Bell Needs to Carry Pepper Spray

So much has been going on lately I've barely had time to think.
I've been doing all kinds of general work around the house while at the same time taking care of Nicki; trying to make sure Bell isn't ignored; and almost frantically trying to finish that damn deck!

Today Justin and I took both dogs to "play tennis"...which really means the dogs run crazy within a safe and confined area while we make sure they aren't eating any rocks or sticks. They have a real talent for finding rocks to eat. They ran their legs off for a bit and Nicki was the first one to slow down and catch her breath.

There was someone there with two other dogs. They must have had the same idea (contained play) because Nicki was making friends through the fence. I noticed Bell was keeping her distance a little and letting Nicki take the lead. I'm not surprised that Bell hangs back now. She's the one that keeps having scary incidents with other dogs while we are on our walks. I don't know why it keeps happening to Bell...poor little girl. Just the other night I was walking her and saw two women coming towards us with their dog. I yelled out to ask if their dog was friendly. They said yes, he's friendly. As I got closer to them I explained that I want to socialize my pup if he's ok with young dogs. Again, they agreed he was friendly. He was only a medium size dog but still bigger than Bell. She had no fear of him and they were nose to nose for about a minute or two. Suddenly the other dog attacked Bell with no warning. He just lunged at her, snarling and biting at her face! Luckily Bell jumped back and I yanked her leash away from him in time. She got really shaken up by it but she wasn't hurt.

While I was checking Bell over the two women asked if she was ok. I said yes, I don't think he actually bit her. And then the other woman said he wasn't trying to bite her, he was playing! My head snapped up and I looked at her with total disbelief. I couldn't believe she just said that. I said: He just attacked her! That was NOT playing!! I talked to Bell to sooth her and we moved away. I didn't even look at them again but Bell did. She kept looking behind her like even SHE couldn't believe they thought that was playing.

As the whole incident started to sink in I started getting more and more angry. What the hell is wrong with people that would tell you their dog is friendly..when it's not and then tell you he was playing when he almost took a chunk out of her?? Are they that clueless or are they complete morons?? That was a really serious situation that could have had a really bad ending. I don't think I'm going to try socializing my dogs on the street anymore. They will be starting training this week anyway so they will be meeting other dogs there. Apparently people on the street just can't be trusted to even know their own dog. And from now on I'm going to be carrying my pepper spray too.
Better watch you step there doggy...you bite my dog and you're going to get a face full of pepper! (and I just might spray the owner while I'm at it too. ha ha)

Nicki Update

After a long night on the couch I was happy to discover that Nick looked better this morning. She was standing in her pen, waiting to go out.
After breakfast (she ate well) she made the attempt to play with Bell but I had to break it up after a few minutes. Bell doesn't understand that Nicki sitting still isn't an invitation to tackle her and engage in doggy wrestling. Poor Nick just didn't have the energy to keep up with Bell very long. Eventually Bell settled down a bit (at least she stopped jumping all over Nicki) and Nick sat down and just stared at a wall. That is a dog that doesn't feel well!

I gave Nicki another anti-inflammatory and about 30 mins later she was completely normal acting. I think she starts to feel bad again when the anti-inflammatory wears off. I know that means that I was just covering the symptoms but at this point I didn't have any other choice.

Eventually I got the results from Nicki's blood tests. The vet said (my normal vet; not the guy I saw last night) that her white blood count was up and her red blood count was down. She was also borderline anemic. He feels there's an infection going on there but is unable to nail it down. He also thinks it might be Lyme disease (or possibly some kind of parasite). I'm really hoping he's wrong about the Lyme.

I've already gone through years of treatment with a dog that had Lyme. It can be a reoccurring problem or it can be nipped in the bud. My Allie had several recurrences over the years and I was always able to help her feel better. But I lived in constant fear that she would have another episode as she got older and her health became more unstable.

