It's raining, it's pouring...

[ksmith]

...the old dogs are snoring...since it's nap time, which usually falls about an hour after they get up in the morning.

King and Mickey both have licking issues, especially during the summer. King's licking is behavior-related--I thought spending more time in the house with the rest of his pack would mitigate that, but apparently not. He usually attacks his upper front legs, licking away hair and sometimes the first layer of skin. I've tried Listerine, Bitter Apple, and other deterrents. Forget bandaging, as King starts to rip off the thing before I even get it wrapped around. E-collars? He breaks them. I tend to just keep spraying the wound with Gentamicin until, eventually, he leaves it alone long enough for it to heal.

Mickey's a foot licker, an issue that's allergy-related. Last summer, he managed to lick the big pad of his rear left foot until it was raw and so painful that he couldn't put any weight on the foot. Bandaging for a few days, with antiseptic washes and benedryl, helped. His foot cleared up, and I confess I forgot about the matter.

Well, not content to be the only isle of calm in my life over these last few months, Mickey managed to aggravate the same foot. Not as much of a wound this time--he can still walk easily--but it's there and he wasn't leaving it alone. Cleaned it and bandaged it for a few days, saw that it had improved, and made the mistake of taking off the bandage. Came home Thursday during lunch to let the boys out, and found smears of blood on Mickey's bed--yes, he'd licked the wound raw again. I phoned the vet, and wound up taking Mickey in. Got the foot treated, and also had some bloodwork done to see if the lower fat diet he's been on has helped his gall bladder condition. No word yet. Fingers crossed that the old issue is under control and that no new ones have cropped up. A little quiet on the canine front would be nice.

Mickey is now sacked out on the office floor. His foot is not bandaged because I was told to leave it so for about half the day so it can dry out. It needs to be dry when I re-bandage, or fungus issues can develop.

Not to be outdone, King is eating grass, toilet paper, paper toweling, and whatever he can lick off the fireplace mantle. He also chewed the corner of the cedar chest. He still occasionally tosses up, but only after he eats grass on a full stomach.

A little quiet...

The urge to purge continues. After weeks of dryness and browning grass and inch-wide cracks in the ground, we finally got about 3-5" of rain overnight. This should soften the ground nicely so that I can continue to uproot shrubbery. Friday I dug up a forsythia that had been zapped by a lawn care guy over the course of a Trial! Offer! and never recovered, along with a dying lilac. Sometime during the week, more shrubs will go--another dying lilac, an overgrown forsythia. I will then move a hydrangea into the lilac's place, and backfill that spot with grass seed. The hydrangea should never have been planted where it was--it's grown too big and is spilling over onto the front sidewalk. It won't be easy to move, but it needs to go.

Cleaned out all three closets, resulting in five large bags of clothes for a local drive. I've cleaned out cupboards. The freezer and refrigerator. The big job that's still outstanding is the basement--Mom managed to whittle the contents by about half over time, but there's still quite a bit to go.


Too much to do and not enough day. Started picking at the GIDEON proposal this weekend. The resolution to a sticky issue dropped into the brain this morning, which was quite the good thing. Let's me know that the brain is working, at least.

The day job is busy and will get busier.

Thinking about cons for next year. I have signed up for Wiscon, of course. Tried for Governors' Club, only to find that had already sold out. Asked to be put on the waiting list, but the Concourse reservations agent said that cancelled rooms would not be returned to the convention block, so the price would jump to the standard rate.

Well, I have a room on the Concourse level, at least.

Worldcon in Denver is also in the plan. Not sure about WFC or anything else.

Comments

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

I think Governor's Club sold out on the last day of this year's con: I know we have a room, but that's because stillnotbored stood in a line on Monday morning to get it and apparently it was a near thing.

I dunno how I feel about them cancelling room block rates like that, though. Seems a little cashgrabby, although it makes sense if they're expecting those cancellations to be close enough to the con itself that they might not get any con attendees making plans at that point.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The workaround, which I did this year when I had to cancel, was to find someone who wanted the room, get them assigned to the room, have them give the hotel their credit card #, then cancel my reservation.

[hoosier-red.livejournal.com]

Cool about Worldcon -- we're going to be there, and I already bought a membership for Calgary because THIS time I'd like to actually stay in the frigging con hotel.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I do like WFC. It's a dandy business con, and I like the smaller size. But travel is more complicated now.