a99kitten's Musings

Well, it was not quite the relaxing Tahoe weekend I had hoped for…

Saturday AM I took the huskies on their morning walk (in the 24 degree weather!!) and they had a good time. Storm wanted to come back after about 30-40 minutes so I dropped him off at home and took Angelus back out. Angelus always wants to be out investigating!

About an hour later as we were walking down our drive-way back to the house, I see that I have 2 missed calls from home.  Weird. Call husband and he answers the phone saying he needs to rush Storm to the vet. WHAT?  Storm apparently got up on the kitchen counter and found his Cushing’s Disease medication. His current daily dose is 20mg and he ate the entire pack of pills equaling of 150 mg.

My husband wanted to know how could *I* be so dumb. Hmm…it was pushed back next to all of their treats (which were untouched.) If I answer you, I will yell at you. So I choose to ignore this stupid question, and your “anger” at this, and work to find a vet for Storm right now.  It was early (8ish on a Saturday) so our “normal” vet in Truckee (actually only been there once but they were great) wasn’t open yet.  But the nearest one was 40 minutes away in Reno so we just went to the regular one, who opened at 8:30am, and were there as they opened.

Got him to the vet and explained what happened. They gave Storm medicine to vomit it all up and wanted to monitor his vitals for a bit.  When we went back to pick him up, the doctor said that in addition to vomiting up his breakfast and the medicine he stole, he vomited up 3 peach pits. We had a box of peaches in the office kitchen this past Thursday and Friday so apparently Storm stole the pits out of people’s garbage cans. I’ve asked people not to throw food away in their desk trash cans because one of the symptoms of Cushing’s is the dog thinks they are completely starving to death. So Storm searches out trash cans every day. I put them on up people’s desks when I see they are gone for the day but during the day, people just forget. I might have to reconsider bringing the buds in. First the box of truffles (that was a scare) a few months ago and now this. Who knows what else he is getting or could get. Sucks though – they have been coming in to work for 9 years (Angelus) and 7.5 years (Storm) with no incident.

Anyway, the vet said it’s a good thing we got those peach pits out as they will clog up a dog’s system and then surgery is required as they are not small enough for them to “pass”.  Hopefully those 3 were all he ate :( I guess we will see over the next few days…but I saw this as the silver lining or upside on the morning as we wouldn’t have known about the peach pits.

By the time we got home, I was tired. I didn’t get to bed till late the night before and woke up early. Then throw in some upset and stress…pretty much took my energy for the day. So I bagged my plan of a hike and did a couple things around the house and watched an episode of Bones (David Boreanz can always cheer me up!) Did go out to our favorite sushi place for dinner. Was very yummy as always. And a very nice family wanted to sit at the bar so we offered to move down a seat so they could squeeze in. The father sat closest to us and was very funny to chat with. He loved his sushi :) The best part though was when we left it was snowing! I was very excited :)  Went home, took the dogs out in the snow fall for a bit, then turned the fireplace on (LOVE gas fireplaces) and read more of “The Lost Symbol” and went to bed.

Sunday morning means football!!! Got up early and took the buds out into the snow. They both had a great time! The snow left a thin cover over everything – certainly not a ton. But enough for the buds to enjoy it! Along with the 22 degree air. They were finally not “baking hot”. And Mom had 3 layers of North Face on :)

Then it was home and football time!!! I made a couple changes to my team this past week with BYEs and injuries happening. Dropped Jamal Lewis (CLE sucks – period) and picked up Glen Coffee (RB-SF). According to the fantasy “experts” this was the genius move of the week. Eh – I guess so. He got me 26 points which is OK but not great for an RB. I should have picked up Mendenhall. That was just dumb on my part not to. At the end of the day, I do not have any RBs that just break out and go crazy and rack up points. Plus as soon as the fantasy columns praised Coffee as the best thing this week, I knew he wouldn’t be. Somehow it always works that way.

But I did drop my non-performing WR Berrian and picked up the SF Defense. My PIT defense hasn’t been playing well at all this year (Troy Polamalu is out and apparently they can’t get anything done without him) and SF was at home playing STL. The fantasy “experts” ranked other available defenses higher for the week but I went with my gut here and it paid off – I got 85 points from them!! YAY! If I would have been able to pull out a win this week, it would have been due solely to these guys. I would have worn my Montana jersey to work tomorrow! But nope, no jersey-wearing. But they kicked ass :)

My gut betrayed me with my WR move though. I benched Hines Ward as he was up against the SD D (what D?) plus he hasn’t done much this year. I also had other WR’s up against more “pourous” defenses. Uhh…yeah. Hines got 38 points for my bench compared to 8 for Colston, 10 for Walter and 17 for Cotchery. I. Am. Idgit.

