The Adventures of A & J

Okay another weekend has passed.  I caught the same crap infection that J had.  I feel like I am a pharmacy right now with all the drugs I am taking.  

I managed to play softball on Saturday afternoon.  I did not run but I was able to hit 3 for 3.  I have finally have found the correct bat and combination for a great hitter.  I am really excited.  

The boys are doing well.  Bear should be able to return to the dog bark this coming weekend.  

Well, I am going to go lay down again and take it easy.  Just wanted to let y'all know what was happening.  

A

My pupper, Bear, has tested positive for heartworms. :-(

It was quite a surprise because I'd had him tested when I adopted him in May, and it was negative. But apparently there is a four-month window (or perhaps, more accurately, "eclipse") where the test can't "see" the worms. (My understanding of what our vet said is that the test finds "immature" worms that are zero to two months of age, and "mature" worms that are 6 months of age and older, but it doesn't find the worms that are from 2 to 6 months of age. That's why they say to have your dog re-tested every six months.)
Anyway, we took him in Thursday morning, and he spent 3 days at the vet, getting chest xrays (looked fine) and blood tests (no problems),  so everything was A-OK to go on with the injections. He received two injections at the vet's office, and we were able to take him home last night. The most important part of the process is keeping him calm and quiet (hard to type that without laughing maniacally: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HE'S THREE YEARS OLD AND THINKS KITTIES AND SQUIRRELS ARE DESIGNED FOR DOGGIE ENTERTAINMENT!).  That part is crucial because if he exerts himself a lot, the worms that are in his lungs will spread, and his antibodies will take over trying to fight them, and he will get very very sick. So we moved a large crate into our bedroom and are keeping him dosed with Bendryl so he will hopefully sleep for two weeks. (Poor Apple.... he missed his buddy and keeps wanting to playplayplay whenever we let Bear out on a leash for a potty break.) 
We have to take Bear back to the vet every Friday for the next four weeks so he can get re-tested. On the third Friday he gets another injection, and the fourth friday is his final test to see if the worms are gone.  Total expenditure for the month of treatment: a minimum of $475. That's not included what A will pay getting Apple tested, and A's ex-housemate will need to get her two dogs tested. In other words, heartworms are a very profitable business, at least for some. The only "good" news is that I don't have to get the cats tested. It's not that they can't get heartworm from a dog (it just takes one mosquito), but (a) the diagnosis is very iffy in cats, and (b) there's not a way to treat them for it: if they have it, they will probably die. So I just keep giving them the medicine and hope for the best. (Not that they really need their lungs to be in shape: they only use them to complain during the one hour a day they aren't sleeping.) 
So... that being said, the only thing to do now is YELL AT YOU TO "GET YOUR DOG TESTED AND KEEP HIM ON MEDICATION", OK?  Cuz, trust me, you don't want to go through this. 
Please keep him, and us, in your prayers?
Thanks,
J.

Current Location: the office
Current Mood: mischievous
Current Music: Ber and Appaw snoring

As everyone knows the best parts of the Super Bowl are the commercials.  Although they were not as good as we have seen in previous years, A&J would like to award the 1st annual "A&J Super Bowl Commercial Awards"

First the awards according to A:

Most boring:   All Hyundai commercials

Cutest:   Coke commercial with Stewie, Underdog, and Charlie Brown

Most inspirational:   NFL commercial about player Pitts of the Texans

Doggiest:   Gatorade commercial with the dog drinking out of the water bowl

Most Tacky:  Pepsi commercial with the "Night at the Roxy" music and people bobbing their heads like the SNL skit.

Worst:   Bud Light commercial with the caveman and the invention of the wheel.


Awards according to J:

Most tacky:   Amp commercial with the man attached to the jumper cables

Worst:  Vitamin Water with Shaq racing as a jockey

The finalist in the best category are:
5.  Coke commercial with the balloons of Stewie, Underdog, and Charlie Brown
4.  Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdale being trained by the dalmatian
3.  FedEx commercial with the pigeons as the delivery service for a company
2.  Doritos commercial with the giant mouse beating the crap out of the guy
and the winner is.........

The Best Super Bowl commercial for 2008, according to A&J:

Life Water commercial with the lizards dancing to Thriller!!!


Beside the commercials, the 4th quarter was the most exciting.  J decided we would have a Super Bowl Pool.  I was winning until the last touch down by New York and now I have to...... well, I can't tell you what I get to do........

Hope y'all enjoyed the commercials, okay the game too, as much as we did.

Congrats Giants, even though I didn't think you had a chance in hell!!!

A

Current Mood: sad

Warning: graphic details ahead. I'm serious.

For the third time in less than a year, a baby has been found brutalized in the Galveston area. 

The first time was in May 2007. A 19-year-old man named Joshua Mauldin was left alone with his 2-month old daughter when his wife and mother went to get some takeout food. Apparently the baby became upset about something and started to cry. After trying to cram the baby into the hotel room safe, and then in the refrigerator, he put the baby in the microwave and turned it on. This is a man who wanted to enter the ministry. (He has since pleaded insanity. The trial starts in March.) The baby, miraculously, survived. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the next case.
In October 2007, the bruised and broken decomposed body of a baby girl was found in a box on an island near Galveston. She was dubbed "Baby Grace". Thanks to a sketch artist and police efforts, she was identified as Riley Ann Sawyers. Her 19-year-old mother and 24-year-old step-father confessed to torturing her (I won't go into the details; you can read them here, if you have the stomach for it).  The DA has until April 17th to decide if he wants to go for the death penalty. (As I said at the time of the Polly Klaas murder, if you mess with a kid, the death penalty should be automatic.) But like Polly Klaas, a community took Riley Ann into their hearts, and her story has affected people around the world. 

Now comes that a baby's body was found on the side of a Galveston road. After a nationwide manhunt, the father has surrendered to police, and confessed to what he did to his 3-month old son. I thought I'd seen just about everything in my 40-plus years, but when I read what happened to this baby, I ran and hid in A's arms. I just kept repeating over and over again, How can someone do that to a little baby? How can this happen? I don't understand this world anymore. I don't want to understand it, because if I understood that kind of thinking, I'd have to be as sick as the world apparently is. 

All I can do is hope that at some point the madness will stop. 

Until then.... Mamas, keep your babies safe.

Current Location: kitchen
Current Mood: hungry

Here are a couple of dips (like us!) for your Super Bowl party (or any party!) 

Hot Crabmeat Appetizer (courtesy of Rachel Dingle)