Updates

So, finally got hold of a real live person this morning. Not someone at the local ESC office – they’ve never bothered to return any of my calls. This week, I’ve been calling a benefits hotline. Couldn’t get through at all yesterday, but managed it this morning. After sitting on hold for 20 minutes (literally), an actual person answered. I almost hung up, I was so surprised (flashbacks of trying to register for classes at State and accidentally hanging up on the system because I was so used to a busy signal, my brain didn’t process the system pick-up fast enough to stop my finger on the disconnect button).

I do qualify for the Extended Benefits program, and I’m to keep submitting the weekly claim as usual (after all the unanswered and unreturned phone calls, it took the guy lass than a minute to reset my claim to receive EB money). The downside is that the state can choose to discontinue to the EB program at any time, without warning – basically, they decide the unemployment rate has gone low enough and they turn off the benefits – because the rest of us will magically find jobs, right? The program that brought the benefits out to 99 weeks is currently on hold. If I’d run out of regular benefits before May 22, I’d qualify for whats left of the original extension, but I was just a few weeks too late for that. Congress may vote to extend those dates, but who knows if or when that might happen. At this point, I’ll continue getting money unless the state chooses to cancel. Let’s hope they don’t cancel, or that Congress approves the date extension first. Because, after all, even the pups and kitties need a roof and kibble.

Still working with the student loan folks to try and get a forbearance approved. Finally got someone at the mortgage company to tell me I can apply for a loan modification. Of course, I have to have an income to be approved, so we’ll see what happens with that…

Speaking of the pups and their kibble…I just finished cutting up an 8 year old turkey so I could get the silly thing in the crock pot. I’m going to have to do two sessions, as it is just a bit too large. The pups will be able to enjoy it for at least a few days. Turkeys come with odd things inside. I never knew that packets of gravy and soup were natural parts of the bird… As an experiment, I gave the pups raw chicken legs a few days ago (don’t worry, raw chicken bones don’t have the shattering problem that cooked bones do). I figured Reyna would love the idea of raw chicken, and that Mr. Picky Duncan would boycott the meal. Boy, was I wrong. Duncan was all over those chicken legs, while Reyna tried to figure out how to eat the rest of her meal without actually touching the leg. I have to admit to being surprised.

A bit of good news – Onyx should be going to his new home this coming weekend. The family met him this past Saturday and fell in love. I think everyone here will be very happy when Onyx is gone. Poor Duncan’s had a lot of trouble this time around – a lot of jealousy and general annoyance. I’ll be happy to only have my well-behaved pups in the house. Onyx has yet to figure out that coming when I call is a good thing, but running away from me is really, really not.

Oh, and in answer to the question - I assume my A/C still works, its just not on because I can't afford the huge jump in the power bill.

Walkies

I’ve been taking the pups for early morning walks in the woods when I can. They love the woods. It’s a lot prettier (and smells better) than the neighborhood, and there are certainly fewer cars. I can even let the pups run off-leash for a bit (not Onyx, of course – he’s too young and foolish for that kind of freedom). The biggest problem with the woods is the bugs. I swear, it seems like there’s always some nasty buzzing thing who decides it has to follow me for the entire walk. Of course, I just love the bugs that manage to trap themselves in my hair. And the ticks. I pulled 6 off of us after the last walk. Poor Duncan seems to attract his fair share of biting, buzzing things, too. He spends most of the walk twitching his ears, trying to shake the bugs off. A smaller, yet long-term problem has manifested itself on my legs. Apparently, I brushed against some poison ivy during one of our walks. Thankfully, its not too bad – just a few streaks along both calves. Itchy, but not much worse than the mosquito bites on my legs. I don’t know why I bother spraying Off before I go outside. Speaking of itchy, the rash on my arms finally went away. Only took a little over two weeks. Still don’t know what caused it, but I won’t be using that sunscreen again, just in case.

