Meow

Meow

Here's a pic of us at the ball.

Going to the Ball

Going to the Ball

I'm going to a sort of masquerade ball tomorrow night. I just bought a pink kitty mask.

Doggie First Aid

Doggie First Aid

It's always something. I was playing outside with the dogs. I threw Sancho's ball for him and he went tearing after it and Rudy went tearing after him. They wrestled, like they always do. A few minutes later Rudy came up to me, holding up a bloody paw.
I took her into the bathtub and cleaned it with running water, hydrogen peroxide and by soaking her foot in a bucket. It's a puncture on the top of the webbing between the toes. Maybe from one of Sancho's nails.
I called Ashleigh for advice. I slathered it with neosporin to block dirt from getting in and to help fight infection and to keep her from licking it. I gave her a dose of rescue remedy, which Dara uses to calm the dogs in stressful events. I gave her a rawhide and a bone so she would lie still. I'm freezing some peanut butter in some kongs for when I leave this evening.
Now I just have to keep it clean and hope it doesn't get infected. Poor little patient was so brave.

The Three Big Dogs

The Three Big Dogs

Taken from an e-mail to Dara, who misses her doggies:
For most of the first week they would really insist that I get up at 7 or so. But I have been letting them out later at night and they figured out that I really didn't want to get up at 7, so they would give up. Then when the alarm would go off, they'd all be wagging and pacing and all excited I was going to get up. But I'd hit snooze. A lot. So they eventually figured out I still wasn't getting up. So now they really don't bug me much or get their hopes up until I'm actually moving. :)
Funny stories I'm sure you can visualize:

• Sancho pulls the blanket off the couch and it's over his head, which he shakes back and forth, tail a-waggin'.


• Daisy jumps straight into the air, sometimes landing on Sancho, when I don't open the back door fast enough.


• Licking each others' ears.


• "Sancho, getcher ball!" followed by gleeful pouncing on the jolly ball and shaking it back and forth. I learned to stand on the steps, where he can't easily wack me with it. ;)


• Tug of war between Rudy & Sancho sounding like something I would want to break up at Happy Tails.


• "Bark! Bark! Woof! Woof! Something moved outside!!!!"


• Rudy forcing her nose into everything I carry into the house, asking "What'd ya bring me?"

For Those Who Like To Go Commando

For Those Who Like To Go Commando

Anti Panti

Happiness Kickstarters

Happiness Kickstarters

Taken from an IM with my sweetie a week ago when I was blue. Some of these things I have since done. Some of them aren't much of an option at this point. Things that might make me happy:

• my own space


• chocolate


• hugging sweetie


• dancin' w/ the girls


• visiting christine in her new place


• visiting lindsay's new place in colorado


• going to vegas


• & california & new mexico & arizona


• sleep


• being healthy


• liking myself


• everyone liking me


• no one ever being frustrated w/ me


• driving really fast


• yelling at the top of my lungs about everything that is frustrating me


• listening to enya or similar


• acquiring a really cool music collection


• going to a concert


• a baysox game


• going sailing


• going swimming


• going to europe


• taking a vacation


• living near friends


• having friends


• moving


• getting a pet


• catching up w/ matt


• paying off my debts


• fitting into my jeans

Sunday Plans On Hold

Sunday Plans On Hold

Haven't slept yet cuz got locked out when trying to get Daisy back inside at bedtime (4:30 a.m.). Just got in an hour ago. Quite an ordeal. Now I need a window repair person before Dara gets back.
Also I am discovering that bison burger does not agree with me.
Going to bed!

TGIF!!!

Another Adrenaline-Pumping Bad Day Courtesy of Another Crazy Shepherd Named Sasha

Another Adrenaline-Pumping Bad Day Courtesy of Another Crazy Shepherd Named Sasha

