To state the obvious, we are inundated with snow.  Now, the total is over 70" and we are expecting a bit more tomorrow.  Great.  At least it covers up all the old dirty snow.  But I digress.  All this snow makes for a fun backyard space for the pups, so I took a few photos this sunny afternoon.

Ouch.  What else can you say? (OK, some other 4-letter words do come mind.)  Cosmo's foray into the world of high-stakes wagering came to a crushing and demoralizing end Sunday as the Jets sent the Patriots packing.  The game was a like bad dream.  The Jets executed and the Patriots didn't.  There were no big plays, no game-shifting turnovers, no bad calls, just two games plans - and one was executed well and the other wasn't.  And you just can't have an off week in the playoffs.  Best of luck to the Jets next week.

As for Cosmo's bets, the dinner payout to Rich and Ginger is up in the air since Jess and Sean are already owed a dinner from the previous Jet-Pats game bet.  But, in a classy display of sportsmanship and generosity, John D has decided that Cosmo donate John's due winnings to The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, based in Smithtown, Long Island.  Cosmo is happy to do so, as it is an organization that Sean has supported in the past.  And because of John's thoughtfulness, Sean will match Cosmo's donation.  It's really a win-win :)

Yes, a famous song by Kenny Rogers, but now an accurate way to describe Cosmo.  Seems while I was away from the computer the other day, Cosmo made a few bets on the Pats-Jets game this coming Sunday.  Damn dog!

He's got action going with John D/Cliff and Big Rich.  As if one bet wasn't enough.  But I have to hand it to the little fella, he's been studying the scouting reports on this game intently (see photo).

It's an 8.5-point spread and he's giving the points!  He must be confident in those Patriots.  If they cover, he gets a case of dog food from John and Cliff, and Jess and Sean get a dinner from Rich.  If he loses, Cliff gets a $25 restaurant gift card and Jess and Sean take Rich and Ginger out to dinner.  Pretty high stakes for a Corgi!

So check out the game on Sunday at 4:30.

Now that the dust has settled, we figured we'd post the Sadie spleen story.  A couple months ago, Sadie had her teeth cleaned (tartar scraped).  Since general anesthesia is used, the vet likes to take the opportunity to do a full blood work-up.  Everything came back fine except for a slightly elevated liver enzyme.  A few weeks later, it was retested, and it was still a bit high.  The next step was a bile test, which again, came back slightly abnormal.  The step after that is an ultrasound, and we decided to go ahead with it.  The ultrasound was done at Angell Memorial in Boston.  Much to everyone's surprise, the ultrasound revealed a rather large mass on Sadie's spleen.  Not a good thing.  Worst case, it's cancerous and aggressive.  Best case, it's a benign mass that could erupt causing potentially fatal bleeding.  So, the standard protocol is to remove the spleen - apparently, it's a redundant organ.  We scheduled the splenectomy right away.  (Additional blood tests and x-rays came back favorable, not showing any spread of possible cancer.)

Sadie handled the operation wonderfully.  She is a tough little girl.  She had the procedure on a Tuesday, and we had her home Thursday night, albeit she was a bit foggy still.  The next few days we spent waiting for the results of the biopsy on the spleen mass, as well as the liver.  When the news came in, it was BENIGN!  What a relief!

Sadie is now bopping around like nothing ever happened.  She just got her 15 or so staples out the the other day.  And in case, you are wondering, Cosmo didn't bat an eye at the whole episode.

And if you are interested in the inspiration for the title of the News entry, think "Blazing Saddles".  The clip is below.