July 18, 2009 - what a beautiful day!

It's one of those wonderful sunny summer days where the temperature is just right. We've already been for a walk this morning and it's almost lunchtime. Both dogs are sleeping at my feet as I write this.

Winston is happy and starting to play more. He sort of trots around the living room with the squeaky snowman and he's been chewing on the nylabones, and he bounces around when we pass bunnies on our walks. Whenever we pass other dogs, he gives his best Lassie impression.

We've been spending a little time outside while I pull weeds out in the yard. We have fields to the west of us where the wind nearly always blows from, so there is no hope of ever having no weeds, but this year has provided us with a bounty of them. I hate just sitting around outside, so whenever we go out, I give my hands something to do. Josie is loose in the yard and Winston is attached to a cable and the other end of the cable is either clipped to my weed bucket or just near me like a long leash. Mostly he's happy to lie in the shade of the tree, but sometimes he gets up and acts silly as people walk by.

AMVS called earlier this week to check on Winston. We have our 8 week check scheduled for the 27th, but since they haven't heard from us in awhile (hooray!), they wanted to make sure that he's still doing well. They asked if I had any questions and I figured since I had them on the phone that I'd ask if we were "out of the woods" as far as infections go. She put me on hold and asked one of the surgeons about this. The response was that 99% of the time, an infection will occur in the first 2 weeks. Since we were already that 1% that didn't fit the pattern, and there's an implant we should always watch for changes, but we were most likely past the worst danger. Huh. Wasn't quite the answer I was hoping for, but it also isn't awful either.

Back to the standard care that I think each of us goes through daily for our furry family members -- are they happy today? Are they eating and drinking normally? Do all four legs work right? Any tenderness anywhere? Does their fur look good? Does their breath smell normal? and so on....