A Little Whine

The last week or so has had its own fun brand of stress. My unemployment money runs out this week, and according to the ESC website, I may or may not qualify for an extension that may or may not still exist. And I might need to submit a new claim, or I might need to just keep submitting weekly certifications. I love the ESC website. Really, I do. So, I’ve been trying very hard to get a real live person on the phone so I can get an answer about whether I qualify and what I need to do. Apparently, no live people actually work at the ESC. Their voicemail works quite well, though. I did finally get an operator one day and asked her to transfer me to a person who could set an appointment. Voicemail. Based on the complete lack of returned calls, my guess is that the folks there don’t answer their phones and just delete all messages at the end of the day. I realize they’re busy, but how long does it take to return a call?

Found out the other day that a contractor for the City of Charlotte managed to lose a bunch of data DVDs. Why do I care? Well, according to the City, my name and social security number were on the DVDs. Along with thousands of others. Because what I really need these days is for someone to use my info to open a bunch of accounts. Oh, wait – I can’t open any accounts these days, due to my employment (or lack thereof) status, so a thief probably couldn’t, either. Still. Just one more thing.

The folks at the kennel offered to bump me to full time if I can’t get an extension. Of course, full time to them is 30 hours or so, and no benefits. Even 40 hours at their pay rate wouldn’t cover the basic bills, and my savings account is dwindling pretty rapidly. Those mortgage people are so demanding... I hope my aunt and uncle are leaving soon, because at the rate I’m going, I’ll be moving into Ganna’s basement apartment before we know it. On the upside of that, Ganna and I could pool our limited resources and maybe afford A/C.

Poor Duncan isn’t handling the heat particularly well. It seems to be making him grumpy. Of course, his wonky rear end and the crazy puppy probably aren’t helping his mood, either. I did get a couple of fans, so things aren’t as totally miserable as they could be. Reyna has decided that the Best Spot Ever is directly in front of the box fan. Can’t say that I blame her, as I try to stay in front of it as much as possible, too. The last few days have been rough, especially with the nasty humidity. I’m trying to get everyone out for walks before 7am, but this morning convinced me we need to get out even earlier. By the time we came in from our 2.5 miles in the woods, I was completely soaked. I couldn’t have been any wetter if I’d taken a shower. One nice thing about the heat – it has really toned down Reyna’s crazies. I think even the voices in her head are too hot to do much of anything.

Loki

My fluffy boy is officially 12 years old! Happy birthday, Loki!

Puppies!

A couple of weeks ago, Onyx was returned to the rescue by his potential adopters. They said it was because he was playing too rough with their cat (he was a two month old pup - of course he plays rough), but I think a lot of it was because they really didn't know what to expect from a puppy. So, the rescue contacted me and asked if I'd foster him again. Once I agreed, they also asked if I'd be willing to foster a second pup, as well. Another foster home had two, and were overwhelmed. That led to Topaz joining us.

This is Onyx, now almost 14 weeks old.


Onyx and Topaz. Topaz was definitely the more laid back of the two.


Not that you could tell that from this picture.... That was really perfect timing for the photo.


Onyx has decided that Duncan is his favorite playmate. So far, Duncan's handling it pretty well.


Topaz went to her new home early last week. I got an update today, and she's settling in just fine. With luck, Onyx will be adopted soon.

Reyna's Update

It’s taken me a while to post this because I’ve been waiting for the last of Reyna’s test results. Finally got the information tonight.

Last Wednesday, Reyna had her annual check-up. Just to keep things simple, I took her to Durham to see our old vet, rather than worrying over what the new vet might miss. It was a bit disturbing to find out they’d scheduled her for a “Senior Wellness” exam – after all, she’s only 6, and even in dog years she’s not old enough to get a senior citizen discount. The receptionist finally told me that they usually do the senior exams starting at age 7, but since Reyna was getting a full blood panel done, it was actually less expensive to do the senior version than the regular exam. In that case, I don’t care what they call it if it saves me a few dollars.

The physical exam went well, as I expected. The techs had a bit of trouble getting Reyna to let them take blood, which I also expected. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for test results. A tech called Thursday to tell me that they didn’t find any parasites – one test down, one to go. Friday, the vet called while I was working and left a message saying that the blood work came back okay, but he needed to discuss something with me (that’s an easy way to stress me out in under 30 seconds). Of course, every time I called back he was with a patient, and I just knew he’d return my call in the middle of the concert. I got lucky, though – he actually called during one of the breaks between bands. Between the bad phone reception and the CD playing in the background, it was hard to hear, but we managed to cover the important stuff.

Reyna’s liver enzymes are low, which is a good thing, especially considering the Rimadyl she takes. Her hemoglobin is high, which is good enough. Her globulin is high, which is not good. It usually indicates inflammation of some kind. After tossing around a few options, we decided that the most likely cause of that is her constant licking of her wrist and tail. While not ideal, as long as that’s the only source of inflammation, I’m not too worried about it. The rest of her blood work was normal. Just before the next band came on, I asked the vet about her tick tests, and that’s when he realized the lab forgot to run those. He said he’d call me when he got the results, possibly that afternoon, but no such luck. Instead, he called Saturday morning while I was working at the kennel (naturally). I called him after my shift, got his voicemail, and figured I wouldn’t hear from him until Tuesday, thanks to the holiday.

Tuesday afternoon, the vet called and told me that Reyna’s tick tests came back positive for ehrlichiosis. Since she’s asymptomatic, the choices were to A) do nothing, B) treat with doxycycline, or C) run a titer to get an idea of what stage the disease is in. Since this is Reyna, after all, and I tend to be a worrier, I had him run the titer. The lab still had some of her blood, so at least I didn’t have to take her back to Durham. So, for the titer, if the number is 64 or less, the disease is in the chronic stage and the dog was very likely exposed several years ago, which is acceptable. If its 1600-1800, the exposure was recent and the disease is in the active stage, which is not acceptable. Reyna being the way she is, her titer came back at 400. This could mean that A) she was exposed a while back and the disease is on its way out, or B) she was exposed very recently and the disease is ramping up. Again, a key thing here is that she’s asymptomatic. With that in mind, we’re hoping for option A. I’ll be keeping a close eye on her over the next few weeks. If she starts to show any symptoms, we’ll run another titer. If not, it’s on the list to check again next May. Cross your paws, folks...

Where'd This Come From?

Monday afternoon, I noticed that my arm was a little bumpy. Yesterday, there seemed to be a few more bumps. Today, I have a full-out rash from shoulder to wrist along the top of my left arm. And a few bumps have shown up on my right arm near the wrist. Its not poison ivy or oak, and it doesn't itch as much as my mosquito bites (thank goodness). But I have no idea what it is. Other than annoying.

Duncan's Update

Last week was a busy one for us. Part of that was a herding session for Duncan Thursday morning. We spent our time working on tending. Duncan sis very nicely with the added distraction of Claire’s dog, Brick, running the sheep towards the boundary and generally creating a mess (at Claire’s direction, so that Duncan would be forced to work more). Duncan was quick to push the sheep back inside the graze, but he didn’t get the least bit agitated when Brick would run the sheep around inside the graze. That’s a good thing, since the tending dog isn’t allowed to enter the graze. Granted, that restriction would likely be lifted if, say, a fox suddenly popped up in the middle of the flock and started causing trouble. But in general, you don’t want the tending dog to get wound up over what’s going on inside the graze. We decided we really need to work on forcing Duncan to turn around and retrace his steps, rather than constantly going all the way around the graze. He doesn’t seem to realize that he’s allowed to go both directions, and only half-way, if that’s the easiest thing to do. He did start limping a bit while we were working. I’ll be happy when we can finally get to the vet school for an evaluation. I think. Depending on what they find.

