Weekend Update.

Whew. Work has gone crazy in the last couple of weeks - I've gone from bored to swamped overnight. Neither is good, nor did the enjoyment level improve. Bleh.

Otherwise, we just keep chugging along, here at the Bossy Doghouse. Last weekend Girl and the BF moved into their new house, and Dudley approves, especially of the nice big screened porch just perfect for a dog to nap in the sun. It's a gorgeous house, spacious and with custom paint and tile, lots of designer touches and upgrades galore, plush carpet in the bedrooms, a Jacuzzi in the huge master bath, and a gas fireplace in the living room. It is also a sign of the state of the FL real estate market that they could rent something like that for far less than it costs me to live in this house. Heavy Sigh.

Murphy is still doing well - he's not totally without symptoms of his illness, but he seems to be quite stable. I am not taking this for granted. I've joined a Yahoo group for owners of dogs with lymphangiectasia started by Louie's Mom. Another Yorkie owner joined a couple of weeks back. It was obvious how much she adored her baby, who was a very special dog who excelled at obedience work and even acted in a TV commercial. He was very sick, and she did everything humanly possible to save his life. She lost him on Thursday. She posted to the group yesterday to let us know. I felt as devastated as if I knew them personally - two Yorkies in the group, and now one is gone. I sort of made Murphy sleep on the bed with me last night, so I could rub his belly when *I* needed comforting.

In my initial reading about the disease, I developed the impression that it was restricted to certain breeds - most articles mentioned Yorkies, and other terriers - but the owners who have joined the group have a variety of dogs, big and small. And when Murphy is so stable and basically himself (save for the occasional intestinal outburst, which has become far less prevalent in the last month) it's easy to think of this as a scary thing we have conquered. That's not really the case. It's a balancing act to keep his system in check, and there is only so much we can do to manage it. The rest is up to his little body. But so far, so good - he's feisty and opinionated as ever, maintaining a healthy weight and energy level. But today I feel the delicate balance of his health a little more acutely than I did yesterday.

On to happier topics:

Friday was a Big Day in future grandchild world - Ultrasound Day. DIL2B (that sounds less like a federal agency than FDIL) is doing great. The baby is healthy and has all the requisite human parts, but because of its position, an absolute determination of gender couldn't be made. The tech believed she saw girl parts, but didn't get a good enough look to enter it into the chart as a sure thing. They were also unable to get a good image of the spine, again due to the way the baby was positioned, so that is justification to do another ultrasound in a couple of weeks - at which point I devoutly hope we get a clear image of the other parts and know for sure. So it's a good thing that they couldn't get the spine view, because they wouldn't re-do the ultrasound just for gender, and dammit, this grandma is not the fastest knitter on earth and needs plenty of lead time.

In the meantime, I do believe I will dig out the bits of pink and white Rowan Cotton in the stash and whip up a couple of pairs of summer booties, just to get in the mood.