Rosco, the amazing survival puppy.

Rosco- the oh so adorable puppy that Denver and I have now had the pleasure of owning for almost 4 days- has put us through quite the rollercoaster already.

To start off with, we just thought he was a tired puppy. As I mentioned in the prior blog, he slept all the time, with small itnervals of playtime. The first night we brought him home, he slept from 10 p.m to 6 a.m.- we figured this a miracle for a 6 week old, un-potty trained puppy.

As he began to sleep more and more, on Monday, he got a bad case of diarrhea. I researched diarrhea in puppies and saw that this is very common for a young, recently relocated pup. They're scared of the new home, new faces, and miss their mom and familiar scents. There's a parasite in all dogs called Coccidia that when they're stressed, it'll flare up and cause them to have diarrhea. I was familiar with this, so I let it be.

Denver kept texting me while I was at work telling me it was getting worse and worse.
I eventually called a vet to ask their opinion, and they told me the same thing I hasd researched. They told me so long as he's still eating and staying hydrated and not throwing up, to not worry about it unless it persists for 3 days.

I got home just after 5, and he was as sleepy as could be. Once 6 rolled around, he started to throw up. And when I say start, I do not include stopping. Within that hour, our poor 5 lb, 6 week old puppy had thrown up probably 20 times. He got to the point where he couldn't walk or drink on hs own, so Denver and I wrapped him in a towel and rushed him to the pet E.R.

It was the saddest sight I had ever seen. Every time he threw up I just started to cry. I hated seeing him in such obvious pain.

Once we finally got our own room, an assistant came in to check his temperature. She stuck the thermometer right up his bum and he didn't even move or open his eyes. His temperature was normal at least.

By the time the vet came in she said we had to test him for the Parvo virus. I had read about this disease online in my earlier research and hearing that word made me fall apart. It's a disease where the pup dies of dehydration because they can't stop throwing up and having diarrhea. The diagnosis is practically fatal, considering the treatment is $1,500, and at that- the chances of survival are still slim. Denver and I sat in the room just crying, waiting for the results to come back. That was a long 1o minutes... When she came back, she said the results were negative. I out loud thanked God, but I was too soon. She followed that with, "But I don't trust the results. It's not uncommon that we'll get false negatives early in the disease. Everything I'm seeing from this puppy is telling me he has Parvo." What a rude false confidence she gave us with that gap in phrases...

She told us Parvo has an incubation period of 7-14 days, and we had only had him for 2.5. If he truly had Parvo, the other pups should too, so Denver called the seller to ask if she had heard anything. She was completely suprised saying she hadn't, and that she would call the other new owners to check in. She also offered to refund the money we bought him for if he didn't make it. I did not want that money back for that precise reason... He had to make it...

The vet gave Rosco a de-wormer and a shot of fluids and sent us home with 3 medications, 2 cans of liquid dog food, directions to feed him rice or oatmeal with chicken broth, and syringes to try to force him to drink water.

We went home scared to death for our new puppy. It is insane how quickly he burrowed into our hearts... Den and I were just falling apart, trying to remain optimistic.

We got him home and gave him the first doses of two of the medications and made him some rice. It was amazing how quickly he perked up. He started to walk around, trying to play, but he looked drunk, unable to walk straight and avoid obstacles. None the less- he was trying. He gobbled up the rice Denver made him and went potty outside right after. To our utter joy, it wasn't diarrhea. It definitely wasn't the most solid thing, but comparitively, it was so much healthier looking. He also kept the rice and medication down- no throwing up.

We pampered him and assured each other he would be alright. I can't say we really went to bed... We both took turns watching him and playing with him when he tried to play with us. I'd say Den and I got about 4-5 hours of sleep.

I made him rice in the morning, but he would only eat a few bites and walk away. I'd put him by his water dish, and he'd walk away. Things weren't looking as good as the night before. I took him out to go potty, and he was back to diarrhea. Twice that morning it hit him, and it was just as bad as the night before. I started to panic, assuming we would have another day like the one prior, knowing we were lucky he lived through it once. His littly body couldn't take another series of that pain.

We kept a close eye on him and fed him the liquid dog food they had sent us home with. Luckily he really dug that stuff- he would voluntarily drink it all right from the syringe. We couldn't get him to drink any water, but so long as he was taking the liquid food, we knew he was at least keeping hydrated.

