Spring-loading

Tortoise Enclosure

Last summer I got Harry a wife named Erma. Over the winter they seemed to enjoy their indoor house, which included a 6 foot bookshelf turned on its side, lined with a rubber mat, and filled with Bed-A-Beast. But this summer I want them to be outside to enjoy the sunshine and eat some new types of Russian tortoise approved vegation. The first step was growing marigolds, cucumbers, petunias, and green peppers from seeds starting in late winter (pumpkin, kale are being grown directly in the outdoor enclosure). During the second spurt of nice weather we pulled up the sod from the side of the house. Nathan tilled the little area and I got busy putting down 2 layers of scalloped 12 x 4 inch long edgers.

The tortoises love their new enclosure. It will see some additions throughout the season, but it is a work in progress. They appear to enjoy petunias but have pretty much been scarfed down. Marigolds aren't a favorite and the cucumbers aren't enjoying the cross wind so much. So for now, I still have to provide some lettuce for them eat. And when the nights get below 50 degrees I have been bringing them in. I did lay some old sod into a nice little pile and put one of Oscar's plastic cat beds upside down over it, to give them a little place to stay dry when it rains. Here are the pictures:

Vegetable garden

So we waited and waited for the HOA to contact us about finishing a drainage project in our neighborhood. We knew that this spring, the back end of our yard would have to be dug up in order to correct some drainage issues. So we were hoping to plant the garden at this time. But the plants we grew from seeds quickly outgrew 3 different containers they were planted in. So I decided to do some research and see what could be planted in pots. Apparently, vegetables (even carrots) can be grown in pots and there are these new contraptions out called self-watering pots. These pots contain a water reservoir at the bottom of the pot that can be wicked up into the soil. So we are going to give it a try, despite the fact the contractors started work on our yard one week after I spent the majority of the weekend getting the pots and planting the veggies.

PS. I may be getting a new puppy in August.

It has been a very long time since I have last written. Mainly b/c I have had two losts in my life in the last few months and I wanted to give them the proper good-byes. But I am still working on that so for now I will post a picture of them both.

Cody Aug 21st 1994 - Feb 2nd 2007

Mason Feb 17th 1994 - March 27th 2007

I will write more during this month about their loss which I may or may not post but it will be presented at a Bereavement Seminar which I was already scheduled to speak at this month. The subject has changed a bit and will cover loss from the perspective a veterinarian and an owner. If you would like to come please e-mail me for dates and times

Samson

As promised here are some pictures of my parents puppy: Samson the bouncy Jack Russell. It was hard to get pictures of him since he spends most of his time bouncing but here are a few demos :-D

Samson

Going back to Oklahoma

Most of the time we are so caught up in our daily events that we fail to stop and appreciate those around us. Last weekend, Nathan and I got that moment to stop a treasure our family and friends.

Nathan flew to OKC last week for one of his quartely visits and their holiday party. Things were going good throughout the week (despite the small leak from our water heater). He was suppose to attend the party Friday night and fly home Saturday morning (with a JR puppy for my parents).

On Friday at noon, Nathan calls me and says "I'm sick". I expelled everything in my system at midnight and I have been vomiting every couple hours. My tummy hurts. (at this point he was laying in his hotel room). I insist he calls a co-worker and goes to the ER for fluids. After minimal balking I offer to call his doctor in Edmond (even though they were closed on Friday). While I was making these calls, he calls a co-worker, who promtly takes him to the hopital where he proceeds to wait for 4 hours. At the end of these four hours he makes a trip to the bathroom to vomit. On the way out, a murse says...."You don't look so good man, let's bring you back and hook you up to fluids". (insert sarcastic comment here -- well duh, he hasn't been waiting for 4 hours b/c he feels peachy keen). At this point they run a blood test, ask him a bunch of questions. The blood tests come back and they hurry him up for a CAT scan.

At this point they come in and say they think he has appendicitis and they are going to take him to surgery. ......Let's recap.... he is now by himself, in Oklahoma, about to have surgery to remove his appendix. Nathan calls me around 6:30pm (as I am finishing up my day at work) and says I have appendicitis. I get emotional at this point, he is all by himself and who knows how good of a hospital he is at (in Oklahoma some of them can be pretty scetchy). I tell him I will get there as soon as I can. While I finish my last appointment, my boss runs upstairs and starts searching flights for that evening. I soon go up to see what he has found. At his point Nathan calls again and says his boss will pay for my ticket. There is one direct flight out of O'Hare that I could possible make if I could make if I was dropped off right at the terminal. A co-worker immediately offers to drive me. Another co-worker offers to take care of Mason, Oscar, and the tortoises for the weekend. With that said, I grabbed my coat and my purse and we were off.

