Grrr.

What I want

 

$179

 

 

 

What I can afford

 

$60



Friday Cat Blogging

The Blech Witch Project

The more things change...

And I'm back! I was sick and now I'm not.  Yesturday, I was hoping I would just die and tonight I went out for Chinese.  Its been a long couple of days.

I decided that  I wanted to experiment with leggings and I bought a pair (cheap), and is turned out, much to mu shock, I like them and I don't look that bad in them! They are so comfortable and light, its like wearing clothes without clothes. I could get used to this feeling. I want to wear these all this time! I asked the internet
Where Can I Wear Leggings?

And the internet said : YOU CAN WEAR THEM IN YOUR HOUSE! YOU CAN WEAR THEM UNDER SKIRTS!

And I said But, if I can only wear them under skirts or at home, why do they make them to look like regular pants?

And the internet said ; THOSE ARE FOR WHORES!

That pisses me off.  I know I've seen a lot of women wearing them and while, granted, some of them are whores, most of them are not,  and really, almost anything can be whored up, its up to the wearer. A real whore can make anything like whorey, its a skill. I think I can wear them without looking like a whore.

I could wear them to the mall, with a big sweater, and most of my sweaters are big
, because of most of my sweaters are left over from being bought to wear with stirrup pants, back when they were in fashion and they were essentially  and early version of leggings anyway.
I will probably never be brave enough to wear them in public.

Re-visit

Young dog has had a very exciting few days. He got to take a very long trip in the car, he got to play with his favorite people, he got to take a trip on a boat and then another long trip in the car and then today. he got to go back to his shrink!

Before he even saw the shrink he met a new friend! I should have been more careful about letting him meet new friends in the dog shrinks office because most of the  dogs at the dog shrinks office aren't there because they are neurotics, most of the dogs are there because they are psychotic . It is important to be very polite to psychotics.

Rocket is friendly to everyone regardless of their diagnosis. We marched right up to the largest dog I have ever seen and said Hi! My name is Rocket! Here is my throat! Weee! Lets be friends! . We did this not very smart thing to an Irish Wolfhound, the largest Irish Wolfhound in the world, easily taller than my eight year old neice, while he was standing, not even sitting when the look taller. He weighed in at twice what Rocket weighs and  is young  and growing! A huge dog that was there for behavioral issues and I'm all up in his face Hi! Puppy! How are you? Aren't you a good puppy!. Rocket may not be the only  one who needs a shrink.

We saw the doctor who gave me permission to up his meds under stressful situations and directed me to ry to get him to spend more time in the crate while I am in the house, to get him more comfortable with being in there if he has to be in a crate for whatever reason. I all ready tried it out and he was fine, he took a nap. This was in his box in my room while I puttered around and did laundry. Not really a challenge, but a start.

Monday

Had a lovely weekend,  visited with my parents, shopped and bought consignment, had a great dinner out, went on a Ghost Walk through historic New Bern and went on a boat ride. And how was your weekend?

Friday Cat Blogging

The Cutest Loser

We didn't win the costume contest or the cutest dog. We didn't enter the cutest dog, but if we had, we would have lost.

We lost the costume contest to a lab mix who just had massive sinus surgery, a pug that came dressed in Starbucks cups - Pugkin Spice Latte and a chiwawa with rain cancer. Brain Cancer. A chiwawa with brain cancer! Who can compete with that?! The next time I'm daft enough to enter Rocket in one of their contests I'm going to have to come clean about his Separation Anxiety and  how destructive he can be, and all his meds he takes every day and the fact we go to the Vet School for treatment. I have to be honest and open about how pitiful he really is.But he isn't pitiful! He's healthy and strong and friendly and wonderful! He's almost perfect and I don't want to shame him by spilling all his secrets.

Big dogs don't have much of a chance either. The winners are always adopta-puppies, very small dogs, or rescues with tragic back stories. Pure breds from breeders have no chance in hell. This is making me feel very small. I am small. The tiny brain cancer chiwawa was dressed as Bat Man and his ears were bigger than Rockets'. He  also snapped at Rocket, but he was cute. Please note Rocket is also very cute and he did not snap back.

