lest i forget...

the 8 days of jj:
day one: met in a parking lot. collected his stuff. posed for some adorable pictures. went to a park, walked through the woods, and onto a pebble beach. took it very slow on the walk back. jj had a blast - smiling and smiling... seemed like a happy little guy. he slept (and farted) the whole ride home. when we got to the house, he walked on in and puttered around like he already lived here. he briefly said hi to hobbes, and ignored the other kitties. didn't eat much. i chalked it up to an exciting day and new surroundings. slept like a log.
day two: fought over taking pills at breakfast. barely ate, except for some turkey dogs. went to work to meet "the pack". offended poor betty (the boss dog) by pointedly ignoring her when she tried to intimidate him. puttered around the yard and staked out his spot by the back door. ate even less. had some icky poo. fought over taking pills again with dinner.
day three: jj showed his little attitude with morning pills. after i had the pill in his mouth, and was holding it closed so he would swallow, he started coughing. so i had to let go, and he spit out the pill. the look he gave me! it said, "ha ha" plain as anything. then, after he finished coughing and i was about ready to start fighting again, he ate up the pill from off the floor. again, "ha ha".
days four, and five: went to work. slept, played, came inside when it rained, puttered around the yard some more. on day four jj learned how to fetch, and actually ran a few times.
day six: saturday. napped most of the day. went for a couple of short walks in the rain. threw up friday's lunch and everything he'd eaten since then. took more naps.
day seven: napped most of the day. threw up everything. wagged his tail when we went out for walks. had "empty ketchup bottle" diarrhea. started shaking in his sleep about 8:30 at night. kept shaking even after i woke him up. went to the hospital. got x-rays. got fluids. got anti-nausea meds. left the poor dude in a kennel overnight so he wouldn't have access to food or water - so he wouldn't throw up.
day eight: drank a little bit. went outside. puttered around. didn't play, but watched the other dogs running around like idiots. got more fluids and a blood panel. went for a car ride to buy chicken for trying to get him to eat. he wasn't interested in the chicken. started breathing strangely about 9:30pm - rapid and shallow. gave me the "help me" eyes and leaned in for lovings. he hadn't done that before. i tried to calm him down, distract him with a walk. he liked the walk, but his breathing didn't get any better. i called emergency, brought him in, told him he was a good boy. we x-rayed again. diagnosis: system failure. so we let him go.

reasons to celebrate

went by the new house. it's not complete yet (still). it smells new and clean and exciting. it feels raw and unused. i can't wait to fill it up with hope and dreams and events and memories. also critters. scoping out where to put the cattery. picturing the huckleberry cookies i'll have to bake almost right away, since the huckles in the yard are ripening fast. breathing the ocean breeze and loving it.
tried out for the community theatre group's set of christmas plays. was cast in two. i get to play hillbilly cora belle, whose maw is set on marryin' up with a mean ole polecat. then i get to be della, newlywed new yorker who sells her hair to get her dear jim a watch chain for christmas. the part of jim is still open. first read-through is on wednesday night.
i embarrassed myself in front of the entire invited community at the annual cardboard boat race today. my team definitely had our boat done the quickest. we had a plan and we executed it well. our design was based off the southern illinois university's physics program's best boat. hence we thought it would float well. "they" gave us paddles, but my paddle was too long, so i started using my hands. then the boat shipped water and i tipped out. i tried to swim and drag the thing, but it turned into soggy dead weight really fast. so that didn't happen. the water was not as cold as i expected. and i was able to tell the emcee that i was thinking of him when i put on the burro hat... good times.
i have critters. i have more than i probably should, and i barely have the time they need, especially with the new sick old guy. but they are so incredible. they greet me. they hang out with me. they wash themselves and i get lost in the zen of it all. then they balance it out by vomitting on the floor and such. so i have to laugh, clean it up, and move on. critters...
the sky is amazing today. it's every color sky can be: golden, blue, silvery white, and misty grey. the wind is fresh, the air is almost tangy. i love living near the ocean!
the breaker-inners did not take my music. i have cds and a cd player and i can hear/sing all i want. i can hum, dance, and chicken head right along to whatever i want.
i have a car! and a bicycle! means to escape when i need to. means to feel free and capable. means to do things for myself and others.
i have the ability to make choices. i decide what to do and when to do it. i make plans and keep 'em or break 'em as i see fit. the power of choice is amazing and i know so many people take it for granted. i love being able to say yes, no, probably, or probably not. and which one i say is up to me.
massage. 'nuff said.
food! the amazing variety of it. the different types, styles, tastes, textures, combinations... yesterday went from bagels with leftover gravy to strawberry chocolate tea (yes, chocolate tea, and it was incredible!). i have so much, and so many ways to use it. and sometimes out here, there is wild food, sitting around outside, for free. also, lately, several people have loaded me up with a variety of foodstuffs and enabled me to not shop, for which i am very grateful.
the outdoors and exercise. i don't mean lifting weights in a gym. i mean going out and doing something, moving, feeling, using the body to get something done. it feels good. more, it feels great.
humans! my greatest frustration. also a reason to go out and be me - so i can be around them. because, being a social animal, i want to hang out with 'em. and sometimes it's worthwhile.
sleep. wonderful, refreshing, good-for-me. ahhhhhhhh.
telephones and internet - means of communication with the outside world. yay, technology!
and that's the list right now.

