Life in General / Dogs

I am soooo tired. I've been going non-stop all weekend. But I got a lot accomplished so it was well worth it.

In other news Shadow's birthday is coming up in two weeks. He will be 7. He's growing up on me. I know - I say that every year; but he never stops so it's always true. He's having a bigger party than he ever has... I'm not really good at planning these kinds of events and crap. But it's going to be at Party Central and they do all the decorating and stuff. All I have to bring is the kid and the cake. They even gave me invitations to pass out. This will probably be the easiest party I've ever been responsible for, but hey, I'm paying enough for it. 😳 Seriously.

So my nose hurts. It started feeling over the weekend like I was getting a sore in it and now the outside of it is starting to swell a bit. It sucks. You probably wouldn't notice the swelling if I didn't mention it, but it's really sore so I've been complaining. *shrugs* I have.

First off, Emma's doing well with her crate. I didn't really think I'd be able to keep her in a crate because I'd feel too bad about it, but I don't. She seems to enjoy having a spot in the house to herself. She'll go in when we say "Crate, Emma" and then sit there and wag her tail. She doesn't even yelp to get out unless it's early in the morning and she probably only does it then because she needs to use the bathroom. 

She's a lot easier to deal with lately and I'm not sure if that has something to do with her being in a crate or not. I feel bad for her because the longer I have her the more obvious it is that she was never taught much in the way of doggie manners or anything. So I've been working with her a lot and she's doing well. She'll sit (that's nothing new, though), and she'll now stand up and lay down on command. I'll probably try to start with "Stay" this week, and also, tons more leash training. She's coming along. All in all she's a really good dog and I'm glad I got her. I think she just needed some guidance and discipline.

Speaking of good dogs I'm not keeping Scooty in a crate. I know that may sound unfair, but they're completely different dogs with completely different personalities. Scooter's always stayed in one room while we were away (usually the bathroom) and the most he's ever done was mangle the toilet paper and chew the molding on the corner when he was teething. He froze up and just stared out when I put him in a crate the day the floor was ripped up; shortly after that, Nick and I decided that it just wasn't fair. He'd proven himself trustworthy before. So he's not in a crate; he's in my bedroom until the bathroom floor is repaired. (I'm sure the floor in the bathroom sticking up and such would just be too much temptation for him to resist.) But as soon as it's taken care of it's back to the bathroom with him. 

There's carpet in my bedroom which makes the occasional accident a bit more of a pain to clean up. I'm even considering letting him and Emma sleep in the bathroom together so long as they sleep and don't tear up everything. One of my reasons for getting her, after all, was to keep Scoot company. With things as they are right now they only get to hang out in the afternoons. Hopefully, that will all change soon. I looked in the garage and we do have some leftover linoleum that matches the bathroom. We just have to find the time to put it down.

Anyway...

FFUUCCKK!!

Today has fucking sucked. Not just a little - a whole hell of a lot. First of all my bank account is all screwed up and I've been going crazy trying to figure out what the hell happened. I'm still not sure and I've been stressin' over that ALL day. On top of that I've had these back and abdominal pains all day... I've just been really achy and shit. So I'm looking forward to coming home and unwinding, being lazy, etc, etc. But NO. NO!!! This is what I come home to:

THE FUCKING DOGS HAVE STARTED EATING MY HOUSE LIKE IT WAS RAWHIDE!

So I've had it. When Scooter was younger he chewed the corner a little bit... Emma has now ripped most of that off. BIG DIFFERENCE. And I know it had to be her idea to rip up the floor, as well. So guess what?? The little assholes will now spend their days and nights in crates. They will only be allowed out when we can watch them. That may sound harsh, but I just bought this house last year and I can't afford to have it eaten. I tried to be nice enough to give them a room to hang out in when we weren't home and this is what happens. SCREW THAT.

To make my night even worse I got to Wal-Mart to buy crates and get all the way to the register and realize that I can't find my credit card. I JUST had it. So I go out to the parking lot to see if it's perhaps in my car and it's not. I didn't have my cell on me so I called home on Wal-Mart's nasty ass phone to see if Nick has seen my card. Nope. Oh wait, then it's in my jacket pocket that I wasn't even wearing so I have no idea why I put it in there to begin with. ?? So I had to go back home and get it. I am SO STRESSED and SO ANGRY. I almost lost my mind in Wal-Mart. I am a complete and utter emotional mess right now.

THE END

My New Buddy

We went to Critter's for crickets after work today... and just guess what I came home with. (Hint: Something other than crickets - though we got those, too).

...
...
...

