Did You Know?

There are 1 million deer in West Virginia, and about 1.8 million people.

In Montana, drivers have a one in 104 chance of hitting a deer.

In Hawaii, one in 9,931.

Just a few facts I picked up from an article about State Farm's ranking of car vs deer crashes. No surprise to me, my state ranks in the top 5. I mean, our town has implemented a deer culling policy for our town herd. Seriously. The city pays to have so many deer killed each year to keep the town from being overrun. Not that that is working all that well.

Just last week I saw a two-point and a three-point buck meandering around in the heart of town, along the busiest street.

Smoky Weekend Wanderings

Well, it was quite the weekend! Friday afternoon Morning Owl and I went down to B to visit a couple of potential dog rescues. The first was a 5 yr old male Poodle. Turns out to be a Poodle/Lhasa Apso cross. Food aggression, child aggression (although food was also involved in that incident). A saveable dog, but not one I can have as I travel for work and need a dog that can be around kids now. Then off to the animal shelter to check out a 9mo miniature poodle. Love her. She’s very timid due to no socialization. She definitely wasn’t cared for! I very much hope to be approved to adopt her. There is also a Yorkshire terrier there, about 2 years old, male, and all of 10 pounds. Smaller than I ever thought I’d get but there’s just something about how quiet he is. He’s not free for adoption yet as he’s part of a court case. But he and the poodle have bonded. More so on the poodle’s side. I planned to have 2 dogs eventually…So I told them I’d like to adopt both of the dogs. There are several applications on both dogs, so….Hopefully I’ll get some news this week. I hate waiting. Driving back into H about quarter to five we noticed a huge plume of smoke to the west of town. Someone started a fire up on the pass, east and south of the highway at one of the campground trailheads. They aren’t sure yet if it was arson or not. But it’s definitely human caused. Second one of those around the valley in 1.5 weeks. It’s less than 300 acres and only about 30-35 homes were evacuated on Saturday. But it was a bit nervy there. We had 60 mile per hour winds and it was hot…luckily the winds actually worked in our favor – kept it from going uphill and whipped it back around itself. But it got to within 6 miles of H so everyone was on edge. It's not contained, but doesn't appear to be a threat to the city anymore. Cool front coming through (snow forecast for higher elevations!) and rain by Wednesday should help. Although there is a potential now for it to jump the highway and move west. Saturday went to M. with Little Sis and her mom & sister. It was KT’s birthday last week and she wanted to go shopping in the mall. So off we went. The drive the pass was clear (just down to 35 mph due to emergency responders for the fire), but you could definitely see the smoke off to the south of the road. All in all it was a fun day. I got to go to the “big” bookstore, found some adorable clothes for my new niece and the coolest outfit for niece G who has a birthday coming up. Now I need to get a present for nephew N who also has a birthday coming up. And Dad. Then yesterday there was a fire up by Morning Owl’s place. Scary. Like being in the path of the M Pass fire wasn’t strain enough for her! At least the one in O. Gulch stayed in the grass and didn’t get up into the trees. It’s all the dead pine trees due to the Pine Beetle infestation that is worrisome. There are dead pines everywhere. That fire took 4 hours to be put out. Considering she’s about a 15 minute drive from downtown H, that fire could have been a disaster. So in the last week and a half, we have had 4 fires in the county/valley. Keep your fingers crossed we get that snow in the mountains!

Catching Up, Hanging in There

I'm doing okay after losing Scully. Last weekend sucked, big time. But I'm making progress. Still teary eyed thinking of her, heart aches, etc. Going to the shelter in B tomorrow afternoon to look at several possibilities. Keep your fingers crossed I make the right decision!

