Saying Good-bye to my Golden Boy...

I have started this post four times, but have not been able to finish because this is one of the hardest posts I've ever written.  The lymphoma is what was causing Sundance to go deaf.  It also caused him to go blind.  I spent most of last Saturday evening laying with Sundance on his bed...loving on him and praying for my golden boy.  On Sunday morning, he was totally blind and disoriented.  After speaking to his vet, Dr. Dana Schell, we decided to end his suffering that morning.  (There were no treatment options available for him.).  He passed away with me holding him and Brother Sacker petting him.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever done...letting my beloved golden boy go.  He was my guardian angel dog...wherever I was, he was there too!  He was a gift from God...loyal,  loving, trusting, a great listener (captive audience, actually!) and just an all around wonderful addition to our family.  A day does not go by that I don't miss him and grieve for him.  I thank all my friends for their prayers for Sundance and their prayers for me.  Brother Sacker and I have decided that we will get another Golden Retriever next year...since we know that there just isn't any other kind of dog to own us!
So...here are some pictures of my beloved golden boy, Sundance...

Sundance was seven weeks old when he joined the Sacker
household.  The vet remarked to us "you do know that he
will grow into those paws!!"  And, he sure did!

I had just given him his first bath and was snuggling with him.
Brother Sacker blames me doing this for Sundance thinking
he was still a "lap dog" at 105 pounds!

He LOVED that blue ball!!

I think he was "talking" to me here...probably wanted to go
for a ride!!

He started hiking with us when he was three months old and
loved it!  Here we were hiking in the Wichitas.

 

Hiking and swimming...it just didn't get any better than this!!

On a hike on Turkey Mountain, taking a break in one of the
creeks.

Hiking on Turkey Mountain

 

Whitney W. took this picture while she was
house/dog sitting for us.  Always smiling!!

Our House

There was a LOT of activity at the new house last week!  Kitchen cabinets are up, entire house has been painted, trim work is done inside, tile has been laid in "wet" areas, shelves are up in linen closet, all bedroom closets, pantry and the little storage area off the laundry room, and all the doors are up.  There was some confusion regarding a window in the hall bathroom and another window in the master bedroom...framing showed where windows were supposed to be; however, when the siding went up...those two windows were covered up!!  So, meetings were held and they will have someone come out and retrofit the two missing windows.  One of the reasons we love this floorplan was because of the many windows!!  The missing windows were a non-negotiable item for me!!  Also, when I went in last Friday and took pictures, I noticed that there was tile laid down in our entryway.  BIG mistake!!  Our entryway, hallway to living room, living room and dining room is laminate wood flooring.  So, Brother Sacker sent the picture to Nick (we sure do appreciate Nick!!) recalling our conversation about the entryway and Nick called and agreed...so, the tile in the entryway is being pulled up next week!  This was another non-negotiable item for me!!  So...enjoy the pictures!  Oh, and the stone work should be going up this coming week also.  And, that garage door?  Not actually the door we ordered, but they needed a garage door put up to prevent theft of materials in the house. 

Kitchen cabinets. Some of the countertops are in place
already.

Taken from the living room, looking into the kitchen.  Those
large windows are in our dining room.

 

Our entryway where the tiles are NOT suppose
to be!!  Removal next week!  To the left, is my
office/craftroom door.  To the right, is our dining room.

The mirrors in both bathrooms are framed out and painted to
match the cabinets.  I had to talk them into doing this for us!!

 

Taken from our living room. 

The hall bathroom is to the right of the guestroom window.  I
should be posting a picture soon of the window put back in!

 

Our master bedroom is on the right.  There should be two
windows there, not just one.  I'll be posting a picture soon
of that window put back in, also!

Our pantry, with some of the tile laid in the kitchen.  That
door to the right actually goes into the garage.

 

See that big pile of rocks in boxes?  Those are for the front of
our beautiful house!

Tile around the soaking tub in the master bathroom.

 

Valentino seems right at home already!

My Golden Boy is Pretty Sick...

I had noticed some egg shaped lumps on either side of Sundance's neck last week and took him to the vet on Tuesday (July 16), where they took some cells out of each lump and sent them to the pathology lab.  When we got home from church last night, his face was swollen and the lumps had tripled in size!  So, back to the vet today!  The lumps are actually lymph nodes, so they are concerned that he may have canine lymphoma; mainly because of his past history of cancer and due to the fact that the lymph nodes grew so rapidly.  He is having a little trouble breathing and swallowing since the lymph nodes are on either side of his trachea.  The results from the lab tests on Tuesday were inconclusive because they didn't take much fluid out.  So, they took more cells and more fluid today and we should have those test results in three to four days.  I've been praying and have asked all my prayer warrior friends to also pray for him.  Chemo treatment would not cure the lymphoma, it would only prolong his life for a few months.  So, right now we play the waiting game again for the test results.  If you are reading this post, please say a prayer for my boy.  I'm so worried about him.  I just don't know if I'm ready to say good-bye to him quite yet.  But, I trust God...to either heal him or take him...it is all in His hands now.  And, to my friends that are already praying for him...thank you from my heart.  And, thank you to Dr. Spears and Dr. Schell at Banfield for taking such wonderful care of Sundance.  And, to the staff there also...your caring for Sundance AND for me today was needed and appreciated.  I'll post his condition and our care plan as soon as we know what we're facing.

