The attitude indicator on the Cessna failed.  It is likely original to the plane, so that’s 48 years.  The overhaul shop cannot repair it as there are no parts available for this vintage “paperweight”.  So, we called Rudy’s in Arkansas and they shipped out a replacement Edo-Air.  Looks nice.  Waiting to have it installed in the plane.  I am getting new panel shock mounts from Brian…   I had replaced those before on my first Cessna, the 1975 M model.  Panel trim has also been ordered and should arrive in a couple weeks.

We are getting a new puppy! He is “Red Boy”, which is the color label he is wearing amongst his litter-mates. His brothers are “Blue Boy” and “Green Boy”, and the sisters are “Pink Girl”, “Purple Girl”, and “Orange Girl”. The pup’s are color coded with collars to assist the breeder raising them to track one from the other. Our “Red Boy” will be taking on his AKC Offical name of “Argus’ Celebration Firecracker Red”, aka “Kealy”. So “Kealy” is his “call name” and the former is his official registration name. The theme of this litter is “Celebration”, since they were born on July 5th, and the breeder chose this due to the “celebration” of  the July holiday.

“Kealy” is Irish for “Handsome”, …and this boy sure is all of that! He comes from a long line of “show quality” Golden Retrievers. The sire is CH Masters Top Hat ‘N Tails (Fred) and the dam is Argus’ Caribbean Rose O’er Derby (Derby).

This has been a much anticipated arrival. We have followed via FB and emails the arrival and 8 week growth of these beautiful pups, to include two visits to the breeder’s home. The breeder is Laura Finco, from whom we got our beloved Riley over 12 years ago. In fact, Riley is the “great uncle” of Kealy!

We are anticipating picking up this beautiful puppy over the Labor Day weekend.

Riley is almost 12 (this summer) and he has begun showing signs of “old age”.  Recently, he seemed to (almost overnight) age consderably, with a total lack of interest in mobility, or coming into the kitchen at the sound of “food”.  That is serious for a Golden.  We took him to the vet, and they were concerned with his red and white blood cell count.  His liver is also enlarged, and the x-rays shows significant deterrioration of his spine.  The vet said it was as if he had a rod in his backbone.  Riley has been on antibiotics for several days now, and seems to have improved slightly.  We are taking him in for a sonogram Thursday.