So it was another trip back to the vet to pick up an antibiotic. This is the same antibiotic I used to give Allie...only now it mysteriously costs more. (I wonder if it would have been cheaper if I'd bought it at CVS?) And now we wait and see how she does. I don't like giving her antibiotics or any drugs for that matter. I've almost got them completely off commercial puppy food and now this will be another set back for the health of her digestive system. (I'm giving them yogurt also but that may not be enough). I also cooked them both some chicken livers and added it to their food tonight. You would have thought I was trying to kill Bell the way she picked at her food. She is not impressed with liver! (and strangely enough green beans kept showing up on the floor too) Nicki on the other hand ate every bit of her food so fast I doubt she even knew what it tasted like. The way they both eat grass; nuts; twigs and leaves you'd think they wouldn't be picky about liver.

They both will be seeing the vet in another week (Oh boy more money to him!) for the second Lyme vaccine. Nicki will be tested again at that time first. And a stool specimen will be needed too. No worries about gathering THAT specimen. Everything is working just fine at that end!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she still tests negative.

Nicki Is Sick

Nicki is sick and I can't figure out how or what is wrong with her. It started last night when I came home from taking care of Dad. It was late and Nicki acted a little weird when she went to bed. I didn't really worry about it because they play hard together and they had both been stretched out on Mom's kitchen floor before I left. I thought maybe she was just tired.

By morning it was obvious that I was wrong. Nicki wouldn't get up and didn't want to leave her pen. Considering what a chow hound she is this was very weird for her. I started to worry immediately. I did the rapid debate with myself in my head. Should I stay home? Should I take her to the vet? Should I wait a day to see how she is later? I hate these decisions. My gut always tells me to stay home and tend to the animal but I'm all out of vacation time and sick time at work. I missed a lot of work at the beginning of the year when Allie died. But that memory triggers the fear and now I'm really torn.

Luckily KC had the day off and she volunteered to keep an eye on Nicki and Bell for me. I had already missed my bus and had to hurry to catch the next one. The day at work dragged. I was worrying about Nick all day. When I got home she seemed worse. Now she doesn't want to eat or drink either and she just lays there. Taking her out to pee she was like an old dog...no spark there and obviously not feeling good.

I took her temp. It was good. I made food for them both and had to hand feed Nicki while she was laying on her side. She wouldn't get up to eat. I got most of the food into her...she loves chicken. Then I used a shot glass to get some water into her...again she is laying on her side. Her breathing is shallow and too fast..she looks like a dog that's dying.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I called the vet. My vet had gone for the day but there was another vet on call. Nicki and Bell don't have any history at this point..they've never been sick so I figured a new vet couldn't do anything wrong. I took her in.

Well the vet didn't know what was wrong with her either. He took blood to test for Lyme Disease...negative. (I had a feeling it wasn't that anyway but we had to rule it out). Then they took more blood and sent it out to the lab. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what that will tell us. Meanwhile Nicki is on an anti-inflammatory drug and it seems to have helped a little bit.

My gut is talking to me again too. I think she hurt herself somehow at Mom's house last night. I didn't see anything happen to her but whenever I take the two of them out together they both pull and go nuts on the way out. She might have gotten hurt on the stairs last night without me seeing it. My gut is telling me that she has hurt one of her hip joints and the blood tests will come back negative.

Lets hope I'm right and she is acting more like normal tomorrow. For tonight I'll be sleeping on the couch so I can keep an eye on her. And tomorrow I will take the day off (without pay) just to make sure she's getting better or to take her back to the vet if she needs it.

But for now I'm $259.04 poorer and about to make myself comfortable on my couch.

Bell...NO

Today wasn't such a bad day even if there was rain and wind all day. The girls were out of their pens quite a bit today. And there hasn't been more than one accident on the carpet since I washed it. (Any day with no pee is a good day!)

I knew that the girls were going to need to cut loose a bit today and I wasn't about to brave that cold wind and rain to make sure they were exercised. So I let them tear through the house for about a half hour at a time several times today. In between that they played quietly in the kitchen while I paid some bills and made various foods for myself and the pups. Then I read up on some dog information and it was time for the girls to run wild again. It was sort of like little mini doses of controlled chaos. Not a bad arrangement at all considering we didn't have many choices.

