Zoe gets a gold star

A gold star from the doggie-dentist. We went in for her 2-week extraction check-up yesterday and they said her teeth look wonderful - the ones she has left that is! She really did take those extractions like a champ. I quit giving her the pain meds over a week ago and she's been chewing on rawhide bones like a madwoman as you can see.




It hasn't been a pleasure, but I've brushed her teeth three times in the last two weeks (we're working up to at least every other day), and our next goal is a successful application of Oravet. Getting that gel on her teeth in that micro-tiny mouth is guaranteed to be a huge challenge, but I'm determined to keep the teeth she has left healthy!

No longer empty

My 12-gallon aquarium has been empty for more than 18 months, so I began regularly checking the water again about 6 weeks ago in preparation for adding some fish. Over the previous weeks I replaced the heater, made several water changes and did some research on which fish would most likely adapt to my tank's water conditions.

I went to Petco yesterday in search of some cichlids. The "fish man" was quite protective of his swimmers for sale. Once I told him my tank had been empty for a while he became very concerned. He wanted me to bring in a water sample to be sure my tank was habitable. My first thought was, "Dude. You don't know me. I don't do anything half-way."

After I explained to him that I have all of my own water-testing equipment, he relaxed enough to be willing to sell me some fish. When I told him I brought a brown paper bag to bring the fish home in (fish don't like to be able to see anything during transport from one tank to the next), he completely dropped his guard.

Below are photos of my new friends. Fish are so hard to photograph - at least for an amateur like me - so please pardon the blurriness. The first photo is of both of the new tank mates. The one at the top right is a Lake Malawi cichlid called a "convict." It's such a fitting name as they have faint stripes on their bodies. The orange one appears to be another variety of Lake Malawi cichlid whose proper name is Cynotilapia afra.



The convict has spent most of his time hiding under the plastic bridge in the tank. The guy at Petco said he won't grow as big as the other one and that he'll be less aggressive. I'd have to agree since the orange guy hasn't stopped flitting all over the tank yet.



Here's the shy one laying low by the big piece of driftwood in the center of the tank.



I'm not supposed to use the tank light for at least 24 hours to reduce stress and I'm sticking to that, but I must say it's hard because aquarium fish have a way of mesmerizing me. I could watch them for hours. It's good to have some little guys in the tank again!

A day of remembrance

Today I grieve for a wasted life: Not a life less-lived; but a life cut short of its true potential.

Three years ago today, a horrible and random act of violence took place. Christopher Reuther, a crusader for the environment; a colleague who daily brought smiles to those around him; was senselessly murdered. I hope he knows how deeply he is missed.

The photo below was taken at a museum in Washington D.C. about 7 weeks before he was killed.



I think of that kid every single day. I know I always will. I'd give anything to see him sail by my doorway on his path to collect his daily mail. I know I'm not the only one who wishes he'd somehow appear at our next staff meeting.

Love you Chris!!!

Fresh ground almond butter

My dad gave me a Blendtec Total Blender for Christmas last year. Until yesterday, the only thing I'd made with it is ice cream, despite the fact that the blender came with a book of recipes. So, yesterday I picked up a large bag of almonds at Costco and took a turn at making my own almond butter.

The recipe in the book is for peanut butter and lists 3 teaspoons of peanut or vegetable oil as optional. I used 3 cups of raw, unsalted almonds and several tablespoons of water mixed in throughout the 18 blender cycles it took to get the butter to a spreadable consistency. I removed half of the crushed almonds after the first few cycles, which seemed to increase the blender's ability to efficiently turn the nuts into butter. I didn't add any salt, sugar or oil.

The picture to the right is of both my almond butter and some freshly ground almond butter from Whole Foods. I took the photo to illustrate the difference in consistency. My almond butter is at the top of the photo with the Whole Foods almond butter underneath it. Although the Whole Foods almond butter lists unsalted almonds as the only ingredient, I find it hard to believe it doesn't contain any oil, even though I ground their butter myself in the store and the container that feeds into the grinder contains only chopped almonds.

Nevertheless, I'm pleased with how my almond butter turned out. It's easy to spread and surprisingly tasty even though it's salt-free. The recipe lists a yield of 2 cups almond butter, but I ended up with about 2 1/2 cups.

