Single Parenthood

Pete left this morning for a business trip. Luckily for me, he'll be back on Monday. Until then, I am the single parent of a very energetic lab. I have to take a short lunch at work, because if I were to work a full day he wouldn't make it in his crate without an accident. I am his sole provider of exercise and entertainment. It's only day 1 and I'm exhausted. He is in constant need of attention. When I finally sat down tonight at 8:15, he let me know that he was not done playing by jumping on me, pawing at me and playfully biting at my arm. I let him know that I was not amused by ignoring him. According to the trainer, this will eventually teach him that biting is not ok. This lesson has yet to sink in, but I'm still hoping. Tucker is doing quite well on his regular obedience training, as well as learning several great new tricks. I'm hoping I can keep up with his training while Pete's away. I have some great stuff lined up for the weekend though. Tomorrow night one of my best friends is coming for a girl's night and on Sunday I'm going to the beach for girls' afternoon (well, girls and Tucker). I know things will be fine, but I sure miss Pete! It's lonely in this house without him!

Oh the Things a Lab Will Eat... Part 2

I finally got around to scanning in the X-rays that Tucker got at his follow-up vet visit to verify that the bone fragments had passed. Lisa described the experience in a previous post. The vet was nice enough to "lend" me the X-ray. She said that I can take them out like books at a library. She really should have called the Cheshire library before letting Lisa or myself borrow anything. We've paid more in late fees than the value of the books that we've borrowed there. We consider it to be philanthropy, as it goes to support a valuable community resource. Anyhow, below are the X-rays of the shirt-pin and coil spring that showed up in Tucker's colon and stomach. He's such a frigging nutjob.

Home Improvement Post #2: Office Remodel

For those of you who haven't been to our house, saying that the office needed a makeover is an understatement. It was the room where we crammed all of the junk that we couldn't put anywhere else and was packed so tight it was nearly useless. We decided to take a trip to IKEA to get everything that we'd need to make it a functional room. Unfortunately we didn't take pictures of it before, but we did take pictures of it after an IKEA remodel. As you can see we outfitted it with some bookcases, which fit perfectly along the back wall, as well as a desk which matches quite nicely. Now we have some nice storage for our many books and Lisa's scrapbooking supplies and such. Needless to say, this remodel has made us much more productive than ever before. I've never advanced through the levels of Diablo II this quickly before. Thank you IKEA!!!

Oh the Things a Lab Will Eat...

So Pete just gave me a call to let me know how Tucker's follow up x-ray went. The vet came in with the x-ray and said to Pete "well, he's passed the bone fragments" and Pete looked at the x-ray and immediately asked about the other foreign objects he saw. It turns out Tucker found a small spring in the truck on the way to the vet and ate that - it was still pretty high up in his digestive system, and in his colon was a large shirt pin. The vet assured him that neither of those things will be a problem, but we are now OFFICIALLY investing in pet health insurance. We even got 2 brochures from the vet's office. Now, I like sarcasm as much as the next guy - in fact, I've been accused of being TOO sarcastic in the past, but I would think everyone can agree that Tucker does not need any suggestions of what to eat and now hopefully Pete will be happy that he does, in fact, have something more entertaining to view on the x-ray.

Wanna see a picture of my dog?

The Vet that we took Tucker to totally posts his X-rays online. How awesome is that? I've made this one my background on my work PC. Tucker has an appointment at his regular vet this afternoon to get some more X-rays and I'm trying my best to think of something really cool to get him to swallow so that the X-ray will be more exciting. Lee, my friend/coworker, came up with the idea to have him swallow a bullet. He'd totally do it too. I'd put money on it. I know you're thinking that that would be bad for him. I think not. He's already proven that he just needs a bit of time to pass such objects through his body. I'm willing to wait. Okay, I'll make it a short action round so it's more digestible... and it won't be a live round either... fine, metal jacketed too to reduce the risk of lead poisoning. You animal rights freaks are so demanding.

Tucker's Home!

Quick update: Tucker is home - we got him last night. He's on two medications and he needs to have a follow-up xray later this week, plus he's on reduced food and water. Assuming he keeps everything down and doesn't develop a blockage as the bone passes he'll be all set. So he's doing great right now, we just have to make sure he continues to do well and gets this stupid thing out of his system. He says thanks for the support!

