Which Way Did They Go? Which Way Did They Go?

It’s almost the July 4th weekend.

Talk around Mi Vida Loca is centered on “what to do.”

ThatManILove may be working, so that will ground us.

But...if he’s not...here are our choices:

Stay home.  I’ve already booked a Saturday morning baby photography session.  Which will be great fun, this baby is gorgeous!!

Stay home.  Photograph. Do some bookkeeping.  And finish painting the living room. And watch my beautiful flowering plants start to die now that we're officially down to watering 2 days a week.  Please, Lord, cause it to rain on Texas!


Go west and north to the cool pines of Ruidoso.  But our favorite “living the lifestyles of the rich and famous (in our favorite Turkey Ridge house) one week at a time” isn’t available on VRBO.  Wah.  That ManILove is spoiled to this particular house.  Scroll through the pictures and you’ll see why we love this mountain getaway. Gorgeous!


Go north to the tip of Texas and watch Elder Son participate in a Ranch Rodeo.

1. This would be fun and just by virtue of going north, it might be a bit cooler.
2. He stands to win big bucks, and by golly, if anyone needs it, he does, because...
3. Definition of "Rodeo" = OneHeckofanExpensiveSport

Stay home. Invite our other family in from the Big D area so we can spoil our godchild, her mommy, and her nanna - it’s always a blessing to see them.

We could combine some of these, right?  Have our rodeo and hang out with extended family, too?  And who knows, maybe Younger Son and his new bride will show up?

Ah, but then, if north, to the rodeo...what to do with the Wonderdogs?  Since I've not booked doggy day-care, we’ll have to find a hotel that allows pets, so we can take them with us.   Which would bring a whole ‘nother dimension to being a rodeo spectator.  Zack thinks when Elder Son ropes a steer that he’s supposed to go retrieve it, just like he does when I shoot a bird.  Well, he is a hunting dog, after all.  And he also thinks the spectator stands at arenas are uncomfortable.  I know.  He told me so.  Right after he yanked me down them when he tried to retrieve that last steer at Tahoka.

Okay, I’m going to bed to sleep on it all.  ThatManILove and I will discuss it in the morning.  

Whatever we decided, I’m sure you’ll be informed, somehow.  My gentle readers, I wonder, how do you stand the suspense?  Our lives are SOOOO exciting.  (Yawn.)

Yep.  I’m tired. 

Please forgive my sarcasm.  I'm a bit sleep deprived.

Zack The Wonderdog - Stitches, Take Two

A week ago Thursday, I received a call from my dog trainer, Andy, who had current custody of Zack and Zanna the Wonderdogs while I was traveling.

Andy and Zack had been hunting, and Zack went after a felled chukkar.  When he retrieved it to hand, Andy noticed that there was quite a bit of blood.  He examined the bird, and then looked at Zack.

Zack had somehow sliced his leg, down the front, just above the wrist of his paw.  He even sliced into the muscle.  We don’t know if he hit a mesquite thorn, some barbed wire, or just a sharp branch.  But slice it, he did.  He layed that sucker open.  Andy rushed Zack to the vet in Big Spring.  The vet sedated Zack, and stitched up muscle and skin.  My sweet dogsitter Casey drove to Big Spring and picked Zack up, brought him home, and gave him sweet loving care until I could fly home.

We’ve kept him quiet, no walks around the neighborhood, no climbing trees, and he’s been grounded from the dog park.  We had to give that muscle time to heal.  He's been such a good dog, dealing with his quiet time with grace (and good drugs!).

Today at lunch, I took Zack to my local vet to get the stitches out.  I was pleased to see that Zack’s hair was growing back full and the incision was straight and clean.  My vet took out the stitches.  I asked about rebandaging the wound, but doc decided that since the incision had healed and hair was growing back, to leave it unbandaged.  He thought Zack would leave it alone.

Casey went by the house to check on Zack this afternoon, and this is what she found.

She texted me this picture, then called me immediately,  more than a little upset and panicked.  I called the vet to let them know we were en route, and asked Casey to load Zack and meet me at the vet’s office.  How did this happen?  We should have bandaged his leg  back up.  Zack was doing what any dog will do -  self-healing by licking, and broke the incision wide open again.

So our darling Zack spends another night at the vet, post surgery, and tomorrow, we’ll start this process all over again.  We will bandage post-stitch removal, I promise.

Pray for our sweet Wonderdog, will you?  He told* me today he’d rather be hunting than taking all these antibiotics and pain pills.  And though he likes the cool colors of VetWrap, he’d rather be au naturel. Because he's gorgeous without VetWrap, "don't ya know, Mom? I don't need any decoration."

I told him to quit licking his wounds - they’d heal a lot quicker if he did it our way.

He looked at me with that “Oh, Mom, puh-lease” look.

*Yes, my dogs talk.  Don't yours?