Archive for the ‘Dogs’ Tag
One of those days
Have you ever had one of those days? One of those days where everything is going wrong and, even as you think that it couldn’t get any worse it does.Of Course you have, we all have. Every time I have one of these days, I can’t help but feel like nobody has ever had a day as horrible as mine. Now, lets put this in perspective. I realize that tremendously horrible, life-altering things happen to people all the time. These events are on a completely different scale than what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about are the many little things that, by themselves, would be easily manageable. Combined with a myriad of other, equally unexpected and difficult events, they become completely overwhelming.
So I always end up imagining that nobody’s unmanageable day has ever been as unmanageable as mine. Yesterday was just such a day. I have a hard time imagining that anybody else’s day can possibly trump standing in the pouring rain with a turkey baster full of hydrogen peroxide waiting for you dog to vomit up your $5.00 chocolate bar. All while on a conference call with your coworkers. Yeah, I pull up that image and I’m pretty sure it’s he worst day ever.
I had come home early to make sure Bennett was doing well and that he hadn’t been scratching at his hot spot. I had about 1-hour from the time i got home until my 4:00 conference call. I had planned on using this time to watch the end of the tour and relax. The first thing I noticed when I got home was the bedroom door was open and Fozzy was not coming out to greet me. Then I saw a few pieces of paper shredded on the floor next to the kitchen table. When I walked into the bedroom to scold Fozzy, I saw a ton more paper, shredded on the floor, along with safety pins, earrings, and a stain remover bottle. It looked like the dog had rioted.
At first I thought it was funny and even took a few photos. Then I saw the package shredded in the kitchen. It took me a little while to figure out it was my chocolate bar. My brand new, 8-oz, $5.00 chocolate bar. Now we were talking about something serious. I tracked down the hydrogen peroxide from the last time we had to induce (onion powder I think) and filled up the turkey baster. There’s some formula for how much to give your dog based on their weight but Fozzy is huge and he’s too strong for me to control so I use a whole baster and most of it ends up on the ground.
I administered the first dose and waited. I walked him around the yard to aid in the process. While I was waiting the sky opened up and started to pour on us. It was nice to finally have the rain, but I was soaked and Fozzy wasn’t getting any closer to vomiting. 45-minutes later he still hadn’t vomited and I had a conference call. I figured I could pull up the meeting on my cell phone and stay outside with him.
I called the conference number only to find it wasn’t valid. I had no way of finding out what was going on and how I needed to call in. I didn’t have anybody’s phone number so my only option was to get my laptop and log in so that I could use communicator. I started up my laptop and immediately it crashed hard. I tried waiting for a few minutes before giving up and trying to restart; all outside in the rain so I can keep an eye on Fozzy. I pushed the power button and nothing happened. This thing was crashed hard. I ripped the battery off the back. The whole time that I’m waiting for it to come up I’m imagining that the meeting is moving along without me.
I finally got connected, the rain stopped and the dog vomited so everything was fine in the end. Still it was a bunch of distractions I didn’t need.
Pool Party at Diana’s
Updates are going to be very sporadic for a while. Poor Bennett has a really bad hot spot that we’re having to nurse. On Saturday we shaved his whole body down to 5/8″ so the small spot we had shave off completely wouldn’t look so strange. He looks silly with his hair short but I have to say, I’m tempted to keep it up just to minimize vacuuming. We have a vet appointment for Friday, but I’m hoping we don’t have to use it.
Saturday I tried to relax and get some work done because I knew I had plans almost the entire day on Sunday. I totally failed at sleeping in and woke up, ready to go, at 7:00AM. To be honest I don’t really know where Saturday went. It was over before it even began and I had hardly anything to show for it. I think I lost a few hours to the tour.
Sunday was so much fun. I had a ride starting at 7:30 so it was another early morning. I had wanted to go with the slow group this week but the slow group left at 7:00. I figured I’d find a few others who were not up for beating themselves up and convince them to ride with me. Well that didn’t really happen until almost 15-miles into our 55-mile ride and the only person I got to stay with me was Suzi. We had only been off the back for a few miles when we came on the group stopped at a Texaco. We were in west Austin so everything is nicer. Still, I was not expecting ceramic tile in the restroom! Erin and Jessica both had flat tires and the rest of the group was itching to go so Suzi and I volunteered to stay back. Except for the 30-minutes the 3-tire changes took, the ride was a ton of fun. Our little group stayed at just the right pace. My HR was still very high because it was basically uphill for 15-miles after the gas station. We weren’t expecting the other group to wait for us at the next stop so we were very surprised to see them when we came rolling by. I actually kind of wish we’d missed them because Tracy kept pushing the pace.
Nicest gas station restroom in Austin. This really beats the usual unisex, one room, broken sink restrooms. There was even a Texas star tile mosaic.
After the ride I had the AFWC pool party at Diana’s house. I had hoped to get back by 10:30 so that I could get some work done at the office before heading over. We didn’t get back until almost noon. I had time to shower, answer a few emails, eat a snack and hit the road. I was a little frustrated but in the end it was nothing but a fun day. Kate had ordered a ton of food for the party and stocked us with drinks. Dianna had the Margarita machine out and we had the tour playing on one of her TVs. Her house is the perfect house for a big party like this and it was really nice of her to let us use it. About 45 members showed up which was huge!
Passing up pool time to whatch the drama unfold during stage 9 of the 2011 Tour de France.
It turns out the tour that morning had been full of extreme drama. Instead of lounging by the pool, a whole group of us huddled around the TV and waited. We had been tipped off, of course, that there was drama but we just had to see it. I did get to spend a little time in the pool after watching the two big crashes.
It does kind of freak me out that pro cycling has been pushed so far. It’s been a tough year with two pro women being hit and killed by cars, a pro male dying in the Tour de Italia, and many of the top contenders crashing out of the TdF; some with injuries that may threaten their careers. I had a hard time sleeping that night.Vinokourov with a broken femur, and Hoogerland with 33-stitches after a car crashed into he and Flecha. I know it must be tough for all of them to take so soon after Wouter passed away.