Rene and I are so grateful for all of the support and assistance we have received for Frankie. We wanted to give you all an update on Frankie’s situation and let you know what your aid is going to:
We cannot thank you enough. We will continue these updates as we learn more about Frankie’s condition.
Our little man isn’t doing too well. All of his health issues are starting to catch up to him and are really taking a toll on his little body. Rene and I have been doing all we can to make sure that he is comfortable and happy, but as much as we try nature is starting to beat his medicines.
Last night Rene took Frankie to the vet and we got some distressing news – his body is holding fluid and there is a mass in his chest that right now cannot be identified through the fluid.
It was a devastating visit both emotionally and financially.
We have always half joked that as long as we have credit, Frankie will be cared for. Unfortunately we have now reached a point where Frankie’s medical bills have tapped us out.
Frankie is such a good boy. He’s a breed ambassador and makes friends everywhere he goes, not just for himself but us as well. Normally Rene and I like to only show images that show a happy and healthy Frankie, like these:
But lately he’s really looked more like this:
We have really great vets who are doing their best to care for him, but he has so many ailments that it’s tough nailing down what’s doing the most harm to him at any given time.
It’s really tough to be a Frankie dog right now.
We started a donations page for Frankie back in March when his first major cardiac event and that was a major help. He is alive today because of the kindness of those donors and we have had to reactivate it because of the extraordinary expenses related to his care over the last couple of weeks. Please visit his page at the link below. Any help you can provide goes directly to paying for Frankie’s medication and vet visits. We know after this last visit that there are more trips to the vet coming and likely more medications as well.
Rene and I do not like asking for help. We took on the responsibility of a dog knowing that it meant that we were supposed to care for him and we do our best to make sure that he is paid for, but there have just been too many bills coming too fast and we don’t want our dog to die of something preventable just because we couldn’t pay for it this week.
Thank you so much for checking it out and donating if you can. Words cannot express how much Rene, myself and especially Frankie appreciate it.
For those of you that grew up in the 80’s you may remember the bottle above. New York Seltzer was the Snapple of the time; a little independent drink company that had hardcore fans, but not a major national following. I found out that New York Seltzer is coming back and I’m really excited about it! It may be a bit silly to be excited by the return of a drink, but New York Seltzer has a special place in my heart. It is the first thing that I remember drinking when my family first moved out to California.
Before 1985 I lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – home of cheese, Green Bay Packers fans, and terrifyingly cold winters. I have memories of not being allowed outside during the coldest ones because there was a concern that the lungs of children and the elderly would freeze. The door handle to my mom’s car snapped off in her hand once because it was so cold. Automatic doors to get into the grocery store would fail in the winter. It was damn cold. That being said I also have memories of awesome snow forts that took up most of our backyard and how my dad and I dug really long tunnels in the snow drifts.
Then in February 1985 my dad got transferred to California and we moved from Milwaukee to Brea. It was a drastic difference! We went from snow and heavy coats and boots to sunshine, swimming pools, and shorts. I wore my moon boots for the first month just because that’s what I was used to wearing (I was a fashion plate). When we first got to California there were all kinds of things to check out. Suddenly we were in spitting distance of Disneyland, there was a beach that was against the ocean and not a giant lake, and new kinds of food – like avocados and salsa!
During one of our jaunts to explore the neighborhood we stopped at a little hole-in-the-wall deli. It’s not there anymore but I remember it vividly. It was dark, mostly by comparison because it was so bright outside, it had white walls and black and white checkered tile floors. There were framed pictures of New York on the walls and little bistro tables. I got a B.L.T. and my mom got me my first New York Seltzer. She thought it would be fun to try since they didn’t have regular soda there.
It wasn’t just fun, it was a revelation!
I had never tasted anything like it before. It was black cherry flavor and it was clear and crisp and tasted like California. That’s honestly the best description I can give. It was the taste equivalent of all the cliche romantic imagery of California wrapped up in a bottle that told you it was from New York City. Palm trees, beaches, smiling pretty people, surfing – it was in the bottle. It was like a movie montage of Southern California in your mouth.
It came in 4-packs and we bought them in a variety of flavors although peach and black cherry were my favorites. My friend, Tommy, used to have burping contests with me spurred on by the carbonated power of the seltzer. When we got really desperate we’d even drink the cream soda. When we were really desperate.
Then, in the early 90’s, the magic died. A competitive soft drink market killed New York Seltzer and all this nation was left with was a fading memory of flavor joy. I moved on to Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, but the memory of New York Seltzer always haunted me…
…until now!
New York Seltzer is coming back! It is available online and hopefully soon in stores! I haven’t tasted it in, wow, over 20 years but I’m really looking forward to it. If any of the New York Seltzer folks are reading this: I’ll happily plug the product for a few 4-packs! You can check out their website below and order all the black cherry soda you can drink!
Filed under drinking, family, getting old, happiness
My wife is a pretty wonderful woman. She’s intelligent, witty, well read, wonderful with animals and children, a great actress, and she happens to be a pretty good writer as well!