We get to O'Hare 30 minutes before the plane was suppose to take off, all was good. I get the gate and it is delays...what the &$%^!!! I decide to call a friend from vet school who lives in OKC. She assures me, it is a good hospital. She knows the head nurse there and has had family members who have had proceedures there. She says it is a teaching hospital though. Then she offers to pick me up from the airport and take me to the hospital. After we talk,I sit impatiently and start talking to an older gentlman next to me, who says it will be ok and tells me about what happen when he got his appendix and everything he remembers about it (which actually made me feel better). I then talk to Nathan's mom. Apprentely, he called and said he is having his appendix out in Oklahoma and hangs up. She is very stressed, as am I after hearing another delay (due to a broken part on the airplane). I just want to get there before he wakes up. It is now almost 1 1/2 hours later (I should be about arriving in OKC by now). Another lady next to me says to call a speciall 411 number to get the number of the hospital to see how he is doing. I get in touch with the hospital and after being routed to 4 different departments i talk to the recovery nurse who says he is just waking up. (damn, I wanted to be there by now, he must be scared). I tell the nurse to tell him I am at the airpot (although I failed to tell her what airport) and I would be there as quick as I can.

Shortely after this, AA decides to give us a new plane but we have to talk to another terminal. By the time we all get there, the check-in people are told there are people and weight retrictions (plus they have to fit on 6 AA employeed on this flight). They says the need 13!!! volunteers. They get 10. So they are going to boot off the last 3 people to check in (that would be me). I go to the desk....and i freak out....I start crying and I say I have to get on this flight....my husband is in emergency surgery and there is NO ONE there with him. Of course the AA employee doesn't care. But the kind people around me do. One guy says I heard you on the phone...you need to get to your husband. He says, please take my seat. Another couple guys also offer their seats. I am so grateful.... a random act of kindness from complete strangers. I get on the plane and arrive in OKC at 1am. Due to the long delay, I told my vet school friend I would take a shuttle. I get off the plane and run towards the pick-up doors. When I get outside (at 1am in the morning), I see this randome pitbull running around outside (welcome to Oklahoma). I see him sniff a tree and I run over to an airport shuttle. I ask the driver, do you take credit cards. He says yes, but you have to wait a few minutes to see if there is anyone else. But it was only me. As we are driving out of the airport he says we need to stop by an ATM so I can get cash....WHAT!?!?! You said you take credit cards. No, only cash. Great. So we drive over to a 7 eleven and at 1:15 in the morning (not the greatest part of town) and i run in to use the ATM. I come back and get in the car and I relaize he isn't there. Five minutes later he gets back in. (the only thing that gave me the slightest amount of comfort is when I heard him say he was making a stop at St. Anothony's Hospital on his walkie talkie. We sat in silence until I got the hospital. I threw him the $20 and ran inside.

I get to Nathan's room at 2am and he is resting quietly. I am so relieved to see him. He shows me his incisions. We talk for a little while, I check the dosing on his IV antibiotics and fluid rate. A very friendly nurse comes in and helps me make up a bed to sleep in. And we fall asleep. The student nurses come in every 2 hours to do a TPR. A respiratory nurse comes in to show him to use this breathing toy thing. Before meeting the doctors I got a call in the morning from my boss to see how everything was. I was so tired that I was just talking and after a while I realized i had no idea who I was talking to. Shortly after Nathan gets a visit from his boss and another co-worker. In the morning, he orders some food from the hospital menu and we get to meet the student doctor and the surgeon. Both are really helpful and take their time to explain everything to nathan. They use the came critera for discharge as we do in vet medicine. If you can eat, not vomit, urinate, and defecate, you can go home. We around 1pm he is release from the hospital, with instructions not to lift/pull/push more than 5 lbs for 5 weeks and to walk alot to encourge the gas to work it way out.

My friend picks us up and drops us back at the hotel. After a brief shower, we walk to an Italian restaurant so Nathan can get some bland pasta. After lunch we realize the nurse was mistaken and there was no pharmacy in walking distance of the hotel. So Nathan contacts a co-worker to drive us to CVS. After getting back we take a nap and then get up to go have dinner with my vet school friend. That night we some much needed sleep.

The next morning (my birthday). I help Nathan pack up his stuff and I drag it downstairs. Throughout most of that day, we get strange looks as I lug his heavy laptop/PS2 bag and his suitcase around while he walks behind me. After some lunc he see Happy Feet before heading to the airport. At the airport we meet the JR breeder who gives us "Samson", an 8 week old JR puppy. He is all calm in the breeders arms. At security, we had to take him out of the bag and all the security people took turns hold him. When we got to the gate, he decided it was time to play and started squirming (nothing a little Benedryl for the flight doesn't help :-D ) . So anyway, we made it home safe and sound. Nathan is feeling much better! :-D

PS Pics of Samson to follow soon

Pitel Bloopers

Log: November 20th 2006, It started one blistery cold Monday morning. The rents and his wife had taken off for a small day trip to Flemington. Grant was left by his lonesome......