today, today. started with a cancelled surgery - cancelled about an hour after the patient was supposed to have been dropped off, but hey. so there was a gap in the morning schedule. then there was an emergency cancerous bleeder right after lunch and that turned into emergency surgery that took up most of the afternoon, and even after all that the poor guy didn't make it. just in case anyone else's pet suddenly collapses from a cancer-thing. no, you did not do anything wrong. no, you couldn't have known. there was no way anyone could have known without taking x-rays, and why would you do that if he's acting normal? no, you are not to blame. please, grieve for his loss, yes, but don't take it out on yourself.
and then the day was over. and i brought the dogs home and walked over to pick up a bicycle and a mystery gift - which turned out to be large pieces of carpet. which i can use to put on shelves that i plan to bracket to the walls of my new place for cat fun. joy!
then there came the issue of getting the carpet home. enter ingenuity and bungee cords! the carpet (rolled up) fit pretty well crosswise over the baskets behind the bike seat, and voila! so i pedaled home oh-so-carefully, and finally relaxed when i made it home with nary a spill. i hid the carpet in the car so the cats don't tear it up just yet. and the purple bicycle (with handlebar streamers!) is sitting in my house taunting me about my current lack of camera.

"nothing much" happened today

by nothing much i mean that early this morning my bank called because the stupid resort at mt. hood went ahead and put a "hold" on my entire bank account when i gave them my card at check in (the room was supposedly prepaid, and they said they just needed the info in case i watched pay-per-view or something). so i got to sort that out.
i also introduced jj to the dog pack at work. things went well. he and the little corgi mix have a thing for each other. so that's really cute.
then someone asked me to run a key down to the car detailing shop during my lunch break. so i walked around town. it was nice to get out. because i still had to clean off my desk when i got back to work.
we got to hospitalize a dog who got heat exhaustion from playing too hard at the beach, which meant the vet assistants were busy with her, so i got to play assistant and check in some patients. got bit by a 16 year old cat with probable kidney failure. that was all kinds of fun. and we had oreo cake because it's this intern's last day here. so that meant tricia brought in some kittens for the intern to take home with her (the left behind kitten and a foster brother).
the oreo cake was yum.
both teddy and jj made friends with a neighbor kid on the way home, and then i ate masses of french fries.
and that's pretty much the "uneventful" day i had (so far).

missing update

so a couple posts ago i mentioned the free concert. well, i went on down to the casino, and there wasn't any parking. i've been getting spoiled by small town life long enough that i hadn't even considered the possibility of that being a problem. after driving around the parking lot for a while, it became clear that nothing was going to open up until after the concert. fine. it was out on the beach anyway, and the beach is considered state highway, so i just had to get out on the nearest beach access and drive on up, right? which is all well and good until one gets stuck in the sand. got out just fine, but by that point i figured the concert was just not meant to be and i went home. some concert-goers stopped by afterwards and said it was pretty good and then we stayed up late playing mad-libs. love that game!
that was last weekend, but since i didn't update about it then, i went ahead and snuck it in today.

golly he's cute!

sooooo many things i forgot to mention

like flirting outrageously with drunken old dudes at the golf course. and the fact that my undies weren't just scattered, they were apparently used in an impure manner. and the carpet steamer is gone. but they left all the cds. and i went through my stuff and discovered that my best weapon is a claw hammer, so i slept with that and the phone, just in case.
also, i got up early and drove to lacey to get my new dog today. jj is an older sheltie (estimates range from 8-13 years) with pending kidney and liver failure and a newly diagnosed heart condition, besides the multiple fatty tumors, horrible teeth, formerly broken and improperly healed front leg, and having been shut up as a puppy mill gigolo for the last however many years. also, he has scars all over his face and there's a piece of his tongue missing. and he farts like it's going out of style. i learned this on the car ride home. and even with all that baggage, he turns out to be a model citizen. likes everyone, potties appropriately (so far), has not bothered any kitties (balloon is sleeping on the floor not far away from him right now).
and, as if enough weird stuff didn't happen to me:
when i got to the casino in lacey where i was to meet jj's foster mom, someone i know from out here was waiting there with a dog that's being given to a rescue group up north, and they'd arranged the same exchange point. maybe we should've carpooled...

goodness gracious me

as if i didn't have enough going on anyway! so i went to a resort at mt. hood for a few days for a work conference. the resort is usually awesome (been there before) but of course, since the boss wasn't there with her magic credit card, the rooms for which we had prepaid (and yes, i did double check) were not prepaid after all, and they somehow erased her credit card information in between the time they verified that they had it and the time the rooms needed to be paid for. so that was a big mess. add to it that the booking was messed up and someone had to sleep on a couch, and that the rooms didn't have microwaves (we'd been told they would and packed food accordingly). and then when we showed up for the first morning of workshops, the front desk staff pointed us (and anyone else who asked where our group's breakfast was) to their main dining room for breakfast, instead of the free breakfast upstairs in the conference room. so we had a loooooooot of not-so-happy campers about all that. the conference itself was pretty good, learned a lot of stuff, and all that, except that on morning 2 i got to be involved in several phone calls regarding that my house had been broken into while i was gone. literally. the door was kicked in. my kitty-sitter and the boss got someone to fix the door so they could at least lock it until i got home. great. so then i'm sitting through 2 more days of conference wondering what to expect when i get back. at least i knew the cats were ok. they told me to call the cops when i get home and give 'em some more details.
so i got home a little after 9:30 (a nice drive, if a bit too long), called the police, and had a couple of officers drop by to help me sort it out. they tried to get some fingerprints, but that was a no-go. they checked next door (my first suspicion) and found some maybe helpful info. maybe. i'm supposed to call 911 if i hear anything over there.
whoever it was that broke in took the ps2, rock band (gasp!), my digital camera, video camera, and book of dvds. also, for some reason, they took the carpet steamer. but not my laptop. super weird. also, quite disgustingly i think, my underwear drawer was pretty much emptied and is currently spread all over the floor. i think i feel like buying all new underwear. iggghhh.
and to think i was hoping for a nice early night and some decent rest before i have to head out again tomorrow morning.
tonight's good news is that it's teddy's last night as an only dog, and tomorrow we get to go meet jj in olympia to bring him home. such as it is.
after i go buy more water and kitty litter. after i sleep.