It figures...I wait over a year and a half before caving in and buying my Wii, and a mere two months after they reduce the price 20%! (That's $49.80 for my fellow math-challenged out there.) Of course, I don't have the extra cash on hand to buy it now. But that's not the point! [g] My boss' college age daughter was diagnosed on Monday with pneumonia and on Wednesday with H1N1. He's banned from the office this week. Good thing he was already planning to be on the road all week. Of course it sucks for him to be away from his daugher when she's so sick. So now we're sanitizing even more than usual. Which sucks for me because everything is scented. Good thing the office I'm now in has a door to the outside. I can air it out. :0 My sister is still doing well, although very tired. Apparently this baby is a bit more like I was as an infant, and prefers to sleep rather than eat. G (their first child) isn't so thrilled the baby sleeps so much. [g] Mom & Dad are there doing what they can to help...Dad a bit bored, I think. He should just head up here and visit. Let Mom do the Grandma thing. But those two are joined at the hip! We haven't told my sis about Scully yet. I don't think she'll be heartbroken or anything, but I'm sure she'll worry about me and then feel guilty that Mom & Dad are staying there instead of coming to be with me. But I'm handling this much, much better than I thought I ever could. So they don't need to rush to my side! Besides, I wouldn't have anywhere to sleep since the upstairs rooms aren't done. Which brings me to the remodel. All is on track for my upstairs to be finished by October 6th. Whoo-hoo! After deciding to focus on siding, we discovered only the front and back are not asbestos siding. So only repairs I could get done without an asbestos abatement team (talk about pricey!) were on the front. Which is where the worst damage was. So. That got done and then apparently we decided to do the upstairs walls too. Paneling gone, new wiring & lights (love those cam lights!!!), new drywall, new subfloor. It looks a million times better than before. Taper comes next week on Monday, and the floor gets put down the Monday after that. :) There's one weekend in there where I can paint without worries. I'll probably wait until after the floor goes in. Was able to do that in the bedroom and it worked better for color selection. But anyway. Enough of this novel. I think I've had enough coffee this morning!!!

The Canine Health Wars

I'm on the road again. Fourth business trip of the year, two more to go. And this is the second one since end of August. I get back from this one Saturday only to leave Monday afternoon for New Orleans. The South. In September. Hot. Sticky. Hurricane season. Oh, joy. I hate traveling for work. Especially with Scully being sick. She's got pneumonia for the second time since June. She's been on one antibiotic for four weeks (two more to go for that one), another antibiotic for one week, plus pred.nisone, a bronchodilator and an inhaled steroid. {sigh} Excessive to some, I suppose, since she's "just a dog". But how can I justify not doing for her what I'd do for me? She's a living breathing being. I can't just consign her to pain, distress, because she's a dog. Doesn't seem right to me. Not when I can see her struggling. I've had the talk with the vet about if it's time to let her go or not. She's 14, and the health is going. Even non-dog people I know have noticed. But the vet doesn't think so. After all, Scully is still eating well (most of the time), is moving around, going outside, etc. The fact that she begs from the neighbors when they are outside grilling is a good sign. I suppose. Although my neighbor T feels guilty if she doesn't give Scully anything. {rolling my eyes} I am forcing myself to face the fact Scully might not be with me much longer. I have several friends promising to tell me when I need to let go in case I can't face up to it myself. I'm hoping we can knock out this pneumonia soon. At least keep her comfy until Mom & Dad get her the end of September.

Skeptical Me

Sitrep: Move Office. (uck)

So much is going on in the news lately I hardly know where to start. I want to blog about health care, but I haven't quite sorted stuff out in my mind. And then there's Mi.chael V.ick. I had the misfortune of watching/listening to him on 6.0 M.inut.es last Sunday. I don't know about anyone else, but I firmly believe the man is lying. He doesn't give two hoots about animals. His opinion about animals and the way they ought to be treated hasn't changed. He said he was brought up with that attitude toward animals. Well, those kinds of attitudes don't change because he lost his NFL contract (temporarily) and went to jail (temporarily). Oh, he might not participate in dog fights anymore. He might pay lip service and do appearances with the HSUS to save face and get his career back. Frankly, I think it's a crock he's getting back in the NFL. What punishment did he really get? Not much if you ask me. Personally, I think the publicity surrounding his crimes, punishment and subsequent release have only served to increase the popularity of dog fighting, made it more "cool", and encouraged those participating in the minimal consequences endured if caught. More info: http://www.hsus.org/acf/fighting/dogfight/dogfighting_fact_sheet.html http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/08/vick-60-minutes.html http://www.hsus.org/acf/

Who would have thought it...

