I have been busy lately, at work and in my personal life. The annual report is finally off my plate, after a few snaffoos that had to be straightened out. Chloe is becoming more acclimated to life with me and my housemates. So, that is calming down, thankfully. Dating has been the rollercoaster that it usually seems to be: fun and exciting at first, then a little scary, then clearly time to exit.
I have been watching the Democratic National Convention when possible. So far I have been very impressed with the two speeches I watched. Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton are such impressive women and great role models. I missed the whole Ted Kennedy speech, which I will have to watch later.
Another thing I have been spending some time on is mosaics. In early November the Aquarium staff members host a craft fair, open only to staff. I am going to sell some mosaics. In the six years I have been at the Aquarium, this will be the first time. So, I need to crank out some cool things. I have been lucky enough to go over to Todd's house to use his back yard area to work on them. He is so nice in letting me do that. Still a good friend.
Yesterday my friend Christopher brought something to my attention that is really disturbing. There was an air strike in Afghanastan last Thursday, and the US killed 90 civilians. 60 of them were children. What a mess. What a tragedy.
And then there were the three dudes arrested on suspicion of having plans to assasssinate Obama. Please. Two rifles (one with a scope), ammunition, walkie talkies, bullet proof vests, and so forth. And they had talked about killing him when he accepts the nomination on Thursday. They do not want a black president. But it is just a hunch that they were aimin' to kill him. Well, it is good that they are not convicting the dudes without a jury. I am ready to.
Also, I got a lot of emails today letting me know that Del Martin has died. At least she had the chance to marry the love of her life. She started the first lesbian advocacy group. She had to wait till she was 87 to get married to Phyllis Lyon earlier this year on June 16, the first day same sex weddings were allowed in San Francisco. I also heard the Charlize Theron has stated she will not wed until everyone nationwide has that right. Hell yes! I am glad to see that she continues to stand up in solidarity. Go Charlize!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
dog news
I took Gracie to the vet today. She has a hot spot from hell. In just the past few days, the top of her tail became an open wound. I tried treating it with various concoctions for hot spots and benadryl, but it was not helping. So, I took her to see the doc. I wanted to go anyway because I was curious about her other conditions.
At the vet's, we got Gracie's weight: 30 pounds. Progress. One pound less than three weeks ago. The vet looked her over and we talked about her eye, her heart, and her tail. Her eye has improved. The right one has a condition called cherry eye. It is not the eye itself, but the gland in the corner. There is a piece of cartilage that normally keeps it in place, tucked away, but in some breeds this cartilage weakens and the gland peaks out more than it should. Being exposed to air and germs, it can get infected. Gracie's case is not a bad one. And I have been using steroid eye drops twice a day on it since the last vet visit. It has improved. Nothing to worry about. It will not completely go away, but it should be fine if I make sure it stays like it is. That means using eye drops from time to time, both the steroids and lubricating drops.
The heart condition has been really concerning me. She has a murmur, and we did not know whether this is a just a leaky valve or possibly congestive heart failure. There are things to do to find out how well her heart is functioning, but it is expensive. We decided the first thing to do was an xray. From this we could see if her heart is enlarged, if there is fluid in her lungs, and if the liver looks enlarged. Two radiographs were taken, revealing that her heart is a bit enlarged on the right side. But her lungs look clear and the liver is not enlarged. Good signs. There are some distinct lymph nodes around the top of her heart that we need to keep an eye on. Dr. Seto said they could become cancerous later. Basically, the xray told us that Gracie is okay right now. She does not need medication or any further treatment now, but in a few months (to space out the expense) or if her condition worsens, the next step will be an EKG, and then an ultrsound based on that.
As for her tail, she got a steroid shot, antibiotics and an antihistimine.
I got news a while back that the biopsy on Cookie's little lumps were benign. Whew!
Today I also bought a sonic collar for Chloe to work on the barking. Not something you can just pop out of the box and throw on her, washing your hands of the problem. First I must establish that the clunky collar with the attached apparatus is a good thing. Then gradually work up to her wearing it a few hours at a time, with me around to give her praise. Then, eventually, putting the battery in and letting it make an uncomfortable high pitched sound when she barks. This will take some time. I am doing this because of a request/demand from my landlord/housemate. So, I hope it gets implemented correctly and that this will be to her satisfaction.
At the vet's, we got Gracie's weight: 30 pounds. Progress. One pound less than three weeks ago. The vet looked her over and we talked about her eye, her heart, and her tail. Her eye has improved. The right one has a condition called cherry eye. It is not the eye itself, but the gland in the corner. There is a piece of cartilage that normally keeps it in place, tucked away, but in some breeds this cartilage weakens and the gland peaks out more than it should. Being exposed to air and germs, it can get infected. Gracie's case is not a bad one. And I have been using steroid eye drops twice a day on it since the last vet visit. It has improved. Nothing to worry about. It will not completely go away, but it should be fine if I make sure it stays like it is. That means using eye drops from time to time, both the steroids and lubricating drops.
The heart condition has been really concerning me. She has a murmur, and we did not know whether this is a just a leaky valve or possibly congestive heart failure. There are things to do to find out how well her heart is functioning, but it is expensive. We decided the first thing to do was an xray. From this we could see if her heart is enlarged, if there is fluid in her lungs, and if the liver looks enlarged. Two radiographs were taken, revealing that her heart is a bit enlarged on the right side. But her lungs look clear and the liver is not enlarged. Good signs. There are some distinct lymph nodes around the top of her heart that we need to keep an eye on. Dr. Seto said they could become cancerous later. Basically, the xray told us that Gracie is okay right now. She does not need medication or any further treatment now, but in a few months (to space out the expense) or if her condition worsens, the next step will be an EKG, and then an ultrsound based on that.
As for her tail, she got a steroid shot, antibiotics and an antihistimine.
I got news a while back that the biopsy on Cookie's little lumps were benign. Whew!
Today I also bought a sonic collar for Chloe to work on the barking. Not something you can just pop out of the box and throw on her, washing your hands of the problem. First I must establish that the clunky collar with the attached apparatus is a good thing. Then gradually work up to her wearing it a few hours at a time, with me around to give her praise. Then, eventually, putting the battery in and letting it make an uncomfortable high pitched sound when she barks. This will take some time. I am doing this because of a request/demand from my landlord/housemate. So, I hope it gets implemented correctly and that this will be to her satisfaction.
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