February 27th

ANOTHER FINE MESS!

And, I did it all by myself.

A bit of background. I was at the vet's office three days this week. First with Durango, then Chester, then Durango again. Now, vet offices aren't exactly the most secretive of places. The receptionist answers the phone within earshot of clients waiting in the lobby. There is a sign in sheet on the counter with the name of everyone who's come in before. Conversations can be overheard. So, on day one I happened to catch a couple of keywords that made me curious, and I wanted to find out what had happened. On day two in a casual, grown up type of conversation I asked if the dog's name was XXX, and was told that it was YYY. Dog YYY was one that I had done the adoption for (with a rescue that I don't really work with anymore, although I'm still fostering one of their dogs). I related that bit of information, and was told a bit more of the story but no real details, just a quick, simple personal observation from a staff member who is always polite and friendly. In no way was anyone meaning to gossip, spread stories, talk out of school or be at all irresponsible.

Well, since I asked someone involved with the rescue who I thought was still in the inner circle if they knew anything more (I do think I had a legitimate reason to be concerned since I had been directly involved with the dog) somehow another person either was told or deduced that the people at the vet's office were gossiping about their business. So, some poor person at the office got yelled at without deserving the tongue lashing.

I don't think that it would do any good to try to explain it either, but I do wish that someone would apologize to whoever got yelled at. It really wasn't their fault. I was curious and concerned, I asked questions. Did anyone die? Well, anyone besides the dog I mean. Honestly, if I had thought I was doing anything wrong I wouldn't have been so open about asking questions, but I guess I misjudged some one's level of animosity.

My bad.

February 25th

IT APPEARS MY LUCKY STREAK HAS ENDED

I was doing so well at choosing shelter dogs that appeared to need expensive medical care and ended up not costing us anything. Willow-a young girl that the shelter thought had a torn ACL turned out to have Pano; basically "growing pains" that go away on their own. Missy-another young girl thought to have severe hip dysplasia turned out to have had a broken pelvis that is healing correctly.

Then there was Durango. Diarrhea? No problem, or so I thought. Poor guy, nothing is helping. We tried pancreatic enzymes, and his poop is the same. Some good poop days, some cow patty poop days. This is a good thing because the enzymes are expensive and very few people want to adopt a dog with a condition that is costly to manage, but bad because we still don't know what's wrong with him. Tomorrow he starts getting weekly B-12 shots to see if that will help him absorb nutrients and gain some weight.

And now Chester. The shelter called about a dog with a limp. (Bonus points if you figure out why I named him Chester.) Everyone thought it was either congenital (paw and lower leg are under developed) or an old injury. It's the latter-broken ulna 5-7 months ago, but he needs surgery (which might not even work) and still risks losing the leg.

Oh well. Batting .500 is not too bad.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SAY "HUH?"

I have an escrow account with my mortgage-I pay 1/12th of my taxes and insurance every month and then the lender makes those payments. They have to review the account every year and make adjustments to make sure you aren't overpaying and that there isn't a shortage. This year I had a surplus, so they sent me a check for $66.14, and then raised my monthly payment amount by $1 to avoid a shortage for next year. Gotta love the logic!

February 5th

YOU KNOW YOUR LIFE IS BORING WHEN...

...the most exciting thing you have to report is that you found gluten-free pretzels at Windmill Farms.

I haven't tried them yet. I found the pretzels after I had already grabbed unsweetened banana chips, raw cashews and dates, so I was overwhelmed by snack choices. Not to mention the bag of regular ol' Lays potato chips that I bought yesterday. I have really missed pretzels since I discovered that I can't eat wheat though. Maybe tomorrow I'll get the mustard out and have a pretzel-fest. Or maybe the p-nut butter. Pretzels and p-nut butter are a really good combination.