graves mountain

What a nice day. Truly.

We made our annual trek up to the Apple Harvest Festival, in the Blue Ridge today, near Syria - which is in Madsion County, but not the same Madison County as the Bridges Of... fame. This is rapidly becoming my favorite fall tradition. We end up with nice weather every year, with blue blue blue skies and cool temperatures. It's up on a mountainside, where we munch on Brunswick stew, apple butter and cornbread, served with live Bluegrass music, all under the shade of trees by a happy stream where the kids love to skip stones. There are Pony rides for the kids, a hay ride, an awesome and confusing hay maze, and a mountain of hay to jump in, all of which leave the kids totally filthy dusty with hay, and totally exhausted. I bought a half bushel of apples - all kinds, and we bought our nice fat Halloween pumpkins on the roadside on the way home. Here are some pictures:



This is Q on the hay mountain. He was good at finding the best places to jump, and was a pro at spectacular falls.



E on her horse "Willy." It's a pretty lame ride, twice around a corral, but the kids EAT IT UP.



Happy children on the hayride, which takes us up on the mountainside through the apple orchards.



The kids in the newest gap ad.


It's also been a rough weekend. Callias had more seizures on Friday. I took her to the vet Friday afternoon and begged him to put her back on steroids, but permanently. Luckily, I had the "good" vet, and he listened and agreed. Honestly, why is the evil vet so concerned about long term side effects when she's a 15 year old dog? She has no long term left. It makes no sense. But anyway, she started steroids again Friday. They hadn't kicked in Friday night, however, and she had another major seizure at 1 am. Horrible. Awful. If you've never seen a dog having a seizure, don't wish it on yourself. I won't describe it. She spent the rest of the night stumbling through the house (her back legs weren't working well), tracing out a path. I think her eyesight left her, because it was like she was memorizing steps. She'd get off track every few laps, and I'd have to rescue her from being stuck from under furniture or in toyboxes. The steroids seemed to kick in Saturday afternoon, though, and she's mostly back to normal. From what I read, most of these tumors occur in a place that affects the sense of smell, and I see that with Callias. She's always been a scavenger, but now, she's almost unbearable. She walks around with her nose in EVERYTHING, under my feet, in the kids faces, everywhere. Snuffle snuffle snuffle, chomp chomp chomp.
I've told her goodbye 3 times now. This is indeed a rollercoaster. Bleah. And since she's permanently on steroids, this is probably the last round. Once the tumor overcomes the help from the predisone, that's likely going to be it. But hey, she's back with me for another round.
Here's a picture of my #1 baby: