Last Days Of December 2014

                                                          December 2014

Santa was going to be at Hayleah's (our oldest granddaughters ) place of work- Zaxby's, which is a southern fast food place. We took the little ones there to eat and after dinner it was time to sit on Santa's lap.

Of course Santa asked Noah what he wants from Santa.

Maddie decided she was too afraid to sit on Santa's lap and would have nothing to do with him.

Lennox also would have nothing to do with Santa either. I think he was wondering if Santa would know what he wanted since he didn't have the courage to tell him.

Before Christmas we had the grand kids over to our Nest a few times. The first time we had all three Noah 6, Lennox 6, and Maddie 4, which was too wild for Joe and I in our little home on wheels. We decided it was better to have them one on one or only two at a time and only when the weather was good, so we could spend most of our time outdoors. Here we just had Lennox and he was painting Christmas decorations we had made on a previous visit.

His parents brought his bike over, so we also took him out biking around the block in the campground. The first time I went with him I thought I could just walk along side him, but I ended up having to half run to keep up with him. The next time I smarten up and rode my bike also.

Just a picture of our strange Canadian neighbor who has a naked Barbie doll attached to his truck and another one attached to his motor home. I asked him what was with the naked Barbie dolls. He gave a strange answer, that really didn't explain the question. He only stayed a month and then moved on.

I take lots of pictures of my Mallery these days because we don't know how long she will be with us, with her health problems.

She is such a sweet girl and my bestie girlfriend!

Christmas Eve present opening was a whirlwind with the grand kids opening up presents at record speed. I think it might have lasted 4 minutes. Maddie opens a present and finds blue boots from us. She is a boot girl. Noah kept getting disappointed because all he got was clothes from us. I was told by his parents to  buy clothes. I remember my nephew acting the same way when they were young. Boys hate clothes when they are little.

The three musketeers in their new PJ's and some hats that went with hero t-shirts.

Lennox with some toys. ( Not from us- he must have went back to his room and dug out his old toys since Christmas Eve didn't present him with anything new to play with. The kids get their Santa toys the next day as well as their gifts from their parents).

Mallery came to Tiffany's and Blake's for Christmas. We brought her stroller into the house where she felt more comfortable away from high energy kid's feet that dart here and there. She likes being with us, but still safe and can watch all the commotion from a distance. When we got back home I took a picture of her in her Christmas dress with her t-shirt under neath for warmth.

The Christmas night was so hectic that I forgot to get a picture of her earlier.

She got tired of the pictures and headed for the back room where her dad had resided for the night! December was a busy month with Christmas shopping, grand kids, biking, and dentist appointments.

Beach Time With Mallery & Our Supplement Regiment

                                                                    December 2014

On another sunny but cool day we decided to take Mallery to the beach.

We have to drive about 10 minutes west of the beach city center of Gulf Shores where we feel comfortable walking Mallery. Gulf Shores is not dog friendly, but we have seen a few dogs on the beach. We have been told by others that if you get away from the state park beach, condo's, and away from town, you are okay, and especially because we are in the winter season with few people on the beach.

Just remember, all you dog owners, to be sure to pick up after your dogs. If all dog owner picked up after their dogs, I am sure more beaches would allow them. It is those who fail to do their job, that ruin it for the rest of us.

We were very surprised with Mallery's energy. She took off like she did in her younger years.

The last time she had this much energy on a beach was when we were on the west coast of Northern California, Oregon and Washington. We worried she would have a rough night because she was really over doing, which causes trachea inflammation. When she over does, she pays for it during the night with troubles breathing. I kept picking her up, telling her to take a break, carrying her for a while, but she kept struggling to get down to run. She is such a beach girl! To our surprise she had a great nights sleep that night, and no signs of over doing it for over a week.

These are the supplements and medicine she was taking before her run that day.

The Theophylline is a medicine she has taken daily, since age 6 when she was diagnosed with collapsing trachea. I also started giving her a supplement from the Melaleuca product line called Provex Plus which is suppose to help with inflammation.

In mid October when she was diagnosed with a tumor in her trachea, I started her on NuVet Plus, which is a multi-vitamin plus sharks cartilage which is suppose to help fight cancer. This supplement is a wafer the size of a quarter. The internet said dogs loved the taste of the wafer. I was unsure of this because Mallery is a very picky eater. Luckily she loves them. It is her favorite treat every day.
At this time I also tried to change her diet to grain free.

Unfortunately when I changed her diet to grain free, it caused her preexisting pancreatitis to flare. Grain free tends to be higher in fat which causes pancreatits patients to become symptomatic. I found a veterinarian on the internet that suggests Standard Process Pancreatrophin PMG for dogs with pancreatitis. This company  makes this supplement for humans but it works for dogs too.