I want them to have different classes, I think that would be better. They could have the Puppy Dog class, the Tiny Dog class, the Rescue Dog Class and  the Sick Dog. So a healthy adult dog doesn't have to compete against an eight week old lab, a  heartworm positive suspected bait dog rescue from the streets, or a three legged dog with an upper respitory infection. It would be more fair. I mean let the heartworm and the three legged dog duke it out, let the tiny dogs see who is the champion  not-cat is, and let the other dogs see who is the cutest healthy animal is.

Every month its like a contest to see which dog is the most pitiful, whose back story  is the most disturbing, and who is the most sad.

I did win $25 in the raffle and that made me happy but I was not happy that the same person won four different times. Mix the tickets up a bit! Limit how many times a single individual can win! Something, anything! Let My Dog Win all ready!

Best Psychic Friends

You know you are starting your day off right when you discover first hand that your dogs poopy bag has a hole in it. On the other hand,  the rest of the day can only get better

If you are keeping track, Rocket started his new meds on Saturday morning and he hasn't had another episode since. I've been checking in on the monitor more frequently than I had been and he spends the day sleeping or idly playing with his toys. He didn't used to play with his toys, he would sleep or just sit there o the futon watching TV or  blankly into space, is hard to tell.

 I want him to play with his toys, I want him to feel calm enough to play with his toys. SInce he started the new meds he also eats his food! He has never eaten when I'm not here, he's been too freaked out to be hungry. Progress is being made. Its too bad though that it all has to be meds that do this. It would be great if he could go talk to someone and work though his issues and find the causes for his problems and work towards solutions and adding tools to help him keep episodes from happening in the first time.

It would be great if he could talk. I call the behaviorist his shrink, but what if you could actually take your dog to a therapist? That would be awesome. It would be expensive and not covered by your pet insurance, but I bet it work miracles.

Of course, you can take your dog to a Animal Communicator  who will mind meld or whatever, with your pet and uncover its deepest secrets. I read a few testimonials and it seems horse owners use their services frequently ( and made me feel much, much less obsessed with my animals).  I just think I don't want to know my pets deepest darkest secrets! They deserve their privacy and what if their deepest secret is that they hate me?!

I don't think Rocket could "tell" anyone about his episodes, he doesn't  know why he gets upset, he just gets upset. Its a chemical thing and it is beyond reason and control. I think he does not enjoy this episodes and he would rather doze or play with his toys and listen to the TV  then tearing into doors and pacing and panting and barking. I assume this because I don't like anxiety, maybe he think this episodes are awesome and a lot of fun.

I doubt it though and I don't wonder about it enough to consult a pet psychic... unless Broskey and Alphagals neighbor the Pet Psychic wants to do some pro-bono work...

Recovery

I was going to write an entry but then I decided that dozing on the couch while the dog acts as both  my pillow and  a white noise machine, was  a more pressing concern.

I also need to pack, put away laundry and decide what to wear to work tomorrow.

I couldn't be pried off this couch by a back hoe.

Monday, Monday

Monday was a better day. Rocket was in daycare all day, but I "had" to go to Wallyworld for a few things and I left hm at home. I gave him his meds as directed and went on my way.

I checked in on him on the monitor and he was calmly hanging out on the futon and when I cam home he had eaten his food! This was a pretty big deal as he usually does not eat when he's alone. He's too busy being anxious and unhappy. I wish I had been able to give him his new meds in a more timely manner and maybe we could have avoided Fridays trauma.

This weekend I got my flu shot and for the first time in years I'm pretty sure I got  a very diluted flu. It may be a baby flu but I still have periods of not wellness. I felt like crap for most of Sunday until I all of a sudden didn't and then by the time I got home from  an unsuccessful shopping trip, I wished I had just stayed on the couch.