Denver called the seller once more to inquire what she found out. She said all of the new puppy owners reported nothing but healthy, happy pups. This meant it should not be Parvo, otherwise the other puppies would also be sick. We crossed our fingers hoping this confirmed it was some otehr bgu we could fix.

By the time the 2nd round of mediations rolled around for the day, we made him some fresh rice, and he perked right up and ate it and played with us. He stayed up for an impressive amount of the rest of the day, playing with us and chewing on whatever he could get a hold of.

He didn't poop for teh rest of the day or night, which was really weirding me out, but boy was he peeing. I don't even know how many times he peed yesterday... And they would come rapidly in multiple times- like 4 in a row within 10 minutes- and a decent amount every time, too- not nice little dime size puddles... Once I'd finish cleaning up one spot, there'd be another new one to get to. Denver put him on the bed for 2 minutes, and in that time he managed to pee... Needless to say, as happy as I was last night that he was doing better last night, I was pretty exhausted and frustrated with my puppy who finally started to behave like a puppy.

I weighed him and he was at 5.6 lbs last night compared to the 4 lbs he was at the vet. Nice to see he's holding down what we're giving him. It was when I weighed him and had to weigh myself in the process that I discovered I'd lost almost 6 lbs in the flurry of stress..

I did my best to wear him out before I went to bed at 10 last night, but he still woke up at 12 whining having to pee. And then 2. and then 4. and then 6. And every time he would be wide awake after, wanting to play. The first time, I (somewhat) happily took him otuside and took him in and played him with for 30 minutes until he fell back to sleep. I put him in his kennel and followed suit. When he woke up at 2, I took him out to pee, then played with him, but very tiredly and not so happily. At 4, I took him out, brought him inside, and while he ran around wearing himself out, I fell asleep on the living room floor. Denver came home early not feeling good and found me on the floor. He sent me to bed while he tired the pup out. At 6 when he woke up whining, I honestly don't remember if I or Denver took him out that time... I think Denver did. He did not, however, wait until he tired out again and put him in the kennel to whine. Denver was feeling bad and tired enough he could sleep through the whining, but I'm not a deep sleeper in the least, so in my frustration, I grabbed my pillow and a blanket and slept on the floor in the living room while he ran around until I had to get for work at 7.

I sort of got ready... threw on an outfit, tried to straighten the crazy parts of my hair, brushed my teeth, and spent the rest of my time wirh Rosco. I made him more rice (that he did eat this time- Denver gave me a hard time saying I'm such a pab cook even the dog won't eat my food), gave him his medications, and took him out to go potty before I left.

He FINALLY pooped, and I'm proud to say it was in no way diarrhea. It was a good moment, watching him bound in the falling snow, obviously feeling so much better after evading a near death encounter.

I left for work, late, after watching him attack Denver's sleeping face with his front paws and mouth. It was adorable, as much as it both hurt and annoyed Denver.

Denver and I already love this puppy so much. We've definitely spent more money on him in the last 4 days than we had anticipated, but he's already brought us so much joy and love that we could care less if it means living frugal for the next few weeks.

All I care about is the fact that our prayers were answered. We were given a second chance to raise this puppy and we couldn't be more excited.

We COULD be better rested- but not excited. :)

Thank you for all of you who kept him in your prayers. It's amazing how soon he recovered after I had reached out and asked for friends to pray for him.

Thank you again.

Rosco, the amazingly adorable puppy.

So as you can tell by my last post, Denver and I were puppy hunting last weekend. Well, we were succusful.

His name is Rosco.
He is a husky/miniature australian shepherd mix.
He should only get to be about 35 lbs. (So the seller told us...)
He is 6 weeks old.
He is GREAT at pooping outside. Only once has he iniside and I take the blame- he was crying at night time, which so far every time has meant, "Take me out now! I gotta poo!" haha.
He is definitely newspaper trained- he always pees on the laid out newspaper, which I thought was good, but apparently is not. According to the trainers at Petsmart... That's just adding another pointless step to potty training.
We got him a cage/kennel thing yesterday. I'm frankly pretty nervous about kennel training him- I really want him to like it.
He is an eye catcher for sure. We get stopped everywhere for him to be pet and asked about.
He is a he. We were wanting a girl, but we couldn't turn his face down...
He likes cold, hard surfaces. I'm guessing his fur is a bit toasty, cuz when we had him stationed in the bathroom for the first day, he refused to lay on the provided blankets- he preferred cuddling up with the base of the porcelain toilet... haha. Everywhere we go- he seeks out the cold linoleum or wood floors and spreads all fours and goes to sleep.
Definitely a tired puppy. He sleeps most of the time for now. He'll wake up and run around for 20 minutes tops and then goes to sleep for an hour or so.
He cannot yet bark- (still developing his voice by whining)
He CAN hump. We got him a stuffed bone chew toy that's about the same size as him that he uses to chew, cuddle, and hump. A lot. hahaha. That may be embarassing in the future, but it's pretty funny/cute right now.
He's really only a cuddler by choice when he's beyond exhausted and doesn't care where he is.
He has lots of puppy dreams. He twitches and tries to run a lot in his sleep and makes weird noises..
He is scared of the ducks in my apartment complex. I'm excited for that table to turn, haha. :)
He is absolutely precious and I love him so much already and miss him when I'm away.

