The 24th of July

24th of July neighbor

Our neighborhood puts on quite a show for Pioneer Day. They call it “Cul de sac of Fire” even. It’s a big, huge deal and my big huge confession is…

24th of July 2013

that I missed it altogether. April, Jacob, Lily, Beckham, Jillian, the Bald kid and I were up in the hills at a huge pioneer celebration–more on that later. But it’s nice to know that the show always goes on back home…no matter what. Food, fireworks, games, and sparklers. Pretty darn hard to beat…

keni 24th of July

even if Miss Chompy isn’t a fan.

Heh, heh, heh.

Pioneer Day

Here in the state of Utah, many towns celebrate July 24th as “Pioneer Day.” We’ll be going to a huge community picnic tonight with beef stew, biscuits, corn on the cob, watermelon and peach pie. Food, I dare say, the pioneers would have loved but waited quite a while to enjoy.

Whatever your day holds–I hope it is lovely.

Happy Pioneer Day!

Hot Air Balloons?

Did anybody notice that there was no post for the 4th of July Balloon Festival?

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Well, that, my friends is because we were totally ready to go at 5:30 am but when we arrived at the field…

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all the people and cars were going the other direction.

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Apparently, there was too much cloud cover and too much wind so the whole darn shootin’ match was canceled and everyone was heading back home.

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Which pretty much means that this year the Hot Air Balloon Festival was just, you know….

hot….air.

Yeah, I crack myself up.

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Luckily, even in a dreadful crisis such as this, we still know how to behave.

It was a good day.

:}

My Brave Beany

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I’ve posted many times in the last few years about Mr. Beany and his adventures, and more particularly in the last few months–with his injured leg.  The vet told us that there wasn’t much that he could do other than give him antibiotics if it flared up occasionally. Then one day, he just happened to be laying a certain way and I got a real good look at the inside of his leg. The condition of his back right paw had definitely taken a turn for the worse.

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I took him to the vet again. After examining him, he came out to me and said, “You know…Beany is very, very old…” I knew what he was about to say but I couldn’t let him. I held up one finger and managed to say, “Just don’t.”

Then I started to cry.

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The decision was made to relieve Beany of the burden of that terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad…

leg.

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When the doctor told me that Beany might not even make it through the surgery–I said, “Then that will be the Lord’s decision, not mine. At least he’ll go knowing that I was trying to help. He deserves that.”

So, I held him on my lap and talked to him for awhile. He seemed to get that I was sad and worried but that I love this old silly cat so darn much. I handed him over to the nurse and slowly walked to my car. I kept thinking how strange it would be to not have Beany anymore…if something were to happen to him. I sat in the car and bawled for awhile, then drove home.

The next evening at about 5:30 pm I finally spoke to the doctor. He said, “That is one tough cat.” Good, good news. My cute little tough-guy cat was apparently much sicker than we had thought. In fact, he had a fever going into surgery, but the second that angry leg was gone his temperature dropped down to normal.

Long story, short– this cat is a champ and he did beautifully…

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and we got to bring him home the next day–Saturday night. Look how swollen his paw was from the IV.

Now some of these pictures are graphic so if you have a tender stomach, you might want to stop here. If you’re very brave…you’re welcome to continue on.

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We’ve had to give him several kinds of nasty medicine and a pill a couple times a day. Not too fun, but he’s a terrific sport.

This is Beany boy sitting up like nothing ever happened…

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the day after surgery. Sorry, I know it’s pretty graphic, but I’m just amazed at him just carrying on like it’s any other day, except that he’s missing a leg.

This nutty guy has already jumped up on my bed and back down a couple times. He follows me around and lays on the floor by me wherever I am–like he’s just glad to be here…with us.

Oh, me too Bean.

Thanks for sticking around.

I’m not really ready for the world without you.

:}