When I was housebound, I discovered that a healthy application of kitty floof made me feel much better. I think Kitty could tell I was not feeling well because he let me hold him in place for a lot longer, more frequently than he normally does. He was so into togetherness, he came and camped out on my chest at 3:45am. I couldn't make him leave because even half awake, I wanted him know I was glad he was with me, even at a quarter to four in the morning.

Rocket was also a lot more willing the share the couch with me too, normally, he doesn't really feel that my couch is really made for two. On Sunday, he let me share the couch with him and it was very healing.

Monday I woke up hurting but a couple of aspirin and I felt much better. I had some really good soup for lunch at a fundraiser and it made me feel better for the rest of the afternoon. I decided to take it easy and cut out the walks until I'm feeling more up to it, I am hoping that  it clears in the next day or so because I didn't get a  flu shot so I could be sick with the flu.

Friday was not a good day,

Okay, so Friday was not a good day for Rocket. He completely lost his shit before 7am, tore up the closet door and after he broke in, he pulled out just about everything in there. I only discovered it because I checked him out on a whim and watched his freaking out. I didn't go home until I saw that he had opened the closet door.

What I found when I came home at 7:15. I had left less than an hour before.

Fortunately, my boss was out Friday and I was able to sneak home and clean up the damage. I had forgotten that I had stowed the ingredients for his dry shampoo in there, there was also Daisy's old bones and her blanket. He did not bother the blanket or the bones, so that made me happy. I did have to get rid of the bones as they were covered with baking soda and baby powder and they were ancient and chewed up and I probably should have gotten rid of them years ago. But I didn't because they were Daisys'! and they were very important to her.

She isn't here anymore and they needed to go, she would understand. I wasn't that attached to them while she was living and I shouldn't have become attached to them after she was dead so I'm going to get one out the trash, just because.

I got the mess cleaned up and took him out to pee and then through him back in the room and went back to work. He slept on the couch for the rest of the day, as he does almost every day. I don't know what happened to bring on that fit, but I'm hoping his new meds that I FINALLY got from the pharmacy will keep it from happening again.It seemed to work for him on Saturday when I went boot shopping.

I was unsuccessful and the boots were tragic. It turns out my calves are too thin for this years boots! Nothing fit the way I thought they should have. I didn't leave empty footed though, I scored two more pairs of  shoes  in the style I bought previously and now I have two more colors. I brought the brown home and await the black to be sent to me.

I thought it was geeky to buy the same shoe in multiple colors but the clerk told me people do it all the time and it was not geeky at all . I still think its a little geeky, but they are very nice shoes!

When I came back on Saturday I took Rocket to Dix  and wandered around looking at stuff to see if there was any stuff I might need, because you never know. I found some lovley abanabded tomaotoes and donated them to my friend who really likes tomaotoes and I also looked into the very sad, orphanded greenhouse

The entire back of it is full of dead snake plants. There are many things in there that they could give to me, there is a very lovely, well made composter that should be mine. I'm going to ask around.

Later, I tried an experiment on the very awful, pee damaged, damaged before the dog, office floor.

Successful! Yay!

Friday Cat Blogging

Finally a shot of the cat where he is not hiding under the bed or camped out on a table top!

Happy Friday

This weekend I am going on a Halloween Tour of Houses ( exteriors only)/ History Lesson in Oakwood. I went on a Christmas Tour of Homes ( Interiors) a few years ago and it was fun but I think the Halloween version is better because its DOG FRIENDLY! Weeeeee!

Also. Dog Cookies, Dog Cookies, Dog Cookies. Possibly laundry.

The differences between cats and dogs

The cat does not like it when I make assumptions about his level of comfort. I am wrong and he is right and whatever he is doing at a given time is his ideal activity.   If he wanted to be cuddled, he would make himself available for cuddling and he is not available at this moment. Non-consensual cuddling is a crime! He asks that I have this embroidered on something, my forehead comes to mind.

