Thank You's and Such

First off, let me thank you all for your kind words over this last week regarding the loss of Shiela. Honestly, this week hasn't been as rough as I thought it would be in that regard. Often I feel like she's still here, keeping an eye on things. I certainly miss her soft ears to rub, but I think the sorrow is eclipsed a bit by the knowledge that it was time.

I thought I'd share this picture I snapped quickly her last day with us. She did a lot of this that weekend. I have more pictures on the camera's (this one was from my iPad), but I have yet to make time to pull them from there and sort them all.

Enough about that though, let's talk about some other thanks I have to give this week. I know it's late for Mother's Day, but I'm thankful for a mother who taught me how to use hot water, Pine-Sol, a good brush, and elbow grease.  That's right kids, we're still scrubbing here. Last Saturday I had a bit of a melt down whole trying to cook breakfast and we had to pull out the stove to get to the screw that fell from the hood panel when the light was found to be blown... You know the kind of morning that this is outlining, don't you? Well, needless to say, we found more nasty. Including broken glass and an old desiccated dog turd. Yeah, under the stove. I swear, I blew my top. I couldn't believe that a set of parents would not only for their kids and dogs protection, make sure all of some kind of broken glass was picked up, but to also in their utter laziness and tackiness, shove a dog turd further under the stove instead of pull it out to better clean. UUUGGGGGHHHHH

So, as I think any sane slight crazed and disgusted person would do, I decided to mop the tile floor that stretches from the front door, to the back and through the kitchen.

Little did I know that this wasn't it's real color... Do you see that lighter spot to the right? That's where  there was some sticky red stuff stuck to the tile and I scrubbed with the brush side of the mop. Yeah... I truly thought the darker brown was the color of the tile.

So, a few hours and buckets of truly nasty water later. This above.

Became this. My knees and shoulders were screaming a bit, and a scrub brush was a bit on the worn side, but I felt better about walking on the cool tile with bare feet in the blossoming summer heat here. And let's just say, our week has been full of this kind of crap... Truly in some cases, crap.

Now, I am no serious house keeper, let me tell you. I grew up with a mother that was a bit of a cleaning freak. Love you Mom. Seriously, she was, but at least I know what is truly disgusting and when a serious dirt/grime beat down needs to happen. The joy of all this? I think the smell in the house is a bit better because I think some of this staining was dog urine. Even when you open the back door that pocket of air between the screen door and back door doesn't smell of filthy dog. The down side? You mean besides the time suck and bruised and tired knees? We can now see how many tiles are cracked and chipped without their mask of filth. I'll take it now that I know I won't catch hoof and mouth or ringworm from our own floor.

Don't worry, he got a bath after this was taken and his flea and tick treatment.

Another thing I'm thankful for is our silly boys who let me know that at the end of a long day of working on things, there's always some time to goof off.

And snuggle up to whatever one considers their "pacifier", even if it's a bone... or a bottle of wine.

Sunday we took the kids over to the Lowell Dog Park before hitting the hardware and grocery stores and we found this guy in the parking lot. He had a lot of water still in his shell which led me to think he didn't get there on his own.

So I walked him down to the lake while The Guy took the kids into the dog park for a rompus. I wasn't quick enough with the iPhone cam as he figured out he was free and took off like lightening in the weeds underwater. As for what this guy is? Not sure, but I think possibly a Northern Map Turtle. If this is indeed what this turtle is, it's most likely a female due to size. Though not a huge animal, she was hefty when I carried her to the lake. It made me feel good that as I approached the water, several smaller turtles shimmied away into the depths. Made me feel better that this lake was a habitat that may work out well for her.

Anyway, that's about all I have for tonight. Should get ready to crash and take a closer look at the new flooring The Guy has found online. Oh Joy!