My top-rated QB? 20 points.  :( Sigh…oh well. I finished the night with 213 points. Not bad but not great. My FF opponent this week finished with 126 points but has his QB, a WR and DEF still to play tomorrow in MNF (writing this Sun night but will post/update after MNF.) So I am pretty much sunk this week. I would have had a 50/50 shot but the PIT Defense that I rightfully benched couldn’t stop Antonio Gates (my opponent’s TE) from scoring a trillion points (and SD STILL lost?!?! Ugh) He got 61 points from his Tight End. Ridiculous. Serves me right for barely winning with (my TE) Dallas Clark in MNF 2 weeks ago I guess.

Mostly sad in my losing because in looking at my team – they kinda suck. No one is a solid points getter. Don’t get me wrong – they are all good real life football players but fantasy-wise they are inconsistent.  So week to week – they are undependable. And now I am playing the much harder/well built FF teams in our league. So I am anticipating losing at least the next 2 weeks as well :( Brees is on a BYE next week (along with Colston) so I have to add waiver wire fill-ins. I haven’t even looked beyond that yet.

So…I was highly stressed about my Stormy, didn’t buy the purse or shoes I was going to get (was debating which), am sad about my fantasy football team BUT very happy the Niners won so handily! :) And I survived one more week in Survivor with my HOU pick (but everyone else survived too!) My weekly picks…ummm…we don’t need to talk about that…I had 10 correct picks (along with 4 other people.) But the winner had 11 so 10 just means 2nd place loser.

Oh well…on to week 5…at least the Gators will be playing (LSU!) on Saturday. I sure hope Tebow is cleared (and healthy!) to play by Saturday….

I love my huskies.

And I love the northern breeds in general. I want to see them all in happy, loving homes like my guys are. But yhey are not the best dogs for some people. And unfortunately, sometimes people are attracted to their beauty and don’t do any research on the breed to find out if they (the dogs) are right for their (the people) lifestyle. They require a lot of exercise and people time. And some people just suck. So there is a need for animal/dog/husky rescue. This organization is for NorCal so of course I support it even extra amounts!

Even if you can’t send them a cash donation, they are also part of a cool recyclable program!

NorSled is now participating in the EcoPhones Recycling Fundraiser program. EcoPhones pays up to $300 per item that we submit!! Help us without spending any $$$$’s or time.

There’s nothing to buy and nothing to sell. We simply ask that you and your friends donate your consumer electronics to NorSled:

* Cell Phones
* Ink Jet Printer Cartridges
* DVD Movies & Videogames
* Portable DVD Players
* Laptop Computers
* MP3 Players
* X-Boxes, Sony Playstations, Wii
* Digital Cameras & Digital Video Cameras (DVRs)
* Digital Picture Frames
* Portable Navigation & GPS Devices (Garmin, Magellan, Tom-Tom)

So if you are around here, or know anyone who is, and have any of these items and was going to get rid of it anyway – please contact NorSled. Here is the link:

http://www.norsled.org/helpus.html

And you should look at the adorable guys and gals they have looking for new permanent homes! :)

Last night I woke up at around 1:30am to a banging noise. It was obvious to me it was one of my dogs banging on a door to be let in/let out of someplace. Since they were both asleep when I went to bed last night, this seemed odd.

I got up and out of bed immediately and checked for the dogs.  They both always sleep in the same spots – Angelus on his bed and Storm under our bed (it’s a tall bed.) Storm wasn’t there. So I checked the spare bedroom and office as their doors were closed. They aren’t usually closed but until Storm’s Cushing’s Disease medication kicks in, I have been making sure to give him less open areas in the house to have an “accident”.

But no Storm in those rooms. Checked the garage and then back downstairs to the master bedroom to check the closet. Now this was in a span of a minute or 2. I was flying around the house looking for him. Where could he be? Then I decide to look out the window of the front door. And I see his little head.

I let him in and he ran right downstairs to the bedroom and drank almost a whole bowl of water. And then scooted under the bed and just sat there, panting very hard. He was clearly very stressed out. I hung out with him, petting him for about 15 minutes and he fell asleep. This means he was off-leash, no collar or tags and free to roam the neighborhood and get lost. Or worse – get hit by a car. We have only a few streetlights on our street and some of the streets around us have none. Rural area.