Nathan receives an IM from Grant. He is locked out of the house, without a coat, without a cell phone. He only had his PDA to sustain communication with the outside world. Nathan signals to me to call my parents to ask what to do. Dad picks up. He is in the middle of a business meeting but tells Grant that there is a key under the white flowerpot. Yes, yes indeed...to my surprise I find out everyone has their own version of the key under the bunny rabbit. I convey this message to Grant via IM. He is unable to find the key. A phone call to Dad, finds he is unable to assist any further and my mom appears to be MIA. Grant suggests calling his wife (at this point I am unaware she is too in Flemington). Sheryl is unsure what to do and needs to have a pow wow with my mom. A few minutes later my mom calls to save the day and to instruct Grant where the key actually was.

Now we may feel sorry for Grant, outside in the cold without a coat. But there is more humor to be found in the story since this was not the first time Grant had locked himself out of the house.

Moral of the story. 1. Wear a coat when you go outside. 2. Don't lock the door when you are just bumming around the yard. 3. Always have a PDA on your side if you are lacking a cell phone.

Communicating with Mason and Oscar

Gee, has it been a month already. I will back-up and tell you about the move (along with pictures), the visit from mom and dad (this past weekend), paintings lots of things etc. But for now I am going to tell you about our experience with the Animal Communicator this weekend. A little background. My boss kept hearing these amazing experiences people were having with this "pet psychic". So as a skeptic she decided to take her dog to it and was amazed at what this communicator told her. So as a fun treat for the staff, they paid a portion of her fee to come and communicate with the staff's animals. So I signed up with Mason and Oscar (and took mom along).
Here is what she had to say:

Mason
Pain: Mason started telling her how much he was in pain. He was hurting in his left hip, left knee, right hock, and both wrists. He wanted to know if I could make the pain go away, if I could help him breathe better, and if I could tell him if it was going to get worst. At this point I am crying (heck, I crying about it at the moment). The communicator wanted to know what I wanted to tell him. I can't make the pain go away, I can't make him breathe better, I have tried and all I am left with his pain control. He said he wasn't ready to go quite yet but he would let us know when he is. For right now he requested to be outside more often and to have a window open to help him breathe. ** I am still digesting the first portion of this reading and I am not quite sure about how to feel about this lady. Obviously you can tell just by looking at him that his age is rapidly catching up with him. But I don't know what to think from here.
Next the communicator, said he was talking about wetting his food and why it isn't done any more. At this point I look at mom who smiles at me. Mom use to always but some warm broth leftover on his food. He said he didn't mind the dry food but would like something wet on it from time to time. He then said that he likes his bed to be near the kitchen so he can see what is going on around him. The communicator
said he was talking about window wells, that he was worried something was going to get stuck in them. This was a strange comment, b/c our new house has 2 uncovered window wells in the front yard. But I know he has wondered over there once or twice. He requested that I look in those wells daily to make sure no critter is in them. I agreed. The communicator then said she was getting images of some type of pink food -- like a salmon fillet. Mason wanted some salmon and wondered if I could give it to him. I said no, he could have some pizza. He said that would be ok but he really wanted salmon. I said that gives him gas.

Brother - She said that Mason missed his brother, that he didn't know what happened to him. And wondered if there was another dog that use to live with us. I said he lived with 2 dogs in NJ before we left (but now that I think about it, it would have been Charlie who he lived with for 2 years and was very close to). Mason said he understood about Tippy but wanted to know if the other one was happy and well taken care of.

Mason then went on say he knows he has to be careful about the carpet. Weather it meant the carpeted stairs or the carpet to Nathan's office in the last two apartments who knows. I went on to ask the communicator to tell Mason not to go upstairs b/c it isn't good for him. But he says he doesn't want to be left out and will still go up them.

I then got to ask questions. First I asked if he likes to stay at the animal hospital or he likes the pet sitter. He says he likes either one. Then I asked if he minded Oscar kneading on him. Mason said...is that what that is? No he doesn't mind since Oscar seems to like it. In the final thoughts of his session, she said Mason asked if he was going to be euthanized now. The communicator said, no remember you said you weren't ready to go, and he said oh, yea. So she said he had some dementia going on.



