The Spot

My last post talked about the spot on Rudy's nose, so I thought I'd post some pictures. I know a lot of you are worried about my poor pooch, and I promise we'll get it checked out soon. I'll let you know what we find out.
You can kind of see it in the picture above...it's the light spot to the right of his nose. You can see it very clearly in the pictures below. (I know the pictures are transparent, but I was told that you can double click on them to see a clear picture, so give that a try.)

Making a Mountain out of a Mole Hill

I know I've written a lot about my dog on here, but I promise I'm not one of those freaky obsessive dog people. (Well, maybe just a little. I can't help that I married a man with such an awesome dog. What an added bonus to the arrangement!) Anyway, Rudy's been acting strange lately, so here's a concern of mine concerning Rudy:

My dog won't eat and he has something on his nose. I'm choosing to believe the two are not mutually exclusive and are entirely related. (Matt's upset that the previous sentence is redundant, but he doesn't understand the purpose of repetition for emphasis. Only an English teacher would pick up on that.) Point being: I'm concerned about my pooch. Let me further explain...

Usually, Rudy eats right away in the morning and promptly again at 5pm. However, lately his breakfast sits in his bowl until 3 or 4pm in the afternoon. He'll eat eventually, but this is very odd behavior for an 80 lb. pit bull who is always hunting through the kitchen for more food.
In addition to that oddity, there is also this weird spot next to his nose that keeps getting bigger. It's not a big raised bump, just a flat, white, round spot. It started out small and has grown to about a centimeter in diameter.

It seems strange to me that both of these problems are occurring at the same time. So, I'm putting two and two together and coming to the conclusion that the spot is cancer and he won't eat because he's sick. See how they are entirely related?!? Okay...a bit irrational, I know...but what if it's TRUE?!

Finally!

Spring break is finally here! I have been anxiously awaiting this for a while now! There comes a time during second semester where you just can't imagine working for another full week without a break. The students drive you crazy and no matter how much grading you do, it never gets done. I don't have to wait any longer! They gave us today off along with all of next week, which is really nice. It's finally here!

It's a beautiful day in STL so I headed out and took Rudy on a walk at our favorite park. I LOVE spring! Even though it's supposed to get cold again this weekend, I feel like spring is finally here. My favorite signs are starting to reveal themselves. The tulips are peeking out of the ground and the buds are forming on the trees. I just can't wait for it all to POP! Our neighbor's Magnolia tree is getting ready, too. As much as I abhor the dead blooms that end up all over our yard, I do love a beautiful Magnolia tree in full bloom! I'm a little nervous that the bulbs I planted this past fall won't come up (I bought them at Aldi...so it could be hit or miss), but I'm holding on to hope, because it took them a while to peek out last year, too.

My goal this year is to start an herb garden. Fresh herbs are expensive at the grocery, and apparently easy to grow, so I'm going to give it a shot. We don't have that large of a yard and it's hard to keep Rudy from ruining the things we plant, so I think I'm going to plant them in pots. Actually, my real plan is to buy them already started in little containers, instead of trying to get them to come up from seeds. I'm not much of a gardener, although it is one of those things I wish I knew more about. Unfortunately, I've inherited my mother's brown thumb. Anything I touch ends up dead. (Except for this one plant Lauren gave us as a wedding present. It has done remarkably well, even though I only remember to water it about once a month.) Anyway, I'm holding out hope that this herb thing works out! Matt and I love to cook with fresh veggies & herbs! I'll keep you posted on how the garden grows (or doesn't).

Pure Delight

Does anyone else cherish their Saturday mornings? I think it's my favorite part of the entire week. I love sleeping in, making a fancy breakfast with my husband, going on a walk with Rudy (when the weather's nice), and listening to my favorite show on NPR, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." Just so you know, if anyone calls me from 12-1pm on Saturdays, I don't answer. I dread making plans on Saturdays during that time, but it seems inevitable about one or two Saturdays out of the month. Fear not, I just go on-line and listen to it later in the day. If you've never allowed yourself the treat of listening to this program, I highly recommend it. Just go to: http://www.npr.org/programs/waitwait/ and listen to this week's show. You'll be glad you did!

The bummer lately is that Matt has a Saturday class from 9-noon, so I don't get to enjoy this time with him anymore. I miss our fancy breakfasts, and it's just not worth it to make it for me alone. I'm also anxiously awaiting spring weather so I can open up the windows and go on those long walks with my dog.

What is your favorite way to spend your Saturday mornings?

Oak Tree

Confession: I love oak trees. My favorite one stands alone in the middle of a field on the way up to Kirksville, MO (where I went to school at Truman), somewhere between Columbia and Macon. My fellow oak-tree loving Trumanites may know which one I'm talking about. It is beautiful, especially in the fall. I don't get to see that oak tree very often anymore, but there are some around STL that I enjoy. Matt and I have this dream to find land and build our "forever" house out in the country, and my personal hope is that there will be a huge oak tree there, too. For now...a tree on my blog will have to do.

About that tree background. I found the background and like it a lot, but the column for the text is transparent, which in and of itself isn't bad; however, little did I know that Rudy would become see-through, too. I'm guessing that will happen to any picture that I post. So...If you have any ideas on how to fix that, I'd love to know. Otherwise, I'm going to have to change my background, and that will make me sad. I'm kind of attached to my tree, now.

SNOW DAY!

Not only is it a snow day, but a "Thunder Snow" day! The last time I remember seeing thunder snow was when I was in elementary school. (For those of you who are puzzled by this term, it is similar to a thunder storm with rain, but it comes down fast and furious in the form of snow, creating blizzard-like conditions.)

This is the 4th snow day Rockwood has had this year. To put this into perspective, during my first two years of teaching, it didn't snow during the week ONCE! The bad weather always came on the weekends. How frustrating is that?!? We didn't get a single snow day for two years in a row! Last year I think we got 2 days off and went home early from school on another day. That wasy nice, but this is unheard of! And I'm LOVING it! The bummer is that the high schools are only allowed 3 free snow days, so we're going to have to make up this one (and any others that follow) at the end of the year. Oh well, I have a ton of grading to do, and it was great to catch up on some much needed sleep this morning!

Here are some pics of Rudy in the snow:

Help!

Okay, so I don't have any good ideas for a name for our blog. I'm stuck. So let's have a contest. Send me your ideas. I don't think there's a prize for this contest, other than the satisfaction that you're more creative than I am. However, if I think of one I'll let you know. This will probably be a very small contest anyway, because I'm not sure that anyone even knows I have a blog.

Here's my other problem. I have no idea how to post pictures on these blog things. Not that I have a ton to post right now, but that's beside the point. So, if you can help with that, too, I'd appreciate the help.