Treadmills, Tumors, and Turn-arounds

It was a productive Saturday at Hundenruhe Haven. Rudy, our 16-year-old Italian Greyhound, has been battling cancerous tumors on his belly for as long as he's lived with us - about 3 years now. He also takes medicine for his thyroid and for epilepsy. On Friday night, a very large tumor burst open and was giving him some discomfort, so I took him to the vet on Saturday morning. Poor fellow - it looks like raw meat! We decided that Rudy wasn't yet ready for the Rainbow Bridge, so he will have surgery to remove the tumor on Monday. Last month he lost 7 teeth, this month part of his skin! Please think good thoughts for his surgery and subsequent recovery.
Treadmills....my sister-in-law has purchased my treadmill. Hurray! I am too fat and have too much trouble with my joints to take up running again, so the treadmill has been a convenient blanket-hanger for some time now. Since she can't pick it up until Thanksgiving weekend, I managed to haul it out to the porch to await pick-up. Never one to pass up an opportunity to rearrange furniture, I moved a few things around in the dog room yesterday, and I'm quite pleased with the result. The dog room is a bit of a misnomer, as the dogs generally have free reign of the house when we are home. However, when we are away, we try to confine them to one room. All the dogs except for Uncle Mort and New Year are crated for breakfast and dinner to ensure proper medication and nutrition, but only Obie, Skylar, Mimi, Twig, Olive, and Baci are crated when we're away. They are the younger dogs, and are crated for their safety. Thankfully, that's never more than about four hours at a stretch. The older dogs hang out on dog beds or the futon in the dog room, and New Year is in a room of his own. Anyway, the dogs are enjoying a little more space in front of the electric fireplace, which we use as supplemental heating in the cold months. They are loving hanging out in their Bubble Butt Beds from Aunt Chris in Iowa, soaking up the heat coming from the fireplace. A couple of extra crates (a wee bit larger than their current ones) should be arriving this week, so Skye and Obie can have a little more room when their Dad is at work. I am so pleased with the result of decorating this long, skinny room that has to serve an unusual purpose! I love HGTV shows - maybe I could start one that decorates "dog rooms" in other people's houses! Okay, maybe not, but a girl can dream, can't she?