Bogart's vet visit

Bogart and I spent the better part of this morning at Dr. Fucci's office getting his knee looked at. When we got to the office we were seen almost immediately. Dr. Fucci came in after a few minutes, and as soon as she felt Bogart's knee she mentioned that the protruding area was located where she had put a pin in the knee to hold the ligaments in place while the knee healed after the last surgery. She took two x-rays, one of each leg, and it was very obvious that his right knee is fine, while the pin in the left knee is really backing out. What Chris and I thought was a kneecap is actually the fluid and swelling caused by the pin. Dr. Fucci said that both of Bogart's knees are in excellent condition. She called him her, "miracle dog." She did say that the pin in the left knee needs to come out, so we are scheduled for an 8:30am appointment this coming Tuesday to have it removed. Dr. Fucci said that she'll heavily sedate him instead of using anesthesia and that the incision will only be about an inch long, max, and that he won't need a cast or anything once it's done. The price will be between $125 and $195 depending on how bad things are once she's in. She said he should be back to his charming, active self in about a week. She also gave us the okay to let him play again until Tuesday. Today's visit cost $195 and included the x-rays, the exam, some blood work, and his annual shots. Bogart is in exceptional health, including the knee, and is still amazing everyone at the clinic.

After we left the vet, I took Bogart to Tia's house to run around since he hasn't had any fun in two days. He went crazy. I left him with Tia and went to work. I got to work at 2:00 and I worked until 6:00. Tia finally bought a new computer today, and I went to her house and met Chris after I got off and we set up the computer while TIa ordered pizza. It's 10:30 and we just got home. Our furniture is being delivered tomorrow morning between 7:00 and 9:00. I'm also going into the office for about 4 hours to make up the time I missed today. I don't even want to think about Sunday yet. Next Tuesday will be busy and chaotic, but Bogart will be better once it's over with, and honestly $400 for annual shots, blood work, 2 x-rays, and a really minor surgery isn't bad at all. We definitely took a chance when we adopted Bogart, but it's a chance I'd take again in a second. My life is a little insane right now with furniture technicalities, getting rid of the old apartment this weekend, and Bogart's little surgery on Tuesday, but things are better than I expected them to be and getting better all the time. We'll survive, I just wish I had a weekend. One day this mess will all be cleared up, and I'm going to go to Disney on a Saturday and then sleep all day the following Sunday...someday I will. Okay, it's seriously my bed time. Goodnight.

Bogart's knee

Last night after I got home I went out and ran a few errands. When I got back Chris was home, and he was on the speaker phone with his parents. When I walked in the door he asked me if I'd noticed Bogart's back left knee - I hadn't. I then took a closer look at it and noticed what looked like a dislocated kneecap. Bogart isn't really acting any different than usual, but he was walking a little weird(er) than usual. We called his foster mom since we didn't how urgent the situation was, and she told us to call Dr. Fucci, the vet that did his surgery, first thing today. We took up his toys to try and keep him from playing (it didn't really work), and I called Dr. Fucci from work this morning.

The lady who answered the phone immediately remembered him for his awkward gait and sweet personality. She said the vet was booked tomorrow but that if I brought him in at 9:15, then she would make sure that he gets seen. She said he could tear his ACL or do other things if the kneecap stays dislocated. I already have the morning and possibly the whole day off approved by my wonderful boss, and we'll be headed to Odessa in the morning. The lady I spoke to doesn't think he'll require surgery, and his foster mom assured us that if the dislocation is because of a mistake Dr. Fucci made, then she would fix whatever was wrong with little to no cost. I know Bogart will be okay, and my bank account will eventually recover, but it's tough having to tell him no when he wants to play and seeing him lie around the house when two days ago he was full of energy. He'll be okay in a week or two at most hopefully, but I wish that he was okay now. I'll write more when I know more. Have a good night, and go run around the backyard with your dog if you're lucky enough to have one. Bogart is a handful, but he's also mine and Chris' best friend.