Sundance

Drywall, bricks and siding

I hadn't been out to our new house since Monday (July15) and I was very surprised at what I found they were doing today!!  The insulation was finished on Monday, when I was there.  Drywall is already up, as you can see from the walls in the garage.  That silly green barrier was across the driveway and there are signs stating "Hard Hat Area" so I didn't attempt to go in the house today!!  I could also see the drywall up in the front bedroom, which is actually my office/craft room!  When I walked over to the left side of the house...lo and behold...the brick masons were hard at work putting up brick!!  It really looks great!  The two guys were waving and posing for me, so I waited till they went back to work to get some pics!!  I didn't know the brick would be going around the bottom where they are putting it, but, I love it!  Brother Sacker picked out the colors for the siding, the bricks, the cedar shakes and the stonework.  I certainly do love the look!!  I'm SO anxious to see the stonework that will be on the front of the house!!  I had the boys with me on Monday, so here's pics of them too!!

This is the back of the house with David's office window on
the left

Back of the house with our master bedroom on the right.
I love those six foot windows in our living room!!

 

Two of the brick masons laying the brick on the left side of\
the house.  You can see the block window of the master
bath back there.

The drywall in the garage

That brick will continue up and around the garage and cover
a lot of the front of the house

 

Sundance in my cute little red car!!

Valentino in my cute little red car!!

 

I never want to move again!! AKA...I HATE doing a moving sale!!

Over the past few months, I have been putting the things I've bought for the new house in our guest room, which was getting WAY too crowded.  So, today, (Sat. July 13), instead of going to the Ladies Swim Day at our church,  Leonel Rocha came over and took the guestroom bed down.  We also went up in the attic (I could only stand to be up there for a few minutes at a time, but he stayed up there for a good amount of time) and went through a bunch of things to bring down for the moving sale.  He also took all the boxes I've been collecting and swept off the cobwebs, sprayed them with bug spray and set them outside to dry off.  He also brought down a lot of empty plastic tubs and took those outside and washed them down and left them out to dry off.  So, now those boxes and plastic tubs are in the guestroom/storage room (!!) just waiting for me to pack them full of stuff to move!! 
And, all the things for our moving sale have invaded our dining room!!  I'm stacking things on, under and around the dining room table...and it's all driving me crazy because I'm too organized to want to see that mess for too long!!  This is what my dining room looks like now...see anything you just have to have?!!  ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BEAT THE HEAT OF THE ACTUAL SALE...JUST CALL MY CELL (I'm in the church directory) AND I WILL BE THRILLED TO LET YOU COME SHOP EARLY!!

I'm really anxious for the moving sale!

Wouldn't you be too, if your dining room looked like this?!!

Final Construction Walkthrough

On Friday (July 12), Brother Sacker and I met with Mark, the construction supervisor of our new house for the final CONSTRUCTION walkthrough.  This was when Brother Sacker decided where he wanted CAT-6 lines run.  And, to make sure that all the outlets we requested were where they were supposed to be...and they all were!!  And, where the mountings and wires for our surveillance cameras will be.  And, Brother Sacker decided he needed a ceiling fan in his office, so they need to put the correct bracing in place for that.  And, a myriad of other things that were boring, so I wandered off and watched a guy cut siding, which was kind of cool.  And, I talked to the guys putting in the insulation; I thought one guy was REALLY tall, but it turned out that he was actually on these stilt things!!  They also had installed the tub/shower enclosure in the hall bathroom.  And, Mark pointed out that the three windows in the living room were a "free upgrade" for us!!  Uh, yeah...that just meant that they put in the wrong windows!!  They were only supposed to be five foot high windows and fixed, which means they would not have screens and would not go up or down...fixed!!  I had wondered about the windows, because the first time that I saw them, they were open!!  And, I knew they were supposed to be fixed windows!  And, I thought they were taller than what they were supposed to be!  I LOVE that they will open and have screens; I love to open the windows in the house when the weather is cooler and just enjoy a nice breeze!!  Now, I'll be able to have a nice cross breeze!  We upgraded the air conditioning unit and upgraded the insulation also, so our new house will be 93% energy efficient...much lower heating and air conditioning costs!!

Energy efficient furnace.  Not much to
look at, but it will save us a LOT of
money!!

Aren't those stilt things cool?

This is in the master bedroom.

Tub/shower enclosure in the hall bathroom

Six foot windows that actually open!!  Can't wait for some
cool Autumn weather, so we can enjoy a nice cool breeze!

 

Siding was going on today!!

