gazerwolf

Our youngest dog  Max had to be put down last night.

She contracted parvo.

She spent Saturday vomiting and such. Early Sunday morning I took her to the emergency vet, because whe wasn't getting any better.

They gave her everything...plasma, vitamins, dextrose, tons of tests.

Around 11:30 last night they called me and told me that she wasn't responding to treatment, they had gotten her blood sugar back into normal range but she was no longer breathing right and they didn't expect her to make it, and she was in a lot of pain.

We went to get her this morning and brought her home to bury her.

The boys, of course were hit hard but asked that we find another dog quickly...so this afternoon we visited the humane society to see if they even had a dog small enough for us.

The answer was yes.

They had a female Jack Russel mix stray that they were calling "littlefoot" She is much calmer than Max was, but seems to have taken to us quickly.

Beast (our oldest dog, a chihuahua) spent her first few hours barking at her occasionally, while she basically tried to follow him around wagging her tail.

Right now she is sleeping next to me here on the couch.

We have had a rollercoaster day, and I expect that I'll be dealing with occasional sadness fits from the boys (and myself I suppose) for a while yet. Littlefoot (name may change, but I doubt it) will certainly lessen those but...

Had an interesting morning.


I was taking starsongky to work and then I was planning to run some errands.

We were on our way down midland avenue in the right lane when the huge truck in the left lane decided to change lanes.....while he was beside me.

I hit the brakes so that he could pass me but I only hit them lightly.. and I steered a bit to the right to avoid getting hit.

Hit a storm sewer....flattened one tire and scraped up both rims on that side.

So I get out and start changing the flat...about that time a guy pulls up and tells me that he had seen the whole thing and had gotten the company name and license number of the truck. He gave me his card and said he would be available if I needed a witness, and he suggested calling the police.

I did just that, and went back to working on my flat.

About the time I figured out my spare tire wouldn't fit the police officer arrived.

She let me know that since I wasn't hit by the truck and I only have liability insurance that filing a police report woudn't do any good...and that seeking restitution from the company would be a civil matter....couldn't even get the guy for reckless driving...the incident would have to be seen by an officer.

So back to trying to fix the flat...with no spare tire.

We wound up trudging back up midland to a tire place on winchester road.

sigh...

And the company that the guy told me owned the truck isn't in the phone book....

Had one of THOSE projects Sunday.

( Long tale of plumbing and carpentry here..zzz )

Ok, I'm highly allergic to something.

Wish I knew what.

I started itching yesterday afternoon.

Got worse in the evening...my hands started itching like crazy.

They got red and swollen...added itchy red blotches around my waist and on my wrists...behind my ears and in elbow bends.

Went to the doctor this morning...got a steroid shot and a prescription for prednisone...

Got home and took my first dose and laid down to sleep for a while (of course I didn't rest well last night due to itching) I didn't rest well this afternoon either...still very itchy...hands aren't AS swollen....I've added blotches on my belly and chest...and my knees.

Couldn't sleep and I'm bored, so I figured I'd post some of the things I've been doing lately.
( Construction Time (long) )

From roina_arwen who chose seven of my interests for me to explain what they are or why they interest me.

If you'd like me to choose seven of yours, please comment here.

agatha heterodyne She is the heroine of Girl Genius by Kaja and Phil Foglio. I love the way she is portrayed with her slightly stumbling through adventure with her ability to handle just about any sitiuation she stumbles into.

bangladesh dupree She is one of the minor characters of the Girl Genius series. I like her chaotic nature and the way she cheerfully spreads destruction around herself whenever she can possibly do so. Shes a real "Ask for forgiveness later" type...without the asking for forgiveness part.

issola This is one of the Dragaeran Houses from Steven Brust's Taltos series. They tend to be supreme masters of tact and grace, talents which I lack usually so I am intrigued by how they manage it.

jhereg Another of the Dragaeran Houses. This one is one of two of the houses that have former members of other houses in it. They generally are the backstreet businessmen type. The main hero of the series is of that house. I am intrigues by the rules that they DO follow as compared to the ones they don't.

