A new Addition

Meet Bruno...






He's some kind of a mix I picked up at our local animal shelter. Some of you may already know, but Baybee died September 30th and I was not coping well. The same day Baybee passed Westside German Shepherd Rescue contacted me about fostering a black shepherd puppy at another shelter. She was adopted and I was no longer needed to foster... although I really really was not in the right state of mind to be taking on a foster. So Westside waited until this past Saturday and called me about a dog they needed me to 'evaluate' at Kern County Animal Control. So I agreed, after all they only wanted me to 'evaluate' her. Well turns out KCAC didn't get that message and they were under the impression I was taking her on behalf of Westside...HA! The animal care worker brought her out and she was drenched from midline down to her paws in urine and had chunks of feces hanging from her long hair. It broke my heart to see her, she didn't even want to walk. Would you? When I approached to try to test her ( SAFER test is administered to be sure the dog will be safe around children or other animals) I started to gag because she smelled sooo bad! Of course I couldn't leave her there so I didn't put up much fuss when the rescue coordinator said she would be a few minutes while she finished up this poor dogs paperwork.

While I was waiting for her paperwork two ACW's were discussing this little dog in a carrier on the sink. ACW #1 " I just don't have the heart to do it" ACW # 2 " I know I don't either but we already gave him an extra day". So I turned another ACW (that I used to work with there at the shelter) and she said it was his pull day. If he didn't get adopted by the end of the day he would be put down. Now this little guy had already been neutered BUT had no adoption interest. He had actually been in a kennel with other puppies and he was the only one not adopted.He was moved into a carrier because there were more puppies coming in and given one more day. It broke my heart to hear this sweet boy would be put down simply because his time had run out. So I adopted him.

Here's something kinda funny... he arrived at the shelter on September 30th.

Yesterday was his first exam with our vet, and the poor little guy has an infection because his neuter was done too early and his living area was dirty (because ACW can't take the dogs out to go to the bathroom so they eliminate in the kennels/carriers). He also has a hole were his skull never finished forming... so not hitting this dog in the head please!

I keep seeking John's honest opinion about my new little man but he just says 'he's cute' or 'he really seems to love you'. I dunno I hope John isn't unhappy about our newest addition because I just adore him. He isn't a replacement for Baybee just a happy addition.



BTW the foster dog I took in had to be taken to the vet hospital in Malibu because she was sick. But fortunately she is doing well , and was actually walking around after I cleaned her up (it took me 3 hours to bathe her....blech!) If you'd like to adopt a GSD or donate to the cause visit sheprescue.org. Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die.

This is Garbo... such a sweet girl!

Vacation photos

So we went on the annual Ancheta Family camping trip the first week of August (John, the boys and I actually arrived a day early and left a day later). It was so nice to escape Bakersfield and our daily chores for a bit but it's nice to be home.

Everyday was an adventure and a half for the boys. They woke up and immediately wanted to go 'outside please!?' ...thank goodness John is a morning person and such an amazing dad. He was more than willing to step in so I could sleep a bit longer. I felt like I was exhausted the entire time (still do), and even napped a few hours each day as well as sleeping in.

This was our first extended trip with the trailer and it handled very well. There were no worries about the holding tank filling (toilet waste), the day we left it was barely at 1/3. The only hitch was that we did fill our tub/shower tank by day 4 and had to empty it and refill our fresh water... not a big deal at all though. The batteries lasted from July 31st to well today! There is still charge but it is very very low.

We also planned in advance to make the drive to Monterey Bay Aquarium which the boys LOVED!!! Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Chris and Auntie Kim joined us on our trip and I'd like to think they enjoyed themselves as well. A great day all around.


I took sooo many photos it's not even funny. Enjoy!

Run Luca RUN!!

Luca is what one would call a connoisseur of sand...


Puzzle time

Lunch!

Peek-a-boo!!

The Lovely Ella




Uncle Chris and Aunt Kim

Busy Saturday

So last Saturday my friend Taya stopped by to lend a hand fixing up our goat pen and making nesting boxes for our chickens.I think it all turned out pretty good, and the chickens love their new nesting boxes!

Lap Band Journey - 1 Week Post-Op

This is soo great way to go Katy!!

Additions to our...

Chicken family members! We've added two Bantam Chickens, a Danish Leghorn hen, and a Rhode Island Red hen. They are sooo cute!! I love them, and all of the chicks seems to be particularly fond of me. They follow me all around inside the coop and I have a hard time getting out without at least 3 trying to follow me.

Anyway here are the pictures say hello....
to our Rooster 'Daddy'

Our Turkens (they've gotten so big!)

