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Wordless Wednesday

rain dancing

Hello? Is This Thing On?

Well, hello there.

It's been awhile yea? Talk about taking a hiatus. Some of you may know that I'm currently back in school. For those that didn't, now you do! To say that this has taken up a lot of my time would be a severe understatement. I'm trying my best to keep my grades up, and for some reason my online teachers like to assign A LOT of homework and essays that always require a boat load of research. Who knew? So yes, school has taken up the majority of my spare time. Today, due to some unfortunate events that I'll discuss later in this post, I've found myself with a bit of spare time. So here's what we've been up to lately.

Emery is sprouting! This little girl of ours is growing so fast I'm almost afraid of it. A co-worker of mine recently had his first baby, and just seeing the comparison of my little one with his made me have some level 10 baby fever. But that's not in the cards for me at the moment so sadly, I had to tamper those down. Anyway, Emery's vocabulary is constantly expanding and we've recently introduced her to ABCmouse Learning which she's been over the moon about. Her energy level has hit an all time high, she's completely over naps, and her bed time has been pushed back to 9:30. How she manages this, I have no idea. She's still co-sleeping with us which has begun to be a bit uncomfortable. We all like our own space, and unfortunately there's just not enough of it when we're all three crammed onto a queen sized mattress. Lately she's been asking for a clock/lamp in her room but I've told her she can only get one when she's ready to sleep in her "big girl bed". Fingers crossed that this is a good enough incentive for her to finally make the transition.

We recently had a new addition to our four-legged family roll into our lives. Literally, she was thrown out of a moving vehicle along with two other puppies. The poor little girl had sores, broken nails, and what looked like (to me) cigarette burns around her bum. That alone convinced me that she had to stay. Now, I'm a big fan of names with meaning, and at first I had hands down thought "Isis" would be the perfect fit for our little red nose. Surprisingly, Emery decided that she liked the name "Terra" better and she asked repeatedly that we name her that. Sooo, Terra it was. However, our lives just got a rather rude reality slap and it's looking like we might have to put her up for adoption.

Which finally brings me to our sad news. Last Thursday evening I got a message from my husband while I was in class. He had let the two dogs out for a "bathroom break" and Sampson took off across the tracks before he could get a leash on him.  My husband went back inside to grab the leash and harness when our neighbor, who was out for a walk, came up to let him know that they had heard a shot come from the direction in which Sampson had taken off in. When my husband went back around the house he saw our Sampson trying his hardest to walk back home. He had been shot on one of his front legs. It was already pretty late and we live in a small town so there are no 24-Hour Animal Clinics. The one vet that would see him told us that he probably wouldn't survive the night. They told us that they could look at him but we'd have to pay an emergency fee, along with any other procedure costs, up front. Well, as much as we love our Sampson, we just couldn't afford that. So instead, we had to wait it out until this morning. To top it off Emery was sick, so I was up all night with both of them. Giving medicine, changing bandages. Rearranging blankets, and trying to keep a fever down. I woke up once every hour all night long for one reason or another. By the time 5 am rolled around I was tired but thankful that Emery hadn't vomited, and that Sampson survived the night.

My husband took him to the vet first thing Friday morning, but we didn't get the good news we were hoping for. Sampson's X-rays showed a lot of damage. The bone was almost completely shattered, and there was too much shrapnel inside. So grimly, they gave us our three options: 1) We could pay almost $2,000 for surgery, but the chance of him regaining the use of his leg was slim to none. 2) They could amputate his leg for about $800. or 3) We could have him put down and cremated for less than $100. Now, a lot of people in our situation would have gone with option three. And I get that. The numbers they were throwing around sounded so unattainable and far fetched that I started crying. We weren't going to have any other option but to put our dog down with those kinds of prices. I was a mess, trying to figure out HOW we were going to pay for this? Wondering if we should let Emery say goodbye or not. I had a million things going on inside my head that I felt really overwhelmed.

Thankfully, after some negotiating, and thanks to a very lovely practice owner, we were told we could do payments if we chose to amputate. So, option two it is. The procedure is scheduled for today, and as thrilled as I am to not be putting our dog down, I'm also sad because this is still a loss. Sampson is going to need extra care, extra attention, and extra help for at least a month. My husband might be relocating for a little while for a job (more on that later) which will leave me as the only one here. So now I'm not so sure if we can keep our little Terra. She deserves to be showered in attention, loved, and trained correctly. As much as I wish we could provide that for her, I have to look at things realistically, and admit that it just might not be possible. I have my hands full enough as it is, and I'm not sure if I'll have the time for a puppy.