Stupid Evil Dog Bones!!! :(

My poor puppy is at the doggie hospital. Yesterday we gave him a dry roasted ham bone as a treat. The dog trainer said that "he may be able to splinter it, but it'll take a while. Just watch him and don't give it to him in his crate or something". We gave him the bone and he LOVED it. He ran downstairs to eat in privacy. I, of course, wasn't going to let this happen. I checked on him and he was fine, gnawing the ham off the bone as usual. Pete then went to the garage to get a tool and I went back upstairs to build the cool stuff we got from IKEA. On his way back in from the garage, Pete looked in on Tucker and said "HOLY COW! He's eaten the whole bone!" We ran down to find that he had consumed about 80% of the bone. That's right, the part he's not supposed to eat. The part that's supposed to take him "a while" to chew. Apparently for Tucker "a while" is a minute and a half. Anyway, he threw up in his crate last night and again this morning, so he had to go to the 24 hour vet. We got there and they took x-rays. He has a bunch of bone fragments still in his stomach, which is distended. He can't eat or drink anything orally until he gets rid of it, so he had to stay at the hospital overnight to get IV fluids and nutrition. In the morning they'll take another x-ray and determine whether or not he needs surgery to get the bone fragments out. My poor puppy!!!!! The worst thing was that I had to drive home with his doggie seat belt and his leash and no Tucker. We're making lunch and there's no Tucker trying to get the food. Pete picked up one of his tennis balls and tossed it out of the way and there was no Tucker to go tearing after it. I have done a fair amount of crying about it already, and I'm afraid I'm not done. Anyway, when anyone reads this PLEASE send Tucker your best "get well" thoughts!! I'm sure he'll be fine (he in fact still thinks he's fine, running all over the place), but it's hard to not have him here, no matter how much of a pest he can be some times. I had other things to post, but I'm just not in the mood, so it'll have to wait for when my pup is doing better.

I Am An Evil Genius

Pete says that I am an evil genius. I think he may be correct. I will now explain. Last October I left a job I had held for 6 years. I was sad to leave, but some changes at the company made it nothing like the job I had loved, so I knew it was time to move on. When I left I missed many of the friends I had made there, but I also missed working for my boss. I jokingly told him once that he was like my "work dad". He really helped me get my career going out of college - I looked up to him a great deal and I think I learned more than I could ever have hoped. Oh, and he's a really nice guy I enjoyed talking to about sports. One summer we were working on a huge project and a group of us were working on a Saturday. My boss brought in a mini TV so we could see the Yankees/Red Sox baseball game. I am a Yankee fan, he is a Red Sox fan. He therefore "fired" me every time the Yankees won - on the condition that I work the remainder of the weekend. Lots of stuff like that made it a great job. Anyway, I have been trying to convince him that he and his wife (one of the nicest people I have ever met) to come to my house for dinner. He has said he will but not made plans. I posted about this on KTP's site (because he is her dad), knowing that between his daughter and his wife he might get pressured in to this. Well my plan worked. I got a call last night to finally set up that dinner because "now that I called him out on the internet he figures he'd better get going". Good times!

Best Personal Trainer Ever

So Pete and I will have had Tucker for 7 weeks tomorrow. In that time, I have lost 5 pounds! That's more weight than I lost when I started taking Taekwondo 3 days a week, more than when I started training at the corporate gym at my last job, more than when I was walking every day at lunch, in short, it's fantastic. For this reason I am awarding Tucker the title of "Best Personal Trainer Ever".

I must now mention that I have the best fiance ever. This morning he was not feeling well, so I took Tucker for his 5am walk. It was thundering & lightning off in the distance, but I was not concerned. As we were walking, the storm was approaching. Soon it started to sprinkle. Knowing that Tucker loves to "jog", I decided to do so (I put jog in quotes because Tucker has no concept of pacing, we just go as fast as he can with me holding him back running for my life). My rain spotted glasses saw a car pull up towards us and pull to the side of the road. Upon further examination I realize that it is my car and that Pete has come to get us to rescue us from the rain. He heard the rain hit (apparently it hit our house harder than where we were a few blocks away) and decided to get up and come get us. How sweet is that?!