Well it was during our last controlled crazy time that it all went wrong....very wrong. I had just reached my level of enough is enough with the running back and forth. I told the girls to stop and lay down (they sometimes even listen to me now) and Nicki stopped to pick up her stuffed bunny before throwing herself down on the carpet and dedicating her quiet time to destroying it. For no reason known to me Bell walked over, stood over Nicki and suddenly started peeing on her...all over her head; neck and ear!
While I couldn't believe what I was seeing, my mothering instincts kicked in immediately and I launched myself off the love seat at Bell....yelling NO at her I grabbed her scruff and gave her a little shake (ok maybe a big shake) before hauling her over to her pen.

I turned around and poor Nicki was winking pee away from her eye while dripping pee off her ear! She had such a confused look on her face...poor thing. I gave her a double washing of the face; neck and ears; cleaned up the rug and then went back to clean Nicki again! I couldn't imagine having someone pee on me like that but more importantly I kiss those two on the head all the time! (Yuck!)

No pictures of this one guys...but then how weird would it be if I actually had a picture of that!

Meeting Lily

Since the girls have arrived Lily has a new hobby. Her hobby involves frustrating both dogs by never letting them get close enough to sniff her. (You can look but you can't touch!) At first she would peek around a corner and run when either of them looked her way. Then she progressed to hiding in a room where they couldn't see her but she could watch them. Eventually she became really brazen and would sit in a doorway watching them without even hiding at all.

Every time either one of the dogs tried to go check her out she would stand her ground and crank back a paw...just waiting for them to get within striking range. She has hit each of them several times but she's never used claws...always used a "soft paw" when she smacked them. Of course the pups would jump back like she was spitting fire when she smacked them. And they never got a clue that maybe they would be more successful if they approached her individually. I can't even count how many times they would both bound at her..only to find themselves uncomfortably close to a furry arm flying out to smack the nearest one.

The pictures here are of the first time both of them have been able to get close to her at the same time. Lily was coming up from the basement and decided to peek from the doorway before venturing out into the room. Both dogs knew she was in the doorway but neither one was brave enough to get close to her. (I'm sure Bell remembers Lily bopping her on the top of her head last time she stuck her head in that open door!) For once Nicki and Bell laid down calmly and just waited instead of jumping at her like they usually do. Lily became braver as time went by and she actually came out into the kitchen with both of the pups frozen stiff and staring at her. Lily was trying to make it to Justin's lap but she never made it. The pups broke the freeze when she got really close and she was off like a shot!

Despite the fact that we are not one big happy family here yet, progress was made this day. Lily is losing her fear of the pups or learning that her "mysterious creature that watches" routine has some definite benefits. The pups are learning that patience and a calm demeanor may work in their favor when it comes to figuring out what this elusive animal is all about. And I learned that I really need to take care of the trim and that patched spot on my wall! (when you live with it you tend not to see it anymore...sheepish grin here).

Wounded Warrior Comedy Night

I went to the comedy night for the Wounded Warriors last weekend at the Elk's Club. (the 10th?) These days there is so much going on that I can't seem to keep track of it all. The evening was hosted by the Blue Star mothers who are mothers of wounded soldiers and the proceeds go to the Wounded Warriors program. It is a wonderful program and something that I may one day get involved with myself. I was very impressed with the speaker for the program (who's name I'm sorry I can't remember). They get way more involved with our disabled soldiers than I realized.

The evening started out a little unsettled. I wasn't sure who was expected to show up but I found Carol and Tom immediately...or they found me actually. There was some table switching going on for a bit until Tom decided he wasn't moving again. (can't blame him..it was his third switch!) Justin came with me. We both were looking forward to a little comedy.

We eventually decided we better get in line for the buffet. The line was huge! When we got to thefood it was pretty well depleted so new trays were on the way. Kathy was bringing out a big container of meatballs in sauce and when she put it in the tray holder the container somehow tipped and one corner was pouring out sauce all over the table; floor and unfortunately Kathy's hand! A couple of other people grabbed it and took over. Kathy beat feet to take care of her burned hand. Later she said it wasn't too bad but I bet it hurt quite a bit! Burns like that are no joke and they tend to hurt for some time later. Poor Kathy!