The average jar of almond butter in the grocery store costs more than $6 for a 16 oz jar. I paid $9.89 for 3 lbs of almonds and I still have more than 2/3 of the bag left after making 2 1/2 cups of almond butter. Nice savings dontcha think?

A new and welcome heroine

Katniss Everdeen effortlessly kicks Bella Swan to the curb - with force. Imagine Bella minus the klutziness, the whining, the irritatingly false self-deprecating descriptions of herself. Then add extreme self-determination, a healthy dose of selfless pure love for others and a kick-ass fire and you've got Katniss.

Young adult, schmung adult. I LOVE this book, can't wait to read the second, and I'm not afraid to admit that I am beyond bitter that the final book isn't due out until August. I thought the series was done before I started reading - but no. Damn.

Suzanne Collins' writing puts Stephenie Meyer to shame. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy reading the Twilight Saga, but The Hunger Games is far more memorable; lighter (minus useless filler); and truer to the genre without being ridiculous.

I'm more than 2/3 through The Hunger Games and I have the second book, "Catching Fire" on my list at my local library.

Awesome fiction. Highly recommended.

Good deed

I participated in the 14th Annual Hospice Hope Run on Saturday at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. The event offered a 10K run (Maria); and a 5K walk/run (Abby, Wolfgang and me).

Check the photo below - one I'd rather not post of myself but shots of the event were rather limited. I must say I found Deacon's willingness to appear with us in a photo pretty sweet considering the camera difficulties that arose.



And why the severe right-lean? I have no idea.

After Thursday's aggressive attack on Zoe's choppers, I felt obligated to post a photo of her now pearly whites. The pic below doesn't do those who cleaned her teeth justice, as the gleaming back teeth can only be seen if one pulls back Zoe's upper/lower gums - and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who's managed to do that without a minor snip.



Zoe's hangin' tough. Dr. Geyer was right - Zoe is doing just fine without those "extra" teeth.

Tooth Fairy debt

Man she owes Zoe big time.

Zoe went in to the vet yesterday to get one loose tooth pulled and have her teeth cleaned. When she left the vet she was minus seven teeth! There is still a loose tooth in there, but they're hoping that post-cleaning the gum tissue will heal and reattach to the tooth, but if not, that one will eventually come out as well.

Dr. Geyer said Zoe will be fine without all those teeth. She said, "If she had to go out and hunt for her dinner, she might be at a disadvantage for a few days" but dog food won't be a problem for her at all.

Extractions: 2 molars, 1 premolar, 4 incisors. Two of those teeth were completely dead and one of the incisors' socket was full of pus. Her recent health issues may very well have been related to those nasty teeth.

One thing I noticed that I never thought could happen is that she has puppy breath again! I wonder if "puppy breath" really is so great just because puppies aren't old enough to have periodontal disease or tartar build-up? Zoe's teeth are quite sparkling white at the moment, and after these numerous extractions I truly intend to do my very best to keep them that way - or at least healthy.

I didn't get a photo of her teeth this time post-cleaning, but I did snap her picture with her little pink bandage on. I was able to remove it after we'd been home for about an hour.



Zoe will be on pain meds, antibiotics and prednisone (steroid) for several days. We'll return to the vet in two weeks to check her extraction sites. Her stitches thankfully don't require removal.

Last night she was still pretty dopey, but resting comfortably. She ate her regular food - softened with warm water - with minor difficulty. Here's to hoping the next several days go smoothly!

Not JFK's dog

My tiny terrier is an enigma wrapped in a mystery inside a puzzle.

After two pneumonia-like episodes over the last few years, one seizure episode and strange blood work on numerous occasions; an odd wellness blood panel led my vet to suspect Addison's disease.

John F. Kennedy is one of history's most famous Addisonians. In layman's terms, I understand the disease to be one that basically prevents one's body from appropriately dealing with stress - not in an obnoxious behaviorally inappropriate way - but in a physically deficient manner. Can you imagine being the President of the United States and having a physical condition that prevents you from being able to deal with stress?!

Anyway, despite Zoe's outward appearance of gleeful health, her blood work prompted my vet to request an upgraded panel to find out if Addison's was indeed a possibility. Those results indicated that Zoe is NOT Addisonian. I should interject here that Addison's disease has many nicknames in the veterinary sphere. One of them is "the great imposter."