Zoo Fun

Sunday, I went to the NC Zoo with Brian, Marie and Sophie. We had a really nice time. Thankfully, it was a bit overcast in the morning, so it wasn’t very hot until later. We saw the new Lemur Island exhibit, and several of the lemurs were feeling playful. Since we were already on the African side of the zoo, that’s where we stayed. None of us wanted to walk the entire zoo in one day. If we’d tried, I’m not sure who’d have given in first – Sophie or Marie. I was tired enough from the other weekend activities (work and the concert) that I certainly didn’t mind only seeing the one side.


Besides the lemurs, we saw the gorillas, chimps, baboons, a couple of lions and elephants, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and a very colorful eagle. It was fun to catch up with Brian and Marie, and Sophie was very well-behaved the whole day. Marie said Sophie is usually nice to other folks even when she’s tired and reserves her grumpiness for Mom and Dad at home. I have to admit, I was okay with that.

Country Throwdown

Friday¸ (brother) John and I went to the Country Throwdown at Walnut Creek. Starting about 2:30, there were 8 different bands performing. The headliners were Montgomery Gentry, and they put on a great show. It was plenty warm, although not miserable, for most of the concert. About 9:30, though, the temp started to drop. I’d been seeing lightening off in the distance for a while, and we could see where it looked like it was raining a good distance away. Shortly after 10, it started raining just a bit and the wind picked up. About 10:30, the skies opened up and dumped right on us. Montgomery Gentry finished shortly before 11, and John and I had to slog our way through some deep water to get to the vehicle. The parking lots were starting to flood, and at one point we were walking through water that was up to my ankles.


Upside – great concert, lots of fun. Downside – I now have a cold.

Catching Up

A lot's happened since my last post - we've got herding with Duncan, Reyna's check-up (playing phone tag with the vet is not my idea of a good time), the Country Throwdown, a trip to the zoo, and puppies! So, please bear with me while I get caught up. And if I get really ambitious, maybe I'll finally get around to posting about our trip in April....

Fail

Well, we tried. I’d hoped that the time in the crates would show Parm and Per’la the error of their ways. And for a few brief, shining moments, I thought it had. Saturday night, though, I went into my bedroom and discovered that a Certain Someone had engaged in Unacceptable Behavior. ON MY BED. BESIDE. MY. PILLOW. Parm was hiding from me, most likely due to his guilty conscience. Today, I gave Parm one last chance and took him to the vet, just to rule out any type of health problem that might be causing the Unacceptable Behavior. His 18.5 lb butt is perfectly healthy. And so, after we came home, I relocated that butt to the catiary. Since I can’t keep him out of the house while letting the others come and go, Parm is once again residing in a dog crate. This time, though, he’ll be able to have feline company. Per’la is still allowed in the house, but that’s strictly dependent on me not finding any other messes. If I find any sign that she is engaging in the same Unacceptable Behavior, she’ll be sharing the crate with Parm. Forever.


On a side note, I put four perches in the catiary yesterday. Two in the front, one along the back wall (to encourage Loki to come out), and one on the side wall over the ramp. Khar’pern in particular likes the perches, and Mikey has used the two in the front. Mikey has also played with the toy I have hanging from one of the perches. It’s good to see the cats using the catiary.

Storms

I’m not sure what’s happened, but Reyna has recently developed a strong urge to lean whenever the weather gets bad. She used to be completely undisturbed by storms, but that seems to have changed. Now, when the thunder rumbles or the heavy rain comes down, she becomes...concerned (and she's been concerned a lot the last week or so). She’s not agitated in the sense of pacing or whining. Instead, she finds me wherever I am, and leans. After a while, she’ll lie down, but she positions herself so that some part of us is in contact. She’s also a lot more tolerant of petting during storms. After the weather passes, she bounces back to her normal self. It’s all very odd.