Whiskey Joe's

Friday night Chris and I went to an awesome seafood bar and grill on the water off of Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa. The place used to be Castaway which we haven't heard a single good thing about, but then it was sold and taken over by Whiskey Joe's and everything changed. I never ate at the old Castaway as it's commonly known here. Whiskey Joe's took over sometime within the past year and the reviews have been good. So when Friday night rolled around after a ridiculously hard and tiring week, we decided to have some fun and since we've been told that we live in a beach town we figured we should spend some time on the water. We sat outdoors on the deck with the water about twenty feet below us and kids and sea gulls playing in the cool surf.

Whiskey Joe's is in Tampa on what is known as "Rocky Point Island" which is where the Bahama Breeze is for the locals, and it's about 15 minutes from our apartment and requires one left turn to get on the causeway and one right turn into the parking lot. After driving over the moonlit bay we arrived to find a live reggae band setting up, high tide, a full bar, and a menu packed full of delicious seafood. I confess I'm not a big seafood fan, but when we saw "gator bites" on the menu I had to try them. We ordered a mojito and a hurricane juice and by the time that we'd devoured the fried alligator and finished round one, our cares had gone out with the tide.

Round two consisted of an awesome margarita and a terrific rum runner. We ordered the fried seafood platter, and although I don't like a lot of fried foods and as aforementioned most seafoods, I was feeling braver with a little alcohol in my system and having just eaten something higher than me on the natural food chain, I figured that a fried oyster wouldn't hurt. It tasted like the ocean - my all time favorite thing. That was it, I was downing oysters, calamari, grouper, shrimp, and clams between shouts of "Dayo!" in response to the band's request for audience participation. We finally left around 10:30 or 11:00 already talking about our next return.

So if you happen to be in the Tampa Bay area whether a local weary after a long week in the office or a tourist here for a taste of the Sunshine State, you'll want to stop by Whiskey Joe's for a taste of the old Florida that's hard to find but still alive and kicking wherever there's water and a salty breeze. The Courtney Campbell Causeway has both and Whiskey Joe's has plenty of bar stools where you can come back and plug into that hint of island time that Florida has always seemed to retain and recharge anytime. Here's to Whiskey Joe's, salt air, and the Sunshine State. La bonne vie, the good life...

P.S. I have linked the title of this post (Whiskey Joe's) to the Whiskey Joe's website for anyone who's interested. Enjoy!

Where did the weekend go??

Okay so we got moved in on Friday, but then we spent the complete rest of the weekend trying to find furniture. We went everywhere from Pinellas Park to Tampa, to Madeira Beach, and we even got completely turned around in Bradenton/Sarasota in search of furniture. And we still don't have anything...but it's coming!

For those who don't know my awesome boyfriend has a very unforgiving eye for perfection (Lauren, I think it's an engineer thing). At times this is very useful, but at other times (read, when selecting furniture) it's an absolute pain. Chris got his heart absolutely set on the Tommy Bahama Rumba Del Sol living room collection a couple of months ago. I admit, the furniture is stunningly gorgeous with intricate carvings, spiraled legs, and an almost captivating mahogany finish, but dear God it is hard to find since it was phased out about a year ago. In Chris' opinion the coffee table and media center need to match. Well how do you match a reddish colored mahogany? You match it with the same collection. Too bad, we scoured the internet and called every Tommy Bahama dealer in Florida and N.C., and even one in Oregon, without being able to locate the media center in the Rumba collection. That was until we met Adrian.

Adrian is a wonderful man who works at a furniture chain named Hudson's down the street from us in Clearwater. We had given up all hope of getting the Tommy Bahama collection and had gone to his store to see what else was available. We happened to mention the collection to him, and he noticed he had one media center in stock, but he couldn't locate the store it was in. I gave him my cell phone number, and he said he'd look for us. We laughed assuming that it was still a very lost cause and that we'd get our hearts broken again if we even thought about it. I had put it out of my mind until yesterday afternoon when Adrian called me at work. I called him back on break, and somehow he had found it. I paid for it over the phone, and when I got home, Chris bought the cocktail table and the end table. We're still looking for the bookcase, which we hope to use as a bar, and the bistro table. Everything should arrive next Saturday, and we cannot wait!

