Oh, Hi!

What a week.

The day I posted the 'burnout' post I had the worst dog fight ever here at the house. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Although the two dogs involved were both probably ill at the time of the fight, so that could have contributed to it. It was a 10-15 minute fight, and I think it really traumatized both of the dogs as well as me. I won't go into more detail, but the dogs are both fine and I am ok too.

I have a three-day weekend, so I am getting lots of things done - cleaning, errands, phone calls, emails, appointments, etc. On the weekends I like to do my daily chores, weekly chores, and some decluttering projects to get ready for moving. So far I've gone through the master closet, dressers, armoire, bathroom drawers and cupboards, the junk drawer, ALL of our papers/paperwork/filing, and the dog records. I think that's it...so far. I still need to go through three closets, the kitchen, den, laundry room, and the garage. We have so much junk.

My sister is coming to visit me for a week. Yay - I'm so excited!! I am also working the morning shift of the next Big Fix the day she flies in. I'm ready to relax and have some fun, since I'm stuck here and can't really go anywhere. My fun is coming to me!

Still busy getting everything in order for the doggies to go to Hawaii. The vet at Lackland is TDY for several weeks, so I had to try and get appointments at Ft. Sam which has proven to be a total nightmare and next to impossible. I think we are going to work with a different vet we know to get some of it done.

FML

Spectre in happier times


Spectre's wounds abscessed and started erupting sometime late Wednesday night, leading to major complications. By Thursday morning I knew she needed medical attention. We decided she would be stable enough until Friday morning when she could see our regular vet. I anxiously took her in at 8 am sharp when the clinic opened. She was put under this morning for a procedure to irrigate the wounds and pack them. She gets new packs daily for 3-5 days, then they will close the wounds and insert a drain. I imagine her final appointment will be to remove the drain. I feel horrible; this whole thing makes me sick. There was no way to know that the abscesses would occur. I'm not sure how long this process will take or how much it will cost. I hope she will have a swift recovery from here on out. :(

One of Those Days

Yesterday was "one of those days". Early in the morning I put all the dogs out, then brought them back inside and went to bed. When I woke up for good later, there were accidents everywhere.

Then I noticed there was a dead rat in the backyard. I didn't want the dogs fighting over it or bringing it inside, so I knew I had to dispose of it. I literally went out there four or five times over the course of two hours, and it freaked me out too much. I finally asked the neighbor to come get it. He quickly marched over behind me, scooped it up, and took it away in a bag. Thank goodness.

The afternoon brought the biggest upset. About six dogs were in the kitchen close together and a fight broke out. It was horrible. Freddie got a hold of Spectre and wouldn't let go. She was so frightened there was pee and poop flying everywhere - along with fur, saliva, and blood. Awful. I got bit when I was trying to help her. I had to separate all the dogs and then get things cleaned up while I let them calm down. They're going to have to be separated for awhile now. Sigh. From two shifts in the pup shuffle to four - all because of a fight. Grrr.

And now I think little Eddie is a little bit sick. :( He has a touch of a cough and coughed up a little phlegm/bile in his crate today. Hopefully it's nothing. I would love not to have sick and injured dogs at some point in this six months.

And He's Gone...

He left yesterday at 6:30 am. We had a very fun going-away for him Friday night with all his (work) friends, and Saturday we worked together all day getting the U-Haul and car situated, getting everything packed, etc. He was very calm and organized, which was great. It made for a stress-free day for both of us.

After he left I got the dogs all taken care of then I went to my favorite place for lunch. Then I ran to Petsmart and Walmart to pick up a few things, and after I washed my car and gassed it up before my work week began.

Unfortunately Suzy fell ill late Saturday night; she is currently at the vet's in-home clinic getting treatment. We should find out today what is going on with her. I also must have had a ghost dog fight at the house; I never heard one, but Katie has a nasty gash on her side. So I have one sick dog and one injured dog. Thank goodness I have extremely easy access to the best vet care available. I'm so grateful for the support system I have here.

I feel positive about this situation. Last time we were apart because of the military, I didn't know anyone here. Now we have lots of friends that we are lucky enough to consider as family. We were newly married and new home-owners. Now that we've been married for four years we have experience of dealing with things under our belt, and I'm confident that I can handle any crisis that could come up. Plus, it's not like a deployment; he's safe, access to communication is not an issue, and he's even in the same time zone! This is a wonderful opportunity to advance his career. This six-month training will yield years of possibilities for him.

While he's gone I plan to: take care of myself, take care of the dogs, get the house in order, and spend time with my friends. This will be a period of growth for us as individuals and as a couple. I'm ready.

Seven Pounds a Day

...Of dog food, that is. I've calculated that the dogs eat seven pounds of dog food a day. And that's just the regular formula which doesn't include the puppy food and the diet food. So eleven dogs are eating seven pounds of food a day. Can that be right? We just went through a thirty-five pound bag in about five days. Fortunately, we can afford it, and it's a lifestyle we choose.

In other ramblings, I had my first dog fight tonight since Adam's been gone. The dogs were playing in the den and somehow Camilla got caught in the middle; Camilla did not feel like playing. She got cranky with them and four of them jumped her. She has a scrape on her "udder" and a pretty good puncture near her lady bit. Yay for hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and extra antibiotics that we have on hand. There's really nothing you can do but let it heal and try to protect against infection. The things you learn from a house full of rescue dogs.


Cranky Camilla