Breaking Our Hearts

It's been a difficult couple of days at the Clare house. Yesterday morning when we woke up Jonathan noticed that our new dog Jonas was breathing funny. I wasn't too concerned until I tried to feed him breakfast. No interest at all--and Jonas LOVES food. A Lot! We knew something was very wrong.

I called the vet and took him straight over. Poor little guy. The initial assessment was that it was heart disease. We were devastated. We thought we were going to lose our sweet Jonas. However, after an ultrasound, multiple X-rays, and blood work they ruled out heart disease ($1000 later, grrrrrrhhh). They found a lot of fluid in his lungs but otherwise a clean bill of health. They said his heart has a small defect but it's strong and should not pose a problem for him. Unfortunately they don't know why his lungs are filled with fluid. When I came to pick him up at the end of the day everyone referred to him as the "mystery dog." In other words, there was no diagnosis. The vet's theory is that he probably ingested rat poison 2-3 weeks ago (before we got him). Apparently rat poison causes internal damage but isn't noticeable until roughly 2-3 weeks after it is eaten.

The vet sent us home with some medication to clear up the fluid and an antibiotic--"to cover the bases." Although we are so happy to know that Jonas will be alright it's breaking our hearts to have him home. When I picked him up his breathing was worse than it had been when I brought him in. All last night he was struggling. He refused to eat or drink and would barely move. We tried to make him comfortable. We got him to take his pills with peanut butter (clearly not sick enough to pass up peanut butter!) I got him to drink a little water by dipping my fingers in his water dish and having him lick them. He was clearly exhausted. All his energy was spent on breathing.

It was painful to watch. Both Jonathan and I ended up in tears at different points in the evening. Jonathan was able to give Jonas some relief by holding his head between his hands. Jonas seemed to relax and breathe a little easier. That was about 1:00 am. It was a long night.

Jonas is doing a lot better today. His breathing is still labored but he is eating small amounts, walking a little bit (very slowly), and drinking water. I'm feeling a lot more confident about his recovery. We definitely had our doubts yesterday.

We have only had Jonas for a week and a half but we are so happy to have him. His sweet personality has melted our hearts and we can't imagine life without him. We are so grateful for him and are pleased to know he'll be with us for a long time to come.

New Addition!

No, don't go buy us burp cloths and booties . . .

We got a dog! We have been working through the doggy adoption process for a week and we finally picked up our fuzzy pal yesterday. His name is Jonas and he is a 2 year old dachshund. Here are a couple of pictures of me and Jonas.





Jonas has red hair with some dark brown in there two. He has a white chest and white toes. He loves to give kisses and go for walks. And he adores food--the smell of food--any activity in the kitchen--the opening of any bag or container that might contain food--any remote possiblity of food. In other words he is highly motivated by "treats" which should be really helpful for training.

We are so happy to have Jonas in our family. He is a sweetheart! He hardly ever barks. He sleeps on his doggy bed while we are sleeping without whining or trying to climb into our bed. He doesn't need constant interaction (although he loves attention) but he is content to be wherever we are. He also loves to fall asleep in our laps (as you can see above.)

For those of you concerned about our cat Dante . . . rest assured. They won't be friends but they don't seem to care about each other. They can pass by each other without barking or hissing. We think this is a good sign.

Movie Game

Some family member's blogs have done this fun movie quote game. (See Taylor Made and Hopper's Happenings) We haven't posted in a while so we decided to copy their idea. Actually they challenged us and we are Throwing Down The Gantlet! So here we go. If you think you know what movie a quote came from just write it in the comments section. You can use all your mental faculties, cranium size, and gray matter but please resist the urge to look these up on the internet. Have fun and do your own movie game blog if you haven't already.

1. Got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we are wearing sunglasses.

2. Push the button Max!

3. Behind that door there is a 95 lb chinese man and 50 million dollars.
Let's get him out of there.

4. Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shields will be quite operational when your friends arrive.

5. If someone asks you if you are a god . . . say yes!

6. Him? He's harmless! Back in the 60's he was part of the free speech movement at Berkley. I think he did a little too much LDS.

7. I find that smuggling is the life for me, and I would be delighted to kill your friend the maggot.

8. Do us a favor... I know it's difficult for you... but please, stay here, and try not to do anything... stupid.

9. A eugoogoolizer... one who speaks at funerals. Or did you think I was too stupid to know what a eugoogooly was?

10. You're not the man I knew 10 years ago.
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.

11. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area.

