Happy May! {Spring Updates}

Happy May, my friends!

Hard to believe it’s May already. Even harder to believe because it doesn’t feel like May weather just yet!

~~~~~~~~

As I tried to enjoy the day outside yesterday I reminisced on my childhood and leaving May Day baskets for our friends to find.

Favorite May Day memory…in 6th grade we were dropping off May Day baskets at the Mayberry’s house. And I have a feeling they weren’t home because they were running out to our house to do the same! But, the Dad of the house was home…and he was working outside as I was trying to sneak to their door!

Walking with my navy blue jacket zipped over the baskets, hood up and hunched over…I silently ran across their very large yard. And then I saw him, or rather, heard him…”Miss, are you okay? Do you need help? Hello?”

I tried to pretend I didn’t hear or see him, kept my head down, and continued my hunched over walk for their house. Sweet guy probably thought I was an old lady with how I was walking. Somehow I made it up to their house and then booked it out of the yard. Can’t recall if I actually talked to him or acknowledged that it was ME, ANNI, and I’m just trying to leave your kids some May Day baskets, but I know we laughed about it after the fact.

Man, I miss being a kid. 🙂

~~~~~~~~

Based on some of my google analytics I know that people are finding my posts due to their dog suffering from swaying, inability to walk, head tilt, and similar symptoms to our Thunder. So, an update on Thunder.

It’s been over a month now since our 15 year old male dog first had symptoms of vestibular disease. After watching and waiting for 2 weeks we decided to pursue more aggressive treatment. After a physical exam at the vet, we decided to start Thunder on antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin) just in case he had a true inner ear infection causing the symptoms.

As of this afternoon I’m happy to report that Thunder can now stand on his own, walk AND he even went up two steps today! That’s pretty huge for this arthritic boy.

For the past month we’ve been carrying him in and outside & bringing him food and water. His eye twitching (nystagmus) resolved within 2 weeks of onset, but the head tilt still persists a little bit.

From what we’ve read, vestibular disease can resolve much more quickly than our situation, but sometimes you need lots of patience. Don’t worry, Thunder, you’ve got some very patient parents!

~~~~~~~~

May is a big month for me. In 2 weeks, 3 days, 18 hours and 4 minutes {it’s not like I’m counting, or anything}, I will be graduating from the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Masters in Public Health Class of 2011!

It’s rather bittersweet. I absolutely love learning and school, but I also love having a life and free time. My thesis is done, so now I just have to wrap up my other class and I’m officially done! Since I didn’t attend my undergrad graduation, I figured I should probably go to my grad school graduation. And since there are only like…10 of us in the class, it should be short and sweet. Although, I think they combine the medical school and grad school, so it might not be too quick. We shall see!

~~~~~~~~

Since I will have much more free time once school is done and my training for Tahoe is finished {ride is June 5th!}, I plan on focusing even more time and energy on Driftless Living Photography. I’ve upgraded my equipment, with plans to add on as soon as tomorrow {please, oh, please, let the Mac Rumors be true…I really want the newest iMac 2011 with Thunderbolt, Sandy Bridge and SSD as standard. A Mac nerd can dream, right?}

I have visions and inspiration floating around in my brain, and I can’t wait to make it a reality. Over the next few weeks I’ll be catching up on blogging some of my photoshoots from the past few months. Stay tuned!

~~~~~~~~

And with that I’ll leave you with some of my favorite images of spring. Fresh buds. Our new chicks. The rebirth of Nature that comes every Spring.