After the food it was time for the comedy. I don't remember the names of any of the comedians. (you shouldn't be surprised about that) The first guy was good. He got the crowd involved for awhile and it was funny. The second guy was ok..but not my cup of tea. Justin liked him the best. The third guy was the headliner and honestly he was the best of the three but he was no Dane Cook. (if you don't know who that is...well, you need to watch comedy central more!) I'm not saying these guys weren't funny, they were. I think it was their choice of topics that just didn't do it for me. I was hoping for more cutting edge humor I guess. Some of their jokes were stuff you might hear at any party.

I do have some pictures here from that evening. Some of them are pretty good but some of them are nothing special. I had some difficulty with the pictures because of lighting issues....or because I'm no expert with a camera...take your pick. I did my best to "fix" the ones that were too dark or out of focus a little. At least it's something to look at!

Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere

Aren't bubbles wonderful? They come in so many shapes and sizes. They can be clear or colored; they can even be iridescent. They are often fleeting and beautiful but can also be long lasting depending on where they appear.

There are many kinds of bubbles in the world. You can have bubbles in a bath or blow bubbles from a small wand. You'll find them in champagne and in the surf at the beach. Some people are even said to live in a bubble. Sometimes they fly away on the wind and sometimes the sunshine will make them change colors. Bubbles can be relaxing; exciting or just plan fun.

But do you know when bubbles aren't fun? They aren't fun when there are too many of them...when they just keep coming and you can't stop them. Maybe you're thinking when would that happen? Well I can tell you. Bubbles are no fun at all when you put dish soap in a dishwasher (because you don't have any dishwasher detergent) and you find out the hard way that you've put too much in the machine....way too much! And this is what happened to me tonight at the animal shelter! How much worse is it to have your blunder so public....and even worse yet, someone else will have to complete the clean up tomorrow.

Picture if you will an industrious volunteer at the animal shelter...folding laundry; walking dogs; cleaning pens....and cleaning dirty dog dishes. It was toward the end of my evening that I decided I had enough dirty dishes to run the machine. That's when I discovered there wasn't any detergent for the machine. Well, I couldn't run it without any cleaning agent so I figured dish liquid would do the trick nicely. And it might have worked out fine if I hadn't put too much in the machine.
About 20 minutes later I noticed some suds on the floor as I was finishing up to go home. As I watched in horror, the machine changed into the next gear and suds began pouring out of every opening that machine had! I froze for about 20 seconds while I stared at the mess gushing out of that machine. Then I ran for the mop. But the mop was no help at all. The mop is already wet so it can't soak up anything. Next I ran back with the mop and switched it for the floor squeegee. (this is a long handled one thankfully) There is a drain in the floor so I thought all I had to do was direct the soap suds to the drain and it would be ok. That plan was shot to hell when I watched the suds building up around the drain....that's when I realized that the water would go down the drain but the damn suds won't...it sits on top.

Now I've got a dishwasher that is throwing up a constant stream of soap suds and a puddle of suds that is growing around the drain. (and I haven't even told you about the suds that was gathering under and behind the machine) NOW what do I do??!! Finally I had a coherent thought...I shut the machine off. (Duh!) Then I just had to look inside and find out just how bad this situation was. When I opened the door even more suds and water came sloshing out! There were bubbles and water everywhere.

At this point I'm hoping that someone would suddenly appear and just make this all go away. Unfortunately the people that did see the problem just sort of acknowledged that I had a real problem there and kept on moving. (I swear I saw Ann's shoulders shaking as she turned away....I just bet she was laughing!) In the back of my head I kept thinking that a bar of soap would kill the bubbles. (how many times as a kid did I lose my wonderful bubbles in the bath when I had to use the bar of soap to finish?) Problem is...we don't use bars of soap at the shelter...everywhere you look its all liquid soap. Then Ann finally stopped laughing long enough to suggest we take a look upstairs in the locker room to see if they have a bar of soap up there. Ann you are a genius! (I didn't even know we HAD a locker room in the place) Turns out we have a women's and a men's locker room and I found a bar of dove soap in the women's locker room. Hurrah, I'm saved!

