I finally figured out what was wrong with Riley's paw...  She has a small gash right underneath her carpal pad (Google it...).  It's right where the pad meets the leg.  I'm not sure how she did it but I was finally able to hang onto her leg long enough to get a good look at it last night.  It was open and a little bloody last night (from her licking it) but today it had scabbed over.  I sprayed a liquid bandage on it this evening that should keep her from licking it (although I haven't seen her licking it too much today).  She's starting to shake with it again and should be all healed up in a few days, I'm sure!

Unfortunately, I had to cancel Riley's nursing home visit this Friday.  Somehow (who knows...) she hurt her front right paw.  She walks on it fine but if you touch it she yelps.  She won't shake with it either.  I've checked it out to make sure it wasn't a splinter or something stuck in it and there's nothing there.  I'm hoping it'll heal up on its own and we won't have to go into the vet.  Riley hates the vet and my bank account hates the vet.  If she's not feeling better by Monday I will take her in though.

I got a call from the other nursing home I was leery about visiting.  I spoke with the right person this time and they seem like they have it all together.  Riley and I are going to visit on July 17th.  This nursing home has an independent living side and an assisted living side, so we'll visit both.  I just have to take by her shot records (of course...) tomorrow and then we'll be good to go on the 17th.

My Aunt Nancy and her husband, Frank, visited us for a few days and stayed at our house.  Riley was super exuberant (as usual) to see them.  Riley and I let them sleep in our room and we slept in the upstairs den.  I slept on an air mattress and she decided the prime spot to sleep would be on the couch.  Here's a picture I got with them at Jamestown today:

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful dad and to Riley's grandpa!

Riley did pretty good at the nursing home today.  Good enough to get to go back!  She was just a little excited because she was in a new place and there were a lot of new smells.  A few people on the staff petted her.  We just got the grand tour and had our paperwork copied today.  It was just an orientation so she didn't get to visit with any of the residents.  We'll be going every other Friday for about half an hour to an hour.

Today is my mom's birthday.  Happy birthday, Mom!!  Some friends of ours came over to give her a birthday present.  My friend's husband loves dogs.  He seemed to have a good time petting the dogs and playing with Riley.  I snapped a picture of Riley and one of her new friends!

So I am supposed to take Riley to my meeting next Friday at a local nursing home.  I do hope she's on her best behavior for this first impression!!

Riley's little canine friend/aunt, Chloe, has a knack for getting into our refrigerator...and eating our food.  We have a latch on the fridge and we remember to lock it most of the time.  Well, today was one of those days that my dad forgot to latch the fridge.  Chloe opened the fridge and she and Riley enjoyed the spoils.  Today is my brother-in-law's birthday.  We have a big cherry cheesecake in the fridge on the top shelf.  Riley ate a fourth of it.  So she may be one sick puppy later!

I heard from the Activities Director from a nursing home down the street from me.  I'm meeting with her next Friday (the 18th) to talk about doing pet therapy at their facility.  I'm just not sure if I'm supposed to bring Riley to this meeting or not.  I called yesterday to ask but had to leave a message.  So I should hear back soon.

I picked up Riley's shot record on Tuesday.  I was going to take it by the other facility so we could start visiting but I think I'm gonna wait to see how this new opportunity pans out.  The assisted living place that needs her shot record seems a little unorganized.  I don't think they quite have their act together when it comes to pet therapy.  So I'm just gonna wait until next Friday and see how the nursing home opportunity works out.

Here are some pictures from my birthday.  First is the card "Riley got me..."  Then the present "Riley got me..."  Then a picture of Riley with her boyfriend, Uncle Jimmy!

I just got in touch with someone from a local assisted living facility.  I have to take by Riley's shot records and then we're free to visit whenever!  Yay!

Oh, and Riley's been very nice so far on my birthday!!

Here are a few pictures of our living room/dining room that we painted.  The old color was "Bone" (basically what it sounds like...the color of a bone...blah!), the new color is called "Lyndhurst Jade."  Fancy, I know.

I'll have to post pictures of our paint job later today (or once we get all the furniture back in place and pictures hung up).

My birthday is Monday.  My mom's birthday is the next Monday.  For the past few years my mom, sister, and I have gone on an overnight trip to celebrate.  My sister's birthday is at the end of October so we take two trips a year.  We usually go to either Richmond, Williamsburg, or Chesapeake.  We went to Williamsburg last night.

My dad agreed to dog sit for me.  When Riley was a puppy she used to sleep in "The Pen" (short for Penitentiary) because she would take a few hours to settle down in the bedroom and I had to be at work in the morning and couldn't be kept up half the night.  The Pen is one of our upstairs bathrooms we put a baby gate up in the doorway of.  I figured she'd be fine to sleep in there last night since she had done it with no problems when she was younger.  My dad said she woke up around 2 AM and had to go out to the bathroom.  Then we he brought her back up she wouldn't settle back down in there.  He tried letting her sleep in the bedroom with him and his dog, Chloe.  Chloe wouldn't share the bed with Riley so he had to put her back in the Pen.  She cried and scratched on the gate every 30 minutes until about 5:30 when my dad finally got up with her...

Guess who will be staying at the vet next time we don't have two people at the house to stay with the dogs...??

Riley scared off some sales people or Jehovah's Witnesses yesterday by standing up in the window barking.  It gets annoying but if it actually does some good then I like the barking!

We've been painting...  I'm so over painting!!  We painted most of the downstairs of our house.  Luckily we had up some baby gates to keep the dogs out of the way.  Riley was actually being good (for once)!  She was just lying down in the kitchen relaxing.  My parents' dog, Chloe, was another story...  She was standing at the gate crying (loudly, I might add...) scratching on the gate and trying to bite the gate.  (This is the dog who has broken two canine teeth and had to have two root canals from biting the bars of her kennel boarding at the vet while we've been gone out of town).  So Riley wins the "Best Dog in the House" award for once!!

I went out of town last weekend to North Carolina to do a NAMI Peer-to-Peer training.  The wonderful mentors in training gave the other trainer and I balloons and cards the last day of the training.  The balloons are sagging almost to the floor now.  Boy do they scare Riley when they're down on the floor!  She's been growling and barking at them.  I guess it's time to retire the balloons!