I think he would be happier tucked under my hoodie where I can cuddle him and take advantage of his floofiness. His little head can poke out the neck hole and he can give me head buts and we can both be happy. He prefers to stay on the dining room table on a bed of cookbooks.

So I went to see the dog who is always up for a good cuddle, but stretching out with the dog on the couch isn't really conducive to  doing anything else at all period, unless your to do list is :1) Fall asleep on the couch. if he were small enough to be tucked into my hoodie you can bet he would love every minute of it! Because dogs would spend all their time inside your clothes if they could and if you would agree to carry them around inside your clothes! OMG! Dog nirvana!

Your cat sees  the exact same scenario  as false imprisonment and kidnapping. The only reason that cats  haven't sued us into the ground and don't rule the world as our evil overloads is that they can't speak and  they don't have the manual dexterity to text. If you can't call a lawyer, you can't sue. I am sure they are working on this.

Gawd.

I was supposed to go to this presentation on Solar Power this evening and I was going to learn how I can get it and the  financing and everything - Solar, is wonderful but solar and its attendant gear is expensive and elitist and wrong in a lot of ways. Why should only rich people, who don't need the savings from it, and who all ready probably feel pretty smug about their lives in general and don't need any treats, be able to have it? Solar should be in the grasp of everyone, even the not rich, really if the poorish could have it, it would spread much faster and have a lot more people utilizing the technology and improving the world. There is a lot of work to do to bring it down to a reasonable investment instead of a pot of cash that most people do not have. So  figuring out how to finance it, and working discounts and tax breaks. But not tonight.

Kill the rich.

Speaking of smug rich people. The presentation I was supposed to go to was held in  deepest/shallowist? whitest, North Raleigh! I live inside the beltline! I don't want to go to North Raleigh, I can't find anything, it all looks the same and there are too many cul de sacs. All together a terrible place.

But, because I am a true believer, I went, in the dark and the no street lights and fewer street signs and I tried to go to the presentation. I had no idea where it was before I left, only  that I thought it was closer, like not in Virginia or Tennessee or wherever it was that I was driving in circles in the dark. Terrible place.

My GPS didn't even like it. It finally decided that we were too far away, too far in North Raleigh and way too far from home. It whispered "I see white people" and stopped working. I made my way to the parking lot of the forty-six Food Lions I passed - of course these people have a grocery on every corner!  They need grocery stores within walking distance! They can walk in any direction and walk right into a grocery store. Pigs.

I found the email I was sent and reread it and followed a couple of links and low and behold there is another presentation, inside the beltline, two blocks from my vets office in a  couple of weeks.

I hate North Raleigh and the rich white people for which is stands. And their hot and cold running grocery stores. I'm so glad to be back in civilization.

Rocking around

I made a very short video of Rocket playing with a cardboard tube we ran across downtown. He loved tunnels in agility and he warmed up to this "tunnel" as well, even though it was much narrower and shorter than the agility tunnels. Watching him go through the tiny tunnel, it was clear he comes from the land of the Dachshund! He too has the urge to tear apart rats! But also has the urge to bring them to you.

 I had him run through it several times because it was fun and how often do you come across random agility obstacles? He did it I think five times, but only the last time was even vaguely ready for prime time. It really matters how you hold the phone.

I will never be a cinematographer.

I did not get my house work done but I did get my nephews Christmas present. I  going  went to the site and picked up my nieces - free delivery though, so its okay. I saw several that I want too! For example:










The reason I'm thinking about airblowns at all is that I have one that is showing its age. It has been leaking snow for years and I don't know where the leak is or how to fix it. I've seen a couple of snow globe airblowns this year, and I haven't really loved any of them, and they are expensive. I'm going to see if I can get it fixed and if it would be cheaper than buying a new one I don't like as much.

Being useful

Good News! I found the dogs leash that I had misplaced in the house! It was missing for about three hours on Sunday and I had to use an older leash to walk the dog in the afternoon, which was tragic because it totally clashed with his collar. Fashion  Crises averted, the new leash has been recovered.  Life is just really hard sometimes and you have to work with what you have, even if its tacky.