I couldn't decide if I should be relieved that she doesn't have this life-long yet manageable disease, or frustrated that we still have no idea why Zoe's health seems to sporadically and rather severely decline.

Nevertheless, Zoe's going under Thursday morning to get a loose tooth pulled and have her potty mouth scrubbed and polished. Please cross your fingers for my tiny terrier! Hoping she comes out of anesthesia just as tasmanical as she's always been.

I'm sure I'll post a photo of her shaved chicken leg ASAP. My vet usually supplies a photo of the fantabulously sparkling post-polished mouth, too, so I will shamelessly post that if I can.

If you live in the RDU area, I highly recommend my wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Catherine Geyer. She is absolutely the most dedicated and compassionate veterinarian I've had the pleasure to deal with. I can't imagine my life - or my dogs' lives - without her. Find her at Park Veterinary Hospital.

Houdini destruction

What the new Houdini - Emma - left in her wake on Saturday afternoon. I still can't believe the original Houdini - Bailey - didn't escape as well!

Elkhound love

I could've easily titled this post "brotherly love." For some it sounds ridiculous, but Bailey really is Abby's brother.

He was 4-years-old when they first met, a mere three months after her birth. She has truly grown up with him. He's always been a trusted "caregiver" and loving companion.

Ever gentle and patient, I wish every child could grow up with a dog like my Bailey.


On Saturday Abby kept asking Maria and I to take her photo with her canine "brother." As you can see in the last one, Emma got a little jealous.

The new Houdini

On Saturday Maria, Abby, Todd and I went to UNC's spring Blue/White game in Chapel Hill. After a mere 20 minutes into the game, I received a phone call from Kerry (I was dogsitting at her house for the weekend). She said a neighbor of hers called because he saw Emma, her dog, running around the neighborhood (Emma and Bailey had both been contained on the screened-in porch - at least the used-to-be screened-in-porch - due to Emma's gastrointestinal distress and the slight likelihood that the realtor might need to show the house to a potential buyer).

I assumed that if Emma was out, Bailey was out. As previously posted, a Bailey escape = disastrous stress, especially in his old age. Likewise, Kerry was worried about Emma attacking neighborhood dogs. The vibes were NOT good.

I drove Maria's van back to Kerry's house (cursing Emma vehemently the entire way) only to find her on the path behind the house, happily enjoying a good scratch courtesy of a kind neighbor. Bailey was (thank heaven) still contained on the aforementioned - and formerly screened-in - porch. The luck of that was mind boggling, because I'm certain that had Bailey had a bit more spring in his step he would've escaped, too.

Emma's destruction to the door was pretty brutal. The screen-door had five panels - one large panel at the top with 4 smaller panels at the bottom. She'd already broken through the bottom left panel on a previous occasion, hence the baby gate and chair that were used to block that mode of escape.

My best guess is that something set her off so she jumped up onto the chair and dove through the top panel of the screen door. The entire top panel was ripped away and the center wood pane was very badly damaged, if not completely rendered useless.

My surprise at this feat stems from the fact that Emma's been favoring her back left leg for quite a few months now - she never puts any weight on it. For her to get on that chair and dive (break) through the upper screen is impressive.

I feel I must mention that she is favoring said leg even more post-escape. Serves her right? The jury is out on that one. I have a hard time faulting dogs for what is in their nature.

I would've posted damage photos, but lacked my camera cable for download. Weekend photos of Abby and Bailey should be posted soon. In addition, I hope to post an update regarding Zoe's pending Addison's disease diagnosis. Crossing fingers!!!

Paranormal stupidity

Paranormal Activity is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I am beside myself that Rotten Tomatoes gave it a "fresh rating" of 82%. I'm even more beside myself that PA 2 is in the works.

In an effort to be nice, I'll concede that my attention deficit disorder could've been to blame, but I was BORED. I was never scared and I hated the characters.

For some reason the name Micah (pronounced Mee-ka) annoyed me to no end. Micah (Mike-ah) is fine, but the aforementioned pronunciation really rubbed me the wrong way. Of course I wouldn't hate a movie based on the name of one of the characters, but it wasn't hard for me to hate this movie anyway.