Fun With Dogs

I know, I know...2 posts in one day?!?! Anyway, I had to update on the funniest thing I've seen in a while. I only wish I had a video camera... Tucker eats everything. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Tonight we decided to test that by giving him the lemon half after Pete squeezed it into the mussels he was making. Tucker seemed like he WANTED to like the lemon. He kept licking it and batting it around, but whenever he'd pick it up in his mouth he'd spit it back out on to the floor. The thing is, he did NOT want to give it up. He really wanted that lemon, he just couldn't quite handle it. Anyway, we were quite amused. We gave him some tasty treats as a reward for being so gosh darn hilarious. And for the record Pete's mussels were FABULOUS!!

Stormy Weather

So tonight I am sitting home with Tucker during a MAJOR thunderstorm. I happen to be quite afraid of thunder and lightning (despite my parents' best efforts to make them seem fun), so this is not exactly my favorite thing. I realize that I'm pretty safe in my house or my car (barring falling trees or something), so it's really not bad, but I do find it a bit disconcerting when the power keeps turning off and on. At least Tucker is not afraid of thunder and lightning. He is, in fact, lying by my feet keeping me company. It's a nice reminder of why I wanted a dog in the first place.

I am working on two new facets of wedding planning: an officiant and a DJ. I have had 2 DJs recommended to me. As it turns out, one is already booked. I left a message for the other, so now the waiting begins. In officiant terms things are odder. I found the perfect person to perform the ceremony, emailed him and got a very pleasant, prompt response. Then when I was going to set up a meeting we had the previously mentioned reception hall troubles and I didn't get back to him. I ended up getting back to him a few months later, but heard nothing back. Friends and family reassured me that perhaps he was on vacation, so I emailed him back last week - about 6 months after that first email. Again, I have heard nothing. I do have his phone number from the time he wrote me back, but I can't decide if I should call or not. I am going to call, based on some good old-fashioned "Mom advice". Hopefully it'll work out. If anyone knows of any good DJs or officiants in CT please feel free to let me know!

Lesson Learned

So I have officially learned my lesson. Do NOT under any circumstances accidentally imply that Tucker is well behaved. Especially in what might technically be considered morning in some circles but is really the middle of the freaking night. Yesterday, in some really rather obvious foreshadowing that I missed in my state of exhaustion, Pete said "Tucker is mad at me because I haven't played with him today like I normally do." I should have realized that this would translate in to "Tucker will wake up at 3:30 am and then whine off and on until the alarm goes off for his morning walk at 5." Needless to say, Pete had the honor of taking him outside at 3:30 and then immediately returning him to his crate. As a clearly not-well-thought-out trade, I let him out at 5, made his breakfast, fed him and took him for his 45 minute walk. When I got home, barely awake, I find Pete awake and fed...stating "I couldn't sleep". Because of his early rising he also left for work early. This meant that I was also in charge of the dog until such time as I leave for work (an hour and a half after Pete this morning). I had to keep the dog in the room for my half hour nap. I had to keep the dog in the bathroom for my shower. Luckily for me he was very well behaved at this point, presumably because he'd been awake since 3:30 and was tired. At any rate, he seemed relieved to get in to the crate when I left for work so he could eat his treats and get some rest. Unfortunately for me, work does not involve rest, though today it did involve some tasty treats in the form of a cheesecake someone brought in for the consumption of all. Luckily I'm not too bitter about this morning's events and once Tucker calmed down I was reminded that I am glad to have a dog and he is cute and I don't want to return him...though I may want to move his crate out of our bedroom and back down to the living room where it was originally so I can finally sleep through the night.

New Job

So I started a new job last week. It's at a very small software company, and so far I love it! It sure beats the big insurance company! I started last week, and I'm really looking forward to really contributing again. The new job also simplifies other parts of my life. I get to go straight to Taekwondo with no insane commute in between. In addition, I get to leave an hour later, so Tucker gets some extra time outside the crate. Lately, though he's still a bit of a lunatic in the evenings, he's quite well behaved in the mornings. This morning he slept next to me on the couch while I ate breakfast without even trying to eat any of it! At the risk of seeming like a completely obsessed dog owner I will be posting plenty more pictures of Tucker soon, but I'm currently downstairs on the laptop, and the pictures are upstairs on the desktop computer, so that will have to wait. As for wedding plans, they're still marching along slowly. I suppose I should start dress shopping soon, but right now my main concern is finding an officiant. Hopefully that'll work out some time soon. Anyway, my dog-induced-sleep-deprivation is arguing loudly for bedtime, so that's all I have to say for tonight. I'll post those pictures soon! :)