Kind and generous

Thanks very much to Aunt L and Uncle M who sent Isis a gift card from Petco! Darling Isis decided to spend it on a new light and some food for her big brother, Stew, who either is not taking well to the new baby, or to the lack of sunlight in his diet. Or both.

We took him outside for a short bit on Sunday, when the sun was actually out. I hope the increased UVA/UVB’s from the fresh bulb rejuvenate him a little. Next month we’ll get him a calcium shot, which should take him through the winter.

For the first time in my life, I’ve actually been counting down until the days get longer again. Maybe it’s the stormy weather, but it’s not supposed to feel like dusk at 2 p.m. is it?

Am feeling like a complete jerk today, because I let Rob down. I was supposed to sub for his martial arts class last night, and on the drive back from Olympia, I came up with a pretty fun lesson plan. When I have to teach, part of me always sort of hopes no one shows. But if anyone does show, I hope that enough people show so that I don’t have to partner with a boy who is stronger than me (i.e. most of them).

A nice group of five showed up, which would have been fine, because the girl I usually partner with was there.

EXCEPT, I couldn’t unlock the bleeping door. I actually went home to get additional sets of keys, including the originals, but none of them opened the door, which looked like it had been recently replaced.

I couldn’t reach anyone and I had to cancel class. When I talked to the studio owner today, she said the locks hadn’t been changed, but that she’d had trouble with them over the weekend. This does not make me feel better, just that I should have tried harder and gotten the damn door open.

Also I have an eye stye.

Unfestive

I have no explanation for it, but I am feeling decidedly not festive this week.

Maybe it’s because I’ve already got everything I ever wanted, and have spent huge amounts of money this year, so I’m not as psyched about gift giving and receiving as usual. Unlike Rob, who happily made a list and actually went out and bought gifts for everyone he knows. Except possibly me, because I said we shouldn’t exchange gifts on account of all the stuff we’ve been buying the puppy. Then he went out and bought some presents for her. As if she doesn’t already have more toys than most 11-week-old children.

‘Course my ulterior motive is that Rob’s birthday is two weeks after Christmas, so I can easily save the stuff I’ve already gotten for him rather than try to figure out additional things to buy him.

My mother-in-law equivalent said that my father-in-law equivalent went a little crazy shopping for me. (!) It’s gotta be home improvement stuff. Does that make a $30 gift card from Lowe’s a weird gift to give him, or a perfect one?

Isis, Isis, my pretty little Isis. Joy of our lives. I went home midday to let her out and I swear, she peed a dozen times in an hour. I get the feeling that she’d like to spend her whole day outside playing with the soccer ball that came with our house. She looks so cute, romping around our backyard. I wonder, even if it were fully fenced, if I would feel comfortable leaving her out while we’re at work. I know that’s what people do, but she’d be so vulnerable to the elements. Like the freeway, and the creek, and college students…

I watched “An Inconvenient Truth” last night. How come, when all those critics were telling me this was the most important movie of the year and I heard not one single bad thing about the film, nobody mentioned that it’s really just Al Gore giving a slide show. Al Gore, graphs and maps. How did this movie sell?

I’m not saying it’s not a very important film, or that I didn’t turn down the thermostat and turn off a few lights while I was watching it … I’m just comparing it to “The Passion” (of the Christ.)

They (Christians) said that “The Passion” would make me believe in Jesus as my personal savior. I was like, “Oh yeah? Try me.”

And I guess they (film critics?) implied that “An Inconvenient Truth” would make me reduce my carbon dioxide emissions to zero. But I’m thinking, “eh, I don’t care if Florida sinks into the ocean, I own land on high ground at the opposite end of the country.” (And Al didn’t say whether Washington was in Greenland’s melt path.)

I liked the footage of stuff melting and the Before and After pictures of dried up lakes and rivers, but I wanted to know more about the causes of this climate crisis he speaks of.

A little bit country

Isis sat on my lap on the ride home from the vet. Take that, paparazzi!

She has roundworms! Ick. Good thing I ziplocked up a poop sample to take with me. While we’re on the topic, thus far I’ve spared the Internet of gross puppy poop stories, but I think it’s time.

To be fair, she’s only had a handful of accidents, and it’s usually when we (i.e. Rob) haven’t paid attention to her signals. Or forgot how long it’s been since she’s eaten relative to the last time she pooped. Yesterday I took her out after a rousing game of indoor tennis ball soccer. I’m telling you, she’s gifted. She holds a rawhide chew in her mouth and bats the ball between her paws. After she peed, Rob went into the computer room and I went into the bathroom to take out my contacts.

Isis did not follow me into the bathroom, but instead, left us a little present on the floor near the Christmas tree. I have no explanation for that one.