Okay, I'm still around. It's been insanely busy at work and at home. I must admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed with 4 people, 4 birds and 3 dogs staying with me. None of us expected it to take this long. Stupid movers. But their new home is in place and leveled and hooked up to the pressure pump (for the well) and hooked up to the sewer line and today the water is being hooked up. Michelle is painting today (see how I missed out on that with my business trip). Bummer. Hah. I haven't had much to say lately as my brain is just running a mile a second. Too much stuff going on; presidential politics, the economy, the "financial crisis"...I keep reading more and more and the BB isn't an escape anymore like it used to be. But I can't find any other topics to focus on either. It seems to be all my brain can think about, especially the economic stuff. And then it turned out Shanni really was sick, and I got sick...pushed myself last week to get everything ready for this seminar this week, and was able to take Friday off to recover. Shanni thought that would be great, except all I did was sleep. lol. It's definitely not like playing hooky from school! We've developed quite the routine. Steve cooks dinner most nights since he's home, the girls get home and do homework, then I get home around the same time as Michelle. I've got 3 TVs hooked up to cable now so there's no arguing over what to watch. Although we seem to congregate in the living room. It's the mornings that are the best, though. KT leaves at 5:30 for dance/drill team practice; I get up at 6 to shower (only one bathroom) and then Shanni gets up. Well, M & S are big coffee drinkers. (They brought their coffee pot with them. [g]) I've gotten in the habit of prepping it the night before & turning it on as I stumble past on the way to my shower; or fixing it when I get out of the shower. I'm dressed right away (a minor miracle!), and then Shanni gets up. A few minutes after I leave the bathroom (or as soon as the coffee is done brewing, lol) Michelle stumbles out. It's pretty much weather report, news, & then "The Waltons" or "It's Me or the Dog" until Shanni & I leave for the day. I drop her off at school, and head to work. I love the time we spend on the way to school; it's great to just chit-chat about the day before we start it. Especially since we're in the middle of a SlugBug (VW Beetle) contest. If it can be called that. It's more like a crusade. ;) I almost yelled out "Silver Slug Bug, no Slug Bug Back!" on the way to dinner with the instructors last night. Oops. Thank goodness I managed to restrain myself. [g] I must admit, I'm going to miss this part of their stay. It's kind of fun. And has me missing my parents for some reason. I think I've become a bit too much of a homebody since buying the house. And having the other dogs around is a delight. The birds have faded into the background; I'm so used to their singing now. But the dogs are great. Scully is very cranky still. Especially with Aria, the standard poodle that's just a year old. She (Scully) has taken to hiding out upstairs in the second bedroom, where I've been sleeping. Even when I'm home, she stays up there. After coming down to say hello and get dinner, that is. ;) Poor thing. Her home has been invaded. She's an old dog at 13, you know. I was looking at a picture of her today from June 2006 and realized how much grayer she's gotten since then...and she's losing her eyesight. It's very noticeable now and depresses me. So I'm going to stop going there in this post. Night before last I brushed Radar (the golden) and he just puddled on the floor. I've never seen a dog melt like that before. When I was brushing the front of his neck, he stretched his head up toward me and I've never been given such an adoring look before...It was so funny. Scully ran and hid when she saw the brush, Izzy (the Westie) dared me with her eyes to try and groom her (safely ensconced on the sofa with KT), and Aria (the poodle) gave me a puzzled look, came over and licked Radar's ear, and then went and laid down. Kooky dogs. But it's great when I pull up next to the garage at the end of the day and the three of them are standing at the gate waiting for me. My own welcoming committee. And it's not because they're about to be fed. How lovely. :)

The Kindness of Strangers....Ungrateful Little Miscreant

Sitrep: working on it

My just-retired boss Roger has decided - finally - to find a new home for the Lhasa Apso he inherited on his wife's death last July. Truly, he is not a small dog or indoor dog type of person, and with his new job he'll be traveling more. This little dog, Gizmo, is a sweet yet mean little thing. I know; how can he be both? It's not so much that he's mean, he's just very wary of strangers, men in particular. Doesn't help that he's 8 yrs old, not neutered, and Laura let him rule the roost for too many years. Until she married Roger. Gizmo likes Roger; he just thinks he's Roger's equal & in charge. He also 'talks' or 'purrs' (sounds like a mild growl) when you pet him or talk to him. Roger backs off when Gizmo does this.