Before we knew that we were getting the Rumba stuff we bought a leather sofa on Saturday that would match all of the other furniture we were looking at. The sofa was set to be delivered tomorrow until Adrian called. Last night we realized that the sofa will not match the furniture at all, and I had to spend almost an hour this afternoon canceling the order and the delivery. We ran out tonight to begin looking for another sofa, but it's looking like it's going to be at least an 8 week process if we want to get exactly what we want. And so we're going to have someone move our old sofa back to the new apartment for the time being. We have a lovely Welsh woman working with us to find a sample of the Rumba wood and a leather sofa to match. If I can happen across a lady from Wales in Clearwater, then surely we can find a sofa somewhere. And so the saga continues.

In other moving news, the apartment is beautiful and humongous compared to what we used to live in. We have two ceiling fans, one in the bedroom, and one in the sun room. We have one huge window in the living room and another large window on the other wall next to the big window. We have a huge window in the bedroom, and we even have valet trash pickup outside our door Sunday-Thursday. The parking is great, the dog park is small but comes with a bench for the people and complimentary toys for the pooch, and the landscaping is great with a lot of palm trees. The best part is that Bogart has yet to find any cat business, and I haven't even seen a cat since we moved in!!!! Across the street is a super target, a pizza place, our bank, Petsmart, and 2 Starbucks not that I drink coffee. To top it all off I bought a sunpass mini that is about as big as a credit card and sticks to my windshield. To go through tolls without freaking out about change is awesome. I drive over the bay every day to get to work and home, and the drive is quick with hardly any stops. I left at 6:50 this morning, and I clocked in at 7:15! We do have snowbirds and spring breakers right now, plus the Phillies spring training in Clearwater and the Yankees in Tampa, but it's a little cool for the beach right now at 66 degrees, so I just avoid going anywhere other than across the street on the weekend and it works out okay. Besides everybody will be gone in a couple of weeks, and then it will just be us and a beach town.

As for Bogart, he's adjusting nicely. He still gets weird when he hears people, and he wants to walk everywhere and sniff everything, but he seems happy. Living here is like living in a proper neighborhood. We have old couples, and kids, and newly weds, a couple of recent graduates, and people like me and Chris. Bogart's getting used to all the different people, but he's been friendly so far.

Alright, well I need to jump in the shower and head to bed. We're still both exhausted, and it's looking like this moving thing is going to be in the works for another couple of months. Over all though we're happy to be here. Chris gets home at a sane time now, and I don't have to leave any earlier than usual to get work on time. And then there's the fact that we're nine miles from the beach and about one mile from the bay. We do live on Gulf to Bay after all. Sorry the post was so long, but a lot has been happening. Below is our furniture and above is our apartment complex. I love where I live - not many people can say that. Goodnight.

Moving

It's such a pain that I don't want to do it again for a long time, and depending on the job situation, we might not have to for a while. For anyone who doesn't know, Chris, me, and Bogart are moving to Clearwater in a couple of weeks and packing was in full swing today. I bought six newspapers and went through three of them, used up our entire year's stash of plastic grocery bags, and even borrowed more bags and newspaper from my aunt and that was just for the kitchen and my book collection (read small library). We've thrown out a lot of stuff (we didn't have that much to begin with) and by the end of the day Bogart was looking at us nervously as though he was expecting us to throw him out, too!

He's getting exceptionally anxious and sad. He's had three homes in under two years so I don't blame him We keep telling him that he's coming with us, and we haven't touched his bed, bowls, or toys, but I don't think that he believes us. He's always been curious, but ever since I started packing the bookcase earlier this week, he's been following me around constantly. We're going to leave him with my aunt on the big move in day. He'll still probably freak a little, but at least he won't be alone, and I'm sure Tia will spoil him with Milk Bones like she does with her grand kids and toys.

