Dave's Good Stuff

I never wanted to be “that guy” that posts pictures of his pets on the web, thinking that anyone would care. But, here I am. He was a great little puppy, and I miss him.

Everyone Loved The Squanto…

This afternoon at about 5:15 I put my puppy, who I’ve had for 15 years, to sleep. I was petting him when he died.

I’m very sad.

He was my most favorite puppy. His first mommy is very sad too.

The trouble with pets is that they don’t use their words. By that, I mean, they don’t talk to us in plain spoken language.

Is it really that hard? Then again, maybe it is. We start learning how to speak around the age of 3, give or take. It’s been said that the average dog’s intelligence is on par with the average 2 year old. Cats are probably fairly similar. That means they missed the speaking boat by about a year, which sucks for them. Or rather… it sucks for us.

See, we’re having pet troubles now, which would be very easy to solve if they could just talk to us about it, instead of just laying around, or meowing all the time.

On the one hand, Elliott the Cat has kept Jami and I up every night this week. It’s not constant, mind you, but every couple of hours, he’ll wander through the room with something very important to say.

“Meow. Meow meow. Merrrrow. Meow meow meow thhrrrbt meow.”

Then he’ll jump on the bed and, because we clearly didn’t hear it, say it all over again right next to our head.

“What, Elliott?! What do you want?! Use your words! Or better yet, don’t! It’s 4:00 in the damn morning!”

“Meow.”

We tried closing the bedroom door last night, and it worked some. He woke me up at 2. Then he woke both of us up at 4, when Jami wanted to let him in. She didn’t hear him start and stop at 2, so thought it would go on longer than it would have, and I was too sleepy to form a coherent sentence stating as much. Once in the room, he rambled on, talking about this and that for what seemed like half an hour, climbing around on both Jami and I before finally settling down. He then woke us up again around 6, but that’s fine, because that’s when the alarm goes off anyway.

We’re going to try the closed door approach again tonight. Cross your fingers, please.

On the other hand is The Squanto. He’s in a pretty bad way right now. He had a worms last month, which we picked up on right away and immediately treated. I don’t know what happened since (or how he got them in the first place), but he’s not been the same since. He’s not had much of an appetite, and has been very lethargic. The blood work performed at the visit to the vet yesterday showed him to be extremely anemic. That explains the appetite and lethargy. Also, There was an odd lump on his back leg that, when poked for a cell sample, actually turned out to be full of blood. Blood completely absent of white blood cells, no less.

Poor little guy is just tired all the time, and has no energy whatsoever. I’ve been feeding him by hand, trying to get him to eat, and will probably go for some of the more expensive and meaty soft foods, if only to get him back going again. If only he’d use his words, we could get him what he wants, and he could tell us where it hurts.

The vet recommended an ultrasound to see what was going on in that leg of his, but I need more information and more thought put into it before I take him back down the rabbit hole of excessively expensive and taxing procedures. I’ll probably get a second opinion.

Until then, we’ll be watching him as closely as time allows (we do have to work, after all), and trying every trick I know to get him to eat…

Wish us luck with both the kitty and the puppy!

I know this. I’ve known this for decades. Now my finger knows it too. Graphic pictures after the cut…
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Following my recap of Sunday, I move on to Saturday…

09:00: House Showing at the North House

We were up at 7 to give us time for some last minute cleaning for the 09:00 house showing. No feedback on the house showing. This is both relatively common and somewhat disappointing. It’s always good to get feedback, even if it’s just “This just isn’t the house for us…” Oh well… there will be more. There has to be.

11:30: Lunch with Friends at The Legends Cheeseburger in Paradise

Lunch was with friends of mine from St. Louis who couldn’t make it to the wedding. They’re a very nice couple, the female half of which I befriended in college, and have stayed in contact with over the years, albeit infrequent contact. They have two gorgeous children, a boy and a girl in elementary school. Jami could relate quite well to them, as well as the parents. It was a nice lunch, though it wasn’t long enough. The boy is young enough that sitting in a booth in a restaurant for 2 hours left him quite restless, and he was very excited to see the bee hive at the KU Museum of Natural History.