Oscar
A little background. Oscar was in super curious mode the day of his communication. Just as we were about to begin with Mason, he decided to jump on the counter, knock her water to the ground along with some brochures. During Mason's reading he was jumping around the room, into the communicator's lap, looking at the window trying to catch bugs. With that said, on with Oscar:

After a few seconds of "communicating" with him the communicator said he is a very CURIOUS cat. He wanted to know where she lived, who she was, where she came from, if she could come visit him...etc. She explained to him in the communicator code who she was and what she was doing. Oscar said he was a very curious cat. He loves to run, and jump and especially swing from things. When he isn't swinging he likes to dream of swinging just like Tarzan. If he was a human he would be a trapeze artist. He said he has NO fear he will take on anything and likes to do so in front of an audience. He said he was smarter than the average cat and wondered if we noticed? (um, no). He said he wants to try more human food and would like it if we gave him small portions of our food. I said no. Then the communicator said he was VERY INTENSE about going outside. He needed to check things out and wanted to know if I would let him do that. I said on the next nice day.

He then asked "Are there bone fragments in my food?" "Those are things are bone fragments" " Are bone fragments good for me?" I said there were no bone fragments in the food. "Are you sure?" Yes, I am sure.

Then he said he would like to have another cat (or small dog) to play with. But he was very insistent that this small new pet would like him. But he needed a playmate. Then he wanted to know what was wrong with Mason, is he ok, (insert more tears from me). I said no, we slow down as we get older and we love him and will keep him around as long as he wants to be here. Oscar was worried what would happen to him when Mason went, if he would be all alone or would get a new pet. That he was afraid.

The communicator said he was talking about an aerosol can Nathan ("the man") had and wanted to know what he was doing, and what that can was. I said Nathan was spraying wasps. Oscar wanted to know if they would get into the house. I said no. Oscar wanted to know if he would see that can when we get home. I said sure.

Now on the the question portion
1. Do you like the pet sitter or staying at the animal hospital? He said he doesn't like the animal hospital. He LOVES the pet sitter and asked if she was coming to visit. He likes her b/c she talks to him.
2. Why do you knead on Mason? Well an animal that big should be a source of some nutrition. But it makes him feel good.
3. Why do you like Nathan so much? I like the water it is a fun game. And I really like the bathroom. But I also like his belly.
4. Why are you scared of the vacuum? He says its not clear but at some point there was something loud and blowing air on him on purpose. But he was out of it in this picture.
5. Stay out of the bedroom and off of the counters. Why he asks? B/c no animals on the counters and Nathan is allergic to you. He says, how is that my problem? B/c it makes him sick. Well I am not going to change.

So that was the animal communicator experience. And I know that pretty much everything she told us came from a fine-tuned skill in reading faces, emotions, the way we/our animals walk, dress ourselves, or seeing how they act in the room. I know she told me nothing new about Mason, heck most people choose to tell me what is wrong with him. But she said it in a way, like it was coming from him. Mason telling me he hurt, why can't I make the pain go away...etc. A cheap shot? maybe, a useful resource? maybe, and yet why does this truth I already know, still hurt so much? My brain knows better, my logic is swinging its arms wildly to pay attention - this lady is a quack, you are doing your best to keep him comfortable, this is a normal process of aging (add in all medical terminology here) you can't do anything to stop it, you know when it will be time. But my heart still feels like a dagger was put through it, when she said Why can't you make the hurt go away?

Flea Market

I forgot to add the most important adventure from this past weekend. Nathan and I decided to venture over to the 7 Mile Fair ... aka a fairly large indoor/outdoor flea market. Since the olden days (ten years ago :-D ) I compared all flea markets to those in Florida (ie - Festival Flea Market and the Swap Shop). Over the years flea markets have seen a shift of the type of merchandise they sell. Originally flea markets were a place to sell your unwanted or homemade junk. A huge garage sale as you will. In the late 80's and 90's a flea market provided adequate choices of hair doohickeys, screened t-shirts, silver jewelry, and dried flowers. Nowadays the dusty aisles of your outdoor flea markets or the dark, cramped rows of your indoor flea markets are filled with audio equipment and car parts of questionable origin, mixed in with your $1 brown box shops.

On to the the 7 mile fair which turned out to be an interesting change of pace. As expected we there was your fair share of auto parts and audio equipment. Certain sections outside even went back to the archaic flea market times by selling any type of tool or appliance that was covered with at least 90% rust. A few neat finds included some old Oscilloscopes, a radio flyer, and any tool you could imagine. But as we were walking we wondered into 1st the "food" section. There were live chickens and pigeons (and I believe ducks) stuffed into small cages fro sale. And for those who preferred them dead, yes, you could find your evening meal from the cooler next to these cages. Oh let's not forget about the reptile guy who was selling turtles, snakes, and yes even a crocodile. So you wonder around some more and happen into the dog section were you could buy your very own "designer dog" (aka mutt) for a sale price of $375-625. Just when you thought you were done we happened upon the pet avian section where could buy your pick of several parrots or small birds or hedgehogs.

And yes, we did even see someone leaving with the kitchen sink :-D