Double The Fun

Duncan got to go herding twice this week. Wednesday morning was a regular lesson at Claire’s, and Thursday evening was a group lesson at Meredith’s. Wednesday, we worked Duncan in the arena. I’d like to enter a trial in July, which means we have to get better with obstacles and free-standing pens. Duncan did a lovely job, once he backed off. The poor boy is so sensitive, though, that at times he backed off so far that my sheep wandered off. And after fussing at him to get him to move away from me, he didn’t always respond quickly when I would call him closer. We definitely need to reach a happy balance. The most exciting part of the lesson was when Duncan caused his first ever sheep faint. Apparently, when sheep feel too stressed, they’ll just fall over. Sort of a preemptive “eat me now and put me out of my misery” thing. Duncan immediately backed away, looking extremely upset and confused (Reyna probably would have been excited that she didn’t have to chase her dinner any farther). We had to take the flock over to the sheep before it would get back up.

Thursday evening went really well. We were at a new location with new sheep watching other dogs work, so there was always a chance that Duncan would be a complete spaz (as much as he can be, anyway). Instead, he was nice and calm. We had our first ever run on something closely resembling an A Course set-up and we managed to get through it with only a few mistakes. Then we got to work on putting sheep in a free-standing pen – the first time we’ve ever tried that. It didn’t go as well, mostly because Duncan had no idea what I was asking, and I had no idea what I was doing. But we did succeed, eventually. After that, we had another go at the A Course. It didn’t go as smoothly as the first, but went well enough that I could declare the evening a success.

Reintegration Is Hard

Yesterday, I moved Parm and Per’la from the dog crates to the catiary. It didn’t go quite as I expected. The other cats refused to enter the catiary, and when I put Khar’pern on the ground, she started hissing at Parm and Per’la. It took Per’la a few hours to figure out the ramp, and Parm didn’t make it into the bedroom until sometime during the night. No one else entered the catiary while they were in there. So far, I haven’t seen any signs of Inappropriate Behaviors, so maybe Parm and Per’la learned their lesson. If not, they’ll end up back in the dog crates. The odd thing is that the other cats all act like Parm and Per’la are total strangers. They’re all hissing and spitting at the other two. Even Mikey, who was practically dating Per’la, is hissing at them both. Now that Parm and Per’la are out of the catiary, the others have decided its acceptable to use again. Khar and Mikey are using it the most, although Mikey runs back into the house when he sees the pups. As far as I know, Belle hasn’t been in it since the first day, and Loki hasn’t been in it at all. With time, maybe. And perches.

Good To Go

Reyna’s hip replacement surgery was just a little over a year ago. We’ve had some ups and downs since then, with the significant downs being the soft tissue damage during the initial recovery and the setback that happened during the winter. Our biggest up happened today. Reyna had her follow-up at VetHab, and she has been declared fit. She’s at a healthy weight, she’s moving very nicely, she’s carrying her weight properly, and she has good, solid muscle in both hips. We’re to keep walking as much as possible and do cavalettis at least twice a week, but she’s allowed to chase her ball and start her tracking training (which we’re planning to do Monday). A significant indication that she’s doing really well is that she no longer fights to walk on the grass – she’ll walk on the road without fussing, and she hasn’t done that since well before the surgery. Another big indication is that, during today’s exam, she not only didn’t try to bite the vet, she barely even noticed what he was doing (she was much more interested in the Pupperoni treat). She’s doing so well, in fact, that she’s even off of all of her pain meds, taking the Rimadyl only when she’s having a rough day. Its absolutely amazing to see how different she is now, compared to a year ago. Or even two years ago.

Here’s to many more THR anniversaries.

Another Save

Monday evening, I discovered a leak in my roof - a small area of the ceiling popcorn in my bathroom fell off, exposing wet sheet rock. John came over Tuesday evening to take a look at it and discovered that the seal around the vent pipe was useless, but the damage to the sheet rock appears to be minimal. He applied a bunch of goop around the pipe and must have done an excellent job, because the sheet rock was no wetter after Tuesday night's rain than it was before.


Poor Duncan seemed rather concerned about John climbing around on the roof.


Reyna just wondered when he was going to come down and throw her ball.


Thanks again to my cutie pie farmer neighbor friend for fixing the problem!

