Documenting what I do and for whom is one thing.  Updating my personal blog has been about as much success as when I was trying to keep a journal. 

Well, what has happened since my last post? 

I completed Knee Replacement Rehab in August.  Can’t say that I am fully recovered but close.  There is still a bit of pain, especially when I climb the ladder to the Sound Booth at church to play the Audio Tech.  At least I am able to get back to the IT work that was doing.  Now if only there was more of it so that I can pay for the lack of income due to the down time. 

We have had a significant change in the pets since April 2009.  Late June we lost our Ragdoll Persian Casey due to Liver cancer.  We felt a significant hole in the household and found a kitten if very similar colorings that we adopted from a Rescue in Crossville, TN.  The kitten appears to be part Maine Coon and part Ragdoll.  Within weeks we discovered our Tortoise Shell named Taz had Mammary cancer.  She had that operated on and managed to survive another four months before succumbing to a relapse.  In the meantime our 11 year old Golden Retriever was suffering from Kidney failure.  She died toward the end of September.  The week before Halloween we obtained a new Golden Retriever puppy from a Breeder in Clinton.  This managed to fill up the house somewhat since the puppy had a significant amount of energy.  Shortly after that is when we lost Taz.  All was fairly peaceful, not counting the energy of the new puppy.  Mid December I was working on the fence with Logan, the Golden Retriever puppy, by my side.  At one point the neighbors dog came across the street to say hello.  It was a very calm greeting and the other dog went home.  About a half hour later Logan got lose and decided he wanted to return the visit.  I managed to yell to Logan and get him to stop and turn around, briefly.  Logan then ran into the street and got hit by the Dominos driver that happened to be driving past at 20 miles over the speed limit.  As you can guess I wont be ordering Dominos anytime soon.  Just prior to this incident Indie (our Himalayan cat) decided to sneak into the dryer for a spin.  He survived that ordeal but when we took him to the Vet to get checked out we discovered that he had massive Kidney and Liver failure.  Indie died within a week of Logan.  We ended the year with just Jessie and Nelson.  Jessie who was enjoying a calm household prior to all the deaths and Nelson a very energetic kitten that loves to pounce.  Jessie did not take kindly to this behavior. 

We started 2010 with the acquisition of a black and white cat from a Rescue in Maryville that we renamed Bella, short for Isabella Sophia.  She has enough energy to keep Nelson busy and off of Jessie and yet enough composure to not get on Jessie’s nerves.  We also started to try to get a new Golden Retriever puppy.  The co-breeder of the Dam that gave birth to Logan had two dogs that had given birth the last week of 2009.  By the end of January we found out that she had three dogs that had given birth which resulted in a total of 26 puppies.  Last weekend we drove to Dalton, GA to pickup Amber Grace.  There was a bit of divine coincidence with the naming.  We had decided back when we were set on getting one of this breeders puppies that if it was a girl we would name it Amber Grace and even during the drive down to GA we could not decide on a name for a male.  This not knowing if the puppy we would be getting was a male or a female.  We had not mentioned to the breeder of our naming choice.  When we arrived she handed us a female and we told her of the name.  Most breeders have a theme for the litter for when the AKC registered name is filed.  The coincidence is that the theme that the breeder chose for this litter was “Jewels”.  How fitting that we had already decided that the female name would be Amber. 

We now have a very peaceful home.  Nelson and Bella play with each other quite a bit.  Jessie hides quite a bit and complains a lot but that is Jessie.  Amber gets along very well with Bella and Nelson and at least Jessie doesn’t get physical in her complaining about another new animal in the house.

The business is going pretty good considering the recession and the geography for which I am conducting my business.  I could always use more customers, but I’m not needing to shut down the business and go find a regular job yet.  Jean is still gainfully employed and thus barely keeping our collective head above water.