When it rains...

We arrived home from our two week vacation and work road trip mid-evening on the 4th of July.  My tooth pain, which had started on Saturday, hadn't improved; it had changed more to a jaw pain though.  With the Holiday, I had no luck getting in contact with my dentist, but I was doing my best to deal with the pain.  I arrived home safe and completely exhausted.  I quickly unpacked the car and started putting things away and organizing, but it wasn't long before I decided I just needed to go to bed.  Before we could do that, I made sure the girls partook in our 4th of July tradition of cheesy popcorn.

We were up early on Wednesday morning because it was a big day for Miss Mina.  She was scheduled to have her spay surgery.  I made sure Mina was in the car before I put down Peaches' breakfast and then I headed out the door to drop Mina off with our friends at Patterson Veterinary Hospital. 

When I arrived home, Peaches' breakfast was untouched and she was still sound asleep.  Apparently two weeks on the road was exhausting for her!  She woke up when she heard me moving around in the bedroom, finished her breakfast, and went outside for her morning potty break.  We then settled in for a quiet day of napping for Peaches and work for me.

Shortly after 10:30 that morning, I received a call from the vet who was supposed to perform Mina's surgery.  She had just started Mina's surgery and was concerned about some subcutaneous bruising in Mina's abdomen and wanted to run additional blood tests before continuing with the surgery.  Unfortunately the blood tests showed the Mina was mildly anemic, so the doctor determined it wouldn't be safe to continue with the surgery that day.

We sent out additional bloodwork to test clotting, coagulation, and platelet count.  I was told the results would take a few days.  These tests would give us a better idea if surgery would be safe or if there were other issues of concern that we would need to address.  I picked Mina up early that afternoon with instructions to keep her calm for the next 5 days.  And we waited for further information on bloodwork. 

I was finally able to get into my dentist on Friday morning and ultimately ended up with a prescription for antibiotics and a referral to an Endodontist.   Thankfully over the next couple of days the antibiotics worked their magic, and my tooth pain has all but disappeared.   I'm grateful for that since the first appointment time available at the Endodontist was over a week out. 

Between my tooth infection and pain keeping me exhausted for days and the need to keep Mina calm during that same time, we didn't do much the first few days we were home.  By Sunday we were ready for some fun.  Luckily, I had a home visit to complete for ISR near Port Huron on Sunday.  The weather was perfect to bring the girls along for a couple of short adventures.

The girls got to meet the potential adopter and after the home visit was done, we headed East toward the water.   Because Mina still had stitches, we couldn't spend time in the water, but we found a couple of small parks along the St. Clair River to explore and enjoy the views.

We also enjoyed some fun geocaching.  I really loved this clever cache container.  It was the perfect low-key Summer Sunday. 

Monday I was feeling pretty great, my tooth pain had all but disappeared, so I was excited to spend a little time in the yard and garden.   My garden looks pretty good despite the dry season we've had.  I was also able to catch up on laundry, dishes, and some cleaning.  

It rained on Wednesday evening so there was no Dog Walking Club at the shelter, so we had a quiet but productive stormy evening at home.  Luckily, during the day the weather had been nice enough that the girls spent a good amount of time outside.  While most of the day she enjoys lounging in the sun, Mina has naughty moments too, and during one of those moments, she decided that she needed to sneak into the garden and eat my beautiful broccoli plants.  I thought I could salvage one, but she snuck back in and finished it off as soon as I turned my back.  

We had a normal, quiet Thursday and the girls spent much of the day outside while I worked.  After work, we headed out to visit the Farmer's Market.  This has become our new Thursday routine and I think we all enjoy it.  I especially enjoy my Ming Dynasty egg roll and my chocolate chip cookie.  

After our visit to the Farmer's market, I decided to make a quick stop at Lansing Gardens to see if I could find a couple of cheap broccoli plants to make one last ditch effort to have broccoli in my garden this year.    I was in luck and I bought the last two plants they had and got them into the garden.  I thought I figured out a way to keep Mina from getting under the fence too, but she's sneaky and found another spot to sneak under.  I still have two broccoli plants and will be buying some things to reinforce the bottom of the fence to keep her out for good.  At least I hope it will be for good.

Thursday I picked my first zucchini of the season!  Right now the zucchini and basil are all that are ready, but I'm hoping to have tomatoes soon.  

I decided to visit the Eaton County Fair after work on Friday.  I always enjoy a visit to a county fair.   I had never been to the Eaton County Fair, so it was an interesting experience.  

My favorite part of visiting the fair is visiting the animals, although it makes me sad to think about the fate of most of these animals after the fair.  But I guess it is just the reality of farm life.

I got a lot of animal nose pictures from the most curious of the animals.  I snacked on some loaded fries while I visited the animal barns, and before leaving the fairgrounds, I had to get an elephant ear.  

And after I got home, I took the girls out for a nice walk around the neighborhood.  It was a great way to spend my Friday evening. 

I started Saturday morning at the shelter for our Dog Walking club.  I got to walk Macaron.  She is one sweet girl and she thoroughly enjoyed our walk.  Somehow we got lucky and the forecasted rain never showed up so we stayed nice and dry the entire time.   It was a great start to my morning.  I forget how good I feel when I start my weekend with this volunteer time.  

The weather looked questionable for the early afternoon, so the girls and I went for a drive around some country roads and did a little geocaching.  Peaches and Mina loved having their heads out the window taking in all of the smells in the country air.

By the time we got back to Lansing, the sun was shining so we stopped in Mason and got out for a walk around town.  We had a nice 2 1/4 mile walk and visited Family Farm and Home before heading home.

I think the girls were happy with our little Saturday adventure.  After dinner, they both crashed and have been snoring away all night long.  It was a good day.

Overall we had a quiet week.  Mina is now back to full activity level, and thankfully, her additional bloodwork results showed nothing concerning so she's back on the schedule for her spay surgery in a few weeks.  We'll do additional bloodwork to see if the anemia has resolved before she has surgery, but our vet feels pretty confident that she'll be fine.

My tooth has continued to feel okay the whole week.  I am grateful for that.  I've finished the antibiotic and now I just wait for my Monday morning appointment with the Endodontist.  That should take care of whatever caused the pain so I won't have to worry about it in the future.

I'm looking forward to some fun plans for our Sunday and then we'll end the week with a peaceful Sunday evening at home.  It should be a nice end to our week.