When I wasn't searching for the leash, I actually got some work done. No, I did not mow the lawns and I didn't do my laundry - sometimes you have to allow that there are other available days and there are no "rules" about when you can and can not do laundry. I can do my laundry on Wednesday, if Wednesday works for me, maybe Tuesday will be better. It doesn't matter, any day can be laundry day.

Any day can not however be lawn mowing day, lawn mowing day pretty much has to be a weekend, unless, I can't do it over the weekend and the yard is really long and I get neighbor-shamed, in which case, the lawn can be mowed whenever the neighbor mows theirs. Its about  maintaining community standards and keeping track of  when other people mow their lawns and how good your spread sheet program on your phone is. Standards! its about Standards! Standards and neighbor shaming, you have to keep the upper hand or admit defeat and stop going outside or opening your curtains. Mayne if they think you are dead they won't mind as much about the length of you yard - no one wants to speak ill of the dead and all that,

I did get pumpkins for the front porch, they look very nice and I might carve them, I haven't made up my mind. It will render them easier to compost, but I will have to go through the bother of carving them and I carve pumpkins like I wrap gifts - badly  and it never turns out looking like I had hoped. However, pumpkin carving design is open to interpretation and so there is some leeway that does not exist for the more conventional  and rule driven art of gift wrapping. There are no second places in the gift wrapping game.

What did I actually get done? I MADE TWO BATCHES OF DOG COOKIES!!!!  It was a big weekend for me. I feel very accomplished . I also remembered to  make the bed upstairs, mail two bills and treat the dog for his yeast infections. And even better? I moved the couch forward three inches in the livingroom, it had to be done, there is a huge difference in the space now. Really.

Friday Cat Blogging

His many moods.

Can't I just stir some gynolotrimin into his kibble?

Young dog has been shaking his head a lot and scratching at his ears fir a while and the behaviorist had said when I had him there that his ears "looked a little pink" and I should clean them every other day or so to see if it clears up. It didn't.

Today we went to another vet who diagnosed him with duel yeast infections and gave us some drops.  It took the vet and a technician to restrain him to get the drops in his ears in the office, I do not see how a just me is going to get the same task done every day for the next nine days. because as we say in the biz "Rocket resists care and is non-compliant" and can slither out of almost anything like a snake.

I'm thinking if I get him after his morning meds that I might have a chance but I'll get that chance maybe twice before he figures it out and I have to find a new plan. There are not very many ways to get drops into a dogs ears, you could Rube Goldberg your little heart out and if the dog isn't going to sit still for it, you still are not going to get the drops in the ears. I asked for an oral treatment but apparently the way to a dogs ears is through his ears, period.

Speaking of Dogs. Rockets home-based tent arrived! Yay!!! It was about half of what I paid for his road tent and frankly, you can tell. Its not the same quality at all and I would not want to put this one through too much, but it was cheap and you gets what you pays for.  It will be fine for setting up and letting it be for the winter.

Rocket tries out his new tent, as it turns out, it fits!

Its never too early to get Santa into shape.

I would have been here sooner but I was dithering over pulling the trigger on my Christmas cards. I finally did it and now the cards are done and I can check that off my list. I don't have a list yet, its too early to have a list yet, but in theory, if I had a list I would have scratched "Christmas Cards" off of it.

Another item I want off my non- existent list is "Dog Cookies". This weekendish, Aunt Cookie needs to strap on her apron and get to work on the cookies, or at the very least Aunt Cookie needs to do a census of available dogs. Aunt Cookie is pretty sure she has fewer dogs to bake for this year, so fewer cookies equal less time and less capital invested into the project, Yay! lets hear it for less time and capital! Boo for less dogs over all. She also needs to firm up the varieties and make a shopping list. I skipped the whole thing last year and that did not make me feel good; It made me feel better, but it not make me feel good.  I'm also not going to be as ambitious as in years past, I think its going to be no more than two or three varieties and if I stick with the program and do them over time it won't be near the cookie marathon I have ran in the past: Up hill both ways in the snow.