gearing up for the weekend

i added meatless meatballs to my mac'n'stuff today. excellent choice, if i do say so myself! seriously dosed hobbes with hairball remedy, and he's not puked yet today (knock on wood). speaking of wood - i need to get rid of one tall (cheap) bookshelf. and some plastic drawers. and some books. i'm thinking the paws garage sale...
and i got the email back (finally!!) that li'l jj is all set to join my pack this weekend. now i'm waiting for a phone call from the person who's driving him out here so we can coordinate all that. and word on the street is that i'd better go to the free christian kane beach concert tomorrow because, hey, it's free! and it's on the beach! and it's tomorrow! and what else am i doing? besides getting set up for a new dog and going to town and going to paws and giving a dog shots and sorting and packing and having a sleepover party with a friend and her two teenage neices...
boy, i hope the concert is fun!

sold the guitar!

yay! one item down, a bunch to go. i conserved funds by eating in today (leftover twice baked yum). then i went and visited the place one more time to confirm that yes, i do want to live in a beach cabin. then i stopped by the realty office with a check. i confirmed that i will indeed be given a cattery...ok, ok, a dog run for use at the new place. then i helped rescue a large, wet, stinky dog that was wandering around in "traffic" (three cars present). dropped him off at the city shelter. then i went to paws. there's a new dog there, and she's pregnant. they're talking about letting her have the puppies because "puppies are easy to adopt out". not sure how comfortable i am with that. nice dog though.
and teddy smells like urine again, despite having been given a bath on sunday.
starting to compile a list of things i'll need to get/purchase for the new place:
curtains
shelves/chunks of carpeting for making cat perches
machete
a few throw rugs
wooden things for shadow to scratch in lieu of door frames
a mop
bricks/rocks/etc. for building a firepit and reinforcing the bottom of the cattery
a shovel
(eventually) a storage shed
and i'm posting the list because if it's not online, doubtless i'll forget where i left it.
silly me.

announcing the help linda move shopping event!

so i'm realizing that i've got to scrape together lots of money really fast, and i'm realizing that i'm gonna have to pare down significantly in order to fit all my stuff in a beach cabin, and i'm realizing that maybe these two chores don't have to be mutually exclusive...
so, verlee gets dibs on the carpet steamer, but if that falls through, here's what i've got:

bissel carpet steamer - $100
ibanez bass guitar (black) with amp/cords/book - $200
stand up punching bag (water-fill base) - $150
minimally used singer sewing machine, thread, extra needles, etc. - $100
assorted fabrics/craft items - $20
assorted nerf dart guns/extra darts - $30
jvc digital mini camcorder w/battery/case/cords, etc. - $100

and that's all i can think of right now. let me know if anyone's interested.
and if anyone has any side work that needs doing over the next few weekends, i'm up for some manual labor in exchange for a few bucks.

remember to drink water!

woke up early today. this is happening with greater and greater frequency, and i'm getting more done around the house. so today became pick on teddy day. we trimmed toenails and foot fur and bum fur and took a bath (tried out a new shampoo)... poor dude was not happy at all. he's a good sport though. and i went for a nice long walk, past a condo i was considering that has just sold (it looked too apartment-y inside anyway). so then there was napping, a trip to give insulin, and a watching of son in law. and that's pretty much the day. besides the fact that i didn't drink enough. so the head is complaining. some blog post, huh?

i left out sooooo many things

so last week i also went to a writers' workshop (fourth friday of every month, 6:30pm, at the library). we critiqued a very inventive children's story, an intro chapter to a nonfictional murder drama, and a selection of pieces from what might eventually become my book on small town life. i didn't get much critique besides that the title didn't work.
i also pow-wowed with the person who is going to be neil's new mom. he went out for a visit the week before, and it went well. i gave her some tips and dental treats. also some of the zucchini baked ziti (i said i made a lot of it!). sounds like they'll be a great home for him - out in the middle of nowhere, a dad to walk him to the beach and in the woods and all that. plus, it means he'll be local and i can see him sometimes when there aren't children around...
and, kind of weird to post in the same post as what is happening to my former dog, but i got an email back from old dog haven, and all signs point to my getting my second sheltie any day now! teddy will be sooooo excited to have a brother.
and further speaking of critter stuff, yesterday balloon didn't want his hairball goo, so he dodged and squirmed, so in addition to getting some in his mouth, he also got it all over his fur (face head, neck, shoulders). and he couldn't reach all of those spots easily to clean them off. enter teddy, who looooves the hairball goo. who hadn't, up to that point, "kissed" any of the kitties. i held balloon still and called teddy over. teddy sniffed, balloon stiffened up, and then balloon got a bath. after a minute, he relaxed a little bit - maybe he figured out what was going on. either way, he's not sticky anymore and teddy got a treat.
i went to paws today to help out with the cat adoption day - two of tricia's fosters went together to a new home - with a local family! and chester isn't a kitty, but he had people interested in him anyway, so they filled out an application. and i ate several cookies and visited with several kitties and a bunny named snickers. and i got a new entry for the calendar contest. and i discovered that i want some autumn crocus flowers at my new house. shoot, i want lots of things, but first i gotta get a house.
...i fell almost in love with a house. almost. it's tiny. it's brand new. it's got tons of windows and a deck most of the way around and a space for a firepit in the back, and a decent sized lot with huckleberry bushes and garden space, and no carpets at all and real tile in the bathroom. but it is tiny. as in, if i count the loft that isn't done being added in yet, the place will be 6-700 square feet. like i said: tiny. but very, very nice. so i have to think about it. quality over quantity, y'know? plus, i've been promised a dog run and given a doggie door (just today) which i could utilize as an outdoor cattery (and a place to put litter boxes!!). so i have to think. lack of space vs. a brand new house...