Luckily Storm is a Momma’s boy and would not venture away unless his brother led his away (who was likely annoyed that he was stuck inside!)  Or if he saw a cat, raccoon, skunk, etc., then he would have taken off after it for sure.  Not entirely sure how he got OUT of the yard. Must investigate that. Thinking that he squeezed himself between the posts on the gate. But thankfully, his desire to always be by his people, kept him safely at the front door wanting to be let in. He is quite the creature of routine and he knew it was sleepy time (you tell them “sleepy time” and they go right to their beds.) It was very dark out (fog, no moonlight, no outside lights on) and he was stuck outside – which never happens. This stressed him out. Since he has Cushing’s Disease and just got over a too-many-doctor-visit-stress-induced tummy/GI issue, I really don’t want him stressed further.

Plus I had a weird accident the day before (car peeling out of parking lot and not seeing me crossing Highway 1 so had to run fast out of his way, tripped myself up, causing me to take a digger on the asphalt so that I could pull the dogs forward in front of me and out of the street.) This freaked me out a bit as I had been having these weird thoughts about something happening to the dogs. So…thinking about him being stressed and sad, wondering why he was alone and stuck outside in the dark, made *me* very sad and stressed out. All of this likely contributing to my bad dreams for the rest of the night.

Then as I was petting Storm and he was panting hard, my husband woke up and asked what all the commotion was. I told him Storm was stuck outside and I just let him in (knowing it was he who let him out into the front yard and then apparently forget to bring him inside before he went to bed.) Oh, he says. And goes back to sleep. Grrrr.

I went back to bed and had nightmares for the rest of the night about bad things happening to the dogs. I would fall asleep for a few minutes and then the same nightmare would wake me up.  All night long. I finally gave up trying to get any sleep around 5:30am. I don’t recall what the details of the nightmares were anymore, just the bad feeling of them.

This morning, husband told me he must have forgotten that he let Storm out to pee last night and then just went to bed.  Oops. Kind of funny really, right? No, notsomuch. He then asked if Storm scratched the front door when he wanted to be let in. I don’t know. And actually don’t care.

Nothing bad happened to Storm other than some unneeded stress on his little system.  But thinking of what could have happened stresses me out. I normally don’t think that way actually but when it comes to the safety of my doggies, I am very careful and probably a bit neurotic.  So a little more concern displayed this AM would have been nice but whatever. Storm is contently catching up on his sleep…

Sleepy puppy...

But today, I am very exhausted. And grumpy. Instead of eating lunch I am typing this in the hopes my venting will alleviate my stress/upset.  But I better eat something today at some point or someone could get stabbed…

My first week of football was all crazy! I had 3 players in my Fantasy team playing in Thursday’s game. I HATE that! Because then I have to stress going into Sunday’s games that I didn’t build up enough of a cushion. I also hate when all of my players finish up on Sunday but my opponent has a player left in the MNF game. Stress!!

Yahoo Sports projected 51 points for my 3 players (DEF, K and WR) and I got 62.75. Although I was stressing going into overtime as Ward got his 100yd bonus in OT! Whew..although Santonio Holmes stole some of my points! :) Yahoo! also projected 62 points for Brees which I felt was optimistic of them even against the DET defense. Turns out – Drew rules again this year :) 100 points! I needed that since a lot of my other players didn’t do as well as projected. I ended up with 273.05 in total points. The person I am playing has 211.40 at the half. I just need Aaron Rodgers to throw the ball and not run it with Ryan Grant to win my week since neither of us has players in tomorrow’s games!!

Also made it through week 1 of Survivor Football. First week I generally take a “sure thing” as I haven’t seen what the teams are playing like (pre-season games simply don’t count.) So I chose New Orleans at home over Detroit. Big gambler eh? :) Hey! Anything can happen, right? Any Given Sunday…But yes… I survived Week 1! Whew…

My weekly pool picks choked. I decided to get a little crazy and pick TB and CAR who were both underdogs…and they played like it. Although TB did a MUCH better job against DAL than CAR against PHI. What the heck happened to Jake Delhomme?? And the dominating CAR D from a couple years ago?? Whoa..Although they did take McNabb out. Not good though. I actually like him (even though my FF opponent was playing him!) so do not want to see him hurt. Especially with Vick salivating in the wings for Week 3.