Last Monday I located a breed rescue group in MT, not too far from me. Spoke with the lady that night. She is wonderfully nice, and totally understands the situation. She was actually very surprised that Roger has tried for 7 months. I guess Lhasa Apsos are, uh, more temperamental? They bond to women easier and are stubborn - smart - talkative. High maintenance in personality and care (daily brushing, etc, unless you buzz cut them!)

She is confident she can find Gizmo a home, and is go-go-go. She'll actually be in town on Monday, and is a) bringing a better brand of dog food (!) for Gizmo, and b) will pay to have him Micro chipped. She microchips all 'her' dogs. As soon as she gets more info (shot records, etc.) and pictures she'll post him on her website and start looking for a home for him. Yippee! I'm a bit surprised at how eager and helpful she is. Not sure why. It's not like she's the only such person I've run into. I guess I just let my cynical nature be in control too much. A "expect the worst so you won't be disappointed" kind of thing.

As for that little miscreant Gizmo...I dog-sat him the past 2.5 days while Roger was out of town. Gizmo behaves very well. He even let me groom him. He loves to be groomed. As long as you don't make him sit there and let him wander off and then come back. He does come back as soon as you call his name & pat the floor in front of you. I got most of the matts out of his fur the last few days. But he won't let me brush his belly, where there are quite a few matts, and he absolutely will not tolerate my trimming his feet. I think he must have gotten a nail cut to the quick once, and remembers. I was fine with him until this point, because that's when the ungrateful little miscreant bit me! Stupid dog. I know, I know, it's his only way of protecting himself, etc. But it pisses me off all the same.

Scully didn't like it either. She didn't attack him, but was getting upset. I could tell from her body posture, and how she came over and kept trying to get between me and Gizmo. Which didn't help me much...Because then I was worried they'd attack each other. I made sure that after he bit me (it wasn't much of a bite - didn't break the skin, etc.) that I handled each leg (without the scissors or brushes anywhere near us) just to let him know I can darn well touch him wherever I want because I am in charge.

I was exhausted after that. Got ready for bed, made sure to block the hallway so Gizmo would stay in the living room, and went to bed. Scully was funny. She usually goes to sleep on her bed right next to mine. Then around 2am she climbs into bed with me. Not last night. She got right up on the bed, laying on the foot of the bed (faces the door). A few minutes after I climbed into bed, she laid her head down, but still where she could keep an eye on the door, and laying in a position where she could leap up at a seconds notice to defend me...

It's the Easter Bunny's Fault

Have you ever had one of those moments when, judging by the utter astonishment and "You've got to be kidding me" looks on people's faces, that you've just said something incredibly stupid? And yet you have to sit there for a few replaying that last bit of conversation in your mind to figure out just what it was?

It's bad enough when this happens with your peers. But when an almost-twelve-year-old that's already too bright for her own good and you're barely two steps ahead of her on a good day aims that look in your direction....well. It's humbling, that's what it is. Or humiliating. Take your pick.

After a fun filled afternoon last Saturday (including another jaunt to the library - whoo hoo, more books!) my little sister's mom Michelle came over to pick Shanni up at my house. I'd bought this truly delightful cookbook "The Best of Family Fun Cooking & Parties" [run, do not walk, to the nearest bookstore for this book!!!!], and we were leafing through it, idly chatting, etc. Shanni proceeded to tell me a story about how the day before they'd found an egg in the bathroom, and were trying to figure out how it got there. It'd obviously been someone's delicacy; partially eaten and had some fur on it. Probably one of the cats or dogs. I, thinking I'm absolutely brilliant, deduct that one of the critters found [insert drum roll] a rabbit nest and stole a rabbit egg. Carting the remainder inside to "save" for later.

See, this is where I get the looks. I rapidly review the conversation and say, somewhat uncertainly, I guess, due to the laughter I get, "Ummm, rabbits lay eggs, right? Or not?"

