, you would have thought HGTV was on the road doing some sort of new community show. Every one was out doing their yards. Rakes, wheelbarrows, weedeaters, lawnmowers, leaf blowers... that's all you saw and could hear. Which is ok... Spring is here and ready to move into Summer!

Earth Day 2010

Plant a Tree ;  Adopt a Road / Highway; Combine your trips to reduce use of gasoline

Reuse grocery bags or use cloth bags; Use your own coffee mug; Watch water usage at home

Our relationship with the earth must be like our relationship with one another. . . a ceaseless exercise in respect. ~ Ecologist Aldo Leopold


Earth Day Facts
Annually, April 22 is a day set aside to honor the Earth. But every day is Earth Day, and some of the things that will happen 365 times in a year are listed below. Not all of them can continue indefinitely.

Earth will travel 1.6 million miles in its annual journey around the Sun, the 4.6-billionth such round-trip. It will rotate about its axis exactly once. The Sun will travel 13.5 million miles around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Sun will fuse 51.8 billion tons of hydrogen into 51.5 billion tons of helium. (Lest you worry, it will have the capacity to do this for another 5 billion years or so.) The other 0.3 billion tons will be released as energy (Einstein's E = mc2). The energy poured forth in all directions each day is 10 trillion trillion kilowatt-hours. The fraction of this energy that bathes the Earth powers nearly everything that lives there. The fraction of the sun's energy intercepted by the Earth at the top of its atmosphere is 6000 trillion kilowatt-hours, about 600,000 times the quantity Americans consume in a day.2 The population of the world will grow by 211,000 people.3 A new Akron, Ohio will be added every day. 40,000 acres of land, an area about the size of Boise, Idaho will be converted to desert.4 200 million tons of topsoil will be lost through erosion from croplands.5 50,000 acres of forest will be eliminated.6 Between 20 and 500 species will disappear from the planet forever.7 We know so little about the family of life to which we belong that we cannot quantify the damage we are inflicting upon it. We do know that extinctions are occurring 100 to 1,000 times faster than the normal background rate.8 People will consume more than 3 billion gallons of oil.9 Burning the oil and other fossil fuels will release 70 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, slowly but surely nudging the planet's temperature upward.10 3 million tons of iron ore, 575 thousand tons of tin, 330 thousand tons of bauxite (for aluminum), and 34 thousand tons of copper will be ripped from the Earth.11 800 million people will go to bed hungry and awake too weak to lead productive lives.12 18,000 children will die from chronic hunger, malnutrition, and related diseases.13 The world will spend $3 billion on military expenditures, half by one country.14 $2 billion will be invested in research and development.15 This will result in the publication of 1,900 science and engineering articles16 and granting of 150 patents.17 4000 books will be published.18 1.3 billion children will be educated in pre-primary, primary, and secondary schools.19 97 billion e-mail messages will be sent, more than 40 billion of which will be spam.20

Interesting Article

Found this article on a take on what we should be doing in this type of economy to truly be "comfortable" in our lifestyle choices. Makes you think. Makes me feel grateful for living in our cottage and not a 3000sqft house.
Although... one more room would be nice :)
How to be a Saavy Cheapskate

Happy Birthday Jason!!!!

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays today... and many, many more.

Update on Ace

Well, after numerous tests and glucose curves, we are still nowhere closer to solving Ace's diabetes. He is still at a high level (400+) and we are doing our best to give him the medications and insulin prescribed. Ace is being very picky when it comes to eating meals. Jay has been a chef everyday trying to come up with a menu that might be consistent across the days of the week. But Ace has proved to be our toughest customer. He will not eat whatever he had the day before. He sniffs and then turns his head and nose. Jay thinks he remembers what he ate only because he can taste the medicine we try hiding in it. And trying to feed Ace a low fat diet is almost impossible. When a dog eats what he wants ( what his owners give him ) for the longest time, you think he's going to switch to cottage cheese, white rice, plain chicken? Not so much. Not to mention, he also has an inflamed pancreas, possible thyroid issue, and neuropothy in his back legs. But, once you get his butt off the ground, he does walk to wherever you need him to go.... outside to do his business, move from room to room, to eat. So that's a move in the positive direction. He also has definitely become old Ace in personality. Growling, barking, yelping when you are out of sight..... So any prayers to keep him happy as we think we've done all we can do at this point for him would be grateful.

National High-Five Day

I bet you didn't know that. Neither did I until the local news put it on tv this morning. Its the 3rd Thursday of April. Check it out. Something else to think about instead of Tax Day.

On the mend

Ace seems to have his personality and temperament back about him. He is finally eating but still picky about what it is. He had chicken and hot dogs. Yes, hot dogs. He continues to have issues with his back legs. We first thought that he was feeling pity on himself but now seems like he just has no energy or strength in his walk. So lifting him up to go outside has become a chore. We are waiting to see if there are any meds or activities that the doctor can advise us on. So, we think we have his sugar under control which was the first thing to tackle. Now just to get Ace back to being Ace.

HEAT WAVE

Partly Cloudy

High 84°F Precip 10%

Does that say 84?  pinch me.

Homecoming

Ace came home from the hospital after spending 2.5 days to get his diabetes under control. But he's not out of the woods yet. He still gives us trouble in finding something for him to eat on a constant schedule. Jay has made close to 20 different things and finally he at some pieces of chicken. Ironically enough, he really enjoys Dentistix treats so we will be pushing them. He is still having issues trying to walk himself but there are times he has the energy to at least move around without being carried outside. So it will be a tough few days to see if his condition and energy perks up. Thanks for all the well wishes!!!!

Happy Easter

A little different but cute;)

Ace being admitted

Ace has been diagnosed with keotenitis meaning his body is producing too much glucose and not enough insulin to keep his liver functioning as it should. After visiting his cancer doctors, they have given us the option of hospitalizing Ace until Monday to hook him to an IV to give him nutrition and insulin. Our hopes is that by Monday the internist will be able to recommend regulated methods of keeping his glucose levels steady. Let's pray it works. Sitting here with him now waiting to be admitted.