The front of our new house will be brick, some cedar shake, and stone.  The sides and back of the house will be siding; which they started to put up today.  As I came around the curve of our street, Fern Place, I saw the house with some of the siding on and just loved how it looked!!  I'm really anxious to see how it will all look finished, of course; especially the front of the house!!  The front door is also up; it will be painted black.  I have a really pretty wrought iron chair that I spray painted black that will be on the front porch with a plant on it. 
I've started getting things ready for the moving sale...things are piling up on our dining room table VERY quickly!  We're taking down the bed in the guest room this weekend, so we can start using the guest room as storage for packed boxes, etc.  I was feeling overwhelmed for a few days, but I'm getting a handle on sorting and packing now.  I was making more wreaths for the house, but have put those on hold till we get moved in.  I have to finish sanding and painting my desk, paint a dresser and our wicker loveseat and those projects will be done.
Some of the pictures have been cropped a little more than usual; the construction guys don't always wear a lot of clothing, since they're working in 96 degree weather, so I cropped them out of the pictures!!

Left side of the house, with siding on.

They were starting to put siding up on the right side.

 

Front door...it will be painted black.

MOVING SALE UPDATE!

We have changed the date of the moving sale to Friday and Saturday, August 9th and 10th.   Sorry...there is just too much to do before this weekend, so had to change the date!!

A shout-out to my brother, Forrest and look what happened on Wednesday!!

Before I post any more pictures, I'd like to thank my youngest (notice I don't call you the baby anymore, Forrest!!) brother, Forrest for very discreetly telling me (in the comments section of one of my posts) what the roof and dormers are called.  He is a draftsman for Cavco in Arizona.  When we visited him for Christmas, he took us on a tour at the Cavco plant and we REALLY enjoyed it!  That said...our roof is a Dutch hip garage roof and the dormers are actually called dog-house dormers.  I'm hoping that he will continue to leave comments and tell me what things should be called!!

When I got out to the build site, there was no one there!  Nothing at all going on!!  No construction vehicles, no construction guys, no machines digging...nothing!!  So, in spite of that green barrier being across the driveway, I went in to look around!  The tub for the master bath was in, the walk-in shower for the master bath was in, some drywall was up, and it was obvious to me that the plumbers had been there because of the PVC pipe in the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room. 

Bathtub in our master bath.  Love the block window!

Walk-in shower enclosure in master bath



Those pipes are where the sink will be.  Thats a whole lot
of drywall in our living room!!

This is where the furnace will be

Hook-ups in laundry room

 



Moving right along, folks!!

Today, (Tuesday, July 9), I loaded up the boys and headed to the new house.  I was almost shocked when I pulled up and found them unloading drywall, digging in our front yard, working on windows, etc.  There were several trucks parked in front of the house, so I parked across the street in front of our neighbors house and walked over.  Talk about a hive of activity!!  I did notice that they have that green barrier back in front of the driveway, so I stayed out of the way!!  I also noticed a whole lot of brick in front of the house, then when I walked over to the other side to get a picture, I noticed MORE brick stacked up.  I am really anxious to see what the front of the house will look like with the bricks, the natural stonework, and the dormer windows in.  The roof is shingled!!  I couldn't get a picture of my cute little red car in front of the house today...maybe tomorrow!!  I did stay and watch them unloading the drywall; its pretty cool and all done by remote control!

They had just unloaded some drywall when I pulled up

I don't like to see that green barrier; it means I can't go in and
nose around!  Notice the bricks!!

Taken from the right side of the house.  They were digging a
really deep hole!  And, notice more bricks!!

That guy in front of that truck has a remote control thingy strapped
to him and controls the unloading of the drywall.

That black thing grabs the drywall and flips it over, while holding
on to it!  It was cool to watch!

My deaf Golden Boy and my current project...

Well...we were pretty sure that Sundance was going deaf, so we have been "testing" his hearing ourselves for a few days.  He used to dance around if you asked him if he wanted to go for a ride in the car...now, he doesn't even acknowledge that he heard you!  He can't hear anything, actually.  We wondered why he wasn't greeting us at the door; now we know that he couldn't hear us coming in.  Thank goodness David taught him hand signals when he was a puppy!!  I've been reading forums and articles regarding deafness in Goldens and apparently he will be able to manage quite well, but he will need extra loving on because he doesn't know why we aren't talking to him anymore.  Which won't be hard to do...we love on him all the time anyways!  But, no more going outside without his leash to play "frizz"...he can't hear cars approaching!
I bought a white Campaign style desk last year and painted it red.  I didn't like it in red, so I'm sanding it (Thanks to my brother Forrest for the Home Depot gift card for Christmas; I used it for a new sander!!) and re-painting it shiny black!  Glad our garage is air-conditioned, because I can work in there in relative comfort even though it is 96 degrees out!  It's about 75 degrees in the garage.  I've been spray painting some of the furniture from my guest room...used to be pink but spray painted them white now.

Sundance...smiling even though he can't hear a thing!!

I'd already sanded the top of the desk and one of the drawers here