Ok, you suck at guessing. I got a little ratty friend! He's only about 4 weeks old and was brought in by a lady who thought he had cancer or something, though he's just hairless. (A rat she had for snake food had babies and he was the only hairless in the bunch). I was so happy to meet him (we think he's a boy, but I don't really care). Btw... either way, his / her name is Hairy. 😀 Anyhoo, here's some pics.

This pic sums up the last week and 1/2 for us...

Pitiful.

That's about all I can say. We've all been sick, hurt, or under the weather for almost two weeks... as soon as one of us feels better another one starts to feel like crap. Life's not all bad, though... and I'm dedicating the next blog to that. 😉

[edit] Btw... Scooty's not bleeding out the ass or anything... that's just a rope toy. That was the first time he actually laid down to rest since I had to put that thing on his head and I just didn't want to disturb him by going in there to move it. That's also why the picture quality sucks... I didn't use a flash, either.

R.I.P. Tiny Alice

Last night we found Tiny Alice dead. She'd been sick for a while so we were expecting it. It's actually kind of a relief because there wasn't much we could do for her aside from make her comfortable while she was here. Chameleons are pretty fragile creatures by nature... so much so that I don't understand how one could ever survive in the wild. They have a high mortality rate whether in their natural habitat or captivity.

She appeared to have some some sort of respiratory infection which affected her eyes. (Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either, but read up on it and you'll see). She couldn't catch and eat crickets if her eyes weren't working. Attempts to hand feed her baby food and such failed because we could not get her mouth open. I think that was the worst part... her not eating. She always had such a hearty appetite that I nicknamed her "Hogzilla."

Anyway, she looked so peaceful for the first time last night that I only felt a little sad. I held her for a few moments (which is not something Alice would've ever tolerated) before putting her in the freezer. I suppose I'll call the crematory tomorrow and see if they'll get her and Mr. Sam done for me. (Yeah, I've been saving him because I knew this was coming). Oh, and the picture I chose of her was her at her best... always puffed up over something, LOL. Well, I hope the little lady now rests in peace. She will be missed.

heartbreak

As most of you know I volunteer with the local animal shelter. Today was the first day I really went into the kennels... they needed a few people to take some pictures for their PetFinder web page. Of course I was up for helping.

When I first got there we talked about who would take which pictures and the best way to organize all the pics and get them back to the person who needed them, etc. Then into the kennels I went.

... I've gotta be honest - I cried my way through most of them, snapping pictures between fencing and tears. I felt so bad for all of those dogs... it was cold and their little feet were wet. Some of them were really skinny. The worst one's were the one's who'd "given up," meaning they didn't even bother to come to the front to greet people anymore. They sat in the back looking hopeless and sad.

It was so hard not to reach out to them... I just wanted to love on them all and let them know it would be ok. But I couldn't for fear of losing it on the spot. I hated to keep them at a distance, but I had to. I desperately wish I knew how to tell them that it wasn't hopeless... that that's why they were there. Someone cared, goddamnit.



I care.

Ok, so it's happening.

In case I didn't tell you all I got a call from AMC yesterday saying that they could neuter my boy today since there was a cancellation. So I took him. Of course it needs to be done and I've pretty much decided in my mind that it's the best thing for him... but I still felt bad when I left him. He was fine until they took him away from me and then he looked all nervous and scared. I felt terrible.

I can't wait for them to call me and tell me that it's over with and that he's fine. I can't wait to see him this evening, either. The procedure was going to cost me about $40.00 to the vet because I got a certificate from the League of Animal Welfare... the certificate cost about $23.00, but that's still a pretty good deal. If anyone out there needs a pet fixed I'd get in touch with them... they really can help you out with the cost and truly that's something you should have done anyway. ... Well, my original point for delving into the cost was that I spent an extra $55.00 for bloodwork to make sure nothing unexpected went wrong again. I learned with the whole Ivermectin ordeal that it's better to be safe than sorry.

Well, before I left him I had to sign some stuff and the surgery tech who talked to me was awesome. She made me feel a lot better. I wanted to ask for a keepsake from his surgery, (like, oh... his nards in a jar or something), but I didn't. When I was a little kid I had a pretty little female dog who's name was Little Girl. Yes, and my brother's dog, (my dog's brother, also) - his name was Little Boy. Very creative, yes? Anyhoo, I still have her stitches from when she was spayed (which is pushing 20 years ago). Wow... I still miss her. Someone took her shortly after she was fixed, (but I'd had her for a long time)... and I never saw her again. *sigh*

Damn, I'm just done... I don't want to see where else this might go. Later, friends.

[Update:] Scooter's out of surgery - the doc called and said he's fine. I'm so relieved. 😀