In other news, I've started "training" for the new position at my job, but that really just means scheduling hearings for a couple of weeks to catch the hearings team up since one of our co-worker's sons was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and she's subsequently had to leave the firm. I think scheduling hearings is interesting, but it really isn't, it's just something other than discovery so I think it's fun. Hopefully the real training will get cranking soon. I've had this position since January and hardly anything has changed. It will in time though.

To my dearest friend, Sara, I will try and call you this week sometime after 4:30 my time so 3:30 your time. Consider this my sad attempt to set up a phone date with you. Congrats on Aspen by the way, that's awesome!! I want to come visit while you're out there, but I know you'll be crazy busy pulling your hair out while playing - it will probably be much like the piece when you played the piano and the bassoon simultaneously, so I'll leave you to it.

Okay well it's 9:30 but this time change thing, which I love, is making it feel earlier, but I still need to go take care of a few things before bed. Overall it's been a really busy weekend but a really good one, too. Chris and I went to a little Mexican restaurant (Mekenita) by our apartment (on N. Dale Mabry, right before Van Dyke) for dinner last night and it was yummy. I had my first tamale ever, and it was good, but I preferred the plantain nachos with passion fruit, cheese, and pineapple. I know it sounds disgusting but, trust me, it's delicious! If you're coming to Tampa, I recommend it. Alright well I really do need to get going so I'll write again soon, but probably not before the move. Things are good here. Have a good night.

P.S. Below is the link to Mekenita for anyone who's interested!

http://www.mariposamexicangrille.com/

Exciting Recent Developments

Okay so a lot has been happening over the past couple of months which is why I've been so incommunicado here. First, I must apologize to my best friend, Sara, for whom this blog means a lot because it keeps her up to date when we don't have time to chat which is all too frequently. Also, I must apologize because we had an awesome two days at Disney together a couple of months ago, and I have yet to write about it. She's probably been checking this weekly for that entry. It will be coming soon, sorry for the delay. Now, on to the updates.

The coolest of all developments is that my beloved dog, Bogart, has finally done what we thought was neurologically impossible - he has learned to wag his tail! I know, most dogs master this during their first week, but Bogart isn't like everyone else, and it has taken him a really difficult year and a half to learn this, the simplest of all cute dog tricks. He was house broken before he could wag his tail, he had double knee surgery before he learned to wag his tail, he learned to walk again before he wagged his tail, he learned to jump and run before he learned to wag his tail, and he had to lose one family and find another before he could wag his tail; but at last, he has mastered the joyous essence of being a dog.

I know, you're thinking, "what's the big deal, it's a tail?" But it's more than that. It's his smile, his fear, his shame as he tucks it and runs away from the thing that he wasn't supposed to do. For Bogart, and any dog, it's the equivalent of a human face. It's his emotions - it's how he tells other dogs that he's friendly. Imagine going almost two years without a smile, without being able to tell your best friend that you like them. It's been tough. The day Laurie from the rescue brought him to our apartment I was ignorant and expected a happy dog to come running up to me with a tail going 90 miles an hour. Instead, Bogart had to be picked up out of the car and set on the ground, it took him a minute to get across the parking lot, he fell three times in the twenty feet between our door and his car, and there was no joyous, "I've found my family!" tail wagging. There was just a sad dog dragging his back legs to an unknown apartment with two strangers that would have probably made him tuck his tail if he could.

Now though, he comes running to the door when I get home. His tail wags so much that he gets off balance, and he jumps a foot in the air at the sight of me. He chews sticks at the dog park, he runs with other dogs, and he always looks over his shoulder at me when I walk him on the leash to make sure that I'm still his family. That's what a wagging tail has given me, and Chris, and Bogart. It's let Bogart give us what we wanted to give him, happiness and a family. Sure, it's just a tail...and a lot more.

