Former Ramblings of an Insane, Lesbian, Book Writing Crip
This past weekend I went to Virginia to attend an animal communication workshop. Called “Back to the Table“, the workshop focused on guided meditations, telepathic linking with animals, and the overall concept of “coming back to the table”.
For those of you who are not into the woo-woo or would rather not read about woo-woo stuff, stop reading. For those of you who are curious or interested in more, click the link below. (if you don’t see a link below, that means you are already here)
I will be in Virginia for the weekend to attend an animal communication workshop. It is something I’ve wanted to do for years and decided this was as good a time as any.
The workshop, “Coming Back to the Table” is being offered by Patty Summers, an animal communicator. I’ve used Patty’s services many times before and consider it well worth the money. The last time I talked with Joella through her, I wound up getting Mike.
I will be going alone this time. I’m not even going to take Joella. I’ve got to see if Lorna’s computer (my half-dead Dell laptop) will work with the internet connection hard-wired. If it does, then I can take my laptop (a well-used Toshiba) with me. The workshop is only from 9:30-3:30 so I’ll have plenty of time to….do something constructive, I hope. There’s no Waffle House in Altavista (where the hotel is) but there is on in Lynchburg. While that is where Soulforce is based, I don’t think I would feel comfortable being in that town, ya know? I don’t know where I will eat but I’m sure I’ll find something somewhere. Lunch is provided during the workshop so I only have to forage twice each day.
As usual, I put off taking care of things so will be doing some errands before I leave. I’ll need to rest up from the nearly 6hr drive so I’m leaving hopefully around 3ish. So, like, y’all have fun while I’m gone. If I take the laptop with me, I may give an update Saturday or Sunday. If not, I’ll catch ya on Monday. Later!
Is it just me, or was this just a flat holiday time? Probably just me.
Santa skipped over our house this year. He said we’ve spent far too much money on critter care and must wait until January. He did give us a rain-check on a new fridge, though, so perhaps I can forgive him for noticing our lack of a proper budget.
Mary at Asheville Pets did give us a big bag of stuff for the critters, though. We’ve shopped there for going on 15yrs and know each other quite well. The stuffed toys were traded between Jo and Mike until Jo settled on the Nylabone. Sam isn’t allowed stuffed toys since he de-stuffs them in mere seconds so he had another Nylabone. The stuffed gorilla had a sound thing in it that I removed but Mike loved it anyway. He also loved the tree even though the squeaker was muffled.
PopCorn pouted all day since she is having to wear the helmet. She keeps licking the stitches on her foot and leg. She’s not happy at all about it. I keep telling her they will only be in there for another week but I don’t think she really is listening.
Other than being entertained by the dogs, it was a quiet day.
My back is out (for lunch, I think) and sitting-up time is limited. The shoulder is doing better, the knees are improving, and the headaches are roaring along just like always.
Mike is doing well, still not house trained, though. (check out his website)
Lorna went up Nawth and safely returned. Her sister got married! (congrats Karin and Chris!)
The truck needs a transmission. Anyone with $2000 dollars they can spare?
PopCorn had the growths on her foot removed in a tough 2hr surgery on Friday. She was rather stoned so we didn’t get to bring her home until Saturday. She’s doing good and is putting weight on the leg. It looks nasty, though.
We wanted to wait until we knew more before telling everyone about PopCorn.
Pop’s been slowing down eating her food for a week or two but we thought it was a tooth issue. Then last Monday night (12/1), she hurled up her dinner. Tuesday morning, she wouldn’t eat at all. That is soooo not Pop’s thing. She loves food. We were able to get an appt for her that day with our usual vet.
PopCorn is a Foxhound dog. She has a tick disease (Ehrlichia) and has had a fibrous tumor removed from her foot (which has since grown back). We were thinking the Ehrlichia had raised its head again.
The vet (the wondrous Dr. Knepshield) felt a mass in PopCorn’s belly. X-rays showed a huge mass attached to her spleen. She was also quite anemic. After discussing it with the vet and staff, we decided to do a blood transfusion over night and have mass removed the next morning. One of the staff persons was able to go home and get her dog to use as a donor. The next day, Dr. Bayer did the surgery. PopCorn’s anemia had improved significantly which showed there was not an “active” bleeding happening. However, there was still a lot of blood inside. As the surgery progressed, PopCorn’s blood pressure dropped and Dr. Knepshield was called in to assist to finish it up quickly.
