Things got kind of interesting yesterday.

As in the "Chinese" sense.

The beginning of the week was rather ordinary, finishing up orders. By the time I reached yesterday, I had three orders left, two of which I did during the day.

At 2 p.m. we had a staff meeting which I attended, like many others, via conference call.

At 3 I took a break for "leftovers day" on Amazon Vine and scored Connie Willis' sequel to Blackout and a cookbook by Christopher Kimball (from Cooks Illustrated.

About 4:45 Willow was suddenly anxious to go out. She made a mad dash for the woods in the back of the house, squatted and [sorry for the graphics] had blood in her stool.

This wasn't good.

Oh, hell. This happened back in 2005, when she had pancreatitis from having completely demolished a ham bone, grinding it to bits. We haven't given her any kind of bone since.

I called the vet and made the first appointment for this morning. James came home and when we took her out again to get a sample for the vet, it remained in the same state. Otherwise she seems in a good state of health: her gums are a normal color, she's hungry and active, drinking fine, no swelling anywhere that I can feel.

So this morning there I was, trucking across town with Willow next to me in the front, seat-belted in and doing her imitation of Camille expiring from consumption. We got to the vet and were first seen by the vet tech and then by the vet. As always, Wil was extremely anxious through the whole thing. She panted and whined, and wandered to the two doors of the exam room to try to find a way out, and when I finally sat on the little bench next to the exam table, she jumped up and down and up and down and up and down until it tired me out just to watch her.

Finally the test on the stool sample was done. She has some sort of intestinal bacteria infection that causes these symptoms. So I came home with special dog food, antibiotic for a week (and the pill pockets to put them in), and orders for her not to have any treats until the antibiotics are finished. She won't mind the special dog food, but the lack of "cookies" is going to upset her.

Still, she didn't have to stay overnight, and I hope it's just the bacteria causing the problem.

On the way home, with my nose stuffy because I'd just spent nearly 90 minutes in a enclosed room with an anxious, stress-shedding dog, I thought I'd buy myself a treat: a chocolate frosted doughnut. I hadn't had a doughnut since April. I also got a Boston Creme for James.

Dunkin Donuts always has made a lovely chocolate frosted doughnut, a light raised circle with a thin chocolate coating on top. So what a horrible disappointment to find out that they are now making them like those dreadful, disgusting Krispy Kreme things, with a sugar glaze over the whole doughnut. I despise glazes and icings. Yuck! First they quit making crullers, and now this. Ugh! Why do they have to keep adding more and more freaking sugar to everything?

I spent the rest of the afternoon teleworking. Finished the other order, and started a modification, only to discover that the vendor wanted wording that wasn't quite acceptable. Had to do another modification as well, because I mixed up two vendors with the same name.

Just as I finished, Alex, our lawn guy, showed up. Now, this afternoon when I took Willow out, I noticed her having to pick her way through the trees in the back yard. Usually in the spring I go out there and cut down the saplings that start growing, but it got so hot so quickly this year that I never had done it. So the tree area was a tangle of maple and pine saplings, fallen branches, and other general tree debris. Since there wasn't much lawn for Alex to cut—it's hardly grown at all since the last time he mowed—I asked him if he could clean out back there, get rid of the branches (including the big seven-foot branch that was tilted on the fence) and the saplings. Sure he said, and quoted me a very reasonable price. Okay, I said, when can you do it.

He and his assistant did it today. They gathered up all the branches, the assistant cut down all the saplings (oops, including two little maples I wanted to stay up; oh, well), and then they mulched them with the big lawn mower. It was all done in a little over an hour (that includes what they cut of the lawn, edging, and trimming the bushes in front of the house, too) and it's now really bare out there. But at least Willow won't be getting caught on branches like she was earlier. When we took her out later she was sorely puzzled: where were all the piles of leaves and tussocks of grass?

Crossing my fingers that the antibiotics work quickly.

Labels: books, dogs, health, pets, work, yard

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:59:00 PM

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