Also in the Mystery Poop department…I was wandering around the house in my socks yesterday when I noticed a teeny smudge of poo on the wood laminate. No indication of where it came from. Several steps across the house, I checked for and discovered poo on the bottom of my sock. Had I caused the smudge on the floor, or had the smudge caused the poo on my sock? I removed my socks and wandered around the entire house barefoot before checking to see whether the poo had seeped through the sock to my foot. It had.

So please, no eating off the floors.

And best for last…it’s not good for pets to ingest human hair. Especially long hair. Emerald had problems pooping a few times when a strand of my hair got in his system. A few weeks ago, Isis attempted to poop in an appropriate place (the yard) but just couldn’t let it go. Her poop was strung on one of my hairs like a popcorn chain on the Christmas tree. Just dangling out of her butt.

I think that was the same day Rob thought she was going to die because she ate a mushroom. Later, she sat next to me with a tennis ball in her mouth and started making a gagging sound. I thought maybe the tennis ball was stuck, so I pulled it out of her mouth, releasing all kinds of partially digested, chewed up treats.

Sorry. Threw in a little vomit story for good measure.

Shingle all the way

How many roof tiles need to blow off my roof before I consider it a problem? Do I wait until leaks actually form? I’ve been finding roof tiles in my yard for several weeks, and we’re supposed to have the worst windstorm of the season tonight. (Says who? From the wind’s point of view, it may well be the best windstorm.)

We lost power the other night and sought refuge at Rob’s parents’. We brought Stew with us because I was afraid he’d freeze without a heat source. He may well have been colder in Isis’ crate at Rob’s parent’s house. But at least he didn’t get left behind. He lost most of his toes during a power outage early in his life. I’m not entirely clear on the story, but he walked into a fire, or onto a stove, that his owners were using to keep him warm. I’ll be damned if he’s hurt or killed in another power outage. So, uh, I’m not sure what the plan is if the power goes out again tonight. We can’t build a fire in the fireplace, because we still haven’t had the chimney inspected.

Howler Monkey

I have the best-behaved puppy in the world. We had people over on Friday and they were so impressed at how she went into her crate by herself and didn’t bark or chew on anyone.

She was equally well-mannered when we took her to the in-law equivalents’ party yesterday.

You’d never know that, when no one’s looking, she chews on Rob’s face, bites my pant legs and howls like a baby when I put her in the crate so I can shower in the morning.

Ever so occasionally, when I take her out to pee, and I think she’s going to come right back in, so I don’t bother with the leash, she bolts around to the front of the house. Yesterday she did this on the creek side. I called out, “Isis!” She paused, looked at me, and sprinted away from me to the other side.

This from the critter who used to follow me to the bathroom. We really need to install that chainlink fence.

She’s been pretty good about the Christmas tree. Likes to chew on the tree skirt, but our Noble fir is so big I don’t think she’s strong enough to knock it over. Although she tried yesterday, by getting the string of lights in her mouth and starting to move away from the tree.

Guess she had on her naughty pants.

Fish gotta swim

Funny story.

I was on the road Friday, thinking about how my job is finally coming together. After 6 whole weeks, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing.

And then I realized I forgot my camera. Good thing I was able to borrow one, so I could capture fantastic shots like this one:

It’s a picture of some fish trying to spawn, in case my art is too abstract for you. They won’t be spawning, incidentally, since they’re hatchery fish. Their instincts are telling them to swim toward a dead end, where they’ll be donating their gametes to science.

Then there’s the matter of note-taking. I still had a notebook with me from the day before, but no amount of fumbling through my purse would turn up a writing utensil. Sometimes I have one in my jacket pocket, so I checked there. No pen. A milkbone yes, but no pen.

He’s not like the other boys

Not only will Rob stop and ask for directions (while I’d prefer to drive around til I find it, thank you very much), but he also likes to dress up his dog. I know this is unusual for a man, because my brother and my mom’s boyfriend vehemently oppose the placement of reindeer antlers on our Lhasa apso Barney.

My mom and I think it’s adorable, although Barney clearly hates it.

Here’s Rob and Isis, wearing matching coats.

Isis appears to be going for his jugular, no?

I was thinking about getting her a Santa hat, but maybe we should get her some antlers … she already knows how to pose like a reindeer in flight.

Night of the comet

I’d love to be productive. I really would. But nobody else in the tri-county area seems to be working, because of the snow, and the cold, and the ice, and now the rain… It makes it hard to get them on the phone.

I left Isis at home. It was a heartbreaking parting.

I wonder what she’s doing now…

You get what you pet

And raise what you praise.

So if you let the puppy out of the crate when she’s whining, she’ll whine whenever you put her in the crate. I understand this and am determined to raise a perfect dog.

At the office, Isis yelped at me while I was trying to type something. I really didn’t want my coworkers to think she was disruptive, so what did I do? I picked her up and held her on my lap, letting her chew the zipper on my sweatshirt while I typed.

Great parenting, huh?