Spring!

Spring has arrived! Although it can't decide whether it's going to be a super warm spring, or a way too cold to be outside spring, but it's here. The trees have buds, dandelions are poking through, a couple of tulips are blooming, the grass is green and incredibly long (especially where the dogs do their business). And the surest sign? My allergies are out of control.

We decided to trim the apple trees this year so I could "harvest the fruit." Urban Foresters came highly recommended, so we called them out. The trees have been dwarfed, and the first signs of flower buds are appearing. In fact, we have so many fruit trees, that in another week, 8 trees in our yard will be in full bloom. And now that the  siding is complete, our house will look amazing!.

We are also in the process of getting numerous geothermal estimates to get our heating and cooling taken care of this year.  So landscaping the back yard is out for the time being, seeing that most of it will be excavated. The good news is that we will get rid of the giant lump in the middle of the yard with this project.

We are having someone come out and do a "master plan" for our front yard. we love our brick wall, but it's bowing out and really needs to come down. There are a lot of really cool ideas flying around; cobblestone path, double brick accent walls, eliminating the steps, lots of demo and the wine table and chairs that Nikki thought was a great idea since the beginning.

Our other big project for the year is moving the basement stairs over. There may be a good chance that we'll hire out the moving of the stairs and do the demo of the old stairs ourselves. Stay tuned for that.

Of course it wouldn't be spring if the dogs weren't getting sick. Mr. Scamp was the first to take a turn at the vet. As soon as the weather got nicer, he began limping again (he limped last year) and started getting a rash on his belly. This confirmed our suspicion that Scamp is allergic to grass. Yes. We have a dog that is allergic to grass. So we headed over to HSHV to see Stacey and get some x-rays and meds. His x-rays were clear, but since he has a history of limping, we're taking him over to MSU to see an orthopedic vet. He's also back on his seasonal allergy pills.

Not to be outdone, a week later Pepper began throwing up. I didn't think much of it because it's spring and they're eating grass like crazy. But I became concerned when it didn't stop. Now instead of jumping to conclusions and taking her to the vet right away, I tried to see if we could get her back to healthy on our own. We withheld food, and started a bland diet, little bites at a time. We had no success. So back we went to vet. The sad thing is, I called them and they recognized my voice! Sigh. I have become that crazy dog person that is always there. But they were great and got Pepper in right away to be seen. Over the next two days a series of x-rays and barium were taken and it was decided that Pepper needed surgery. By this point she had not held down food for 6 days and had lost 4 pounds. So we let them take her in. Pepper was pretty pathetic on the first night and really worried me, but she's been getting better and better every day and is finally holding down the food.

So the excitement of last week is winding down and the dogs this morning were just chilling in the yard. In the picture below you can see how far they shaved Pepper's belly.

Happy spring to all!