17:00: Wedding in Baldwin City at the same church we were married

The wedding in was very nice… then again I’m a little biased. It was very similar to ours, with only a few minor changes. That is to say, it was beautiful. I think it may have been even shorter, though. The only thing really lacking was all the fun music blasting the sanctuary as the crowd is dismissed by the Bride and Groom.

18:00: Reception at Abe & Jake’s in Lawrence

The reception at Abe & Jake’s Landing was fantastic. I didn’t realize they’re only open to private parties and events. Last I heard it was your standard bar. Of course, that was 6 years ago. Things have, apparently, changed. It was a great location, though, and almost everyone had a really great time. The food was great (same caterer that we had – same MENU, in fact), the drinks were flowing freely, and the dance floor was never without plenty of dancers. It was big and spread out enough that there were places for everyone, regardless of how they wanted to spend the evening. Again… similar to ours, with the only difference being that it was inside instead of out.

Afterwards, we hung around and helped clean up as things were winding down. It was the least we could do, since the bride’s family helped us so much at our wedding, both during set up and during clean up.

24:00: Back home at the North House

A 45 minute drive back into town, and we were back home and in our beds, looking forward to a relaxing Sunday, and the previously mentioned introduction of Elliott the Cat into the South Home…

And indeed it was. I’ll start with Sunday and move backwards, because it’s just easier that way. After a hectic day, I had intended Sunday to be a relaxing day, but as it turned out, I got quite a bit done.

First, Jami brought her kitty, Elliott over from our Southern Home to live with us in the Northern Home. He’d been staying down south since the wedding, and we felt it was time to integrate him. He’s 23lbs of Big Baby, and cried the entire drive, and when the terror of the drive was over, he wedged himself far up underneath a table and boxes in the basement. He did, eventually begin exploring with more confidence, and by this morning, he’d all but settled completely in. However, if his shenanigans of last night are any indication, he’ll be fantastic practice for when we have a baby, and a full night of sleep is but a fond memory.

He. Was. Restless.

It’s possible that my banging around didn’t help him settle in, and served to spook him something good. I can admit that. But I got on a bit of a roll, and didn’t want to stop.

The Squanto didn’t really have much to say about him. I’m sure they saw each other, but beyond a tolerant glance here and there, I don’t think they’re going to have much to do with each other. At 15, he’s up in his years, and just doesn’t have the energy to deal with the young-uns like he used to.

Back to What I Accomplished

• Finally mounted the hose rack, so the hose isn’t laying in the dirt next to the doghouse.
• Finally hung the wheelbarrow on the side of the house next to the hose rack, so it’s not sitting in the dirt and gathering rain next to the hose. It’s a pretty clever mounting system my bro-in-law gave to me before he was my bro-in-law. Just roll the wheelbarrow up to the house, lift up the back end, and snap into place.
• Finally hung the bike rack my bro-in-law gave to me before he was my bro-in-law. It’s in the garage and replaces a simple nail that supported the old Kona Fire Mountain frame, which in turn supported the tires and fenders. Now, it’s a much cleaner look.
• Spread anti-weed and anti-crab grass granules on the driveway, sidewalks, and lawn to try to combat the weeds and crab grass that threaten to take over.
• Spread grass seed in the back yard where the grass is having a hard time staying alive.
• Watered said grass seed.
• Pulled some weeds on the patio.
• Swept the patio of excess sticks and branches, and pushed some of the sand back between the bricks.
• Cleaned the “very dirty” baseboards to make for better house showings (it is up for sale, by the way).

Oh Noes!!

YES!! IT IS BACK!!!

Something will be done about this. I assure you.

And with that horrifying discovery, I think that about covers it for Sunday.

Saturday was a busier and interesting day, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I tried things out over at Blogspot, and while it’s a great service, and I applaud the whole free blogging service idea, I’m too much of a control freak. I want to run my own stuff. I’m just a geek that way, I suppose.

So… posting will resume here.

Thank you.