Our dog is pregnant. In fact, she is VERY pregnant and due the beginning of October. She's a little miniature Schnauzer, and awfully cute. My roommates mom is a very good friend of mine, and fell in love with our dog, and that is very fitting because it's because she had a Miniature Schnauzer that I fell in love with the breed. She had one, and he was the best dog, who unfortunately passed away after a very long good life. Then my landlords sister, knowing we wanted a dog, said she had a patient (she's a visiting nurse) who couldn't take care of her dog anymore and did I want it. I of course, with very little encouragement, said yes. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was a pure breed Miniature Schnauzer! Anyway, onto the pregnancy. Oliquig's mom was hinting around that she would love a puppy or two from our dog, and after a while, especially after she said she would foot the vet bills for the pregnancy, I said that would be great! My landlords sister had a very willing Yorkshire Terrier, and here my dog is, pregnant! She's going to have Schnorkies, and actually if you do a web search, you can find out what they look like, there actually is such a thing! Princess cannot WAIT until the puppies come, I keep telling her we are NOT keeping any hee! Being a small breed, she should only have two to three pups, and all are spoken for. Two to my roomie's mom, and one to my landlords sister with the very willing Yorkie. On Monday I find out how many she is carrying, and you can bet that when they are here, I WILL post pics! Have a great weekend everyone, I go to see my parents this weekend, always a good thing and yet hard, as you can tell from my last post. In celebration of my dog's impending motherhood, I posted a pic of Princess when she was first born, seems like only yesterday but wow it has been 6 years!

My Dad's Birthday is on Tuesday, he'll be 85. He has Kidney disease, and has been on dialysis since the beginning of the year. I read back in my blog to last Christmas, and saw how we were all hopeful that the dialysis would give him a quality of life , at least to some extent. It has not. Instead, we've watched him decline slowly and in degrees. He's in a nursing home now, because my 79 year old mother can't take care of him. He has no control over his bladder, he can't walk, and his mind is starting to wander. This was the man who would not "let" me win when he taught me how to play cards, which made the victory that much sweeter when I finally won a game on my own. He helped me with math when I was a young girl because I had trouble back then. He would use flash cards with me and tell me that I could do it, he knew I could because I was smart. Now when I go visit him, I tell him dad you can do it, just one foot down on the ground and you can get into your wheelchair. He calls my daughter by my name at times because he gets confused. This strapping man is down to about 120 pounds, and each time I see him he seems a bit more faded, a bit more tired. There are days he can't talk above a whisper, because he has no energy even for that. A few weeks ago, his doctor sat him down and told him that the dialysis was not doing what they had hoped it would, and that he wasn't sure how much more it could do for him other than clean his blood to keep him alive. His Minister of the church he goes to has been talking to him about letting go, and he has listened. He recalls when his mother was ill and how she chose to die at home with family around her, she did not choose to linger in a half-life state. Some days he thinks he will make the decision to end the treatment soon, and some days he thinks that just one more day, and he will be able to do more and walk with only a cane. When he does make the decision to go peacefully into that long dark night, and he stops the dialysis, it will be a matter of about a week, and he'll be gone. I love my father. I carry the memories of a million little things that make him "dad" to me. I have pictures of him in healthier days with Princess, both with irrepressible grins on their faces. Princess knows that grandpa is dying, and she deals with this grief in little bits, as only a 6 year old can. I deal with it in huge chunks, because I truly know what this means. When he does make the decision, I'll be there, as he goes into Hospice care. I'll tell him how much I love him, and tell him that he will never ever be forgotten. I'll tell him it's okay to let go. But what I want to do is run up to him and leap into his arms and have my big strong dad again. I worry about my mom. I worry about a lot of things. But most of all I love my dad, and I can let go too if I have to. But never let go of how much I love him.

Well hello, I have been gone so long, and haven't been by to see any of you at all! Life has been ineteresting here, and when I have more time, I will certainly go into details. Here is a new pic of Princess, how she has grown!! Now missing a tooth and in first grade! Our dog is now pregnant, so puppies will be here in short order. Now I go to pick up Princess, see you all soon!