ANYWAY. In the interests of saving time and energy  at the holidays, I made only one design so everyone gets the same card. This year everyone is gets the  "A" design, usually I have two or even three different levels of cards because I can't make a decision about the design - but I am through with that. This year I am doing one single card, and its awesome. I lurve it and I hope everyone else does to. P.S GLITTER

Customer Service This

I had a meeting after work so I had Rocket in daycare. I decided that after the meeting instead of picking up the dog immediately and then going to Sams to pick up a couple of things and put gas in the car, that I would leave dog at daycare and go to Sams by myself, to save the dog from having to wait in the kind of warm car.

So. Went to Sams, wandered around more than usual as there was no dog waiting in the car.  I found a couple of items and went to the pharmacy to get my prescription. Yay.

The woman waved her wand over my stuff, I have to swiped my card TWICE! ALWAYS TWICE! AND IT ASKS IF I WANT CASH BACK TWICE! IF I SAID NO THE FIRST TIME I MEANT I DO NOT WANT CASH BACK DAMN IT! THE STAFF WORK FOR SAMS THE CARD SWIPER IS A WALMART EMPLOYEE!

Anyway. I took my goods and headed for the door. The troll at the door asked where my "other" receipt was, I answered I don't have '\"another" receipt, I have these three things on one receipt. Brunhilda tells me my raspberries were not paid for. I TELL BRUNHILDA TO USE HER BITCHCRAFT CAREFULLY, MY BROOM USES JET FUEL AND SHE'S THROWING MATCHES.

I did not use the raspberries to give Brunhilda an object lesson about the TONE SHE CHOOSE TO USE WITH THE CUSTOMER . I went BACK to the pharmacy and had the girl wave her wand over my berries AGAIN AND AGAIN HAD TO SWIPE MY CARD TWICE AND ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS TWICE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE TO SWIPE MY CARD AT HARRIS TEETER? ONE TIME! I now felt they were "mine", I had spent time with them and really developed a bond with them, having wandered around the store with them for an extended period.

I went back to Brunhilda and she held me there while she ever so slowly filled out a form so she could tattle on the pharmacy tech. AND THEN SAM-SPLAINED TO ME WHY SHE WAS DOING THIS AS TO SHAME AND EMBARRASS THE PHARMACY TECH FROM DOING IT AGAIN BECAUSE THE MALFUNCTIONIN SCANNER IS SOMETHING SHE CAN CONTROL AT WILL. BRUNHILDA DOES NOT APPROVE OF POWERFUL, EDUCATED, UPPITY WOMEN. BRUNHILDAS' BROOMSTICK IS FLACCID.

 I told her I did not care to wait for this and she NEEDED TO LET THE CUSTOMER LEAVE THE STORE RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT AND THE CUSTOMER DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR FORMS AND SHOULD NOT BE ASKED TO WAIT FOR YOU TO FILL THEM OUT AS THE CUSTOMER DID NOTHING WRONG IN THIS SCENARIO. DIE BITCH DIE

And then I went and picked up my dog and made dinner for us both. Then I went to Walmart because at least the lousy costumer service and constant insults do not bring on  a caps-lock rage.

Bound and determined

I don't like Charlie Cs IGA. ITs expensive and it doesn't have the yogurt selection of Walmart. How sad are you when Walmart has a better selection of yogurt than you do?

I discovered today that I need new boots. I thought it was just the black ones that were no go's for another  season but sadly, also the brown ones. They genuine man made leather is peeling and the zipper rubs my ankle bones in an unacceptable manner. I would imagine that nicer boots are engineered to not sag that way and are made with genuine cow made leather,too bad I'll never know, and I will replace them with the same cheap boots great grandchild, hopefully it will take another couple of seasons for them to become as irritating as mine are now. The black pairs main sin is that they are suede and the toes are too pointy - They are elf boots! I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought them. My feet are big enough without adding elf styled pointiness to the situation.