'Daddy' again

'Daddy' and 'Mommy' our Bantam Chickens

Support and prayers needed....

I know that most of the people that read this blog have no idea who this woman is but that doesn't diminish the fact that she needs support and prayer for her journey. I hope that she will continue to post videos and that I can share them with you here.

Bathroom progress...

Well we're still not done but...we are a little bit closer. I finally insisted John call a plumber to come set our sink tub and toilet but he says he can't figure it out. Ugh I just want a fully functioning bathroom again ...and a TUB!! So here are some pics of the progress so far.


My new custom closet (and the fabulous wall color I chose...)

A built in cubby for shampoo bottles and such



John reading directions...a moment to capture on camera for sure!

Hopefully this beautiful tub will be put in properly tomorrow....

Chicks ....

So here are some promised photos of my chicks...

One of my Turkens... so ugly it's cute!



Not sure what breed this one is..



Learning to fly already!



Another one of my 'Turkens'

So today...

In an effort to spend more time with me, John decided our Mother's/Father's day gifts should be two bicycles. Maybe I should re-phrase... two GOOD bicycles. In other words, not vintage. We actually have four bikes already but they are all vintage except one, and that one is actually too small for us to ride comfortably. I took John's vintage Schwinn road bike out on the bike trail for a 28 (?) mile ride and found that when I got home the bike was falling apart! Something had been hitting my feet and calves periodically, but I didn't see anything. Turns out the nuts/bolts/ screws were falling off the bike. I'm lucky I made it back to the truck without having to carry the bike back. Our trek to obtain two bikes lead us to Costco on Rosedale Highway where we had found two bikes we liked last week. Today, however, the women's bikes were gone...sold out. So we drove over to Costco on Panama Lane hoping they would still have at least one in stock. No such luck. Both stores did have the bike John wanted but he didn't want to buy his if I couldn't get one too. After the purpose of buying them is so we can go out on the bike trail together with our kids being towed safely behind us in our Schwinn trailer. Since we didn't find the bikes at Costco we stopped by Action Sports on our way home and were quickly disheartened by their prices. The lowest priced bicycle we found was $350, ON SALE! Needless to say we did not buy from there. Oh well, the search continues.

In other news...

Luca is walking and actually is trying to potty train already. So far he's only gone one and two twice in the potty. And this morning he actually woke me up the use the potty (number two and one but I think one was a byproduct of trying so hard for number two). Overall a good day for Luca, we moved his crib into William's room in an effort to help them both sleep through the night without our assistance. We'll see how it goes.

William refuses to use the potty unless we catch him pushing then he will sit for number two. His pediatrician assured me that since he doesn't have dry nights yet I should expect him to be potty trained. He is also going through a very loud "NO" phase. Argh!

We have eleven baby chicks! Their mom roosted in our coop and was trying to get her babies away from the fence line last Sunday when Hank and Zoey got a hold of her and yanked her through the fence. She didn't have a chance. So John and I went out into the coop and scooped up all eleven babies and one egg. I brought them in the house and commenced mothering. A trip to Tractor Supply and we were all set to care for the chicks. So far they are doing very well, the egg however was a dud. They all seem to be content, and they quickly figured out if they chirp loudly I'll come check on them. Sometimes they just want to know I'm there... so sweet! I've researched on the computer their breeds and so far I can only say for sure that we do have four Turkens. Weird but cute in their own way!



We also have Black Australorps

Which will look like this...

And two more that I haven't identified yet. I'll post photos when they're a bit older, and I have time to take they're pictures.

So sometime soon we will be repairing and updating the chicken coop to accommodate our newest family members.

And finally our bathroom is coming together!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! Our tub came in on Thursday and John picked it up this morning. It is a true work of art, I sat in it (in our garage) for so long today. The drywall is hung, the carpenter finished the closet Tuesday of this past week, and the tile will be laid starting Monday!! I am OVERJOYED at the prospect of having another bathroom once again with a tub. A claw foot soaking tub at that. I WILL post photos when it is done.

As for me personally... the weight loss thing is going well. 15lbs down, and I think I'll probably try for another 20lbs or so. America is doing well as my service dog. I make sure to give her praise whenever she notices that I'm particularly anxious, and she accompanies me whenever I leave the house alone. Which means ...HEY I'm leaving the house! The VA is very intent on fixing my problem. I was on Paxil/ Paraxotine but the side effects were a bit extreme. You'll have to ask John, he says I was very twitchy (while sleeping) and startled easily and he claims I would tell him someone was standing in our room nightly. I don't remember, but I started 'seeing' things during the day, it really didn't bother me much but they took me off the meds. Not because I was seeing things but because they knocked me out. Funny right.... oh well.