Saying Goodbye

D and I have decided that it is time to tell Rocket goodbye. Probably tomorrow at our vet's.

Rocket's Status

The 13.5yo dog is wobbly. He has trouble keeping his balance, or his muscle strength is gone, or both. His haunches were weak before the surgery, but now his shoulders/front legs are weak too.

I took him to our vet today and she checked for vertigo and sensation in his limbs, also for obstruction in his large intestine and for glucose metabolism. All were fine, she said. We have moved off of one antibiotic onto another because one spot in his incision is weeping, but it doesn't look like an infection, she said. He's off the pain meds, and being transitioned from the low-residue food back to his old food.

We just don't know why he is unsteady. Yes, he's blind, but he would run blindly into the fence after a suspected squirrel in the past. Now he can barely take two steps without a wobble and possible fall onto his side.

She has me trying to feed him Pedialyte in case his electrolytes are out of whack. Trouble is, I can't get him to drink it (I got the plain type). We are running out of ideas for the poor guy. I take him back to have his staples removed Friday afternoon. I'll have more to report then, I guess.

Year's End

Just some tidbits to munch on as we finish out the year.

Rocket almost died. He ate an ungodly amount of inedibles a week ago, and now has a long incision down the middle of his belly, lots of staples, and is pretty unsteady. The good news is that he is eating and drinking well and will probably be okay. He is my first baby, so this was quite a scare for me.

I like this ncfoodie person's blog: inmymind-ncfoodie.blogspot.com. Check it out!

Today, I have rented Brokeback Mountain for the, oh, tenth (?) time from the library. There is a strong possibility that I will finally watch it tonight. But maybe not.

With my Border's gift card, I bought Sara Gran's Dope and an address book. Can't wait to dive into both. Luckily, one already has words in it.

I've got to stop using Facebook. My multiple personalities coexist uncomfortably on one page that friends from all my eras can access. As my worlds collide, who will prevail? The fair but tough professor? The high school cheerleader? The swinging grad student? The aspiring mystery writer? The gay divorcée? The married mom of two preschoolers? Can they really all be the same person?

A former student called me a few days ago to check in. She does this a couple times a year, and that's okay. Just between you and me, I've always known she was mentally ill. That was a dicey situation, of course, because SHE never knew. But now she knows, and even told me so during the course of our conversation. Funny thing was, she sounded the sanest I've ever heard her. She got married last year. I'm happy for her, I guess, because it was what her parents wanted, and she lives for her parents, but I honestly felt like getting her a lifetime prescription for birth control as a wedding gift, because if there's one person I didn't want to have a kid, it was her. But now, maybe with medication and therapy, she can take better care of herself. She deserves it.

Kiss Parody

This St. Sanders parody of KISS (aka PISS) is the funniest one yet. If you are a KISS fan, then you quite deserve this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw5oJoUYTb8

You've got to check out his other shred parodies: http://stsanders.com/.

What a difference two years makes

I advised the children that in the nature documentary we were about to watch, March of the Penguins, some of the penguins and their chicks "don't survive."

"They die?" asks my five-year-old son. "Is it fiction or non-fiction?"

"Non-fiction. It's the real world, just on camera."

My son's face goes white, his lips turn blue. "I don't want to watch it," the boy says in between sobs.

"I do," says the three-year-old girl. "I like it when people die," she says enthusiastically.

"They aren't people. They are penguins," I tell her.

"Oh. Yeah! I like to watch penguins die!" she nods with a smile.

She just wants to watch the movie and will say anything to get me to put it in the DVD player. Or else she is the next Aileen Wuornos.

What my son doesn't remember is that he saw this DVD two years ago, and didn't have a single negative reaction to the "Circle of Life," as it is referred to by a certain entertainment organization. I think mine grow into their sensitivity gradually.

Remember those sandals?

The Ferragamo sandals I coveted in an earlier blog post? Well here is an updated pic with a foot in it. Zexy.

Here's the naked shoe.


And by the way, I got the price on them. One thousand and ninety dollars. For two sandals. Naaaah.