a whole week!

eeek! how do i fit a whole week into one post?!?
last weekend i "relaxed" hardcore. after spending the morning cleaning my house, i spent hours in the kitchen making masses of zucchini baked ziti and then went out to a movie on saturday, then stargazed on my roof (there were some meteors). slept in on sunday, and was late to church. was made even later by giving someone a ride home, but hey, i'm sure doing a good deed outweighs attending services in the long run. so then i went to part of church. and then i took a nap when i got home. and then i went for a walk on the beach. and then i watched a movie at home on the dog bed, which i've now put up on the futon, which makes the mattress not nearly as easy to feel bars through. so then i really didn't sleep well and went to work tired as anything on monday. urg. and then the bank called during my lunch break to let me know i have up to $100k to spend on a house. yay! i just need to come up with $3000 more than i had on monday. urg. so i shall be eating ramen and drinking water for the next couple of months while that adds up. in the meantime, i gave my realtor a list of gotta haves, a list of really wanna haves, and a list of would be nices, and he's already nixed one house due to excessive mold. no mold was on the gotta haves, since i can't breathe if there's mold in the house. yeah, i'm into breathing. it happens. so now we're down to three houses for me to check out this weekend. anyway, so that was tuesday. so wednesday was short and sweet. we had a vendor rep from purina come out and tell us about their new thing: project pet slim down. i've probably already made mention of the fact that twilight is a very fat kitty... so now she's on the program. all the boys love her new diet food. she's less enthusiastic about it, but hey, maybe that's how she'll lose some weight. so she's on the OM diet for 90 days and i'm supposed to make sure i use the laser pointer every day to get her some exercise. also, the food is practically free, which doesn't hurt in the trying to save a down payment arena. so after the free pizza lunch and meeting, i lugged home a giant bag of cat food and headed out to aberdeen before trucking back to paws and getting filthied up by the dogs there. elbe, tank, and chester all played and ran and wrestled together, while jake (the big goofball) had to play by himself in the gravel pen because recent surgeries aren't allowed to play in the mud. also, he and elbe continue to try to kill each other. silliness! chester is incredible - he used to live quietly in an apartment with a single lady who took him on daily walks and trained him to behave in the house. he loves so much to run and play chase with the other dogs, and he's so fast and agile - i am amazed that he was able to do so well in an apartment as an only dog, considering he's only about 10 months old. that pup needs a family with kids and at least one other dog!
so speaking of one other dog... teddy had so much fun when april was at our house being babysat, that i commented to a few people how much he would love to have another dog around, but that i shouldn't due to lack of funding. enter my boss' friend allison, who sent my boss an urgent plea from old dog haven a few months ago that resulted in my boss' adoption of betty...
so that same friend called my boss with the request that, if she knows anyone who likes shelties, there is one who needs a "final refuge" (basically hospice home) and the group is willing to pay for his medical expenses. he just needs a place to be and a human/dog/other critter family to love him. bingo! so my boss "casually" mentions little j.j. to me, and wonders if i'm interested. "casually". within an hour they had my completed final refuge home application and an email practically begging them to let me take the li'l guy. and then i waited. because someone had a couple of days off. so friday was pretty much a limbo day - i'm waiting to go look at houses, waiting for my bank account to get bigger, waiting to hear back from old dog haven, oh, and two different families asked me to help give insulin shots to their diabetic pets while they're on vacation. so this morning i went over to shonda's house to scope it out, and i get to start going over there twice a day on sunday to pick on her (poor li'l pooch). and then in the beginning of october i'll get to pick on two kitty siblings who both get insulin. that'll be fun...
so i got back from shonda's house, intending to take a shower and get ready for the cat adoption day at paws, where i'm expecting to promote the pet photo calendar contest. but there was an email! from old dog haven! and they'd love to talk to me more, and probably hook me up with a j.j.! so then i got all excited and wanted to tell the world, but i couldn't exactly skip the whole week of what i've been up to, so here you go.
now i'm gonna get ready for paws.