When they finally stopped laughing. I was assured that no, rabbits do not lay eggs. They are mammals and have live young. By this point I am beet red. To my ear tips, even! I hate that even at 34 I blush so easily. Sigh. They giggled over this for the next hour, seriously.

I know I will never live this down...how do I know this? Well, a) family just does not let stuff like this go...and b) my little's step-father called me several hours later (not having been there at the time) and is all serious on the phone saying "Natalia? This is Steve. I have something very important to tell you...Rabbits are mammals. Mammals have live young..." he said some more after that, something about marsupials can have live or lay eggs, or something like that. Oh, and we don't really have any marsupials in Montana. Don't remember the rest because I was laughing too hard. But I do remember him saying "Michelle was right, I can hear you blushing over the phone." And I was. Am blushing right now writing this.

In my defense, it's all that darn Easter Bunny's fault. I mean really. What's a city girl to do? He goes around giving away eggs every year. Rabbits and eggs are inextricably intertwined in my mind! Although if you really look at it, it's pretty twisted. Giant rabbit hiding potential babies all over the place and we have to find them...Geez. And apparently, they're stolen at that! ;)

Agua. l'eau. Wasser. più acqua. вода.

Water, water, everywhere. This drinking 8 cups of water a day is hard. I mean, it really is. Aside from the fact that I feel like I'm going to float away any minute, now I'm having nightmares. The other night I dreamt I couldn't stop peeing. I'm laughing, I really am, because that's just too hysterically, horribly, funny...

And so far this morning I've spilled half a glass of water on myself. At work, naturally, so I can't change. As soon as I got my glass refilled and was back at my desk - BAMM! Over it went. It's been over thirty minutes since I cleaned it up, and I'm still finding wet papers. Sigh.

Of course, partly it's because I'm so flippin' tired this morning. I did not have a good night last night. It started when I put on Animal Planet because nothing else was on. It was some kind of "Animal Precinct" marathon. Normally I won't watch that because it's just too depressing. I was smart enough to switch off the channel a few minutes into "Animal Planet Heroes: Hurricane Rescues." It was too much.

So I turned to the latest book in the Star Wars saga, part of the Legacy of the Force series. Aside from my issues with what they're doing to Jacen (Han & Leia's son) which totally doesn't fit his character that was developed in the New Jedi Order series (all 20+ books of it!!!), it's a bit of a slow pace this series. I also have issues with it because they're making Luke out to be less than he is. Sigh. I've been partly in love with Luke Skywalker since I was 5. [Probably why I'm still single, lol. Odds are I'm not going to find a light-saber swinging, saving the world Jedi-Master in this universe.]

But there I was, starting to get into the book and grudgingly accept what they're doing, when BAMM! [I'm getting addicted to BAMM-ing today, I think. Just like my over-use of exclamation points!!!!] Where was I. Oh, BAMM! they killed off a major character. One of my favorites. Now, I'm not going to say who, just in case someone out there reading this is reading these books too. I'll just say that it wasn't Luke, Leia or Han. But everyone else is fair game.

And that was it for me. Sobbing doesn't even begin to cover it. I guess I was emotionally raw yesterday. Started with the post on the BB about Bonnie losing her Dad, and I kept thinking of Grandma all day, and then the shows on Animal Planet and then the book...So I cried myself into a sinus headache, and finally fell asleep. Naturally, the damn dog couldn't be induced to cuddle. No sireee. All she wanted to do was go outside and bark at the air. Sniff. [But at 5 am this morning I was supposed to get up and feed her. I don't think so.]

So now I'm not sure I want to read the rest of this series. As much as I love SW and really like the books (at least the ones set after Return of the Jedi) I don't think I can handle losing another character. I know, I know, these aren't romances, and they can't fight in as many wars as they have without people dying, and the darker aspects are why I like these books, but really. This is the THIRD major character that's died. I'm terrified they're going to kill Luke. And I don't think I could handle that AT ALL. [Take my SW seriously, don't I?]

And, naturally, I had nightmares all night long. About hurricanes and hurt animals and water, water everywhere! Thank goodness my alarm went off when it did.