here's the latest

A number of things conspired to delay my blog post. The main thing was that I wanted to wait until I'd heard back about Pene's blood test, and ... anyway, sorry. I'm back.

Pene

On the 14th Pene had a blood test to check her distemper antibody levels. A fourfold increase would signify her having distemper; no change would suggest she didn't. Well, the blood test came back with her levels unchanged, which is great. Unfortunately we'd noticed a tick/spasm/whatever in her right front leg a few days prior to getting the results (a muscle spasm about 100 times a minute that she has maybe 50% of each day). The vet said that sounded like classic a neurological sign of distemper. So we're basically back to the waiting game - see if she gets better, worse, the same...I'll take her back to the vet in a week or so to see what he thinks and to ask about her getting on with her vaccinations. At this point, we have no idea if Pene will ultimately live or not, so we're just making the time we have with her the best we can and dealing.

Pene has been to the ranch a couple times since her recovery and she has had a blast. She touched noses with cows and horses, stalked and ate some bugs, played with toads, waded in the lake, and generally had a blast. There are some pictures scattered around on our web site.


Matt has been working hard at work. He's at work right now actually, but should be home soon.

I've been watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD in preparation for the new season starting this Thursday. I signed up for a free one-month trial of Blockbuster Online so I am getting them from there. In-store exchange is pretty neat, but Netflix still kicks BB's ass.

New shows Matt and/or I will be checking out this fall:

• Kitchen Nightmares (Wednesdays on Fox)
• Kid Nation (Wednesdays on CBS)
• Back to You (Wednesdays on Fox)
• Dirty Sexy Money (Wednesdays on ABC)
• Private Practice (Wednesdays on ABC)
• Bionic Woman (Wednesdays on NBC)
• Big Shots (Thursdays on ABC)
• Pushing Daisies (Wednesdays on ABC)

I'm sure most of those will not suit us and we'll drop them. Shows we're resuming watching from previous seasons: Prison Break (Matt), Family Guy, Heroes, House, ER, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Friday Night Lights. We're officially dropping CSI because it conflicts with The Office/Grey's Anatomy.

Dad and I are investigating the possibility of me making Carolyn's coconut amaretto pie for Amore. As soon as I find a source of amaretto cookies I'm going to try out the recipe and give it a whirl. I bought pie pans at Crate and Barrel (yes, with the gift card we're still working on from our wedding, yay) in preparation. :)

I bought lots of candy today at Sams for Halloween (so I don't forget later). We're really excited about having trick-or-treaters this year.