Nothing in life is ever really as easy as it looks is it? And this was no exception. I took the soap downstairs and started chipping small slivers of soap into a pile with of all things, a box cutter. I kept tossing the slivers into the machine and chipping more. Ann suggested I put the whole bar in the machine and turn it back on but that machine takes way too long to run through it's cycle and I didn't feel like turning this into a sleep over. The slivers of soap did cut down the suds somewhat but I just didn't have enough soap to really fix the situation.

I decided to cut my losses and call it a night. I took the soap back to the locker room...hope the owner doesn't get upset about the misshapen soap. Next I cleaned up as much of the suds as possible; even used the hose to force it down the drain. Then I labeled the dishwasher telling the staff tomorrow that another rinse cycle is needed and that I am sorry I couldn't clean it all up. I just know someone is going to have a rotten time getting the suds all out of that damn thing. I feel guilty now because it's not like me to leave my mess for someone else to clean up. However, I did get the feeling that this is not the first time this has happened. Nobody freaked out about it (besides me) and even though it is a mess...well, at least the floor smells really clean!

Kaylee's Birthday Party

We had a birthday party at my house for Kaylee the other weekend. She's 6 yrs old already..(and I can still remember holding her in my arms the day she was born. Seems like it was just yesterday). Some of her little friends showed up with their Mom's. In my day the Mom's used to dump their kids and run! I'm glad they stuck around. Kaylee had a good time. Some of the boys got a little rowdy and there were a few tears a couple of times.. but nothing that wasn't cured by cake.

Kaylee spent a little time drawing on the driveway with some colored chalk. That's another thing that wasn't around or wasn't popular when my kids were little. This was the first time I had "original art" created on my driveway. There were lots of gifts; some balloons; cake and ice cream and some crazy energy being used up by the little ones.

The puppies were a big hit when I brought them out for a potty break and social time. A spontaneous game of frisbee and soccer broke out in the back yard between some of the adults and a couple of the kids. The puppies got involved whenever the frisbee happen to land close enough for them to steal it and run. Of course they couldn't run too far because I had them each on a long leash. (they will not be off leash for a very long time but they don't know that, so don't tell them please!) They always seem so surprised when they get to the end of the leash and come to an abrupt stop. ( silly puppies)

Kaylee had a great day and so did the rest of us. Of course for Kaylee any day that has both cake and ice cream is a wonderful day. At one point we had Kaylee all decked out in every bit of birthday girl identification items we had. She loved all the stuff she had on. We even decked Mom (my mother) out a little bit before she went home. I think we all get our sense of humor from my mother. She's always game for anything silly or a good practical joke.

Bell's Day

This is me with Bell on my lap. If she intends to be a lap dog much longer....I'm going to need a much bigger lap!

Training continues with both pups. I now call Bell (affectionately)....Dumbbell when we are "working". I call it work...Bell calls it screwing with Mom's mind. I know from experience that you have to repeat constantly to get a puppy to finally "get it". And I'm perfectly willing to do that because the end result is an adult dog with great manners, that's pleasant to have around. But Bell is definitely a challenge.
Every day her training is different...not the stuff we go over...only the way she responds. At one point I was convinced she finally knew what sit means. But today it was nothing but blank looks and loving tail wags. She was pretty good with heeling..even better than Nicki was today. But every time I said sit she just stared straight ahead or looked at me with that adorable blank look in her eyes and wagged her tail. It's like she thought she had already done it! I just had to laugh at her. She's such a sweet little dip stick some times I just can't help but crack up.

On our way back home she was heeling really nice, I was praising her all the way, telling her she's a good girl, talking nonsense in a silly voice...she was eating it up. Then up ahead of us I saw a woman walking a big bruiser of a Lab with a harness on him. That was my first tip off. People that use a harness usually do that because the dog isn't trained and their walk time is all about who's got the most muscle...her or the dog. I was a little nervous when I saw him coming. He had seen us and he decided to drag his woman over to see us. She made an attempt to drag him to the side away from us but I called to her that if he's friendly I'd like them to meet. (can't believe I said that!) I was shaking in my shoes as we got closer. He was such a big hulk of a dog and my poor Bell is so tiny and shy. But I'm determined that my dogs will be much better socialized than my Allie was. Allie had a lot of problems and one of them was not being socialized enough when she was young. I didn't understand how important it is to socialize a timid dog until it was too late with Allie. So I'm not going to make that mistake again. You have to address the fact that the dog is lacking confidence. Bell is a timid dog too but at least she is willing to try.

