Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: Text from Christi "[Puppies are] fat & happy. Going back to mom today."

Lisa writes: Want to see some pictures of Tom's knee? Are you sure? They're pretty gross. Are you absolutely positive? Ok, if you insist. They're right here . But don't say you weren't warned.

Lisa writes: Another puppy update from Christi. "There were a few runts in the litter, they couldn't figure out how to nurse. One didn't make it. These two little guys are hanging in there. The other four are doing great." "The kids named this one "Caesar" because he was having seizures yesterday. He hasn't had one today. I think he was just starving." "Got milk?" "They named this one "Bob" because his head is always bobbing. Again, I think he was just so shaky from not eating. They are both eating every two hours now, so we are keeping our fingers crossed." "The kids were more than happy to volunteer to bring the runts home to take care of...because they aren't the ones getting up all night long to feed them. :) "

Lisa writes: Got a puppy update from Christi. "We are nursing two sick puppies that mom pushed out of the litter. We're getting up every two hours to feed them. It's like having a baby...twins! The kids have named them "Bob" (because he always bobs his head) and "Caesar" (because he's had some seizures). Telling the kids to not get attached, because they might not make it...is a waste of breath. So, we're keeping our fingers crossed."

Lisa writes: My sister Christi and a neighbor have been playing match-maker with their two Labradors, and yesterday the puppies arrived! Kodi (the dad) is a black lab and Tess (the mom) is a chocolate lab. They had 7 puppies: 4 chocolate and 3 black. Ohmygosh, the cuteness!

Lisa writes: Tom is doing well. He didn't take any pain meds for about 18 hours yesterday because nothing was hurting. And it probably would have continued to not hurt if I hadn't decided it would be fun to tickle-wrestle him out of his afternoon nap. Don't know my own strength. What has been fun is having visitors come over. Little hermits that we are, we actually do enjoy visitors and we've had more of them in the past five days than we've ever had. They come bearing good humor and gifts: cakes, balloons, flowers and plants, and DVDs to borrow. Every morning, I set Tom up in his "nest" in the living room surrounded by his ice chest, continuous motion machine, laptop, printer, cell phone and Blackberry, water bottle, snack bars, pain killers, LCD projector, speakers, and favorite blankies. It's kind of like tending a high-tech puppy now that I think about it. Anyway, he can then use the laptop and projector to watch movies on the wall, and we usually...

Lisa writes: We were awakened at 2 a.m. by the sound of somebody swinging a cat around by its tail. Well, not really. But what would you think this was ? I dealt with it the way I deal with most of nature. I turned on the front porch light and yelled, "Hey! Cut it out!" It worked. Nature knows not to mess with me at 2 a.m.

Lisa writes: Tom is feeling good. The secret of happiness is to split the Percocets into quarters and take one with food every hour for four hours in a row, rather than take one big one every six hours. Why does this make you happy? Because then you don't barf. And not barfing makes everybody happy. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday, and around here Sunday means church church and more church. So we've got a quandary: Tom is feeling good enough to go to church, but he's got this big foam & plastic brace around his leg. His leg is too fat to put pants on. He's got one pair of baggy PJ pants he can wear, or gym shorts. What to do?

Lisa writes: We were up bright and early for Tom's ACL reconstruction surgery this morning. Here is the knee in question. Here is Tom looking very sad. I think he's sadder about having to wake up so early than he is about the surgery ahead. (Note the sunrise in the background.) Here he is three hours later. Apparently one of the problems with not being a heavy drinker is that you're a pansy for anesthesia. And here he is another hour and a half after the previous picture. They put him in a gurney because he kept dozing off and falling out the chair. Finally awake. Sort of. Check out the cool, constricted pupils. Everything went just as planned and there were no complications. He's in a leg brace. He is supposed to walk with crutches and put weight on the knee already. Tomorrow he'll start with the continuous passive movement machine (little electric hinged thing that slowly bends your knee up and and down over and over). He has a follow-up appointment next Wednes...

Lisa writes: So, the end of the world is coming and you're hunkered down in your basement with your food storage, 50 gallons of water, a couple of Sternos, and hopefully some good books. What exactly were you planning to do with all that canned wheat and beans? We like to play "paranoid survivalist" once in a while and so far I've come up with one good food storage recipe. It's better than it sounds. Trust me. Red Lentil Soup 8 cups bouillon (8 cups water + 8 teaspoons bouillon powder) 2 cups red lentils (can also use regular) 1 tablespoon dried minced onion or 1 teaspoon powdered onion 1 teaspoon curry or cumin 1 14 oz. can of tomatoes (sauce, stewed, crushed, whatever) Boil it all up for 25 minutes. If you're not completely off the grid by this point, run all or half of it through the blender. (Be careful blending hot stuff! Do it in very small batches) Serve with lemon juice to squirt on it at the table. Better than it has a right to be, really. But you des...

Lisa writes: I was at a girls-only birthday dinner last night and left Tom to his own devices. He took a nap, ate some food, and took a walk. Alone. He took a walk all by himself. Ostensibly, he was getting exercise. Secretly, maybe even subconsciously, I'll bet he was looking for a cat. It's just straight-up B.F. Skinner. Operant conditioning. He loves cats. One night, we go for a walk and come home with a cat. Ergo, he will go on many, many more walks. It's the same reason people gamble. It's the same reason I check my email 800,000 times a day . It's the same reason you keep checking this blog. There's usually nothing, but there might be something good.

Lisa writes: Remember the last scene of "Breakfast at Tiffanys" where it's raining and Audrey Hepburn is taking a taxi to the airport to fly off to -- where? Brazil, I think? -- and George Peppard offers to come with her to the airport and she's all distraught and miserable and did I mention it's raining? And she's got this cat she calls "no name slob" that she realizes she can't take with her, so she drops it off in an alley. But then did I mention she's distraught? So she makes the driver go back so she can get it. But then she can't find it and then she's really distraught, and it's still raining, but somehow all that eye liner stays on okay, and George Peppard comes out of the taxi to help her look and they find the cat and they kiss** and "Moon River" plays. That's almost what we did this morning. After a whiney night in the utility room*, I took the cat with me on a drive through the block where it started fol...