thank goodness it's finally... something

fryday frosh freshening flush. not the hugest fan of the way things sloshed around today. went to work. had to leave work to go get the paws dog because someone else slept in. took a helper again because he's huge. he and elbe were still trying to eat each other. got all filthied up and exhausted wrestling the beast in to the office, giving him drugs, and kenneling him up. woof! then started working. spent the lunch break shopping for a glue stick that (after i got back to the office) turned out to be all dried out and useless. so thank goodness for tricia who had some double-sided tape so i could finish making a poster for the calendar contest.
skipped lunch, and thus ate way too many of anja's chocolate chip pecan cookies. the afternoon was tense, punctuated by tension, and interrupted by emergency situations and awkward situations. the last two patients of the day were both after hours emergencies, and one of them didn't make it. so then, after all that, i got to take the big doofus back to paws, where he and elbe resumed trying to eat each other. the best part of the day happened next: horses! i got to stop off at the nan-sea stables for a few minutes of peace and bliss. i met a tennessee walker named daisy and an arab named rain man and breathed easily, probably for the first time today.
then i went back to the office to pick up my teddy and the poster, which i had to deliver to the elks lodge for the clam diggers rod run (tomorrow). talked to a couple of clients there, and discussed a potential home for bella mama. oh, i hope it works out!
made it home and didn't have enough cream cheese for the bagel. one more trip out to the store, and then on to clean up the three (yes, three) piles of cat vomit, and one cat turd that someone (...hobbes?!?...) had so kindly left all over my house.
another plus to today is that i'm listening to the jimmy eat world cd i finally got to replace the one i burned up. there are still so many cds to buy, but it is nice to remember. this cd's place in time is when i had first moved to san diego and played it in the car when i went to hang out with genessy in chula vista, and then played over and over again while commuting to and from work at hollywood video. i do miss san diego. sigh.
and i don't want to put off until tomorrow the things i should do (like dishes) so i'm putting them off by dinking around online instead.

the day started early

days starting early do not generally bode well. it means i am giving up some of my oh-so-precious sleep. today's sleep loss happened because i had agreed to pick up a very large dog from paws and bring him to work so that he could be neutered today. so. i picked up my helper all bright and early, and off we went. only to find that the dog had been fed! (despite large notes requesting that this not happen). see, if a dog has food in its tummy, we can't do anesthesia. so there went a wasted trip, a wasted chunk of scheduling at my office, and a waste of missing out on sleep. i really wish i was allowed to "fire" volunteers who can't/don't read notes or follow instructions. blah! so i started to mellow out by late morning, when our euthanasia appointment showed up. i choked and nearly hurled right there in the lobby. i have never seen a dog in such horrible condition. ever. the poor thing was an absolute skeleton except for one massive tumor or a ham leg. he could barely hobble, but the poor trooper still tried to wag his tail. tried, and it was a pathetic attempt. and it was his loving owner who brought him in. this poor, emotionally distraught man who had allowed his best friend to become so miserable before helping him out. i was torn between hugging and strangling the poor man. so i took the dog. took him and weighed him (he'd lost 40 pounds in a few months) and told him we would make it as quick as possible. and we did. and the poor guy finally isn't hurting any more. and we all choked back our tears and tried to be strong for li'l "butch".
and then i got to deal with the woman who cancelled her dog's spay appointment because she had heard that she could get it done cheaper through a paws voucher. yeah. but see, i'm in charge of issuing paws vouchers, and i don't give them to people who can afford to purchase a purebred puppy and just don't feel like shelling out a few more dollars to ensure she doesn't reproduce. i save 'em for people who take in a mutt off the street and have been saving up to get some vaccines.
and then i got to meet up with a kind foster soul who had poor elbe (former paws dog) dumped on her with the lie that paws refused to take him back. i don't know why the adoptive owners felt like they needed to lie or avoid giving elbe back to people who love him and will find him a new home, but hey. so i got to check him back in to the shelter after work. he has some kennel rage issues and set off the big new dog (who did not get neutered today). so after i set up elbe's kennel, i spent a good 20 minutes wrestling the big guy until he stopped trying to attack his gate. poor idiot. he's just a big galoot who would behave if he had any idea how.
and i gave up counting today the number of people who wanted advice, but not medicine, or wanted medicine but refused an exam (how do we know what medicine is appropriate without the vet examining an animal? my crystal ball is broken).
which reminds me, that, although my cats have broken a total of one glass thing ever (that i can recall) for some reason today was shatter day, and i lost both a drinking glass and a little vase to some kitty shenanigan. there were little shatters all over my counter, sink, floor, chair... and i'm sure i'll find some more as time goes on. wonder what happened.
and i'm sure i forgot some stuff, but i finished my bowl of leftover alfredo, so i'm gonna go to bed now.

elegies and such

death, death, and passing. that parting is being sweet sorrow for sure these last few days. patients, family of friends. not so close to me that i'm grieving, but close enough that i'm touched. i feel for those in sorrow now, and i forsee my own sorrow as i recognize the mortality of my loved ones.
be good to people! be considerate of life. don't waste time, effort, or hurt inflicting pain on others, when who knows what they may already battle inside.
one friend just learned about her own cancer. one suddenly had a whole torn in her family by an unexpected passing. one has just lost his loyal friend of the last 12 years, and tells me that he can't bear to go home to an empty house. does paws, he wonders, have another senior cat to whom he can offer some love? another is trying to say goodbye while her sweet, sweet emma has just days left before her kidneys give out. another just survived major surgery only to have heart trouble start up while still in the hospital. another struggles to bring her friend the last few paces so he can collapse in an exam room and we can open the door to end his pain. some tourists call about an injured seagull on the beach. one client opens up to another in my lobby about losing her son in afghanistan. so much pain, and so much easier to bear when shared.
so, a challenge. take some pain. wear part of the burden of someone else, whether you know them, or better if not. what a lift for them, and what an amazing sharing for you. i'm touched, but not grieving, and all of these have some support.
"cause it won't be long, til i'm gonna need somebody to lean on."
rest in peace, those who have gone, and rest in peace, for tonight at least, everyone who is left.

