Parent's Visit and Indianapolis Zoo

My parents came out to Indiana to visit for a week around the 4th of July. We planned a big BBQ on the 4th with family and friends, but of course it rained the whole day...so we ended up with a dozen or so people in our tiny living room, but it was still fun. While my parents were here we also took the dogs swimming at Lake Monroe and visited the Indianapolis Zoo. The zoo was nice, and my favorite part was the butterfly garden exhibit.

Upcoming Iowa Visit!

For those of you that don't know, my sister Lezlie will be graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Dance from the University of Iowa this Saturday! Nick and I are leaving on Thursday to drive back to Iowa to be there for her graduation. Unfortunately, Nick will have to drive back to Indiana on Sunday to work on Monday. But I am staying in Iowa until Memorial Day (the 25th) to visit friends and family! I'm so excited!

Farmer's Market

I went to the Bloomington Farmer's Market for the first time this year. I was hoping to get some fruit, but it obviously wasn't quite in season yet. I got a strawberry smoothie instead, and took some photos of the action - the Farmer's Market really is a busy place!

Little 500

Again this year, I decided to go to the Little 500 bicycle race at Indiana University. Nick decided he would rather go golfing, so I went with my friends Todd, Sylvia, Jessica and Tim. It was much nicer this year - sunny and 80 degrees. Last year was raining/snowing and 30 degrees! The same team won again this year - the Cutters. But we were just happy to have gotten a sun tan instead of frostbitten fingers! I included one picture from last year just so you can see the difference! (By the way, it's not alcohol in the glasses, Vitamin Water corporation gives away small samples of their water every year :) )

Swim Meet

As the new President of VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity), I organized a volunteer trip to the School for the Blind in Indianapolis. They were hosting the regional swim meet, and they needed people to help time and run the meet. It was amazing to see so many junior high and high school students motivated to do their best and swim for their respective state. There were students from Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and maybe a few other states. Mostly, they swam just like any seeing person would. Some of them were not allowed to dive off the starting blocks and had to start in the pool because the sudden increase in pressure from diving in wouldn't be good for their eyes. The lane dividers helped make sure they were swimming straight, and the coaches helped them determine when they were getting close to the edge of the pool by tapping them on the back with a tennis ball on a stick. It was a great and inspiring experience! We are planning to help with their track meet next fall!

Update on Kinnick and Nick

Just wanted to give you an update on Nick and Kinnick. Nick had a few uncomfortable days, and did stay home from work one day, but his shingles is finally looking better. He is well on the road to recovery and I don't think he will have any scars.

Kinnick on the other hand, will definitely have a scar. He got his stitches out this week, and it looked like the bite/tear would heal just fine, but the next morning we noticed that he must have scratched at the scab, and it was open again. Another visit to the vet (this time our local vet), and she agreed it needed to be re-stitched. Since the healed edges would heal back together, she had to cut away to expose fresh tissue and re-clean the wound. Since it takes awhile and there are risks associated with sedating dogs, Dr. Jones asked if she thought I could keep Kinnick distracted if she just did a local anesthetic. The vet tech brought me a bag of treats, and Kinnick sat perfectly still eating treats out of my hand while Dr. Jones cleaned the wound, cut new edges, and re-stitched it. Hopefully these stitches do a better job!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Hope everyone else had a little more mild Easter than we did...Nick had been complaining about his head hurting for a few days before Easter, but I didn't think much about it, I just figured he had a headache. But while we were getting ready for Easter church, I noticed that Nick had a rash on his forehead. I thought it looked like shingles, so after some Internet research, we decided we were pretty sure it was indeed shingles. Since it is important to treat shingles early, but it is not contagious (except for small babies and immune suppressed individuals), we went to church anyways, and Nick just sat on the end row and didn't go near any babies. Then we left and immediately went to the PromptCare to get medication for Nick. Sure enough, he does have shingles! Unusual for someone his age, but with early treatment it should resolve well. We got some lunch, and decided to take the dogs to the dog park at Griffy Lake to run and play. They had a great time, and we were hosing them off outside our apartment when Nick noticed Kinnick had a big hole on his left side behind his shoulder. It was big enough that I could fit three fingers in it, and it was bleeding some. I thought back and remembered that a terrier had jumped up on Kinnick nipping at him and Kinnick had snapped at the terrier. I yelled at Kinnick thinking he had overreacted. But the terrier probably got his tooth caught and ripped a good sized hole in Kinnick's side. Of course it was Easter Sunday and no vets were open, except the emergency vet in Indianapolis. Nick was feeling pretty worn down from the shingles by this point, so I took Kinnick to Indianapolis to get the wound cleaned out and he got three stitches. As you can tell - it was an eventful Easter for us!