Oh No!! What does this mean?

I had taken some pictures of Sidney and Garrett and was in the process of transferring them from the camera over to my computer and my screen just froze. So I did what all savy IT folks do. First, I said a few swear words, because I did not have the TIME for this sort of thing, and then I did a hard reboot. After the computer came up, I got the blue screen that said "Unmountable Boot Drive".

What does that mean? Will I be able to retrieve the hundreds of pics I have of the kids, of course not backed up????.....I know this is bad if the boot drive is not accessible. At least I know the seriousness of the issue. I am not TOTALLY clueless. I know that this is going to entail a lot of work.

My Dad once said to me, aren't you suppose to be some sort of smart computer person? I had to confess that I am not. Even though I work in IT (Information Technology), I really do not know a whole lot about Microsoft Windows. IT is sooo broad. I know Unix, Linux, Oracle, and some custom software called Genesys, Intervoice, and I know some C++, a little bit of Java, and Perl. Just enough to get paid at my job. But when it comes to the blue screen of death, I am just a crapshoot in the dark as to how to address any issues that may arise. Craig has commented many a time on my incompetence when it comes to fixing our home computer. Once time, I spent 20 minutes trying to troubleshoot something, and Craig came over and plugged it in. Duh.

So my New Years resolution is to take a PC troubleshooting course. If you go to www.edtogo.com, and select Online Courses, they have LOTS of courses, very reasonably priced.

The other day, I was cleaning our dog's ears, and I noticed that his left ear flap was REALLY puffy. So Craig took him to the vet. I was expecting Craig to come home with some medication for an ear infection. Well it is much worse. Mac scratched at his ear so much, that he burst some of the blood vessels in his ear flap. There is blood causing the swelling in his ear flap. What is worse, he had to have surgery, or his ear would literally fall off.

So, yesterday he had surgery on his ear. They sliced it open, drained the blood and now his ear is held together by stitches and about 30 staples. What is worse is Craig is out of town. Craig dropped him off, but I had to go pick him up. Let me tell you, managing a 130 lb dog by myself is NO easy feat. I almost cried when I saw Mac. His ear looks like FRANKEN-EAR. It is awful. It has a huge hole in it to let the rest of the blood drain, or else it will fill up again, and he will have to go through this all over again. So for now, I have to clean the hole in his ear for 10 days, 3 times a day. Also, he has terrible arthritis in his left back leg, and he could not hardly walk yesterday. Thank goodness my neighbor was home to help me get him out of my SUV.

Mac is really a good dog. A very hairy dog, but has the best disposition I have ever seen. Sidney climbs on his back, and tries to ride him like a horse, and he has never once complained. There have been times when he and Junior have been playing and Mac has his entire jaws over Junior's head, but has never once snapped at Junior. It just kills me to see Mac like this. I know that his ear hurts. I pray that I can get through this and aid Mac in a speedy recovery. I must admit that between Mac, Sidney, Garrett, and Craig being gone, that this is a LOT of stuff to deal with. I am grateful to God that Mac got through his surgery OK. The house was very empty when he was gone.