When we finally met "Bruiser" (my name for him. I never got his real name) he was fine with Bell. She sat down and didn't move a muscle. (sure, NOW you know how to sit!) I gave her a lot of credit for not trying to bolt away from him. He was at least 6 or 7 times her size...hell, he was almost bigger than me! Well he decided that Bell was wonderful and started sniffing and prancing around her like they were old friends. (he liked her because he isn't neutered). Bell just continued looking at him and sitting quietly but sort of in a stiff way. (do I even KNOW you dude?) Bell tends to do the statue thing when she's nervous too. Eventually he had sniffed his fill of her and we were on our way. Bell gave it all away at that point because she kept looking behind her..watching him walk away. (Bell, you have to play hard to get girl!) We discussed him all the way home.

Stacey's Birthday

Stacey's birthday today!

The evening started at Bunny's house...even though the kids refer to it as Jake's house. (that always cracks me up) I wonder if they refer to my house as Justin's house too. I'm just waiting for the day I can bring a bunch of my friends to Justin's home and call it mine. ha ha

I got to Bunny's house (aka Jake's house) a little later than everyone else. I had to give the pups time to "process" their dinner as they would be spending a couple of hours in their pens. They weren't really cooperating with me however. I've learned that neither one of them wants to go outside for potty time in the rain. Nicki took one look at the rain and started pulling backwards to stay in the house! (I didn't tell her she's going to get another bath tomorrow). Bell has a different technique...she lunges on the leash thinking she can bypass potty time completely and just head straight back to the house. The weird part is when they go out in the rain together it's fine with them because they just want to wrestle in the wet grass. There is no figuring out these two.

When I arrived at Bunny's everyone was up in Jake's room playing Guitar Hero. Looks like fun but I didn't get a chance to play. Before we knew it the party had moved to the garage. Eventually the camera came out (I borrowed KC's....Nicki was borrowing mine) and it was time to capture some of the fun. Somehow our parties always end up with props. Bunny brought out some Halloween costumes and almost everyone ended up wearing something. We decked Justin out in some kind of monster mask huge ugly hands and feet. Somehow those pictures came out slightly blurry so it almost looks like he's melting. Kind of cool. Stacey (being the birthday girl) somehow seems to show up in almost every picture....she must be a camera freak.

A pizza showed up and eventually a cake followed. And somehow the party became a dance demonstration. I took turns with Stacey trying to do some Michael Jackson moves. They are much harder than they look! I tried several times to stay up on my toes like he did....going to have to practice that one a lot more. Then we posed Stacey in a Thriller type dance position and it looked pretty good. I think she's going to have to practice that dance number a bit more too.
I did find out that Stacey was into dancing jazz all through school. That explains why our one picture with "jazz hands" was a natural fit for her. I'm going to have to work on her to see if she'll show me some of the other stuff she knows. I'm sure she's full of moves that I would love to learn.

I had to leave the party after a couple of hours. My girls can't hold it forever in their pens and making them wait too long just means more work for me. The kids had plans to go play a few games of Galactic Bowling. I'm not sure if they made it there or not. I wanted to go too because I've never seen bowling in black lights (but I have done mini-golf in black lights) but the girls were calling so I had to be the good Mom and go home instead.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

It's All About The Beads

I went to the Big E tonight with Bun Bun. I should take a moment here to thank Bunny because she got free tickets from work. It was very nice of her to invite me to go with her. Thanks Bun!

