Friday. March 11, through Thursday, March 17, 2016: Libby's Here:

Late Friday morning the man from Summit Spas arrived to un-winterize the spa.  If we had known we were going to spend the entire winter here, of course, we never would have winterized it in the first place.  Live and learn.

Then I heard from the pharmacy that is arranging for my gonzo drugs.  They finally finished the negotiations necessary to make the drugs free (to me, anyway) and my drugs are set to arrive on Tuesday.  Then, in late afternoon, in Flagstaff, Becky met the lady from Lucky Dog Rescue who had brought Libby up from Tempe for the "handover." 

For safety reasons, Becky didn't want the dogs to be loose together in the back seat, so she had put one of our crates in the truck for the ride back home.  It was a little small for her, and the back seat was quite cramped, but everything worked out fine.  Once they arrived in Williams, we took them all for a short walk, then fed them dinner, then Becky took them for a longer walk. 

They seemed to get along fine.  Finally. it was time for bed.  We put Libby in one of our living room crates, and, as usual, Ramsey and Kelsey slept wherever they wanted in the living room.  Becky had to take Libby outside twice during the night, which didn't surprise me, but otherwise all was serene.  In the morning, all three were becoming chummy, or so it seems.  It looks like Libby will be here permanently.

Saturday morning we woke up to a little snow on the ground again.  It had sneaked in overnight, without warning.  It's very manageable, and pretty, though. 

Becky had previously bought a toy for Libby, and decided that we should get ones for Ramsey and Kelsey, as well.  So we went to the hardware store Saturday morning and got some.  Within five minutes after arriving home, Ramsey had already destroyed his. 

The movie for Saturday was three episodes of Fargo from the first season.  It continues to be weird and very entertaining.

Saturday night went well with the dogs.  The introduction of Libby into the household seems to be going well.  Becky took Libby out twice during the night, again.  That needs to stop; Becky needs her sleep.  Sunday morning there was no snow on the ground.

Sunday I spent the day working on the Downey Estate paperwork.  The attorney (Becky Thyne in Pasadena) asked me to go through the files and select all the court documents, arrange them by date, and send her copies.  I also went through the death tax files.  There were death taxes paid to the federal government and the governments of seven states.

Monday was the day to attack the 2015 incomes taxes for the Shelton family trust.  Becky and I analyzed the available data and put together the package to send to Dan Floyd, the accountant in San Marino, so he can prepare the returns.  After that, Becky took the dogs to Cataract Lake for a long walk.

Tuesday, we went to Flagstaff for our periodic meeting with Dr. Mathern.  

He continues to be very positive about the prospects of beating the melanoma.   He wants to add a second drug to the treatment, which he will arrange.  It should take about three weeks to make that happen.  On the way into Flagstaff, we stopped at the Pato Thai Restaurant to pick up our dinner.

Tuesday evening, at 7:00, the UPS man arrived with my first supply of what goes under the trade name “Zelbarof.”   The dosage is eight pills per day---four in the morning and four at night---so there were 240 pills delivered.  That’s just the first month supply.  I immediately took my first dose, and waited for the potential side effects to kick in.  So far, the only one I am experiencing is fatigue.  I’ll get over it.

Tuesday night the Netflix movie was Life Itself, a documentary about Roger Ebert, the film critic, who died of a nasty mouth cancer.  Fascinating film.

Wednesday was mostly spent working on getting Libby more integrated, including more doggy-door practice.  She continues to amaze us with her progress.  About noon, after running some errands, I felt the strong need for pizza, so I stopped at the Pizza Factory and indulged myself.  I know pizza is terrible for any diet, but it felt good.

Thursday’s highlight was a visit from Brett and Laura Hawks and their two children, Annie and Lexi.  Laura went to high school with Becky, and they haven’t seen each other (other than on Facebook, recently) for 46 years! 

The daughters are adoptees from China, by the way.  They all live in Kapaa on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii, and are vacationing in Arizona.  Somehow that seems weird, but it’s quite natural for them.  We had lunch with them at the Red Raven Restaurant, and then they came to our home so the girls could meet the dogs.  All of it was great fun.  They then headed up to the canyon for a four-day stay at the El Tovar Hotel.

In late morning on Thursday, John McKnight of A-1 Mobile Repair stopped by to take a look at the hydraulic system on our RV, which developed a leak very recently.  He thinks he fixed it (very quickly, I might add) by tightening two fittings, but thinks we should test it in a few days to make sure.