So I won my FF week and survived Survivor week 1. Tanked on my weekly picks. Not so bad for Week 1. And now on to stressing about week 2!! :)

In honor of the first NFL weekend, I decided to make some homemade mac & cheese to go with a grilled ribeye! I chose an easier one – “Today’s Macaroni and Cheese” by Rick Bayless (chef and owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.)

It’s actually a fairly simple recipe. All basic ingredients:

Ingredients

Just a few add this, stir in that’s for the cheese mixture:

Cheese mixture

And it has some spice so that’s different for mac&cheese! Once you finish boiling the pasta till al dente you mix it all together and then put in baking dish and top with a melted butter and bread crumb mixture. I used a bit more butter than called for in this part of recipe but cut it back on buttering the dish. I was channeling my inner Julia!

Ready to bake and brown!

And voila! Baked, yummy “Today’s Macaroni and Cheese” brought to you by Rick Bayless and me :) The cheese and butter are bubbling…oh yeah baby…

bayless mac&cheese

Husband grilled the ribeye. Yum. Along with a glass of bubbly…a perfect dinner :)

Yum

My mac&cheese cookbook was quite a purchase for me. Very happy with it. If you are a fan of macaroni and cheese, I highly recommend it:

Angelus wondered where his was…

Don't I get some?

and Storm was attempting the Jedi mind trick…

This is the puppy you want to feed...

It’s a gorgeous night out. After dinner the sun has set but not dark yet. The sky has some dark clouds, and blue sky and these create a great color mixture. It’s chilly out which reminds me of fall. You can smell forest and maybe a hint of fireplace (?) in the air. I LOVE that. Autumn technically doesn’t start until 9/22 but between chilly weather and football, it makes a nice start to fall for me! Maybe I’ll break out the pumpkin/fall/Halloween stuff…

All in all, a good first NFL Sunday :)

Someone told me again yesterday how well-trained my huskies were. I have actually been told this a LOT. And I smile each time because well…they are not well-trained. This I can say pretty honestly. What they are is well-mannered.

When we got Angelus, I signed him up for puppy kindergarten immediately. I found what was supposed to be the very best one in our area and was very excited! We went every Saturday morning. They suggest you bring your puppy in unexercised so that they are getting the “real” puppy. Not worn out. Umm…..sure. Angelus woke up at 5:50am every single morning as a puppy. Class was not until 8am. There was no possible way he wasn’t getting his walk before class. Angelus was VERY energetic. Almost 9 years later, Angelus IS very energetic. But as a puppy he was a bouncing ball of fluffy energy. So I absolutely took him for his walk before puppy class!

He did very well in puppy class. But this class is really more for puppy parents. And to start socializing your puppy. The teacher/trainer of this class was known as a phenomenal dog trainer. Big believer in praise and treat-based training. She introduced her dog to the class and said “your puppy will not complete this series of classes and go home like my dog. This is kindergarten. And my dog has graduated college. So do not be discouraged!” She was very funny in class and you could tell she loved working with dogs and they responded very well to her.

Now, I had bought and read the puppy training books before we even picked up Angelus. And the Siberian Husky training books (these are really just written as jokes I think) and, of course, the books by The Monks of New Skete (the ‘new puppy in your life’ bible.) But as I think it goes with human children, your puppy raising doesn’t always go “by the book”.

Lisa, the teacher/trainer spoke with me and confirmed that huskies (and all sled/northern breeds) were different than other dogs. With most dogs, you train them to walk next to you and never pull on their leash. Huskies are born to run and lead their team. So she said unless that REALLY bothered me, let him walk ahead. That doesn’t mean pull my arm out of my socket, but gently lead. And that’s all Angelus wanted to do. He never pulls hard (spotting cats doesn’t count.) He just wants to walk in front of me. This isn’t an alpha/pack issue – this is a “my genetics say pull the sled and go!” issue.

But it was nice to have her tell me this too. Validated what I thought. She said I would drive myself crazy trying to get him to walk at my side all the time. She also agreed with me that the “choke collar” was a bad idea for huskies. She suggested the prong collar which works wonders. The choke collar applies all of the “stopping” pressure in one area whereas the prong collar applies it evenly and with no choke point. It looks scary at first but she pointed out that the neck muscles on a dog are like thigh muscles on people. Very, very big and strong. Plus their thick fur is a natural buffer. And Angelus’ neck fur is thicker than a lion’s mane. It saved his life once (pit bull attack.)