WARNING: whining ahead (but followed by an exciting story). I may have mentioned how really f---ing lousy I feel when my blood sugar gets too low. Well I didn't get around to making dinner until just now and as you can see from my moblog post I totally f---ing ruined it. So now, having already waited for my dinner to cook, I am hungrier and angry and dinnerless. My mistake was trying to make a rising-crust pizza in a toaster oven. So now I'm preheating the real oven before I can put another one in. But the one I ruined was the flavor I really really wanted. :( And I'm really f---ing hungry.
The perfect cap to a perfectly lousy day. Let me set the scene. I've been dogsitting at various houses for 4 weeks now. I've been with the current 3 dogs since Saturday. Daisy has been depriving me of sleep all week long with her barking and whining. I do about as well without enough sleep as I do without food. I've also been losing my mind from living alone for a month. And I've been stressed out about not feeling good about how I'm doing at my new job. And there's most likely some PMS going on too. So, with all that trouble brewing, I'll walk you through my morning at work.
We're short-staffed. The manager and owner of the store left to meet with a rep. Jason was coming in late. So Jean & I are on our own.
A lady brings in her HUGE german shepherd for a prong-collar fitting. Asks me for help. I have been petting the dog and talking nicely to it and it has been fine. I touch the collar and the dog very suddenly and very ferociously snarls and snaps at my hand. It gave me quite a start but thanks to my experience, I reacted quickly and appropriately, dodging any harm. I was shaken and the lady was embarassed but not really apologetic or concerned enough, considering what followed. I felt dumb because I should have known better than to mess with the collar of a dog I don't know anything about without offering treats and using more caution. I forget that I'm not at Happy Tails anymore where all the dogs have passed an evaluation and if they have issues with their collars being touched, they're wearing an orange one. I also think the lady should have known her dog was touchy and warned me.
So I keep my composure despite my heart pounding a mile a minute and I continue to help the lady, but without touching the dog. At one point I have to squeeze by the dog and I put my hand down as if to nudge the dog gently out of my way. I guess I did this because it's been engrained into me that you always touch a horse's rear if you're going to walk behind it so it knows you're there and won't be startled and kick you. Well the dog owner saw that I was being cautious and said "oh no, don't put your hand out" (her tone implied it wasn't entirely safe). Jean then leaves to get something from the warehouse. I'm behind the counter showing the lady nail clippers. She lets go of the dog's leash, thinking she'll let the dog wander down to enjoy looking at the mice in their cage. I am not comfortable with this dog not being under anyone's control. But within the instant that I'm debating what to say, the dog passes our cockatiel perch, at which point all 3 cockatiels become motivated to try to fly away, perhaps forgetting that their wings are trimmed. They flutter to the floor, one of them right in front of the dog. His prey drive instinct is triggered and he grabs for the bird, which starts screaming bloody murder. Without hesitation I was in motion, knowing that grabbing the dog was most assuredly going to get me bit. But I was NOT going to stand by and allow a massacre.
Had I been at Happy Tails, I would have been firmly and loudly commanding the dog to leave it or drop it. But this was not my dog and I had to keep things as calm and nice as possible for customer-relations' sake. So without words I quickly went over and from behind, put my arms around the dog, firmly pulling the dog back by the chest just enough to hold him away from the bird until his owner got to us and took a hold of the leash. I told her to hold him while I gathered all 3 birds. He hadn't actually picked up the bird. He had his mouth over it while it was on the floor. So I carefully cupped the bird and didn't see any obvious damage and carried it to the cage, which he wouldn't go in. He was freaked out and climbed up the outside of the cage, so I let him stay there. Maybe I should mention this bird has already been reserved to be purchased by a nice kid. Anyway, I got the next nearest bird and put it in the cage. I noticed the parrot cage was open nearby, so I closed that bird in too. Then I hunted for the third cockatiel and finally found it behind the counter and put it away.
I wanted to call my manager and ask her to come back from Starbucks (just a few doors down) and check the bird for injuries because, well, she's the manager and she knows more about them and because I had to still help this customer and the others who were coming in. A man was at the counter with one item to buy so I helped him, somewhat shakily. As he was paying I called my manager. Jean walked in so I told my manager Jean was back and she said to have Jean look at it. But first Jean had to finish with a customer.
So I'm back to helping the dog lady, who had wandered off, with her nail clipper decision when a woman and toddler come in and ask to pet the dog. Lady says "sure!" Jean and I exchange a look and brace ourselves. I am trying to work out in my mind the physics required for me to jump over the counter and rescue the little girl from the dog's grip if it snaps. But it goes fine, despite the dog-owner getting distracted from even supervising the interaction.
Jean & I later discussed with the manager & store owner that we really wanted to advise against the girl petting the dog but didn't want to offend the lady. I felt the store owner would say we had to put safety first, but he said the dog owner would be responsible and we shouldn't say anything that could be perceived as being rude. He did say there's always a polite way of saying something, like "Ma'am in light of what has happened, are you comfortable letting this child pet your dog?"
But I'm really bad at saying the right thing at the right time, and I know that, so I'm always afraid to say anything.
Well I had implied that my whole day was lousy, so I guess I should touch on the other parts of it. When the dog lady left, we were busy with other customers and it was still just the 2 of us, so I never got even a moment to recover from the ordeal of the dog going for me or the bird. And though the dog didn't end up biting me and the bird turned out to be ok (we think), it was a horrifying moment when I thought the bird was being killed and that I was about to provoke the dog to attack me by grabbing it. That sort of a thing takes a quiet moment and some deep breaths to recover from. But I didn't get them. Instead I got a really obnoxious crazy lady running me around the store answering very weird and annoying questions before she insisted I sell her a fish from the bag of fish that had just arrived, despite me explaining that we keep them bagged for 20 minutes to let them acclimate to the temperature of the new tank and that I'd rather sell her a similar fish that was already in the tank. Then she proceded to make a scene when I had not finished procuring her fish (from a sealed bag crammed full of fish, floating in a tank that requires a stool to reach into) and completing the transaction quickly enough for her satisfaction, because I was the only one in the store (Jean in warehouse again) and was multitasking and had helped one other customer with something simple since a line was forming and I wanted customers to see I was doing my best to keep things moving.
Just before this, when the fish had arrived, the biggest bag, containing 500 small goldfish, had popped, splashing fish all over the floor, which Jean & I scrambled to pick up into nets and put into the tank as we knelt on the soggy carpeting. (I did appreciate a bit of humor in this spectacle but I did feel bad for the fish, as they are very sensitive and this stress, lack of water, rug burn and being handling probably ended up doing a handful of them in.)
Adding to the stress of the day, the customers just kept coming. But not in a good way. Even though we stayed crazy busy, we weren't taking in very much money. Lots of people wanted crickets, which take time & effort for us to gather, measure and tie into a bag, but only cost the customer 89 cents for a dozen. Other people demanded lots of assistance for things they should have been able to figure out and left unwanted merchandise strewn about. Mothers brought little children in and let them run amok, screeching the whole time. My murderous rage meter was in the red today. And having to pretend to be nice to all these people is just icing on the cake.
There were other irritations I probably shouldn't mention so I won't. One of them had to do with not getting a break to eat until very late. At which point I ended up bursting into tears in Giant while relating my tales of woe to my sweetie on the phone. I don't know why exactly, but for at least 2 weeks I've been right at my threshold of tolerance, leaving me no patience for anybody and letting everything immediately upset me. Hence the waterworks in the grocery store. And the rampage over the burnt pizza. (Sigh) One more day. Then I actually have the weekend off. Serenity now ...
(P.S. For the story of the other crazy shepherd named Sasha, see my Nov. 14, 2003 post.)