Today we were told of the pathology report.
The mass was indeed cancer but it is a rare type. It is “fibrous-something-nodule” that sometimes can form on the spleen. This type of cancer is very slow growing and the dogs can live for a year or more before the cancer metastasizes. This is great news! The only other dog they’d had in that office with this cancer lived nearly 2 yrs. If it had been the usual type of spleen cancer, we were looking at 3-4 mos tops for PopCorn.
No, we will not be doing chemotherapy. We’ve discussed it several times in the past week. It came down to quality of life. We want PopCorn’s remaining time with us to be comfortable, pleasant, and fun. Next week, she’ll go in for surgery again to remove the tumors from her foot. It returned a while ago but now there is a second one higher up on the leg in what would be our forearm, between those two bones. She’s stopped putting weight on that leg so removing the tumors will relieve her of pain. Dr. Knepshield is curious about the pathology of these tumors since the last one was also a fibrous tumor (although benign).
I’ll keep everyone updated on Pop’s progress.
That’s how the computers have been for me lately. First the internet connection was acting up (got a new cable modem). Then I upgraded my servers with my website host and my sites went down for several days (a bad script or something on their end). Next I upgraded the main site’s WordPress install and it promptly went down (no clue exactly but a wide variety of fixes was needed and it’s still not acting right). Then I made Mike his own site with WordPress and, you guessed it, that went bad (not sure what was wrong there either, but it is working).
Normally, WordPress works great. But I’m not sure about the latest version. Each time I install it, either myself or through Dreamhost’s “One-Click Install”, something goes wrong. Then yesterday, this blog was not letting me into the admin section. I hadn’t done the upgrade because the others were so mucked up. No clue what was wrong but it is working, so far, today. I did do a virus and spyware/malware check on this laptop and did a hard boot. Nothing came up but who knows?
Anyway, life goes on. Mike is growing, Joella is jealous, PopCorn is ill (more on that in a few days), Sam is playing with Mike, Casey is still being her usual obnoxious self, and Lorna is just as wonderful as ever. I must’ve done something wonderfully good in my otherwise normal childhood in order to deserve such a wonderful partner. She’s beautiful, smart, a great cook, got a glorious singing voice, and yet, she loves me. How weird, wacky, and wonky is that?
…is a pisser of a job. Pun intended.
I got this 3mos old pup and 4 older dogs. The back door opens onto the back porch which is connected to the dog lot. All I have to do is open the door and out the monsters go. Easy.
Until the pup. It’s really not good for him to just be let outdoors. He needs to understand that outdoors is not just play time but poop and pee time. So after several days of cleaning piddle puddles, we’ve backed up to evaluate just what the heck we are doing.
I’ve hit the ‘net and read a lot of advice. Some of it is weird, some of it just plain wrong, some of it actually makes sense. House training a puppy is a science full of opinion and myth. You want the pup to understand where to go and where not to go. And the human has to learn how the pup tells them it has to go (which usually means “I gotta go NOW”). Mike and I need to learn to understand each other.
Luckily, Mike is old enough to grasp the situation soon. I am soooooo glad I didn’t get a younger dog.
Other than the piddles and piles, Mike is doing great. He and Sam play several times a day. He loves to nap laying next to or within sight of Joella. He knows to avoid Casey. He’s friends with Sassafras but he and Callie have a spitting relationship. As in he likes to irritate her so she will spit on him. She’s tried to rip him a new nose hole several times but the little snot is too fast.
I’ve got some more pictures and some video of him and Sam playing. I’ll upload them. Someday. Maybe.
Mike, Mikey, Michael, Big Mike, Mikeman, The Mikester.
Look at that alert face!
I just love that white chest.
While I was taking photos of him on the floor, I saw Jo sitting all regal and snapped one of her. When I was going over them later, I realized the two images were telling quite a story! Mike’s got some growing to do!