running on the beach

to clarify: when i say "run", i really mean run some, jog some, walk slowly gasping for breath some. i have hopes that the proportions of each activity will change as i progress with more of these "runs". it has been a while since i've run in sand. it's been a while since i was barefoot outdoors, thanks to the cold weather interspersed with ridiculously hot days here and there. today was perfect running weather. cool, cloudy, misty, but not too windy. so while i ran, i focused on not stepping on broken crab shells and whatnot. while i jogged, i noticed the vechicles that were passing me (mostly suvs, the occasional low rider with an insanely loud sub woofer, and one electrical car with bright blue hubcaps). while i walked, i noticed the people i passed (families, people walking dogs, couples with their arms around each other, and one poor tourist whose rental moped kept getting stuck in the soft sand). lots of the vehicles that went by trailed both exhaust and cigarette smoke, so i was grateful for the ocean breeze.
i tried to chase a flock of seagulls, but the darn things kept landing in soft sand, and it took forever to chase them. so they pretty much walked away from me with a few random flutters. i said hello to a few of the people. i tried to help out the lady whose moped fell over while she was pushing it over a sand drift. i felt the mist on my face, my hair, my jacket. i thought about living here, buying a house here, and being a settled part of this place. i like the way i'm thinking.
i also like the fact that i have "magic" muscle relaxing cream with msm at my house so that maybe my calves won't absolutely kill me tomorrow while i try to work.
then i enjoyed my hot shower, ate a whole pan of rhodes white rolls and drank a smoothie.

the birthday boy

balloon is 8 today! my sweet, sweet li'l guy i've had since he was a sickly, scraggly baby kitten is now a senior citizen! doesn't act like it though. we celebrated with tuna and mackerel and now he's napping. in fact, i think all the critters are napping. what's with that? i'd better go join them.

you-nique-ness

someone just called me "special, as in macaroni and cheese crayon special". but i really had to stop and think about that one, because macaroni and cheese is the brightest crayon in the box.
plus, i already know i am unique and special, just like everybody else.

rubmly in the tumbly

so i wasted the japanese food and giant popsicle last night. urg. wonder what set off the pyro-tummy-technics. feeling better now except for allergies and ridiculous heat. it is literally 30 degrees warmer today than it was 2 days ago. i went from jammies under the scrubs and still needing a jacket to goodness i wish i had more fans in the house. and for some reason the heat seems to trigger the pollen and whatnot to come after me... so i went on a kleenex run. made it to the store while sneezing. held the nose while i rushed to where kleenex are kept. tore into a box and (totally uncharictaristically of me) used one before i bought them. although under normal circumstances i consider it rude to, say, open a drink before purchasing, i think the store personnel probably appreciated that i sneezed into the tissue multiple times, instead of all over their store. also, they are out of the reduced price gatorade, and i find it very difficult to pay full price for something i used to get for extremely cheap (32oz for 50 cents!). so i got water.
and i need to go back to work for a bit to catch up on some things, but i can't bear the idea of going out in this heat again, so i'll probably do that this evening. until then - blah! but i did get more of the red-white-and-blue rocketship popsicles.

"nobody would abuse a bichon"

a woman walked into my office yesterday and stated that she wished to make a complaint. i asked her what her complaint was. she said that she was angry someone from my office had called animal control on her, and that she wanted the vet to know she was angry about it. i told her i was the one who called, and that i got the vet's consent to do so after (two weeks ago) she had told us that her dog had "a broken leg" but that she refused to do anything for its care besides giving it aspirin (which we strongly advised against because it is very bad for dogs). she stated that we should know better because her dog is a bichon and "nobody would abuse a bichon". i said that was totally untrue. she then shared with us that she had to give up her own drinking habit to take care of her dog. we wondered how she was "taking care of" her dog without seeking medical attention for the broken leg. she admitted that she didn't know for sure if the leg was broken or not because she did not have it x-rayed. i told her that was why we called animal control - we were told an animal was in pain, and nothing was being done for the fact besides, basically, poisoning the dog with aspirin. she fumed that she would "not come back here". i told her that was fine, and she left.
so then later that evening, while i was out walking teddy and the oh-so-adorable fraidy cat lab april, we were interrupted by loud barking. specifically by a heeler mix whose owner was also struggling to control two other dogs. she dropped two leashes, and the heeler attacked teddy right in front of my house. i've never kicked a dog on purpose before, but i let that little guy have it. he still kept trying to get teddy, while teddy kept trying to evade him. in the meantime, april tried to run, slipped her collar, and took off. and i still had this little bastard heeler trying to eat my teddy. so i went after him. i barked and snarled and yelled at him and finally stomped on his leash so i could drag him back to his owner. all this while, the other loose dog (probably a 90 pound shaggy mutt) was halfheartedly trying to get in on the action. i had to yell and swing at him a couple of times before he backed off. if i hadn't had to run after april, this would be the time when i would have had some choice words to the owner about, among other things, not controlling a vicious dog. but i had to run after april. a black dog, at night, tearing around in fear, in the vicinity of the "main drag" in town. i was terrified that she'd be hit by a car and i'd have to call her owner (also, since the cowboy left, there is no vet in town until monday). but oh, she is as good as gold and just ran to the office and waited at the door, hoping to be let in. what a smart doggie! and oh, the relief! so by the time we got back to my house, the bad dog, owner, and other two dogs had disappeared. i guess that's a good thing, since it was more important to get the scared dogs inside than to yell at some random stranger. i hope they walk a different route from now on.
not that i didn't have some good things happen yesterday. i had japanese-ish food again (tempura veggies this time, and no fortune cookie). i had a giant popsicle. i got to laugh my guts out when, as the vet in bluejeans was eating lunch at the pirates cove, some of the ladies at the bar asked out loud if that was the eye candy all us girls had been talking about. then one of the ladies decided her cat must be sick. then they started telling the vet dirty jokes. he took it all very well.
the weather was awesome yesterday, and it's even better today. blue skies, warm air, not much wind. smell of the ocean. ahhhhhh.
and i should probably go start some laundry.