12. My parents don't like anything ostentatious. And they really don't like fire.

New Years Resolutions

If you're bored with life -- you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things -- you don't have enough goals.
Lou Holtz

I found this great website called Joe's Goals that I want to share. It's a free online goal tracker. Check it out:

http://www.joesgoals.com/index.cfm

Christmas without the Beagle?

I apologize for my absence... But before Christmas is over... let us remember Charlie Brown and his beloved beagle! In my opinion; The Red Barron should hop back on his dog house... Otherwise he is in for a great surprise... Ladies and Gentlemen, the beagle named the Great Casey!

Christmas with the Hoppers

We spent Christmas with my parents. We flew up to Washington 2 days before Christmas and stayed for 5 days. It was wonderful. The house was decorated so beautifully. It was cold and snowy outside and warm and toasty inside.

Here are a few pictures:

Garland on the bannister.

Look at this pretty tree. (Notice the cat)
Mom decorated it in gold, white and red.



My parent's cat, Eowyn, takes an evening snooze under the Christmas tree.

Joe got Mom this game called Carcassonne for Christmas. We played it a bunch--it's great. You build cities and roads and get points by making your players (known as "meeples") thiefs, knights, farmers and monks. Very cool.


We had a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Hungry?

Have a chocolate.

Dummy Rescue

On Saturday I attended a CPR/First Aid class through Red Cross. I needed to get certified for work.

Did you know that CPR has changed? I took a class as a teenager but it was very different.

For example, there should be 30 compressions to every 2 breaths. 10 years ago it was only 15 compressions. Do you have any idea how easy it is to get distracted while counting to 30. I kept losing track of what number I was on. How embarrassing!

Also, when you find an unconscious person (because they are just lying around sometimes) you don't check their pulse. Apparently there isn't a need to. If someone is unconscious and not breathing 90% of the time it's a cardiac issue. You just start doing CPR.

We also learned how to use an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator). That's right, I got to shock my very own dummy! Now I can't say for sure but I think he made it.

So, I'd like to make a plug for CPR certification. If you are rusty--take a class--it may be a little different than what you remember. You can also get certified online. Check it out:

http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/


P.S. Here is a picture of us in our Halloween costumes. A ward member took it at Trunk or Treating. (We got a picture of my Lucille Ball costume after all.)

Halloween fun

Look at my pretty pumpkin colored flowers!

The Halloween roses were the best! Jonathan and I went to Safeway a couple weeks ago and he surprised me with flowers. He claimed he needed to use the facilities and left for 5 mins while I continued shopping. When we got out to the car and started putting away groceries Jonathan said he wasn't feeling well and asked me to drive home. I was feeling all concerned about him until I opened the driver's-side door and found a bouquet of orange roses. Don't I have a sweet hubby?




This is our trunk for the ward Trunk or Treat party. We had a lot of fun setting it up. We had dry ice in a cauldron creating a misting/foggy effect and creepy music playing in the car.

And this is Jonathan dressed as a dead groom. That is a black rose he is holding--nice touch huh?

I was dressed as Lucille Ball with a red wig and a polka dot dress. Our costumes were not related but all the ward members thought they were. They kept asking us why Ricky was dead. Hehehe . . .

Cat vs Tree

We have an exciting match today folks. It's champion Tree McTwiggerson against challenger Edmund "Dante" Cristo. Dante is a newcomer to the fighting world but has shown definite promise in the practice ring. Tree is world renown for his phenomenal strength and his signature move known as "The Branch". Let's get started!The customary hand shake . . .And that's the buzzer. Dante takes an early advantage but Tree looks fierce.Things are looking good for the newcomer. Dante has Tree completely covered at the moment.Tree has got himself in a good position but Dante seems to be holding him off.Look at this! It's over folks . . . Dante can't possibly come back after a beating like this. He's barely hanging on.This is an unbelievable match! What an amazing turn of events!
Somehow Dante stays on his feet and continues to climb. (He didn't fall--inconceivable!)Wow, it's in the bag now! Dante, achieves a position of dominance and takes a moment to revel it his almost assured victory.But wait . . . he's stopped climbing. Did the judges just signal him?I'm sorry folks but it appears the judges are delaying a ruling on the official winner. Yes, I definitely heard Tree call out a "Best 2 out of 3" before the final buzzer.

Dante and Tree acknowledge the skills of the other. The opponents embrace in a gesture of goodwill and true sportsmanship.