Prince, the black Great Dane, has an infection just underneath his ear.  I hadn't even noticed it before today because of the location of the infection.  Prince has Gumbo the Elephant sized ears - they are huge.  Okay, not the size of an elephant's ears, but the things are massive.  I got to looking at this huge ball that is, undoubtedly, filled with puss and found the intruder.  A bite hole.  Undoubtedly, Prince and Duke got into it again and just as undoubtedly, Duke got his teeth in there.  This isn't the first time this has happened to either of them.

I immediately started the antibiotic treatment and probably am going to take him outsize and squeeze as much of that junk out of there as will come out.  Gross, yes, necessary - yes.

The kid showed up again today.  I started doubting that he was coming at around 9:00am and got busy with other stuff, namely, shampooing the living room carpet and working on my bathroom.  I told him I didn't really have time to work with him today, I just showed him what to do and he got busy.  He hauled all the rest of that rock.  There is no pile out there now.  It has all been spread out in the areas I wanted it done.

I continued on with what I was doing after that.  When he was done, having no ride to get home - his brother was somewhere doing whatever - I offered him a ride since I was going that way anyway.  His mother approved the ride and I went over there.  I didn't know they had a pond - but Elijah offered me to go take a look at it.  Yuck.  That pond is bright green.  It is so green with algae that you can't see ANYTHING in there.

His mom came out and we had quite the lengthy discussion about ponds.  She said she didn't have any idea how to get the green out of it after she brought the subject up.  Yes, well I have the answer and gave it to her: a UV sterilizer.  I also stated that that pond was sorely in need of plants.  I have given away a large amount of them in the last couple of days, I didn't know they had a pond, number one and number 2 that they needed plants for it.  I could have given all of them to them.  Well, just so happens I have another Umbrella plant that needs to be trimmed down quite a lot, plus my Yerba Mensa has several runners I could clip off and give to them.

Off to |Anna's Linens after that, picked up a few - cheap - items to spruce up the house a bit.  Then home to unload everything I had acquired from yesterday that I still hadn't unloaded.  Then off to Walmart.  I could not believe how much traffic was out there.  The major surface streets were moving at a snail's pace.  I ended up taking back roads to get to Walmart and saving myself at least 15 minutes of driving.  After Walmart, Gamestop. After Gamestop, Fry's Food Stores.  I have acquired everything I need to acquire for this family Christmas celebration excepting the chair for Caleb's computer desk. I am not going to sweat it - if I find one today, great, if not, then at least I got the desk for him and will work on getting the chair within the week.

I am not done with house yet, but I figure just a couple more hours worth of work and it IS done.  The last 2 weeks has been an amazing journey in a house and yard transformation.  The family will come and go, but the effort made will still be there.  So, I am on the downside to all of this. I need to pull out the Standing Rib Roast and pat it down with spices.  It's a 3 hour cook time, allegedly, at 325 degrees.  The ham will be in there with it. Spiral sliced ham and I am making a honey glaze to put on it.  Home made mashed potatoes; corn; Cobb salad and grilled Jalapeno Poppers are my input to this dinner.  Everyone else is bringing the rest.

I also found out today that my middle brother is bringing his son and another guest.  There are going to be a lot of people here tomorrow!

So, my break time is over. I am going outside to pick up the last remaining tools/items that we were using to get the yard in shape and put those away.  Then come inside and finish my bathroom.  Wrap presents, do some pre-cooking chores for tomorrow and it will be ready.  It has taken awhile, but the "magic" of Christmas has arrived back on my doorstep.

Hmmm, I did forget something.  3 Christmas cards to put the gift cards I bought into them.  Oh well, I will have time to run up to the store for that tomorrow morning.  I am home for the day.

ben