krosp Another of the minor characters in the Girl genius series. Krosp is a construct created to be the emperor of all cats. He was suppose to be an interface between his creator and normal cats...but his creator forgot the nature of cats...and although cats WILL listen to him they soon go on and do their own thing. I like to see him surprised by his own cat nature and his unfailing loyalty to Agatha.

lostkin Hard one. I think I will refer you to my webpage on the subject here. (Since I coined the term and am one I figured I should include it in my interests)

the elfinkind digest This is a mailing list started by one of my oldest friends...it deals with Otherkin and dealing with being otherkin...it is in fact where the term was coined. It is the first place I found other otherkin.

Well frak.

I was fixing the bathtub drain today. (it needed a new stopper system)

I had to cut part out to remove it. I was careful not to damage the pipe or the threads that I needed to thread the new drain into. (I had already bought the new drain and stopper already.)

Thats when I found out that the prior drain had apparently been glued into the threads...making them useless anyway....

So I go underneath the tub to find out what I can do and find that the drain flange and pipe are connected to the pipes by a simple compression fitting...so I take it off.

I head to the hardware store looking for a flange (and a pipe because I can't get the old flange off the old pipe.)

I ask the lady working where I can find it and she tells me that they don't carry just the flange...they carry drain kits though..(flange, pipe, vent pipe, connectors, stopper, vent cover, and washers and such)

I buy the cheapest they have and head home (getting a new universal handle too.)

I connect the new flange and head up stairs to put the new drain in. I get it in (plumbers putty, washer...whole nine yards) tighten it up and turn on water to test...go down stairs to look and find water splashing all over the boys satellite receiver and old TV.

I get things unplugged and dry things off and go back upstairs to see what I did wrong.

Eventually I get it to seal properly and I have to go get the boys at the bus stop...I get back and I take Tracy's blow dryer and try to dry them out before I turn plug them back in.

I plug them in and the power light comes on but it won't turn off or reset (the sat receiver that is)...the tv isn't getting a signal from the receiver..then the power light went out.

So I've lost a receiver.

I took the one I had loaned my mother and hooked it up...the old TV seems a bit worse for it too...it's going in and out....so I may have lost a TV as well.

I'm gonna call dish network and see what I can do to get a replacement unit later on...I'm gonna give it a few days...I'm hopeing that it just needs to dry out more but I doubt it.

I scraped the paint off the front room windows today..it was easier than I thought it would be. I have no idea how long the paint was there.

I just used a putty knife and some steel wool. I got the paint off the window in the front door while I was at it...and the residue of the label from the back door window.

I cracked on of the windows by pressing too hard but it didn't break completely so I'm not gonna worry about it for a while...if it does break it should be an easy fix.

I've got really scrubbing the floors on my list for tomorrow.

A few days ago Dorthy (our next door neighbor) called me over and asked me if I could do her a favor. She needed a 40 some pound pork shoulder carried to her car. She needed to take it to be sliced and she couldn't carry it.

I told her that it would be no problem and a few minutes later went over and did it.

Later that day she called me over again and handed me a few slices from it for us to use.

Now I have never cooked pork shoulder before so I really had no clue what I was going to do with this salt cured hunk of meat, but I took it anyway.

I took a short stab at googling pork shoulder recipes but nothing I saw looked interesting.

Yesterday I picked up some sliced potato cans and sliced carrot cans at the grocery figuring I couldn't go too wrong with crock potting it.

This morning the boys got me up early so I figured I might as well do it...so I put two slices of it in...a pound bag of pinto beans, I think three cans of potatoes...2 cans of carrots and enough water to cover it...and set it on low.

Smells great...I taste tested a bit of the sauce around noon and it didn't seem too salty to me (but I love salt). I added some minced onion and some garlic powder and some pepper and a bit of a Mrs Dash ripoff.

I taste tested it again a bit ago and it tastes pretty good...I turned it to warm to wait till starsongky gets home.

The boys were even interested (I don't expect them to eat much...they usually don't like things out of their experience.)