(click images for larger version)
We did go to see Happy but, as adorable as he was, he didn’t pass the working dog temperament test. He’s a good dog and will make someone an excellent pet but for me and my needs, he wouldn’t have worked out.
They also had two puppies left from a litter of 8 and while I was testing Happy, I tested them, too. Basically it was to give him a break between each test and to make it fun for him and everyone else. The two puppies passed the primary tests. One of them seemed more alert about what was going on. The other was probably exhausted from a day of play. I did all the tests on the one and decided he would be a great working dog. His name was Flintstone Bedrock. I discussed it with the rescue lady and with Lorna and we brought Flint home. After several days of trying to figure out a name, we settled on Mike. It is a fluctuating name that can grow with him and his moods.
For the first few days, we were worried it would not work out due to Sam not tolerating him. Happily though, the two of them are playing and liking each other! Phew!
Mike is 3 mos old, born the last week of August. Joella’s birthday is August 28th so we decided they’d share a birthday. Mike, his siblings, his mother, and Happy were dropped off at an animal shelter. The rescue group got them from there. The mother was nearly starved to death and the pups were so hungry they were trying to nurse each others’ tails. The vet had to amputate them (so the docked tail was not cosmetic, but necessary) due to infection and the like. Mike is not house trained but we are working on it. It is something I have to get serious about. I don’t think it will take long once I do that since he is such a smart little boy. Anyone have any pointers?
That’s all for now. I’ll be uploading more images and a few videos soon.
I dunno. I thought you were keeping track of stuff like that.
Actually, it’s been a matter of the season. We’ve had cold, wet weather here the past several weeks. That means I’ve been in pain. It also means I’ve been in a funk. The time change, the increased pain, the weather – all added up to one miserable Paula. Trust me, it isn’t pretty.
I couldn’t type very long but I could use the mouse. I have a voice recognition software, a darn good one, but I hadn’t the patience to deal with it. Instead, I got addicted on The Sims 2. I know, bad Paula. Blame my brother. It’s all his fault. I’m just an innocent bystander, er, bysitter, er, whatever.
I’ve also still been puppy hunting. Since donations toward a full-breed $1500 puppy did not appear (ahem), I backtracked out of that field and turned to the rescue groups. After talking to Joella (more on that in a moment), I also started looking for a male, slightly older than a baby puppy, and in a rescue situation. Tomorrow we go see one that meets that criteria. His current name is Happy and he is in King, NC. The rescue group and I have been emailing back and forth for nearly three weeks now and we finally meet Saturday. I’m nervous. What if he and I hate each other? What if he fails the various tests I need to do? What if….okay, stop that, Paula. Put down the clipboard and back up three feet. There ya go.
Back to talking with Joella. We firmly believe in animal communicators. Yes, there are bogus quacks who are tricking the owners and taking their money. And then there are legitimate ones. We know one of the legitimate ones. We met Patty Summers a long time ago (at Asheville Pet Supply, a way cool place)back when we had a bully cat (Pav) and his favorite target, Skiz. We took them to see Patty. It was our last effort to keep Pav. Either this stopped his bullying or he was going to find another home. Patty told him to get over his bastard self and to not be a bully. She nailed his personality down fairly well! And she got Skiz’, too. When we came home, Pav raced out of the crate and hid under the bed. He didn’t come out for dinner nor breakfast. For several days, each time he saw Skiz, he ran in the opposite direction. He was a bully just a few times more until he and Skiz settled into this glaring match that lasted the rest of Skiz’ life.