I’ve been bugging her to blog more, and she’s been making an effort, but I find that nothing motivates me more than when I have a whole bunch of people reading the site and hoping for something new. So today I’m promoting her blog, it’s called:
In it she talks about all the things that are important to her and you might even find it a bit inspiring.
Give it a look and don’t be afraid to hit the deep archives, there are some pretty cool pictures there.
See you soon!
Filed under Andelon, blatant plug, family, married, rene, shameless self promotion, women
Frankie loves to walk.
LOVES it.
But he can’t handle the heat – not even a little.
His inability to handle heat will prevent us from ever moving to a state like Arizona and will make sure that we always have some kind of air conditioning no matter where we choose to live. It’s like he can’t regulate his internal temperature.
Well, he can, he is a mammal, but he over-heats easy.
So with this heatwave we have been making sure to take him out for walks in the morning before it gets too hot so that he doesn’t collapse miles away from home (he’s too heavy to carry) and this morning was no different…
…except I over slept.
I was up late last night, a little insomnia, and didn’t go to bed when I wanted to and next thing you know Rene is tapping on my shoulder and it is very clearly day time.
So the sun is out and baking the Earth in it’s powerful ultra-violet and visible rays and Frankie needs to drop a deuce.
Like a good doggy daddy I took him out, but, even with the wonderful breeze blowing, the sun was hitting hard and it was clear that this would not be the mile or two walk that he’s used to but more along the lines of a few blocks and then panting like a maniac back home.
This is where Frankie disconnects from reality. See, I can tell because I feel the heat on my skin that we are going to get hot pretty quickly. Frankie feels the same thing, but he’s also really stubborn and he’s convinced, as long at it isn’t already over 90, that he can walk three, four maybe even twenty miles before it’s time for a treat and a water bowl.
So we clear a few blocks and he’s already panting. I turn to make the trip back home and he freezes, holds down his head, gives me the “puppy dog eyes”, and holds his ground with his body turned in such a way as to indicate that he wants to go visit the park down the street to jump and play and frolic.
While panting.
I attempt to reason with him, since he understands English, but my reasons do not catch.
I give him the “disappointed dad” look and that softens him, but he still wants to go to the park – and continues to pant.
So I am forced to give a corrective tug on the leash. That does it.
He came in, laid down and he’s been pouting ever since.
He ate, he pouted.
He drank, he pouted.
He followed the cat outside, he pouted.
I know he’ll get over it and I know that I did the right thing, but it doesn’t make seeing him sad any easier.
Puppy parenting is hard.
See you tomorrow!
Blogger didn’t post my Friday blog when it was supposed to! That sucks!
Also, I missed yesterday. Sorry.
I’m still struggling with the whole one space after a period/two spaces after a period thing. Gah!
That’s neither here nor there, let’ talk about the fair!
It has become a tradition for Rene and I to go to the Orange County Fair every year. In all the years I have lived in O.C., and I’ve been here over 25 of them, I never really got into the fair. I was taken once or twice over the years but never really got into it until Rene shared her joy of the fair with me.
Now we’re Super Pass holders.
We got Really lucky this year and got ours through Groupon so our were half price! Seriously, Groupon doesn’t sponsor me or anything, but Rene and I really enjoy a lot of the deals that they offer. If you enjoy trying new things Groupon is an inexpensive way to do it.
Our trips to the fair are a celebration of fried food, terrorizing carnival rides and sushi – but I think pictures speak louder than words:
And every year we take photo booth photos, are are the ones for 2011:
See you tomorrow!
The baby situations just don’t stop! Today we celebrated my nephew Wesley’s first birthday at the beach! Since Wes is family I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves. It was a great time! Rene maintained our status as “cool aunt & uncle” by picking out some pretty stellar gifts including a Leap Frog Scout dog and AT-AT t-shirt. Yeah, we’re cool.
My parents designed and created all the decorations so if you need personalized party props drop me a line and we’ll get you a quote!
See you tomorrow!
Filed under family, project 365 2010, rene
Yep, you heard right! We eloped! It was an amazing day and we are so grateful that our friends and family could join us!
Enjoy these pics:
These are just the pics from Rene’s camera, there are about a zillion more from different cameras – not including from our photog! I doubt that I’ll ever get around to posting those, but this is still a good representation of the day.
See you tomorrow!
Filed under family, friends, project 365 2010, the wedding
Where the hell did the summer go? I know that in the past I’ve been inclined to talk about how fast time seems to pass, but this summer has truly gone by in a relative flash and it’s blowing my mind! The last two days have not had enough hours on the day to do what I’ve wanted to do. My to do list for the week just keeps getting longer and in spite of my best efforts it’s not shrinking fast enough. It doesn’t help that I have four different bureaucracies on the list that I’m hesitant to call just because I know that each with take about an hour and the conversation will be amazingly dull.
Ah! I just discovered that two of the four can be taken care of with forms. Forms I can do! Forms come with instructions and can be done after business hours! After business hours is good for me.
I really want to write more but I’m exhausted. I’ll finish with today’s picture:
That’s nephew Dylan in the pool. I was able to go to the pool for an hour today with my sister and her kids and when we got there I realized that this was the first summer water activity that I had actually had all summer! Crazy!
See you tomorrow!
Filed under business, family, project 365 2010
