No Compton - I think most know that there are "backwoods people" in our society; we learned that from the Jerry Springer show. The Boo-bunch have escalated that Springer "backwoods" class of people to flat-out disgusting and repugnant. Until THEY pick themselves up from the gutter and care to dust themselves off in order to evolve into civilized, functional people, they won't change. What we have sadly learned is that some people accept this ill behavior and in fact, applaud it, reward it and encourage it. As if the Boo-bunch aren't repugnant enough, THAT, is what further promotes and encourages the downward spiral of our society.

awm we were posting at the same time. I actually really like both versions of your home as I do of bittersweet's. You can count me in with the home owners with "fake" style homes. Ours is a Queen Anne Victorian wanna be and everyone that has seen it, even strangers that find out I live in "that house" tell me they love it. We even had one couple come snooping in our windows when we were obviously here working on our home during finishing (ha! like it'll ever be finished) construction. Two vehicles in the driveway and their walking around with their noses to the windows. LOL. When I saw them I told Darrell and we both went outside to meet them. They were a very nice couple and we invited them in to get a better look. Ha! They said they'd been watching it from ground up and was thrilled to get a look inside. Here it is last fall. We've yet to finish the sleeping porch railings. Took down the temp to be able to move in awhile ago and are now thinking of closing it in as a three season porch since we love the screen porch we closed in a couple years ago. And here's my idea of gingerbread and shutters that hubby really wants. I'd like other trim too, but it all adds up when you are doing it all with cash....

Wow, this is an old thread. We were all so confused by Casey's change in behavior back in 2009. I thought I would tell you all what happened with him. I did take him for private and group training lessons, and this is when we noticed he wasn't seeing well. For a while, that was our major focus with him. Putting bells on Bina did seem to help cut down on attacks for a while. Then, on Christmas Eve 2009, pre-dawn, Casey had two gran mal seizures. Strangely, we have a 24-hour neurological ER about 45 minutes away. Casey and I got an appointment there for mid morning. The physical exam showed that he had neurological deficits. He was weak on the left side and not paying as much attention to the left side of his vision. The exam indicated he likely had a brain tumor behind his right eye, maybe as far back as his ear. I did not want to do brain surgery, so paying for a CT (done under anesthesia) made no sense. We opted for medication to keep him as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. Once he was on meds, his eyesight improved and he usually did not run into things anymore. He could see treats again. Casey was put on Prednisone to shrink the tumor, phenobarbital to treat the seizures the tumor was causing, and continued on pain meds, which were changed to Tramadol. He clearly still had spinal pain. I asked that his thyroid hormone levels be checked because I remembered the incident here on the Pets forum where the lady in a western Canadian province was waiting for a ride to go to the vet to have her dog euthanized due to uncontrollable seizures, when she stopped to write to us about her sadness at having to do this. One of the people on the forum wrote to her to have the thyroid levels checked first. The lady did so, and they were terribly low. The dog was put on synthetic hormone, and was saved. So I asked about this. The neurologist said I was welcome to have my vet check the thyroid, but he definitely had a neuro problem, likely a tumor, either way. We did have the thyroid check done, it was quite low, and Casey was on levothyroxine the rest of his life. Casey never had any more seizures that anybody saw. He did improve greatly with the aggression, then would become worse again. When he did, we would talk to the vet, who upped his Pred, later added Melatonin, and then upped the Melatonin when he started aggressing again later. He also got an herb for liver function added when those labs got elevated. He never resumed playing with Toby. He continued to counter cruise. Towards the end, he was so restless each evening that we were giving him a rawhide chew each night and he worked off his energy/discomfort or whatever was happening inside him by chewing. He enjoyed short walks. His muscle tone deteriorated and he adopted a wide stance to feel more secure on his feet. He would lie down in a froggy position anytime he was not actually walking. He loved his home and his friends and treats, getting into things, outsmarting me and getting me distracted so that he could steal food or drink (he loved fancy coffee drinks that Dad's caregivers might bring in, could take the paper cup off a table and onto the floor, pry off the lid, and drink from the cup without spilling it.) Casey died a week after his last vet exam, in October 2012. I thought that he had a GI problem and spent I a night up with him cleaning up vomit and keeping him away from water because he just vomited it back up. We got about three hours of sleep before the vet opened and she saw him straight away. He had deteriorated drastically while I showered that morning. My friend and I carried him to the car. The doc euthanized him after she examined him. He had apparently had a stroke that morning. His heart was likely behind all the vomiting the night before, she said. I was glad I had stayed up with him. Casey lived two years and ten months after the diagnosis of brain tumor, and 3 years, eight and a half months past the date I posted this question. Bina had died a year earlier, following surgery for cancer in a toe. Her kidneys failed after surgery and we could not get her to eat and drink to get them working again. Toby, our oldest and smallest, is still here with us. Here is Casey before the diagnosis, when he still thought he was my lap dog.

Well, ha! I did nothing! I did end up finding my dad’s original wedding ring, so I had two. And I have two sons. One son got married two years after this post, and I offered him his choice between the two rings — if he wanted one. He did, and he has now been wearing my dad’s ring for 3 years. My other son was not engaged, but I gave him my dad’s other ring and hopefully he hasn’t lost it, because he got engaged just before Easter. I still have my mother’s band, and I’d offer it to DD but she never knew my mom and I know she wants something different so I guess it will sit in my jewelry box unless I think of something to do with it. My dad’s ring on DS.