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Well... I Guess That Was Summer

I guess that’s it. We can kiss summer goodbye. Kids are all back at school, nights are cool and it is time to get back to a regular routine. Although we cannot really call what we have experienced for the last two and a half months summer, I would call it a long spring with some (a total of eight, I think?) nice hot days and A LOT of rain. I think we all feel a little soggy and groggy after that many rainy days.

I had one week off during the “summer,” the second last week of August. I was very lucky that my one and only beach day I had planned was on one of those nice eight days we were graced with, August 21st, the day of the eclipse. We lucked out too, as a party of three decided to park themselves beside us on Station Beach in Kincardine with eclipse glasses! So instead of burning our retinas out, as the three teenage boys that I had with me seemed intent on doing, we got to see the eclipse through a nice safe solar filter. All of our retinas are intact and working nicely (even though we all, present company guilty as well, attempted to look directly into the sun repeatedly).

Something else kind of momentous happened to the Grafos household this summer too. For those of you who follow along with my ramblings, you may remember a story of the family pets, which at present time was down to a homicidal cat and a sweet little dog. Well, the sweet little dog, Rocco, got sick. And I got scared. Scared witless.

I had been thinking about getting a puppy in the coming year. But with Rocco being sick I was beginning to think sooner rather than later would be a good time. Not that I was looking to replace Rocco, I just know that I would have not dealt well with not having my beloved little Rocco around. I would end up running out and grabbing the first puppy I saw (or as history shows, possibly a rodent or feline) to help me feel better. As I have learned from my killer cat, getting the first cute furry creature you see isn’t always the best idea.


I had already been researching what kind of puppy I wanted and I was pretty sure I wanted another poodle cross. Rocco is a Beagle x Poodle. I was thinking Big Dog x Poodle. As I was doing this research, I came across a picture of a puppy that was almost too cute to be even real. I fell in love. I changed my mind on what kind of dog I wanted after seeing him. I had my heart set on this puppy, but with Rocco being sick and not getting better, I didn’t want to add any stress to his situation by bringing a puppy home. I had already contacted the breeder just to find out more about the breed and when she would be expecting another litter.

I am sure you can guess how this narrative is going to unfold… I have a puppy!

I am happy to say that after two months of suffering, Rocco is now almost as good as new! When we decided to get the puppy, it was thought that Rocco was only suffering from allergies, as this diagnosis was pretty easy to deal with, I decided to see if the puppy was still available and ended up bringing him home 3 days later.

Rocco didn’t improve with the allergy medication and in fact got worse. Finally it was discovered that he had a severe infection in his nasal passages. After three weeks of antibiotics, he is running around playing with the puppy… sometimes.

Now, when I say puppy, you probably are thinking, small wee dog. My puppy is not wee by any stretch of the imagination. He is a giant already. He is now officially five months old and weighs in at a whopping 60 + pounds. We can expect him to about double his current size. So, as you can imagine, I have my hands full. A 60lb baby who hasn’t quite figured out that he is ginormous… and still growing.

My hands are full, but so is my heart. I have the best son in the world, two loving, sweet dogs, and a barbaric cat. What more could a girl ask for?!

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