vet in bluejeans

so i mentioned that our relief vet was a cowboy... he really wore the boots to work. and jeans. and a great attitude. we had a pretty good workday, followed by most of us heading over to the pirates cove for some fried foods (etc.).
tricia brought a couple of the babies to work (the left behind kitten and big foster brother grey). our intern will be adopting them, and taking them back up to seabeck at the end of her internship. the little squirt is "terribly cute". and the two kittens together (one about twice the size of the other)... soooooo adorable.
also today, we managed to get a foster home for chester, a little mixed-breed dog who's been stopping by to say hi on his daily walks. his mom had to give him up due to a family situation, and suddenly a foster home fell into our laps (thanks to michelle). and i finally got ahold of the person we want to end up as his adoptive mom. and she's interested. so tomorrow i get to coordinate getting them together to meet. oh i hope this works!

still no word

i know i've mentioned in this blog before how i chafe under the thumb of limbo. and i'm still waiting to hear from the bank what my house budget is. waiting...
in the meantime, i've been trying to keep busy: went to town, cooked real japanese food for the first time in, probably, at least a couple of years, had a play date with teddy and another dog (she's coming over for a sleepover party this weekend). speaking of dogs, there is only one lonely dog at the paws shelter right now. poor tank just wants to be a good boy, but he is still young and has a hard time restraining his impulses, plus he's a very big boy. so today we worked on not jumping up on people and going where he is told to go without having to be dragged. someday he will be the awesomest dog, if people will just keep working with him. and he's such a handsome boy too...
which (for some reason) reminds me that, while my boss is out of town the next couple of days, our relief vet is a recently relocated cowboy from montana. appointments are open: go ahead and call the office in the morning! (remember to bring your pet).
and, since i'm mentioning work stuff, there is a pet photo calendar contest going on here as a fundraiser for my romania trip and other world vets stuff. photo entries are $5, and votes are $1 each. the pet with the most votes will be our cover model, and the 12 runners-up will be featured in our 2011 "beauties of the beach" calendar. we hope this to be the first annual event. so if you want to contribute to the worldwide spay/neuter effort, but don't live locally or don't have a pet, just vote for the cutest face on the website! easy as pie. mmmmmm. pie.
maybe i'm not so stuffed from the yakisoba after all...

hellooooo, monday

see, i was not kidding about the giant monster potatoes (next to a normal-sized mug for reference):
headache, headache, headache, and a sore throat to boot! bless excedrin, gatorade, and anja with her shoulder muscle loosening skills, for reduction of the headache. wish i could say bless something for reduction of the darn sore throat. blah.

on the up-note, i got my bumper stickers from cafe press today: "can't feed them, don't breed them" and "please don't litter, spay or neuter your critters" also a couple of army ones (just for fun).

also on the up-note, the new color printer has arrived at my office. now i just need time to set it up. maybe tomorrow?

again also on the up-note, i have just placed a giant monster potato in the oven for future consumption.

didn't blog yesterday

should have. i did just about everything else yesterday: laundry, dishes, walking the dog, eating an entire 6-pack of bagels in less than 24 hours, vacuuming, repairing the vacuum, feeding animals, scooping cat litter, oh, and then it was 11am so i had to start getting ready for the open house at work. so i got all showered and dressed up and headed on over across the street. a huge thanks to my coworkers who had updated my poster with a photo of teddy instead of the ex (i don't have a printer right now).
so then i set up the x-ray machine and took my first ever x-ray all by myself. it was awesome: the teddy bear had "eaten" a binder clip! several open house attendees were amused by this. the ocean shores pirates provided us some snack trays, and sleeping bear studio brought us punch. the cake was purchased at safeway: chocolate with raspberry filling and some cool congratulatory decoration on top.
attendance was great. we were busy the whole time and gave lots of tours. four of the six kittens tricia's been fostering have found tentative homes from attendees. many people took flyers about the pet photo contest (www.OSAHPetPhotos.blogspot.com) and we got a few world vets donations. all in all a successful couple of hours. very tiring though.
and bless miss betty if she didn't stop by the open house with something else i needed to sign for the prequal. i should find out my price range in a few days, and then i'm giving the realtor a call.

friday of less-than-blissfulness

ok, so i can't get that house. the bank says that, due to the condition of the house (lack of working bathroom, etc.) it would require a construction loan, which would, in turn, require at least 20% down. whoopsie! no usda rural on that one. so i have to find a house that is ready for move-in. which means less bang for the buck since those fixer-uppers are such awesome deals.
and, as opposed to finishing work on time and running either to the bank or the outlet store before they closed, we were held up by an emergency surgery and trying to clean up for the open house since both assistants and the intern were busy with surgery prep and whatnot. i got to finally take off at about 7:30, only to be called back in about 45 minutes later. the dog is doing ok though.
and darn it all if i didn't just decide that i deserve more bagels for all that. so i ran down to the store, and now my toaster has been in use again. mmmmmm - high point of the day!
and i'm still coughing. oddly enough, this morning, so was teddy. so he spent the day at home stealing more cat food (yesterday's dog food is still in his dish). so we'll have to work on that. the cats were all upset and yowly when i got home since their food silo thingy was empty.
did i mention that hobbes has decided 5:30 am is a great time for me to wake up?

