In case you ever wondered...

SCOOPING POOP IN THE FROZEN TUNDRA.

This is my current dilemna. You basically have 2 options. Follow your dog to the backyard and try to catch it with the pooper scooper as they take care of business OR wait like you normally would and try scooping the poop every few days or so.

Let's discuss the first option: Catching it as they go. You can't really let them go and THEN go try and scoop it up. Trust me, it just makes a mess and you tend to smush it everywhere BUT into the pooper scooper. However, the dogs unfortunately are not really to keen on the idea of me standing behind them with the scary metal scooper under their rears (nor am I for that matter). They get stage fright and run off...pooping as they go, spreading the steaming joy all over the yard, instead of in one general location.

Option #2 (pun intended): You let the dogs have their moment of privacy (why I'll never know, cause they always want to come to the bathroom with me and even sit on my lap! NO...I DON'T LET THEM!!) So you go out ever few days to scoop the mess...but you find that because of all the snow melting, refreezing, snowing more, blah, blah, blah...it takes great strength and patience to take care of it. See, sometimes, the warm doggie poop sinks into the snow and sometimes it sits nicely on top. Either way it's frozen solid and you have to use the pooper scooper to chip away at it to get it dislodged or dug up from it's snow tunnel. This is where the patience and strength come in. Remember it's freezing cold outside, so you quickly run out of both ...perhaps after about 4 or 5 doggy piles...which still leaves a LOT left. The other problem with this is that when you begin chipping away to get the poop dislodged...more often than not, little pieces begin to fly...inevitably hitting you..the loving pet owner that is just trying to make your dogs life a bit cleaner.

Sigh...I've thought about taking a hair dryer out to melt some of the dang snow. Then I decided that would waste too much energy, time, and effort with much too little to show for it. Other than a muddy and steamy poop landfill of a backyard.

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Random side note: In 4th grade we had a project in which we had to invent something that would be useful and affordable to the average American. Although my dad was usually the one to help with math and science, my mom helped me with this particular project. Our plan was to invent a dog food that some how had magnetic forces in it...so that when you went to scoop the poop with your magnetized metal pooper scooper, it automatically went right where it was supposed to.

You would, of course, want to limit the amount of it that your dog ate...because you would NOT want to get pelted by hundreds of steaming doggie bullets the moment you lifted the scooper!

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SECOND SIDE NOTE: YES...my mom is a riot! I'm not sure how my teacher felt about that invention...but my mom was a teacher at the same school...so I'm sure I got an A!! ha

Dog #3???

This is the dog I've been wanting. They moved her to a different animal shelter though...Now she's in Greeley, CO. She's so cute...but they named her Cuddles. I'd feel bad changing her name...but Cuddles? Seriously.

She is a Beagle/Basset mix and is about a year old. My dog Gabby is Beagle/Basset. She's not house trained though, because she's always been an outdoor dog. That wouldn't be fun!

A bit late...but HELLO 2007!

My list of things I'd like to do in 2007:

*Eat healthier, develop a better workout routine, and shed the last unwanted pounds.

*Laugh more, cry less, live life without regrets!

*Visit friends and family more often.

*Pay off some debt.

*Have a more postive attitude in my work, social, and spiritual life.

*Find someone to love that will love me even more!

*Focus on the important things and learn to LET GO of the little things.

*Be more forgiving and more open-minded.

*Get back into my music...singing, writing, playing.

*Smile more...cause I think I've got a great smile!

*Go get that dog I've been telling myself not to for the past month. (She's still there!)

Wintertime Blues

I think it's a combination of the crappy weather (snow, snow, and more snow), my current health issues, my job stressing me out to no end, and the lack of any guy in my world ....but it's all caused me to have a severe case of the blues.

Send me your best jokes and good cheer! I need it!

When will it end?

So the 2 snowstorms that have come through Colorado and Western Kansas are still wreaking havoc for many. For me, it's merely been an annoyance, but has not left me without power. I will say, my town does not have a grocery store...only Wal-Mart. It was just a few days ago that trucks were able to get here with milk and bread. It was very bizarre to go to the store and see complete aisles empty.

Many Kansans lost power and some are still without. For some areas, they say it could be weeks before they get it all back up. I do not know of any human casualties caused by the snowstorm, although I'm sure there have been many wrecks. On the news the other night...they showed 3 semi-truck trailers full of dead cattle. Ranchers are using helicopters to drop hay bales to cattle they cannot reach yet. Some cattle they still have not found, because the herds are literally buried in the snow.

I ran a quick errand today, came home and pulled my car into the garage. As I got out and started walking to the door, I stopped in horror and screamed at the top of my lungs.

(Poor little guy! Found dead in my garage.)

THIS is the first casualty of the storm that I have witnessed first hand. It took everything within me not to call someone (basically anyone but me) to come dispose of the bird. But, I sucked it up and took care of it myself (which I thought was quite brave of germaphobe-self!!!). I have no idea how the bird made its way into my garage, but I was so sad about it. I've been a bit worried that mice might try to move into the garage or my house to get away from the cold, but I had not imagined that a bird would try the same.

I was shocked the day I heard on tv that my small town had officially closed ALL streets in the city limits. I've never heard of such a thing. This is what are streets STILL look like:

(This is Main Street, which is much better than most streets...but

they all still have huge piles of snow right down the middle!)

Sadly, while many are still being drastically affected by the previous storms, there is another snowstorm on its way. We are supposed to have snow starting Thursday and staying all weekend. The reports are showing that this storm may be worse than the previous two. So, for all of you enjoying a little sunshine and warmth...remember to pray for a little of that to make its way to KANSAS!

Finally...a diagnosis

So I finally saw the actual doctor here last Thursday morning, and then the rheumatologist that afternoon. Both doctors agree on a diagnosis of what is wrong with me.

For those that don't know what's been going on here's a quick recap. Since about the beginning of March, I have had severe fatigue and pain throughout my body...pretty much every day. I've been to my regular doctor (before I moved), a rheumatologist, and a neurologist trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Along with the pain, I've also had numbness and tingling in various body parts. It's been very frustrating, tiring, and worrysome. They did blood tests to check for things such as lupus, diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, a thyroid problem, Epstein Barr, etc. None of these tests proved to be the answer.

After visiting with the 2 new doctors here last week...they have diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia. This affects your muscles, making them tense, tight, and knotted and very painful. It does not cause damage to the tissues as some other diseases do. Almost all patients with fibromyalgia also have chronic fatigue and problems sleeping. Some also have irritable bowel syndrome (this has only recently become an issue for me and is not too severe yet), migraines, depression, weight gain and various other issues. There are no test to definitively diagnose Fibromyalgia. Research shows it usually takes about 5 years before a patient finds a doctor that realizes the problem and gives the accurate diagnosis. It is basically diagnosed after all other possibilities have been eliminated. There is also no cure or definitive way to treat it. Most patients are put on some sort of muscle relaxer and/or sleeping pill, helping but curing the problems.

As of now, I have been put on Amytriptalene to help me sleep and 2 Aleve 2x/day. I'm not sure that's going to be enough for the pain. The Amytriptalene has seemed to help with the fatigue and sleep issue. I go back to the regular doc the end of the month, and yet another rheumatologist on Valentine's Day. So...I'll I keep this routine up until then and see where we go from there. Both doctors also stated it was important to exercise daily to help stretch and work the muscles.

I am relieved to finally have an answer to what has been going on with my body, but I'm also nervous and a bit scared about it all. It's frustrating to finally have an answer, but then be told there isn't really much that can be done. At least I know I haven't lost my mind and I'm not the hypchondriac I was beginning to think I was!