What I really don't understand is the comparison of PA to The Blair Witch Project. No way. For those who can relatively tolerate a "shaky camera film", TBWP is (IMO) by far the most genuinely creepy, spine-tingling movie out there.

PA's tag line is "don't see it alone." I agree, because you'll need someone there to help you pay attention. Disagree with me if you will, but I think this movie stunk it up, bigtime. The alternate ending (DVD extra) is minimally less stupid than the theatrical one. To sum up, nothing could save this film.

In fact, for whatever reason, the woman next to me at the redbox Monday night asked me what I rented as I was walking away. When I told her she said, "It sucked!" I concur. Thank heaven it was a free redbox rental, as I don't think viewing it is worth $1.

Remember these? Want one?

I'd like to find some UNC buttons or some other suitable embellishments to add to these bears. The buttons would have to be pretty tiny - preferably no bigger than 1" wide by 3/4" tall, but I could probably forgive a centimeter here or there.

A quick search of the internet (including Johnny T-shirt) gave me no cost-effective ideas. While I'm sure it will be viewed as a paltry reward, I will make and send one to anyone who provides me with a cute solution to my embellishment dilemma. Please advise!

Word of the day

Make that non-word of the day. One of my most hated words: simpler. In my opinion, simpler shouldn't be recognized as a real word. It just sounds stupid.

My hate of that word is what makes the Crystal Windows 7 ads all the more annoying. Even when spoken in a British accent, the word sounds completely asinine. I suppose it's fitting that simpler is used to describe something as idiotic as a PC.

I sincerely believe that once you've gone MAC, you'll never even consider going back!

Bailey's new ailment: masticatory muscle myositis

Say that three times fast.

My vet believes Bailey may have the"chronic" form of this tongue-twisting disease, due to the pronounced loss of his temporal muscle mass. I'd noticed the change in the shape of his head a few times, but hadn't really given it a lot of thought.

In the photos below, you can see the sunken appearance just in front of his ears where the muscle has wasted away. The black hair on the top of his head makes it really easy to see the degeneration in the second photo.




From what I've read, the disease isn't fatal, and is far more problematic for dogs who have the other tell-tale sign of MMM: loss of jaw function. Bailey shows no signs of pain when he yawns, eats, or otherwise opens his big mouth.

Bailey's senior blood panel ruled out Cushing's disease, so MMM is likely the cause of his now bonier head. Dr. Geyer said there are some further tests we could do to positively diagnose Bailey, but her recommendation was to do nothing. She said as long as he maintains normal jaw function I shouldn't worry about it. The good news is that all of the other levels tested by the blood panel were completely normal.

Nevertheless, we're going to experiment with some joint supplements and/or Rimadyl to see if that helps him get around a bit easier. The old guy is pretty slow and stiff in his old age. According to the Pedigree dog age calculator Bailey is approximately 77-years-old, so slowness and stiffness are expected!

And I still find him quite cute - even with his bony skull.

When persistence is bad

Very bad - more like downright obnoxious.

When it comes to my home, I am a very private person. I never have people over, and I really don't appreciate uninvited visitors or solicitors. My blinds are almost always closed, and curtains cover the large windows in my front door.

Unfortunately, my neighbors have come to learn that I live alone, therefore if my car is in the driveway it most likely means I am home. Even more unfortunate is the fact that they obviously don't understand that my car in my driveway doesn't mean they should practically insist I answer the door.

Perfect example from last night: someone rang my doorbell (which immediately sent Zoe into a barking frenzy), and when I didn't come to the door, they rang it two more times in quick succession. When I still didn't answer the door, they rang it three more times in a row and also rapped on the window. The triple ring was repeated two more times.

Seriously? There are very few instances in which I would find this behavior appropriate.

1. I have an appointment with someone at my house at a specific time, but I don't answer the door upon the visitor ringing the bell.

2. Someone fears for my life and is therefore desperate that I come to the door and show that I am in fact okay.

Upon reflection of the highly irritating situation, I wish I had answered the door, very rudely, and screamed, "What the eff is so important?!"

From what I gathered after peering out of an upstairs window, my next door neighbor had a piece of my mail - something which I do not see as remotely earth shattering, and especially not cause for ringing my doorbell 12 times in less than two minutes.

Maybe I do keep a bit too much to myself, but I'm fairly certain such behavior is completely within my rights, no?