more bagels, please!

for michelle's birthday, my boss and i decided to have a bagel breakfast. so i bought bagels (blueberry and everything) and cream cheese (strawberry and tomato/basil). so i had these items at my house overnight with the bagel toaster. it was torturous. i was oh so close to just opening the darn things and apologizing in the morning, but with willpower, and going to bed early, i was able to pull through. so the next morning was epic, fabulous, delicious, and just plain yum. so was later that afternoon. so was this morning. it seems that i shall be purchasing more bagels and bringing the toaster back home. oh, the goodness!
also, i've been volunteered to join a cardboard boat contest at the paddle the shores event on september 19th. a team of four people from my office will be given a supply of cardboard, 3 rolls of tape, and 1 hour to construct a boat. then one silly schmuck from the team (this will probably be me) gets to paddle the boat in a race against other silly schmucks. i've offered to wear my donkey hat for the occasion. after all, how many opportunities does one get in which wearing a donkey hat is not the silliest of the activities in which one is participating?

mishmash of a day

betty at the bank is awesome. just wanted to start with that. she took what i gave her, pointed out that my end-shredded w-2s are "... uhhh, pretty"(fluffs edges), and told me she'd see what she could do about getting me a loan. in the meantime, while i was waiting to talk to her, the other 3 ladies at the bank all greeted me and asked how i was doing and chit-chatted... i love living in a small town! i love living a block away from the bank and even closer to my office. i love that i can walk to the grocery store (regular or liquidation) or mcdonalds or la chica taqueria and that people at all of these places know who i am. i love that random people all over town stop and say hi to me and tell me what's going on in their lives.
and since i'm talking about things i love, let's shift to things that are amusing in an ironic sort of way... after going to all the trouble to have someone else deliver my packet of paperwork goodies to my office so that he wouldn't have to see me, someone forgot to sign the check he wrote out for his share of the tax adjustment. so now i wonder, should i mail it and risk it getting tossed out, or should i just show up at his work with the check?
and is it really worth it for a hundred bucks?
of course it is (insert wicked chuckle).
today also saw the weigh-ins of tricia's latest batch of foster kittens, and the verdict is: all but two are big enough for the snip-snip! so we scheduled them for tomorrow, and then they can be adopted out, and poor, long-suffering mama cat and ginger the dog (not to mention tricia) will finally get some rest. little scallywags!
which reminds me: pending that they're feeling up to it, the kittens will be on display at the clinic's open house this saturday from 1-3pm. snacks provided by the pirates. punch provided by sleeping bear studio. random promotional items provided by bayer animal health. and i think we're getting a cake from safeway. oh yeah, there will also be some clinic tours and whatnot (it's not all about the food).
also, paws shift was very light today as there was one big dog and one puppy, both healthy, clean, and fairly well behaved. feeding and cleaning up after them only took about 10 minutes. if only the cat crew had it so easy. i feel for them, but i really can't stay in the cat building longer than a few minutes - not an maintain my breathing status. so i'm not much help.
and finally (last but not least) happy birthday michelle! only another hour or so until she's really 40 years old, folks! that's right, the blonde bombshell at my office is a 40 year old grandma! and all decked out in new scrubs too! thanks to her best bud joanne, we had a party down at cadillac jacks this afternoon, and boy howdy did the free drink tokens pile up. that michelle is one popular gal! thank goodness the bar kitchen was closed, or i'd have been in some trouble. i've been doing so well with eating at least semi-healthy-ish, but oh i have a weakness for fried foods... bless whoever brought the veggie tray. bless you bless you bless you!

more stuff happens...

hobbes decided that i didn't actually need that toilet paper on the roll.
then someone vomitted right next to the pile, and someone (not sure if this was the same kitty or not) moved the pile of tp over, to cover the vomit. someone also pooped about a foot away from the litterbox, and someone (else?) missed the edge of the box and peed on the floor. yep. multiple cat bodily functions and lots of toilet paper all over my floor. at least they kept the mess in the bathroom this time.

so this morning, i was busy with some random task at my desk in the back office, when the receptionist brought me a manilla envelope that had just been dropped off for me by someone she didn't know. the envelope contained, of all things: my w-2s!

it seems that the irs chose now of all times to review my 2008 taxes (the year for which i need the w-2s). they found an error in my math and sent a letter/bill for the difference to the old address. so the ex got it. and didn't want to pay it all himself. voila! so he sent me, via someone else my staff don't know, the letter, the -w-2s, and a check for part of the amount owed. so now i don't have to contact him (which is great, since in his last hissy fit he asked me not to) and i only have to pay a few bucks in exchange for getting the papers i need.

and i have never once had reason before to thank the irs.

in other news, teddy spent his second night in a row scratching all night, even after being given benadryl, so today he got a steroid shot that usually helps a lot with itchy dogs.

and i got to get up early again this morning to go to paws to help catch a ferocious angry kitty. for some reason the really angry paws kitties haven't been too tough to scruff so far (knock on wood). this one was hissing as soon as i walked in the room, but when i held a net out towards her, she backed right into me. yay! one more cat spayed. only several million left to go...

and a client whose pet had to be seen on emergency last weekend (one of the ones i didn't have to help with) brought my boss a thank you cake today! three layers of white cake, lemon and raspberry filling, frosting roses on top... ahhhhhhh. fabulous way to end the workday.