Cats In The House

I'm pleased to announce that the cats started using the catiary today. Mikey was the first to venture out. And by "venture out" I mean that I picked him up, put him on the ramp, and pushed. He didn't seem too traumatized by the experience and spent a few minutes looking around. Naturally, I didn't have my camera handy, and by the time I made it back to the bedroom, he was headed inside.

Khar'pern was the second "volunteer." She was sitting on the windowsill, so I went into the catiary and assisted her to the ground. She wasn't too bothered by having Reyna's interest, but then, she is the most dog-tolerant of the clowder.


Belle's checking things out, and making sure she doesn't let me close enough to snag her.


This is as far as Loki has ventured. I'm a little concerned that he keeps looking to the side like he's going to make a leap for it, rather than go down the ramp.


Khar says she's not positive, but she thinks someone is watching her...


Both pups were really excited about having the cats outside. They absolutely love watching them - and occasionally trying to steal a lick through the screen.


Here's Belle on her first foray into the wild. Much like Mikey, she was assisted by a gentle nudge from Mom.


And of course, she found a way to walk around without getting her feet dirty.


Since Mikey was on the platform (and Belle hates to share space), Belle took an alternate route to the ramp.




Leave the exploring to Khar'pern and Mikey.




I've checked the catiary several times today, and the cats have been in there more often than not. I think they'll really get excited about it when the sun comes out and it warms up again.

Its Useable!

The catiary has finally reached the point where it can actually be used by the cats! John came over Saturday afternoon to put on the roof panels and help me with the chicken wire and screen that I couldn’t do alone (the back wall and the top layer). He also added the decorative strips to the door (I put chicken wire along the bottom half) and re-hung it. All of that took a lot more effort than it sounds.

I still have quite a bit to do, but nothing that would prevent the cats from using the space. I do realize that as long as I’m puttering around with the drill, they won’t go near it, the bums. I need to put the strips along the screen edges (and then paint them), do a few minor things inside and out, put carpet on the ramps and add perches. I started working on that yesterday afternoon, but the storm got in the way. Today’s weather wasn’t good for anything but curling up on the couch with a book and a dog. Hopefully tomorrow’s weather will be better. Especially since my roof has apparently developed a leak over my bathroom…

Here's John attaching the roof panels. John's developed a hate-hate relationship with my poor rosebush, which has done nothing but try to defend itself.


Reyna says she's happy with her new playhouse, and she appreciates all the work we've done on her behalf. Little does she know just how much entertainment this will provide...


John trimming the excess length off the roof panels. I realized after yesterday's storm that we should have left a few more inches on that side to help the rain drain off properly. John says he can fix that.

Poor John had to climb up on the roof in order to attached the back portions of chicken wire and screen. He was not a happy camper. I would like point out, though, that this picture was his idea.


Here is the catiary as of Sunday morning. I think the cats will really like it, once they realize the dogs can't get to them. And if they don't use it by choice, I'll dump them all in there and close the window.

Sheepies!

Yesterday morning, Duncan and I headed off to Pittsboro for some quality sheep time. We worked on tending, as that lets Duncan decide how much he needs to move, and how fast. It also allows him to sit and rest when he feels like it. Duncan did a lovely job of tending the flock. He would check in with me, but he was obviously watching the sheep, as well. He did lose a couple in the woods, but I think that was due more to him moving slowly rather than poor tending. Duncan was a little hesitant when we were fetching the sheep out of the woods, but that was clearly because he couldn’t find easy paths around them. He had to push his way through some brush, and that’s just not something he likes to do.

Duncan seems to be having more trouble moving as days pass. He’s much better on a soft surface than on the road, no question about that. But if he moves for several minutes, even on grass, he gets a hitch in his gait. Poor boy. The very tentative diagnosis from two surgeons and a PT, based on the video taken by my neighbor Wednesday, is ACL tears in both knees. Our vet isn’t convinced about that, because he didn’t feel the usual ACL tear indications. He did say that it could be partial tears or a chronic injury. John came over Thursday, and while he was here we took another video of Duncan moving. This one was much clearer and zoomed in on Duncan, so I think the vets will be able to get more information from it.