The two most impressive updates are that Chris and I have both gotten new jobs! Chris now works for Jormac Aerospace, and although it has a few setbacks it's in the field that he wanted to be in so that's always good. As for me, it's not so much a new job as a promotion and a nice raise. I was working on Discovery at the firm, but now I've been promoted to a Jr. Legal Assistant (LA) and although I'm still training my replacement, the new job should be starting within the month, hopefully. It's exciting, but I'm just ready to begin something new.

The last update is that Chris and I will be moving, with Bogart of course, to Clearwater in about a month. Originally we thought that we couldn't move until May, but Chris talked to our leasing office today, and since they delayed us for two weeks when we tried to renew our lease so that we got stuck with the new management's 60 day notice policy, they have agreed to change it back to a 30 day notice for us. Chris called and reserved our new apartment, which is on the first floor to accommodate Bogart, today and soon the moving process will be in full force. The new apartment is considerably bigger than our current one, and we are all excited about that. We traded our patio for a sunroom which is basically an extension of the living room so that, as we joke, Bogart can have his own room! We also ordered a new dog bed for him over the weekend and it shipped today. We're excited about the move because it means a much shorter drive for Chris to work (which is why we're moving) and although my drive will be increasing, I'll have to drive over the Courtney Campbell Causeway (read ocean) to get to work, pity, I'll love getting stuck in traffic.

Alright, well that's all that I've got for now. As promised, Sara, Disney details will be coming soon. Also, just a thought for interest - Chris and I went to Disney a few weeks ago, and we not only had to wait in our seats for twenty minutes while they got a lady off of Rock N' Roller Coaster (and then ride it without any music) we also got stuck in the Tower of Terror five minutes later!! For anyone wondering, the emergency exit is a service elevator, naturally. Is anyone else creeped out by that? Okay well that's it. I'll write again when I get a free minute between doing overtime for my job, watching Bogart wag his tail, and moving with Chris. Life is good here, I hope it is elsewhere as well. Take care...and if you have a dog...enjoy the tail wagging. I still stop to watch Bogart sometimes. Good night.

Merry Christmas from Tampa to Tennessee

And so it is Christmas, and what have you done?...I've traveled from Tampa to Charlotte, NC to Knoxville and Franklin, TN, and in three days I'll be headed back South to my much missed Sunshine State, warmer weather, and sailboats. In total I will have spent almost 30 hours in my little Hyundai Elantra on much too crowded interstates, and I will have seen 7 dogs and two families. It's been a crazy holiday thus far and we're not even to the big day yet! Chris stayed behind in Charlotte to surprise his sister for Christmas, and I headed on to Knoxville to stop over for the night at my sister and brother-in-law's house on the way to Franklin.

We got up this morning and had Christmas for her black lab and mutt, and my "nieces" gave me The Sound of Music (one of my favorite things) for Christmas since I know it inside and out but did not own it. In return my sister and big brother gave them both new dog beds. Once Christmas was over we packed up the cars and headed to Franklin. Clay, being awesome, gave me a break and drove my car to Franklin for me while I rode with my sister. We got in this afternoon and because last week was graduation with family and then Christmas parties for work in Tampa, I have not done ANY Christmas shopping, so my dad and I hit the stores today, Christmas Eve, to pick up my missing gifts. Let me just say that at least two people will be completely stunned on Christmas morning.

Okay, well that's all that I've got so far. Tomorrow is the much awaited big day, and I'm sad to not be able to share it with Chris but such were the demands of family. I also have no idea what I'm getting tomorrow since the only thing that I asked for were gift cards and Disney movies (I'm such a kid) so we'll have to wait and see. I would like to take a quick second to welcome my cousin's daughter Annaleigh Grace to the family; she was born today making me and another cousin no longer the only Christmas babies in the family! Alright, well I'm ending this much too long post on that note. Remember to keep your chimneys open 'cause Santa's coming. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

"The masts and shrouds are filled with lights 'neath the waning of the moon

There's an air of celebration in the realm of King Neptune." ~ Sailor's Christmas, Jimmy Buffett