I see a visit to DSW in my future Oh Darn! Hate DSW!!, it would be better if I had perhaps looked at them for flaws at the end of last season when discounted boots are available, but no, I have to discover these flaws in October! when the only boots are full retail price boots, actually, full retail plus a third because its OCTOBER and its cooler and  EVERYONE WANTS BOOTS! I hate paying retail, it seems wrong somehow.  A budget conscience person would have thought about this last March. Sigh.

I could have bought a deeply discounted bathing suit from Hammricks but I didn't do it. I will be sorry. I  will eventually be in the market for a bathing suit, I am every summer but I am too much of a snob to buy an off season bathing costume from Hammricks, who knows a bathing suit with sleeves and a high neck might be flattering? I didn't try one on because I'm a snob, and who knows tea-length bathing suits might be all the rage next summer and I'll kick myself.

Monday Cat Blogging

Cat Blogging is really a state of mind, there is no set day for cat blogging, you can cat blog whenever you want to cat blog. Everyday is Caterday!

Urban Cowgirl

I get no cookie for failing to post Friday Cat Blogging.

Even without this cookie I had a good weekend! I went downtown with my friend from work and we a great time and while we were down there we had a really good dinner of meatballs from a restaurant that has only meatballs on its menu. I think its called Meatballs. Best meatballs ever! The texture and flavor was outstanding and they were meaty and delicious. Wow!

It was also Wide Open Bluegrass weekend and there was an art festival and lots of vendors selling bluegrass themed goodies and in honor of the twangy goodness or maybe because of it, I bought the Worlds Most Awesome Cowgirl Shirt

The hat belongs to Broskey and Alphagal. I'm going to wear them as an ensemble for Halloween. I spent the rest of the weekend doing as little as I could get away with and sleeping very late. A good time was had by all.

Tennessee Wonderland: Exploring an Abandoned Mountain Neighborhood and H...

Cookies for me

I'm right now riding the high of remembering to take the trash out. I want it to be known that I did so dressed in street clothes while wearing shoes! It was not like it was last week when I did it in my bathrobe and flip flops well past my bedtime or the week before  that when I did it at 530 in the morning  and felt much shame because the wheels are much louder in the pre-dawn hours than they are at reasonable hours and  I ended up with a face full of pre-dawn spider web.

I am now mad at my GPS on the Mapmywalk app on my phone because my  extended daily walk had been 3.6 miles but now for some reason it is 2.6 miles. I have a not-extended walk that was all ready 2.5 miles, but I didn't do that one, I did the longer one and went further because the dog and I went window shopping too. Well, my body knows how far it walked, its very proud of us for walking a long way even if we get no official credit from the app. The ap is lazy and fat and jealous of our hard work. Bitch.

I want another cookie for remembering that you can't put the Cat into Friday Cat Blogging if you forget to get a picture of said cat prior to Friday. My dream is to get a picture of said cat where he is not either 1) on the dinning room table surrounded by papers that should be filed, if I filed papers and stacks of Rockets shred boxes or 2) guarding his food bowl in the kitchen, or 3) hiding under the bed looking traumatized.

It is to be ever hopeful.

I want another cookie for remembering to stuff doggers toys with peanut butter before 10:24pm at night. I am also seriously considering investing in two new Kong toys I saw on sale today because I am reasonably sure that King oys are dishwasher safe and I'm pretty sure his current peanut butter vessels are not.really meant for the dishwasher. Its just that his chew toys spend a lot of time in my freezer around my food and I worry about cross contamination -  Dog  Cooties!

It turns out that Kong toys can go in the dishwasher but they shouldn't go in the dishwasher. I think I am still going to invest in the new Kongs because they are the Large Kongs but after going through the process, with shipping they are almost as much as buying from the store, and does the household really need two of them? And I said no, it doesn't, so I went to another site and I could buy them one at a time, because I'm only really squicked by his bone and not so much the rubber toy - But again with the ridiculous shipping charges! So, The household is getting no kong toys. There is no such thing as dog cooties.