So we graduated puppy kindergarten – certificate and all :) But that was the end of any formal schooling for Angelus. I worked with him at home on sit, stay, etc. But there was no way he was ever going to be an off-leash dog (huskies are NOT meant to be.) We did work on his COME command for dog parks, etc but I never had the illusion it would 100% of the time. He is a stubborn boy – just like him Momma :)

So he sits on command, shakes, lays down. Will generally come when called but if there is a cat or deer or something fun to chase – he thinks about it. You can see him thinking. And the fun thing to chase will win out. So I don’t let him off leash in areas where he can just run away from me.

Storm was an even crazier puppy. His name applied to him for sure – Storm! He was a spaz. His basic puppy training took longer. He didn’t want to sit just because we told him to. he wanted to be the boss and didn’t understand why we didn’t see that! He tried to challenge Angelus as he got to be a teenager but Angelus quickly showed him that was not going to be the way it went. He would “ah-rooo” and complain all the time when telling him to sit, come, etc. He’d even do it if you were giving Angelus a command!

But he will listen now. To me. And husband. And for you if you have a treat in your hand. But if a non-family member asks him to sit with no treat? Yeah…good luck with that. He is more of a Momma’s boy than Angelus so he will come to me when called even off-leash. If both he and Angelus that are running around and I call him but Angelus keeps going – you can see is his face “what to do? Angelus is going that way but Mom says go back? What to do?!” When he was younger, he followed his brother after this mental dialogue. But as he has grown up, he generally comes back to me. But again, if cats or critters are involved. All bets are off.

So see – not so well “trained”. But guess what? I didn’t get a dog to have a circus monkey who performed for me. I wanted dogs to have fluffy friends and family members in my life. I know their “training” limitations. But they do have good manners. And I think what people respond to with my guys is that they aren’t intrusive. They have been going to work with me since they were puppies. And driving around me with everywhere since they were puppies. And going out in public with me. So they have been raised around people all the time. So they are not big, excitable, slobbery dogs who jump on you, run at you, whine with excitement, etc. They actually will barely acknowledge your existence unless they want something (a pet, treat, etc.) When we have people over at our house, they will look at the door to see who is coming in. They might come up to you and sniff. And then they walk away.

This is when people are like “Wow, your dogs are so well trained.” I guess a lot of dogs are crazy when people come over. I definitely know dogs like this. They want you to play with them, throw the ball, pet them, they follow you around, etc. Or cry and whine at the door to go with you some place. or whine excitably in the car….the WHOLE way to the beach. My boys do NONE of these things. Whew…

They love me unconditionally. Always greet me at the door. Wait for me when I leave. And they listen to me. They love their dad (not as much as they love me though-as it should be!) and listen to him too. They also love some people who they have known all their lives (they love my brother in-law – I think they think of him as another dog.) And some people they just respond to (they love their auntie Melon.) But the general populace? They might let you pet them. Will always take a cookie from you. But don’t expect them to run to greet you or get excited to see you.

So thanks people, for thinking I have such well-trained dogs. But really, they are just well-mannered family members. And well, you are not a pack member so they really don’t care about you too much. No offense! This is a husky trait. And really…it’s a husky Mom trait too :)

Woke up around 1:00am to a Stormy face staring at me “need to go out Mom!” Took him out and he went potty and back in we came and thankfully I feel back asleep pretty easily (not usual for me lately.)

Around 5am, still pitch dark out, Stormy face staring at me again. Ok, buddy….he seems to be having some tummy issues (will spare any details) but he got that out and back to bed. Of course, now falling back asleep is not that easy. If it had been a little light out, I would have gotten up and taken the buds out for a walk. Very cold last night/early morning so they would have liked that. However, walking in the foresty area in the dark is not such a good plan in coyote and bear country :) ALTHOUGH, maybe I would have seen the bear I’ve been trying to see all year!! But I heard the coyotes earlier and didn’t want to deal with that. I know they will generally stay away from people and big dogs but walking myself into a pack of them is a Darwin Award for sure…

So I tossed and turned and tried to get back to sleep. And my mind was racing with thoughts of what chores I wanted to get done today, what fun stuff I wanted to do, where should I hike, why is Stormy having tummy issues, he didn’t eat anything weird – or did he? When will his medicine arrive? What if he still has tummy issues – I should wait to start his medicine as that’s a sign to take him off if it. Ooooh – don’t forget to sign up for the Survivor Football pool, and check my Fantasy teams, oh yeah, excited to finish my book today, what should I read next? Can’t wait to get my Kindle! Race…race…race. This is what happens when I wake up anytime after 4am-ish.

