When last we met...James was recovering from falling on the stairs, Willow had a bad day...

So of course next it was my turn. Now, I've discovered a new popcorn that doesn't seem to bother me, unlike other popcorns, Skinny Pop. It's light and delightful. And we found a nice sweet Italian sausage from Trader Joe's that didn't bother me either. However, both in combination...up until after 3 a.m. with pain unrelieved no matter which way I lay down. Note to self: do not eat popcorn and sausage in same evening. This list is getting long. Pain was at least followed by blessed sleep.

Wednesday was actually normal, until I got home. To recap: On Monday I had gone to C-net looking for a piece of software I needed, since C-net had provided me with reliable software in the past. Found the software with some five and four star ratings. But when I started installing it, it started installing other software I didn't want, like a "malware blocker" and a toolbar. I immediately halted the install, and then uninstalled the three programs this download had installed (ironically, the software I actually wanted never got a chance to install). I then did a virus scan. Everything seemed fine.

When I booted my computer up Wednesday night, nothing happened. In big white letters on black it said "NTLDR missing." Great. Tried to repair it with the system disk. "NTLDR missing." Great. When I uninstalled the bloatware it took my system boot with it. Good thing I had 99% of the data backed up. So reloaded Windows. Got into it enough to load the wireless utility (since my network card died ages ago), was able to copy a few other things to the backup disk, like my e-mail boxes, and then Windows Explorer and Dr. Watson started throwing errors. (It's still throwing errors. I got the last few files by booting into Safe Mode.)

Well, I knew I was going to have to update to Windows7 in April because Microsoft will quit supporting WindowsXP, but I didn't want to have to update this weekend. I don't have time.

Thursday I was concerned about Willow's appetite. She wants our food, which she can't eat, and is turning up her nose at what she can eat, like the chicken breast/veggies/brown rice and the dry food which she snarfed up only a few days ago. She's starting to get that basenji look on her face again like she did when we got her home from the vet, big worried eyes. Hoping to jump-start her a little bit, I gave her a tiny can of the wet Beneful. After all, it's what we've been making for her on the stove: a meat, a vegetable, and rice.

Evidently it's too rich for her, as she had the runs all evening.

Which brings us to this morning. She slept out in the living room all night, no accidents, used the pee pad to urinate. James took her outside. She peed. I was just coming out of the bathroom when she appeared at the door, then disappeared; by the time I left the bathroom, she had left nice little wet, stinky deposits in the hall, the living room, the dining room... So I took her out again. I let her take her time. She sniffed around, peed again. I hadn't even gotten upstairs to get my lunch and leave for work when she did it again. By the time I had everything cleaned up with biological product cleaner, it was after seven.

I have a very patient supervisor; she said I could telework. So I juggled responding to phone calls, forwarding e-mails, correcting and posting a proposal, answering questions about option modifications, and sundry other little things while having to get up and chase the dog outside once an hour. By noon I'd finally gotten her to use the lawn instead of the rug, and I knew I'd never get any work done if she stayed out, so I locked her in the bathroom with food and water, and checked on her every half hour. She used the pad twice and I lavishly praised her and gave her dog biscuits. To even up her stomach, I gave her rice in broth for the rest of the afternoon.

By the time James got home I was wiped out—and starving, since to make up for the time I wasted cleaning up after the dog, I hadn't taken lunch. James made Willow some brown rice in broth (it has more fiber) for supper, and we went out to SteviB's for supper and then stopped at Publix on the way home.

The brown rice, I must reluctantly report, did not help much, as we had another emergency after we got home, well after we thought she was doing better. We'll have to get a new entry rug at Walmart. I'm not putting that mess in my washer!

Labels: computers, dogs, food, pets, sickness, work

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:58:00 PM

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