Alice and Jayne's Place

Betty stopped by Sasser on the way home to visit Alice's place. As you can tell, the theme at the shop is Halloween.

Jesse with Lindsey's dog, Olive (a long-haired chihauhau).

Olive getting all decked out in a halloween costume.

Weekend at Eileen's

Betty, Taylor, and Jesse came up last weekend for the TCC vs UL football game. Here's a few of the pictures that Betty took.

Jesse and Kami. All the dogs love Jesse...he seems to have a special connection with them!

Amanda, Jesse, Kristen, and Taylor.
Charkee, Kolle, and Bubba Joe (the cat) all in the dog pen. Bubba Joe loves to be in the pen with the dogs. He has no thoughts of trying to jump out...just waits until we open the gate so they can all come out at the same time. Charkee trying to escape from the pen. When she first came to live with us she could escape with no problems. Now her belly prevents her from being Houdini.

Update on Polly Ann: She now lives outside and resides on the front porch while Bubba Joe guards the back deck. They seemed to have established their territory and don't cross paths.

HorseShoe Pond - Betty's Pictures

Betty and Jesse spent a Sunday afternoon gator and bird watching at the HorseShoe pond. I wanted to share some of her photos with everyone (Betty, I hope you don't mind).

Sunset

Watching a gorgeous sunset is a very magical moment in life. When we go to the beach, we always love watching the sunset after spending a long, hot day at the beach. Its amazing how much more relaxed and peaceful you feel after watching the sun dissapear into the horizon.

While Kristen was at West Point Lake this summer with Nick and his family, she introduced them to the joy of sunset watching. She also rubbed it in that we (Doug and I) were missing all the fun while she was at the lake and we were home working. She took this picture of the beautiful sunset at the lake.

One-eyed Kami

The vet tried to shave the hair around Kami's eyes because she has a cornea ulcer in the right one. He was successful in shaving around the right eye but she pitched such a fit that he would not try to shave around the left one. Now she looks like someone smashed her face.

She may weigh only 3lbs. but she acts like she's a Great Dane!

Nick and Charkee

Nick and Charkee could be twins...Nick's hair is a black as Charkee's and is as curly! I couldn't get Nick to remove his hat so we could see the resemblance.

Will you please leave my tail alone!

Kami discovered this swishing toy (Bubba Joe's tail) and began playing with it. Every so often the other end of the toy would sit up and swat at her but never hurt her.

Kami now weights a whopping 3 lbs. Bubba Joe probably weighs around 10 lbs.

Amanda & Walker

Here's a picture of Amanda and Walker taken at our house last night (can you tell Walker wasn't too excited about taking a picture). Actually, Doug was cooking ribs and they couldn't stay & eat with us (they had a shower to go to).

Mills' Zoo

The San Francisco and Atlanta Zoos have nothing on us! Check out some of our current occupants.

At the top is Kolle, a large, unique shih tzu. The lady we bought her from said that all her litter mates had been sold but no one wanted her because she was too hyper. We fell in love with her the minute we saw her. She loves cats, dogs, people, bugs, etc. I guess she is the mediator of the zoo. She is also a roamer...she rarely sleeps at night; she wants to make sure everyone is safe and sound and she continuously roams the house to make sure all is well. She whines to get in the bed with us about three or four times a night, which keeps us from getting a full nights rest. She will sleep for about 30 minutes and then she's off to check on things.

Next is Bubba Joe, a solid white cat with the bluest blue eyes I've ever seen. Bubba Joe joined the zoo as a stray around Dec or Jan. At first he wouldn't have much to do with any of us. After I starting feeding him (against Doug's will) he began hanging around more. He was also the neighborhood Tom Cat until I had him neutered last month. His lost of manhood resulted after he abused PollyAnn and she had to spend almost two weeks at the Vet. I either had to get rid of him or calm him down..geting rid of him was not an option. Now he loves hanging out and playing with Kolle and Charkee.

The third picture is of Charkee, the little baby that Judy found running down the middle of the road in Buena Vista in February. We think she may be a mix between a shih tzu and a poodle, but I guess we'll really never know. The minute she came into our lives she let us know that she was the boss. Charkee is the complete opposite of Kolle when it comes to sleeping. This little dog loves to sleep in our bed and refuses to get up in the mornings to go out! We have given her the nickname "Iron Bladder".

The last picture is of PollyAnn, the sweetest cat in the whole world! PollyAnn was also a stray that showed up at our house last November, a few weeks after Mae died. She was an outside cat until July 1st. Bubba Joe attacked her and she was seriously wounded and had to spend almost two weeks at the vet. Because of her wound, the vet said she had to stay inside. She is still recuperating from the attack and now lives in our bathroom. As you can see, she is totally content and will probably never step foot outside again. Kolle and Charkee also love spending time with her and chasing her around the bathroom.

I don't have an updated picture of little Kami. She lives with us partime when Kristen is home from school. When we took her to the vet last week, she was weighing in at 2.4 pounds. Kristen is supposed to take her this week for more shots. I can't wait to find out how much she weighs.

Doug is finally beginning to feel better. He has had three more bags of fluid since the bag he had last Friday in the emergency room. Kristen is home from school for a few weeks and has been here to chauffeur him back and forth to the Butler office to get the fluids. She has also waited on him hand and foot. I guess this is good training for her entrance into the Nursing Program.