It'll be tricky for Denver and I to accomodate this new addition, but I know it'll be worth it. As much as i don't want him to grow out of this adorable puppy stage, I am so excited for him to grow up and go hiking and camping and everything with us.

I will post pictures once I take a few good ones. :) I'm sure there will be plenty to come.

I want a puppy!

Darn Denver!

I had become content with the idea that we would not bother with getting a pet that requires more attention than a fish until we hae a place with our own yard.

And then this morning as he got home from work and I was getting ready he mentioned there's a fella at his work selling Australian cattle dog pups for $150 each- great deal. So now Denver's drooling over the idea, when he's always been the one telling me no.

As much as my stubborn side hates letting him get away with that, my puppy loving side can't help but get excited.

Now, as cute as they are, I refuse to get a cattle dog until he have a DECENT yard. That'd just be cruel to the animal and our furniture to place it in a 2nd floor apartment.

On the other hand... There are a few cute apartment worthy pups.

I fell in LOVE with this one on KSL classifieds:

Adorable female english bulldog. I want her I want her I want her! These normall go for 1500-2500 bucks, but this one is only 600!!! I fell head over heels and emailed the seller inquiring a visit. I decided I should probably make sure they're allowed at my apartment complex, so I called... and sure enough- they're not. :( I'm so bummed. That one will have to wait for a later day...

So now I'm trying to figure out what would be good. D and I don't like shitzus or yorkies or pomeranians... or any of those annoying little dogs that yap constantly.

I'm thinking maybe a cute lil beagle?

Aint she a doll? Anywho. So now I'm on puppy craze mode... Dangit Denver...

Any suggestions on apartment pups? :)

Chiropractor referrals?

Hello all.

So my back has been killing me lately. I'm not sure what's up with it, but for probably close to 3 months now it has been hurting. It's more in my spine towards the bottom of my rib cage. For some reason it has almost become fragile- I feel like an old fart. Specific strains hurt, but in a way that it feels as though my spine cannot support itself. I have to sit a specific way to keep it feeling as though it's supported, rather than it supporting me. When I move, sit, or walk I have to strain myself to hold it in a specific way so that it doesn't practically collapse. I'm not sure how else to explain it. I've started to work out more often to see if it will help, and it seems to a bit, but I'm thinking it would be wise to also see a chiropractor.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a chiropractor to visit? I live in Murray.

Let me know. :)

Photography. (Not recently taken photos)

I just wanted to post some of my photography. I love the art and would love to increase my skills in the field. Generally I focus on inatimate objects and scenery:

I love high contrast. Denver has a good eye for photography as well, but he and I have very different styles. He more for realistic color than I am. I love vibrant colors with high contrast. Or black and white. Who doesn't love black and white?
But I really want to practice my people portraits. I have a blast with single person photoshoots, but I am no good at the multiple people coordination.I did Denver's famiy's Christmas card picture(s) and it was harder than I anticipated. A few still turned out good though. At least in my opinion. :)

I really want to improve my hand at couple photography. I just love it.
This is my friend, Jess. I took about 200 pictures of her that day and got about 40 great ones. I would post them all if it didn't take forever. She was a great subject!

Daisy. Marcy & Chris's pup. What a cutie! (all wet from running around in a stream)

I have soooo many more pictures I'd like to post, but here at least are a few ramdom ones (not particularly my best- but they cover the majority most of my skill range, I think. It's hard to say that when I'm not psoting all of my favorites.)

All in all. I need to save up, get myself a rockin new camera, and take a few photography classes.

Vacation Time!!!