Teach and Learn

Rocket was upset this afternoon as I was heading home. My plan had been to hit Sam's and pick up his meds and put gas in the car, but I checked out Dog Spy before I left the office and he was clearly very agitated and pacing and going to the door, and so I came home instead. I took him to out potty  and boy did he really need it, could that be the source of his agitation? Freaked out about the need to eliminate? peeing he's very comfortable but not peeing? I mean, Thank You Jesus but is it making him crazy?

I have not yet been strong enough to not come home at lunch. The doctor says that dogs like Rocket get even more anxious when the absent person magically re-appears, and sometimes they do better when you just leave them alone. However, he always needs to "eliminate" over lunch, he always really needs to and I'm afraid it too late to put him on a bowel and bladder program to train him to wait until I come home - and I'm not sure its fair to make him hold it for ten hours or if he could physically even hold it for that long. I'm am so tired of cleaning up pee after two full years that its almost worth  it to keep coming back to just not have to clean up pee .

Most days is okay, and its probably a good budget plan as I don't eat out and it helps my diet that I'm not eating crap at lunch and I get a little walk in while I'm home, so there are some positives. I watch a little TV, I eat my lunch and a get to be away from the office for a while. A very short while, I have an hour for lunch and during the lunch hour the round trip is about twenty-four minutes. I guess there is a lot to be said about the benefits of staying active.

If I can't go home I can always put him in daycare, but that is about the equivalent of  a week of lunches, so its not a cheap choice to make. Daisy stayed by herself all day every day for years and I think the only times I would come home would be days when I had  plans after work and couldn't be home promptly, what a pal I was. I think about that a lot. I was so mean to her. Didn't she deserve a visit and a nice little walk at lunch? Would that have been too much to ask? I think she would have really enjoyed it.

Thunder Ponies

I just finished updating my dog journal. I tried Rocket out with his Thunder Shirt while I ran to Wallyworld and... He may have been less freaked out? He was still pacing and panting and he did go to the door but he stayed on his feet by the door and didn't jump up and turn off his light, he also didn't tip the cable box off the top of the TV, which he has done in the past, like on Sunday while I was at church. He ultimately went back to the futon where he was very much awake and panting but not freaking out. He did not drink his water until I came home and he was clearly very thirsty but he was too stressed out while I was gone to be able to drink.

We have a long way to go. But he did not wet the floor or tear off the shirt or get destructive.

Rocket is eating like a real dog! If I had known all it would take was Mighty Dog, I would have started feeding him from its teeny, tiny cans from the get-go. He is now eating two cups of his  pricey (but available at Wallyworld!) grain free food and half a teeny can of cheap, wet  dog crack. I think the extra calories will make a big difference this winter when he needs them the most. Over the summer its not as bad, but he tends to look a little too thin sometimes and he is never interested in food the way dogs are. He can take all day to eat breakfast and that isn't normal. I see all these dog food bowls that are specially designed to keep dogs from inhaling their meals and force them to take their time eating. If your dog eats too fast they can bloat and that is deadly. I can at least say my dog doesn't have that problem ( yet). But who knows, maybe he'll start now that he thinks eating is kind of fun.

Today it did not rain and it was gorgeous and we happily took a long walk minutes after I got home. It was nice.

I almost punched a co-worker today because she sighed heavily and announced Oh, can you believe its only Tuesday?! I was like, OMG shut the fuck up. Just stop. And then she  whined about talking to crazy people all day and how long winded they are and I said Redirect them! Cut off the tangent! Ask a new question and keep the interview moving, help them stay on track, its not mean, it helps them get their ideas across and explain their problems - letting them talk about the sparkle pony  they knew thirty years ago does not help them  today. And also, we do not care about the sparkle pony unless it abused, neglected or exploited  them within the last calendar year and she was like "Oh, I mean, you know, you know how they are..." and I was like yes, REDIRECT THEM, read between the lines!. Its your job. GAWD.