A Girls Beach Weekend

Yes, I have really been missing in action. A week ago today, I was starting my day watching the sunrise over the ocean. Seeing the day begin made me even more grateful for a kind friend who invited 7 of us for a *girls weekend* at her beautiful beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The house (with its 8 bedrooms and 7 baths) is rented throughout the summer, but our friend and her husband make it their home from September to about May. So many homes like this are solely rental properties. So, how nice for them that they get to enjoy this beautiful and comfortable home with its ocean views, and how nice that we got to enjoy it too.

We were treated to the best of weather, and a trip to nearby Cape Hatteras to see the lighthouse that was given its famous black and white stripe daymark pattern in 1873. The Lighthouse Board assigned each lighthouse a distinctive paint pattern (daymark) and light sequence (nightmark) to allow mariners to recognize it from all others during the day and night as they sailed along the coast. (Who knew?) 

On another day we went to Rodanthe Pier to enjoy yet another ocean view. The weather was calling for clouds and rain, that certainly was not what we had. 

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Honestly, I just couldn't get enough of the ocean views. I took so many pictures with both my phone and camera.  

The weekend was truly a whirlwind of fun. There was plenty of great food, great conversations and being spent with friends, it could not have been any better, even if it had rained. But I'm glad that it didn't! 

**Photo below is our last night - dinner and a show watching the kite-surfers at sunset on Pamlico Sound. 

Finally .... Leaving Hatteras Island. This is why in a hurricane the island gets cut off, because the ocean is on the other side of the dunes. You can even see in one photo where a wave or two came over the top. 

The dogs were all in good spirits when I got home. But I was so tired and was glad that I took an extra couple of days vacation to rest up from this little vacation. 

The Weekends

Last weekend, Ophelia, a tropical depression impacted parts of the mid-Atlantic after its landfall early Saturday with heavy rain, strong winds and even some flooding. It put a bit of a damper on the annual Oktoberfest that the town that I live in has every year. 

Ophelia delivered about 3 inches of rain for us. The clouds stayed around through the week, but we didn't get much more rain and we're still in a drought and short about 10 inches of rain. 

I was off to the vet again with Iva to have her ears rechecked. The infection has cleared up pretty well, but not enough for the vet. So, Iva's ears were cleaned and 'reinfused' again with an antibiotic. Another recheck in 3 more weeks. 

We did get some good news, in that Iva has lost about 6 pounds since her last vet visit. Her diet of canned pumpkin, green beans, and a little bit of dry food is doing the trick. The vet was very happy with that, although I can't help but joke and hope that she didn't have a foot off the scale. 😊

I've not mentioned Todd much because I'll admit to being a little bit superstitious and I don't want to jinx anything. 

But he's had a couple of bumpy days this past week because he's been spending more time outside and he has loved every minute of it. However, I should have known better than to let him stay outdoors for hours at a time, because its triggered his allergies a bit, and he's had short bouts of sneezing and coughing - But thankfully it has been nothing like it was in the spring with his having a totally clogged up nose -- knock, knock, knock on wood that it stays that way. 

The Three Fosters

Two vet visits were on the schedule this past week. 

The first one was for Iva for a thyroid recheck. I'll admit to being a bit nervous about this because this appointment would also involve her being weighed. I was feeling pretty guilty because I had kind of fallen off the weight-loss wagon with Iva this summer and now it was time to face the scale.  The news wasn't too bad, Iva has lost 2 pounds over the summer. And now I've gotten a renewed focus and determination to get her back on her journey to lose weight. 

~Iva~

The second visit was to the ophthalmologist with Marley. The drive there takes just more than an hour, and just as we did the first time, we got there in plenty of time, even though I left a little later.

Its easy for me to see that Marley's eyes are not nearly as red or 'goopy' as they were initially. But it's good to have the Vet look at them to agree and make it official. Thanks to the medication, he's producing some tears in both eyes - His left more than the right. It's slow progress, KCS or dry eye didn't happen all at once, it's a chronic issue - But Marley will have another recheck in 3 months, that I'm hopeful will be even better news for him. 

~Marley waiting for the ophthalmologist~

Since we have 3 foster dogs for the rescue, it didn't seem right to not somehow included Lily in the weeks events. That was actually easy - I was reminded that Lily had a birthday. She was turning 12, so at the end of the week, we got to celebrate.  

~Birthday girl, Lily - now 12 years old! ~

I bought a cookie that was of course shared with the other dogs. Lily, being Lily didn't mind sharing.

~Lily: Is that for me?!~

It's an honor to have gotten to know Lily these past 5 months and celebrate her 12th birthday. Her sweet, gentle nature and so many more things remind me every day how lucky we are to have the chance to share our lives with Lily. ❤

Keeping the Routine

While Carl is visiting family in Wisconsin, I've been playing the role of single-dog-cat parent for the last week. Its gone pretty well. Everyone is present and accounted for, which is a good thing! 

As I mentioned in a previous post, the dogs always expect a game of ball every evening. I decided that with Carl gone, I would try and keep the routine the best I could. So, on the first night we played a game of ball. Here's a couple of photos of that first night ....

~Todd, wondering why am I playing ball with them?~

Below Ree and Milo are looking at a ball on the other side of the fence trying to solve the problem of getting it on the side we were on.  I'll add that it was a pretty good throw using the "Chuckit" ball launcher from the back porch -- It went over the fence, hit the barn, and landed on the fence rail. I couldn't do that again if I tried! 

~Milo and Ree - the ball is there, how do we get it over here?~

Then yet another photo where I chucked another ball over the fence and it was gone completely. But I know they'll find it when we take a walk. They always do, especially Milo. 

~Iva - Where'd the ball go?~

With the heat, of course I didn't let the game go on for too long. Out of the 7 tennis balls we started with, we ended with 5. Do you think that included the 3 balls Jack had?  

~Jack never has been good at sharing 🙂~

Thanks for stopping by - 

I hope you're having a good week, and staying cool!