I have really taken a liking to taking pictures of the sky. I wish we lived out in the country so I could get some better shots, but as it is I have to try and work around rooftops and power lines.

This one was actually taken from our back porch about 10 minutes before lots and lots of rain started coming down.

So Mr. Melbell asked me the other day if I thought it was ok to put a bed back in the crate for Shredder…I mean Konst.

I told him I didn’t think that was a good idea because he keeps spilling water, or having accidents, or tearing stuff up. But he thought he wanted to try again to see if Konst had outgrown some of that.

The next afternoon Mr. Melbell called from upstairs, “Honey, come up here please.” I asked if everything was ok and he said that it was, he just needed to show me something.

He was standing outside the dog room door, and he said, “Before I open this door, just go ahead and say that you told me so.” Then he opened the door, and this is what we saw.

That is Lun Lun, the female panda at the Atlanta zoo. Ain’t she purdy?

I was FINALLY able to go see the pandas in Atlanta again on my last trip down to Georgia and I got some pretty decent pictures, so I will be replacing the top banner with a photo that I actually took at some point. Other than that I’m still, after almost a year of being idle, pleased with this layout.

Also, I have a baby nephew now! His name is Logan and he is the spawn of my youngest brother and his wife. <admittedly biased statement>He is absolutely the cutest baby in the whole world.</admittedly biased statement> He is 9 months old and I have been down to Georgia twice to see him. I’m going down again in September for his first birthday party. I’m going to go broke flying down to see him but the thought of being the far away aunt that is only spoken of and not really known terrifies me. I need for this kid to know me, otherwise he’ll be scared when he’s 8 and his parents ship him off to live with me for the summer!

Anyway, I have some movie updates.

“Kung Fu Panda” was KUNG FU AWESOME! Yes, I am a little biased. But it was a very cute movie. There was only one part that wasn’t completely kid friendly and I will even admit that what was said was completely minor. Po, the panda, said “suck” three times, all in the same sentence. There was nothing else questionable in the whole thing. Yes, there’s Kung Fu violence, but it’s very cartoon-y and quite well done. This one I highly recommend.

Do NOT see “The Happening”. Trust me, you won’t miss anything. The only thing that happened during the entire movie was that I choked on my popcorn and died. But hey, if the popcorn hadn’t gotten me the boredom would have. Now, you might think I’m overreacting or just trying to be funny…but there was actually a collective sigh at the end of the movie. And it wasn’t a sigh because the movie was so spectacular.

“Incredible Hulk” was pretty good. I have never seen any of the previous makes of this one so I can’t really compare. I happen to love Ed Norton so I enjoyed this one. It was well written and well acted, and there were some pretty cool fight scenes.

“Get Smart” was pretty funny. If you like Steve Carrell you probably want to see this one. Or if you think Dwayne Johnson is hot, which I do, you might want to see it.

“Love Guru” was ok. I don’t LOVE Mike Meyers, in fact he usually kinda annoys me. I think it’s just because he always plays a character and not a real person. I did like him Wayne’s World so that may be it. Anyway, it was funny, definitely worth watching, but not the best.

They also gave us a $600 treatment plan, which we refused, and Mr. Melbell took her to our vet this morning. They gave her the same diagnosis but with a much cheaper treatment plan. She will have to have a special “milder” diet for an unknown amount of time and I think some medicines…antibiotics or something. They are also going to x-ray her abdomen to make sure nothing is stuck in there.

I have been reading everything I can find and it all says that if you catch it in time it will be fine, but if left untreated it would have killed her. The vet said she probably has been having some pretty severe stomach cramps and that makes me sad. I wish they could just tell us when they are hurting. I think that Konst knew because yesterday he was being very loud and obnoxious all day long…like he was trying to get our attention…now I guess we know why!

Anyway, the kicker for all of this is that today is her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAISY YOU HAVE AN INTESTINAL DISEASE THAT MIGHT RECUR FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! HOORAY!!!

Anyway, we went and saw Mr. Brooks. Now, if anyone ever reads my “movie reviews” that I post every now and then, you will know that I’m usually very critical of movies…and that’s because most of them are horrid…this movie is the best movie I have seen in quite a while. It’s the first original idea to come out of Hollywierd in eleventy million years. It’s a tad bit gory as they show several of the murders but if you aren’t bothered by stuff like that then I HIGHLY recommend this movie.

And as for the puppy, he did just fine in his crate…well I’m sure he whined and threw a fit but what do we care? We didn’t have to listen to it!!

He jumped around under Grandpa’s feet a little but other than that he was pretty good.

He and Daisy are having a power struggle over who’s the boss and it was much more muted there than it is at home…probably because she wants to claim her house and he’s trying to take over…but at Grandpa’s house she doesn’t have any territorial claim to it. At home they will just go at it for hours if we let them, but yesterday Mr. Melbell’s mom had them pretty well distracted with treats and affection!

So far he isn’t doing very well in his crate. He starts out just whining but then it escalates into a full blown temper tantrum in no time flat. And it’s happening every single time we put him in the crate…it’s quite loud and obnoxious…but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

We don’t have any big plans for today. We are both off work for the 4th so we will probably go take the dog to meet Mr. Melbell’s mom and grandpa. Other than that we will probably just hang out here and play with the puppy and try to get him settled in some more.

The vet also took the tape off his ears and cleaned them out. They were DISGUSTING inside. Just caked in black goop. So he went ahead and checked them for infection as well. But that was fine, not infected.

While we were waiting we went and bought him a backpack to carry on walks, and a pronged “pincher” collar because he doesn’t seem to care if you tug on his collar…he still does whatever he wants.

Anyway, he weighed in at a whopping 30 pounds…which is already almost double what little Daisy weighs!! I think we are going to have our hands full.

Mr. Melbell and I took off work today so we could get him settled in and take him to the vet.

His name is Konstantin and he is 13 weeks old as of yesterday. He is from the Ukraine and we had to drive to O’hare International Airport in Chicago to pick him up. We don’t think he’s ever had any sort of discipline because he thinks it great fun to bite our arms, hands, and hair. Well, it’s not great fun, so we are trying to break him of that.

Mr. Melbell sat in the back with him the whole way home from Chicago and made pretty good progress getting him to calm down. But when we got him was very very riled up and anxious, probably from travelling.

He and Daisy don’t get along too well but I’m sure they will work it out…we hope anyway.