For those of you who don't know....I had to take Doug to the emergency room last Friday (July 25) because his blood pressure was high and he was dizzy. After running tests and blood work they treated him for hyponatremia...his sodium level had dropped to 129.

It all started the previous Friday when he had to dig a grave to bury Gabby. It was extremely hot and humid that night and he sweated so badly and did not drink anything that would replace the electrolytes that he lost. The following week he walked just about everyday plus cut the grass, worked outside, ran stadium steps and continued to lose electrolytes. By Friday, his body was all out of whack!

He has been confined to the indoors and is now getting cabin fever. He will try to go to work on Monday. Teachers reported to school yesterday (Aug 1) and students report on Aug. 7.

Meet Kami

Kristen is excited to welcome Kami, an 11 week old red, black, and white Shih Tzu, to her home on July 22. Kami is anxiously waiting to meet her new siblings: Kolle, Charkee, Polly Ann, and Bubba Joe.

Kami's name is Kristen's initials with an i on the end. Kristen also wanted to name her after Gabby so her registration name if Princess Kamielle (Gabby was Princess Gabbrielle).

We want to thank everyone for the condolences we received. Gabby was such a great joy to us and we miss her very much.

Gabby

It is with great sadness that I inform you that Gabby collasped and died of an apparent heart attack this afternoon. She was out with the other dogs chasing and retrieving a tennis ball and enjoying life to its fullest!

Ice a Dog's Paw???

Thursday as I was walking the dogs all of a sudden Charkee fell to the ground and started licking her paw. Thinking that she had stepped on one of a million sandspurs that inhabit the beach, I picked her up to remove it. To my amazement, I didn't find a spur but a black ant that was burrowed between the pads of her little paw. After removing the dastardly little creature I placed Charkee back on the ground expecting her to follow me back to the beachhouse. Instead, she plopped right back down and started licking her paw. I tried to get her to follow me again so she held up her paw and hobbled after me on three legs.  After realizing that she was in pain, I picked her up and carried her back to the house and told Doug that an ant had bitten her on her paw. Sticking to his answer for any type of injury, he advised me to put ice on the bite. 

I looked at him and asked him if he was serious..."Ice on a dog's paw???" Did he really think she was going to let me put something cold on her foot? Well... as the saying goes "Pictures don't lie." Here are pictures of Charkee in bed with an ice pack on her foot. 

This baby feel asleep with the ice pack on her paw and must have stayed in this position for 30 minutes.

Now Doug definitely stands by his "Ice Cures Everything" theory!

Dog Days at the Beach

Doug and I are trying to enjoy a nice, quiet vacation at the beach...the only problem is that we have two little black dogs by the names of Kolle and Charkee who have different plans for us.

Yesterday I came up to the house for what I thought would be a little rest from the sun and sand. After taking a shower and then deciding to do a load of laundry, I looked around for the pups and couldn't find them anywhere. I called and called but they didn't respond. I figured they must had escaped so I checked outside and then decided to go check on the beach. As I started back down to the beach I asked a lady who was coming up if she had seen two little black dogs. She responded, "Oh yes, they are so cute. They are running down the beach to the right but they are staying together! They are so friendly!" After greeting everyone on the beach, they finally decided to pay attention to me and came to greet me as if they had done nothing wrong.

After all this, Doug and I decided it was time for them to get some real exercise. Kolle is obsessed with balls so Doug threw her a tennis ball to fetch for about 40 minutes (while Charkee chased Kolle and tried to bite her tail). They both got hot and decided to take a dip in the ocean. Of course, after getting sopping wet they just had to roll in the sand to dry off! Have you ever tried washing sand off long-haired four-legged wet creatures? Rest assured, it is not easy!

This morning after Doug and I came back from our walk we were greeted with another doggie surprise! The two little devils had gotten into my beachbag and had pulled everything out, including a bag of pistacio nuts. There were nuts and nut shells all over the floor and on the couch. I guess humans are not the only ones who can become coach potatoes. I'm just glad K and C stayed out of the beer! I sure hope they enjoyed their snack and that the nuts will do them no harm (other than to cause them to poop green poop)!

Eileen's Job

At Tuesday night's meeting, the Board of Education appointed me the new Student Information Services (SIS) Coordinator.

Kristen ...Nursing Program

Kristen found out today that she has been accepted into the nursing program at CSU! YEAAAA! We are so excited.  She will take Anatomy and Physiology II this summer (beginning June 9th)to complete all prerequisite requirements and then will begin the program in the fall.

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Kristen turned 20 today! 

Amanda and Walker

Amanda Passed Her National Board Exam

Amanda took her Occupational Therapy National Board exam on Thursday, May 29 and found out on Friday that she passed the exam. She is now a licensed occupational therapist! 

She begins her OT job on Monday, June 2 at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta (SRH is part of Children's Health Care of Atlanta).  

Cousins

Sitting (l-r) Kristen, Amanda, Alison, Taylor, Jennifer, Kelsey

Standing (l-r) Lindsey, Alan, Scott, Jesse

Amanda's Graduation

Amanda graduated from the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) on Friday, May 9 with a Master's in Health Science in Occupational Therapy. She has accepted
a job with Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta and will begin work on June 2. 

Here are before and after pics.

Graduation

Family Photos - Dec. 2007

MeMe and Granddaddy

Nick and Kristen

Dog Photo Shoot

Gabby, Kolle, and Charkee