So next week is mine & Denver's Spring Break. Over the weekend he suggested we try to get a few days off work and get out of here. I was nervous to ask for multiple days off seeing as I'm still pretty new here and I have yet to do so. I emailed my boss because she was too busy to pull aside for a minute. Here was my super nervous email:


"Charisse,
I put a time off request in your box this morning. I understand you are busy, but I do need to know if it is approved, today if possible, to make reservations.

To sum it up, mine and my boyfriend’s Spring is next week and we are trying to plan a trip to Lava Hot Springs. The accommodations we are looking at are running a special for ‘stay 3 nights, get the 4th free,’ so we are looking at Thursday, March 18th-Monday, March 22nd. That would mean I need Thursday (18th), Friday (19th), and Monday (22nd) off if possible. Our 2 year anniversary is in a few weeks, so this is going to be for that as well- I will not be requesting additional days off then.

At this point, I am not even sure what is going to be available for reservations- I just need to know if I can have these days off before I reserve anything. I would for sure work any days that are unavailable to reserve, may that end up being the entire 3 days I have requested."


I IM'd her notifying her of the email, to which she relpied back to within 5 minutes saying, "Have fun!!" I was blown away over how anxious I got over it, and all I got back were two beautiful words giving me the blessing I needed to go.

Lava Hot Springs, here we come!

I wasn't even sure if I could make reservations this late, but apparantly Lava Got Springs isn't too busy mid-March.. The gal laughed at me when I expressed my worry for lack of time. We actually rented from the same people last March, so we know we can rely on that choice. :)

The four houses these guys own are all Beatles themed. This time we're staying in one called "Penny Lane." It's smaller than the last one we were in, but it'll be perfect for this trip. :)

The patio on the house.

A full (OLD SCHOOL) kitchen. :)

Main Street in Lava. I love this town. We ate at that Chuckwagon restaurant more times than I can remember when we were there a year ago. They weren't even that great, though.

Luckily this time I've been informed of a yummy thai restaurant we need to check out. :)

I am SO excited to get out of here with Den for 5 days.

I've been dying for a road trip. Even though we've done this one before, I just love driving.

It'll be legen- wait for it- hope you're not lactose intolerant- DAIRY!

Pics of New Furniture!

See, I told you guys I would hurry with these pictures. :) I'm excited. I absolutely LOVE our new couch, our 'new' Love Sac, and the fact that we now have a washer and dryer inside our apartment. (There are no pictures of the washer and dryer. Didn't think of that... But I would like to send a shout out to Kim and Don for donating the machines to us. We are SO grateful!)

The new sectional! Thank you RC Willey. :)

We are definitely happy about it!

The 'new' love sac!

I bought it off a gal on KSL. She had bought this super sac 2 years ago for $700 and never used it. It just sat in their spare room, taking up space. I bought it off of her for $200. Couldn't be happier! It is seriously in perfect condition!

Ta da!

Now we're excited to have people over! haha.

New Furniture

So this is the couch we bought Monday night and will be arriving sometime Saturday:



And this is the love sac/super sac I may be purchasing tomorrow afternoon if it is in decent enough condition. The seller on KSL says she bought it for about 700 bucks and it's just sat in their spare room for two years. Nobody uses it. They don't have kids, pets, and they don't smoke. Or at least so she says. It sounds like it should be in great condition and she's selling it for $220. I'm excited to go check it out with Blake tomorrow. :)

New Apartment (2 months late..)

The flowers Den got me for my birthday. :) They lasted a long time, and there were soooooo many. I took some to work and dispersed them around the apartment, and you could barely tell any were missing from the main bouque. What a sweetie. Never thought I'd see the day. He hates flowers. (says he allergic. mmhmm....)

The main bathroom (Justin's)

The living room (before this weekend when Blake moves out, takes his furnature, and we get a new sectional and love sac in!!)

Supposed dining area. That closet houses the future washer and dryer Kim is giving us. :)

Denver and I got that cute heat pad for a quarter in a thrify shop in Philly. :)

My cute new hook. :)

The door behind Denver's head is the door to our bedroom.

I hollowed out this bulb to make it a vase. :)

My photography in the doorway to our room.

The ottoman I made. (with structural help from my father and advice from my mother.)

The shower head we bought after moving in. The orginal one suuucked.

My yellow submarine shower curtain Denver puts up with. :)

I love the vaulted ceiling in our room, but it's always freezing in there.

I got the 'dropping bombs' sticker to make Denver feel better about the girly shower curtain. :)

That's the apartment. :) I'll try to be better about posting pics of the new furnature once it's in :)