Radom-ness around the house

Tomorrow Ryan is racing a half Ironman race in Racine, Wisconsin so this afternoon we are headed up that direction to camp for the night.  Now, camping the night before a 70 mile race is certainly not ideal, but two months ago when I called the hotels in Racine to make a reservation for the night every single one of them was booked!!  So...we will be camping, in a tent, with Lily (Staley is still with my parents, more on that later).

Tomorrow I will have pictures from the race to share with you all, but this morning we are just getting some work done around the house.  A few weeks ago my X-Terra started making so strange noises.  I took it into the dealer (since it's still under warranty) and man oh man, am I glad I took it in.  I needed my transfer case fluids replaced (free-under warranty), I had a cracked front differential so they replaced that (free-under warranty), and I needed new front brakes and rotors.  The brakes and rotors weren't going to be covered under our extended warranty plan since they are considered part of normal wear and tear so they quoted me just under $500 to grind down the rotors (really just a band-aid) and replace the front brake pads.  This is where I have to say, I'm glad I married a handy man!! 

This morning, before we head out camping, Ryan is replacing my brake pads and roters.  Total cost for the materials $200 and, we upgraded the parts that Nissan would have used if they did it for me.  Long story short, for more than 50% savings and a few hours of work, I will have a brand new set of brakes (and hopefully a car that doesn't sound jankey...yes, that is a word!)

I'm not going to pretend that I know ANYTHING else about what is going on here :O)

Staley Update:

For those of you that are wondering what's going on with the sweet dog of mine, there unfortunately hasn't been much of a change.  Mom and Dad have been taking care of her in Freeport since Tuesday night.  They took her back into the vet this morning to get some more information and get her weighed so we would have a starting point to measure from.  Today she weighed only 57 lbs.  We aren't really sure where she was when she was healthy, but we will at least know if there have been any changes from here on out.  Dr. Sommers has added yogurt to her diet now to see how that will affect her.  So at this point she is getting the following:  Fiber flakes, yogurt, colon health and her lamb and rice formula food.  We aren't giving up on her yet!!  Dr Sommers said that in all his years of being a vet he has only ever seen one other dog with Malabsorbtion so he isn't super familiar with it, but he said that he would read up on it in the next few days and see if we could come up with a solution.

I'm having a hard time dealing with the whole thing.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone.  I guess part of me just isn't ready to believe that we might have to put her to sleep.  She is just so young and the hardest part is that she isn't acting sick at all.  She still runs and jumps and bounds just as she always has done.  I miss her, but know that being home with mom and dad is best for her.  She has Ruby and mom to play with all day and mom and dad tell me she is happy.  I just wish we could start to see some sort of improvement.  For now, I'm trying to stay positive and hopeful.

  
Yep, I will take all the messes to just have you back at home and doing well!!  Thinking of you Staley!!