After a month on the two new supplements with no side effects, I added Dr. Dobias GutSense which is an advance Probiotic & Digestive Supplement for dogs. After Mallery's good beach run and no side effects I was encouraged that all these supplements were helping. (Unfortunately after the first of the year Mallery had a real set back that really gave us a scare which I briefly mentioned earlier in a January post).

Mallery takes a lot of supplements and one medicine, but she does not even come close to what I take daily. Theses are all my supplements.

After I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia some 9 years ago, I took medicine the Dr's recommended for about 5 years. They helped some, but I still had some major issues, so I decided to stop the prescription medicine and use supplements. I have found I can get about the same results without the side effects you get from prescription medicine. Unfortunately it is more expensive and very time consuming, with the managing of keeping all these supplements ordered, and the weekly dispensing of the AM, breakfast, between meals, dinner, and night time doses, not to mention just taking this many pills a day. I have been reading how if you truly eat a healthy diet, which I pretty much do, I could reduce at least half of these pills. This is my goal, but with that in mind, a truly healthy diet, excludes all process foods, which forces you into making everything from scratch. This in itself will take much more time than ordering and packaging supplements. All I can say is, it is good thing I don't work, because I would never have time to maintain a schedule of cooking and eating and supplementing to regain health or be healthy. No wonder we are a nation with so many sick people!

Let Go Fly A Kite!

                                                              December 2014

After taking a walk on the beach that day, we thought we should go get our grandson and take him to the beach.

It was a gorgeous day and we though we could take him there to fly a kite. As Joe put the kite together back at the car, Lennox ran down toward the water and I followed.

The problem was,  that the sun was setting and we figured out we should have taken him to the beach earlier that day, and we could have done our beach walk at sunset. Next time we will have our heads on straight I guess.

Lennox ran around playing in the sand asking when Papa was going to bring the kite down to the beach.

I told him hopefully he would down to the water shortly, that he must be having problems getting the kite together.

He sat in the sand and played in it being such a patient little 6 year old.

I took advantage and did a photo shoot while we waited.

The sun was setting quickly and I could see Joe on the bench by the car working on the kite. It didn't seem to bother Lennox. He was too busy playing near the water.

As the sun was setting, I was getting cold. It didn't seem to affect Lennox at all.

I guess I should have got up and started to run in circles and I would have kept warm too.

I started to realize that there was not going to be a kite going up after all.

Oh well Lennox seemed to have just as much fun playing in the sand and surf!

Lennox and I walked back toward the car and Joe told me he thought the kite was defective. I looked at it and I agreed with him. There is a learning curve on being grandparents, and the kite went back to the store! Lennox and I walked over to watch the sun set.

We got Lennox back home where his dad had just finished putting up his Christmas decorations.

Joe's feast of crab legs that night from a restaurant that occasionally has a deal with the single legs that have broken away from the rest. I like crab also, but for some reason, I must have had something else planned for dinner.

Beach Time On Gulf Shores State Park Beach

                                                         December 2015

The months of November and December were mostly warm in mid 70's with a few cold days here and there. Even though the weather was good, it was not until late November or early December before we made it to the beach. The Gulf Shores State Beach is just down the road from our campground about a mile.

                                                                       

View looking west from the Gulf Shores State Park boardwalk, toward Gulf Shores, AL. This is the only white snow we get down here.

It was a lovely day and there were a few snowbirds enjoying it.

Looking east from the state park beach toward Orange Beach, AL. and the beginning condo's in that direction.

There are always jelly fish on the shoreline. Every year the jellyfish are different.

This species had 4 red loops in the center. It is a Moon Jellyfish.

This one looks a little different from the previous picture, but I think it is the same kind of jellyfish. One year we saw lots of Portuguese Man-Of-War Jellyfish. Another year we saw lots of Mushroom Cap Jellyfish. Another year, it was the Mesoglea Jellyfish.

We haven't made it out on the pier yet this year. When you are staying at the Gulf  Shore State Park Campground, they have free pier tour walks usually on weekends.

At the beginning of the pier there is a cafe open during warmer months.

As we continue west we get closer to the Gulf Shores and the beginning of Gulf Shores condo's.

During November and December we enjoyed shorts most of the time.

A few fishermen on the pier.

We head back going east on the beach, going toward Orange Beach again.

Lots of barefoot beach walkers.

There are a lot of snowbird fishermen. Joe hasn't fished this year. He always hates paying out the bucks for the fishing license, especially when he doesn't catch much.