I haven't been there at night in a very long time but I've decided I like it better than going during the day. It was cooler and the crowds weren't as bad. The only tough part was working all day first with a roaring backache from my volunteer night at the animal shelter. (Yes, I really work at the shelter. It's not just about playing with the animals.) The shelter had a mountain of dirty laundry that needed washing; another mountain of clean laundry to be folded and put away; two dogs that needed bathing before their surgery the next day and a host of other routine chores that I can't even remember at the moment. I think it was lifting the dogs that got my back irritated again and once it starts I'm usually in for it for a couple of days. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from going to the Big E.

When we first got there I think I scared Bunny by trying to get her to go down the giant slide with me. I would have done it too but the line was huge. I think Bunny was relieved when I decided I didn't want to wait in that line. She said she was afraid to go down it but I can't see why. You never leave the ground...it's not like you could really get hurt. Besides I still owe her one for the time she talked me into going on a Ferris wheel at the Broad Brook carnival many years ago. We ended up stuck at the top and gently swinging while the drunk attendant tried to remember what his job was. I never forgot that ride because I was so scared! You lucked out this time Bun, but I'll get even eventually.

We visited some of the state houses first. I always do that first. We bought fudge (of course!) and some hand made truffles. I sampled some cheese at the Vermont building but it was too sharp for my taste and they didn't have any smoked cheese. I love smoked cheese the most. I also bought a piece of maple sugar candy. You HAVE to buy that, don't you?
Bunny wanted some Ben and Jerry's ice cream so we stopped for some of that too. I had the black raspberry frozen yogurt and it was really good. We listened to a Vermont originals band for awhile...not to impressed with them. The keyboard and bass was a little too loud so you couldn't hear the vocals enough. The woman singer singing back up was really good but I could barely hear her. As we moved along from there we heard another band in one of the small bars playing Beatles music. Now that was more like it! We didn't stop in to watch them but we sang along with them as we kept strolling.

We were just in time for one of the parades too. Bunny had never seen one before so she didn't know they throw beads to the crowd. I moved up front as close as I could get and started waving and jumping around like my life wouldn't be complete without those beads! (one of my favorite things about the Big E). Well the beads that came my way were about to cause a struggle between myself and a young boy so I gave him the beads I caught. It wasn't until afterward that I realized that little stinker already had several strands around his neck. One more strand didn't make any difference to him but his father smiled and thanked me for giving them to him. So I didn't get any beads this year but next year I'll be right out there in front again. (smile) Of course, half the fun of it is the jumping around and waving your arms like a maniac. I think if you wear something eye catching they tend to throw more beads your way too. So next year I'm going shiny!

After the parade we kept moving, stopping at several little shops along the way in search of gifts for some friends and anything new and different. Bunny got a really neat multicolored glass decoration that glows in the dark, a birthday gift for Stacey. I would have loved one too but I didn't want to spend the money on myself. I know I'm one of those people that thinks I have to have it...only to wish later that I hadn't spent the money on it..so I talked myself out of buying one. (I excel at talking myself out of buying stuff I don't actually need)

One of my objectives for the Big E visit was to indulge in some foods I don't normally allow myself to eat. The first thing was the frozen yogurt...the smallest amount...not that big a deal. The next thing was some perogies. They were good but I thought they were small for the price they were charging. (isn't that always the way?) But the best and worst thing I ate you just won't believe....it's a food I NEVER allow myself to eat....something that most people probably don't think twice about but I do...it's against my rules and I rarely break this rule. Are you ready? Can you guess what it was? DEEP FRIED VEGGIES!! I absolutely never eat fried foods...ever! But tonight I chose mushrooms; onions and sweet potatoes for my veggie combo and the lady deep fried them all for me. It was fantastic!! The veggies were fresh; really hot and not too much batter. I couldn't eat them all but I ate most of it and brought the rest home for Justin.
And now I pay for that indulgence. I've got that heavy, uncomfortable feeling in my stomach and that intestinal rolling thing is starting to work itself up and I swear I've got a zit coming out on my chin already! But I don't regret it one bit. I haven't eaten anything fried in at least the last 15 yrs. and if this is all I have to deal with...well, I'm willing to put up with that every 15 yrs or so

Real Peppers

These are real folks. They are called Peter Peppers...of course. I don't think I need to say anything more except.....my garden is going to be looking a little different next year!