Later, when we got Jo, we took her to meet Patty, too. I wanted to make sure Joella understood she was a working dog, did she want to be a working dog, was she happy, etc etc etc. Animal communicators don’t actually speak words to the critter. It is more like images and feelings; they don’t have words like we do. When she “talks” to Jo, she usually has her eyes closed. So here we were, sitting quietly while she talked with Jo. Every once in a while, she would tell me what she and Jo were talking about. “She likes her fluffy toys,” Patty said. Jo had a stuffed elephant she loved. Suddenly, Patty bursts out laughing “No, Joella, no!” After a moment, and still laughing, Patty explained. “One of the fluffy toys moved. It’s your cats! Jo sees them as the household pets, as toys!” She told Jo that the cats were part of the household pack, just like she was. When we come home, Jo goes straight to her best bud, Mad Max. She lays her head on the ottoman next to him and whines. He reaches out with his paws, extends the claws, and grasps her muzzle. He then proceeds to clean her from nose to ear. Each time she tries to back away, he’d just drive those claws in a little more. She never chases the cats, never bothers them. They all have loved her and rub against her often. We took Jo a second time a few years later. Lorna had taken Jake (the dog that thought Lorna was a chew toy) and they got done early (no surprise there). Patty loves Jo so we went in and used the rest of the time. Like I said, usually the communicator is silent, eyes closed, and the dog just wanders the room. Suddenly Jo stops and whips her head around to stare at Patty who then promptly almost falls out of her chair laughing. Patty had asked her if she ever plays with Jake and Jo said “Are you nuts?” Jo is apparently quite the talker. She didn’t like the stinky shampoo we were currently using. She liked the smaller food better (meaning the cats’ food). And she puts things into a cool perspective. She made Patty laugh several times that first visit. One was when Joella seriously said, in response to “do you need anything”: “Sometimes, I just need a really good bone.”
So, I email Patty and tell her I’m looking for another dog to train but I need to first make sure Jo understands what is going on. That SHE isn’t being replaced, never will be. But I need someone for the job. A few days later, Patty and I talk on the phone with Jo in the room with me. Yes, she is fine with letting someone else do the job. But she still wants to go places. And she prefers a male because males are easier to boss around. Various other things were talked about (Jo wants more eggs) and Patty and I discussed what kind of dog I would look for. Rottweilers are a wonderful breed. They are intelligent, strong in both mind and body, and they are goofy clowns. They are a working breed that love to have jobs whether that is chasing down a bad guy or picking my keys up off the floor. Male rotties get along great with each other. Female rotties, however, tend to not like each other. A lot of the time, a female rottie won’t like any female dogs. So it is not surprising that Joella would prefer I get a male dog. I’ve spoken to various people since then and they all agreed.
And off we go Saturday to meet a 4.5 mos old male rottweiler. A far cry from the baby female I started looking for several months ago. But that’s how life goes.
As most of you know, I have a (nearly) constant companion named Joella. Jo is a big, vicious, mean, droolin’ Rottweiler.
Okay, so she’s not vicious. Nor mean. And she doesn’t drool. But she is big and she is a Rottweiler.
And she’s also my Service Dog. I trained her to retrieve certain things (Jo, where’s my shoes?) and to pick up items I drop (Jo, hand me my keys. Again.) and to go get Lorna (never really got Lorna trained to listen, though). Jo just turned 8 and it is time I got another dog to train as her SD replacement. Not that Jo is going to be happy about it.
It is weird for me to even be considering getting, on purpose, a full breed dog. I’m a mutt kind of gal. I’m not too happy with AKC and their “standards” which are based on looks and not much else. But I love the Rottweiler breed. They are sweet dogs with wonderful personalities. Most people agree that they are such clowns! And they are. I love that humor in Jo.
Anyway, full breed dogs cost money. Lots of money. One breeder from TN I spoke to charges $1500 each. I about crapped with that one. I understand it, though. Her close watch on genetics means that certain traits (including hip dysplasia) are almost eliminated. It also continues good temperament. While a happy dog won’t automatically produce happy puppies who grow up to be happy adults, the potential is high.
Perhaps what stops me with the price, other than the price itself, is that I’d be paying for a dog that is not guaranteed to be trainable as a Service Dog. Yeah, I’m taking that risk with any dog I get, even an adult. I’m not sure I want to spend $1500 for a pet. Know what I mean?
And I want a puppy. The youngest we’ve ever had was Zeus at about 3 mos. Joella was 6 months. I was there when Zeke was born but he died before he was 3 months old. There wasn’t time to really bond or to form much of a personality.
It’s also hard to spend almost as much on a DOG as I would a DELL.
So, donations are being accepted for either one!