I did manage to fall asleep though. And around 6:30am, again woken up by a Stormy face staring at me. And this time it was urgent. Ok, out we go. It’s also amazing to me that my husband magically sleeps through all of this but if I move the covers wrong or turn on a light, his sleep has been ruined. ?????

But now, because I did manage to fall back asleep, I was actually very tired when I woke up this time. So after taking Storm out, I got back into bed and wanted to go back to sleep. No dice. Angelus came in and thought hey – it’s light out, you just took Storm out and not me, GET UP! RRRUUUUUF! He only ever does one. Huskies aren’t barkers. Angelus uses his 1 bark as communication. It is used at different times but basically has the same meaning: get up, move it, take me out, give me a treat, play with me. His one “ruff” will mean any of these things and you will have no doubt which one it is when it happens. Very good communicators these huskies are!

By now it was about 7am. Ok, Mom just get up. Fed the buds and then got dressed. It was 45 degrees out so I knew they would be happy. Gave them their vitamins and then asked husband, who had said he wanted to go on our walk this morning (umm…yeah..), if he was coming. He was still lying in bed with the covers pulled up. I already knew the answer but gave him the chance. “No” he says. “I would have if I got enough sleep but the dogs kept waking me up” (really? you seemed to be in a coma to me?)

I closed the bedroom door and off we went. Very quiet and peaceful out. I am worried why Storm is having these tummy issues. I’ll get him ground turkey and white rice today and make that for his dinner. It’s the easiest thing on their digestion. Hopefully this fixes it in a day or 2. Or I’ll be up 3 or 4 times again during the night and calling the vet.

I brought Storm back after a short walk and took Angelus on a longer one. Then did the dishes, made some coffee, checked my email, got annoyed by my email, and wrote down my To Do list for today. Stormy is sound asleep at my feet and Angelus is relaxing on the desk. Husband is still sleeping. He was feeling sick yesterday so he better sleep that off and not give me his germs!

So happy Labor Day to the Moms of fluffy and human kids everywhere. You labor way more than some organized union worker collecting his/her “entitled” wages, pension and benefits until the day they retire and finally die….

Storm had 2 more tests last week. 1 for his thyroid and then a 2nd, more focused, ultrasound for his liver. Both came back negative/OK. Kind of would have been easier/better if his thyroid was the issue. Quick medicinal fix. But I guess I kind of already knew this wasn’t the case. And very happy no liver issues. Before the vet diagnoses Cushing’s (which doesn’t have a positive/negative test), they want to check any other potential issues. Since both his thyroid and liver enzymes came back abnormal in other tests, we ran these tests.

Storm is now completely over going to the vet. He used to like it. Go in, see other dogs in the waiting room, show everyone how awesome he was, howl a little, get a shot, get a treat, out the door. But now…he looks at me with sad eyes. Which kills me. But he is a tough, stoic little guy who has been tested, shaved, poked and prodded. But he still sings when he walks in there and everyone there loves him. He is greeted with a “Hi Storm” just like at our office. He is a character.

After the thyroid and liver tests came back OK, I had Storm’s file sent to his regular doctor (who has been out of the country for a month.) She has been Storm and Angelus’ doctor since they were puppies and she is a senior partner at the vet hospital. Plus, well, frankly, she is really nice and cool. Angelus likes her a lot which speaks volumes. Angelus is very picky about his friends. He’s like his Momma :)

She also treats the majority of Cushing’s patients there. And she agreed with us. She approved of the diligent nature of the additional tests to rule out any other issues. Especially since treatment for Cushing’s is no easy matter. But she said his symptoms do point to it.

So we worked out his meds and the pharmacy is sending them this week. He will start on a low dose and we will monitor his progress. I am very stressed about this. I am not a big believer in drugs. I understand they are created to fix something but I believe the chemicals introduced can generally do more harm than good. But she assures me the low dosage and monitoring will be OK. And I recognize he will not live 100 more years, but I want his life to be happy and for him to feel good. It’s obvious to me that he doesn’t feel good right now. In the end – the most important thing is he is happy and loving every day like he used to.

So fingers are crossed. And I will be a giant stress ball once he is on the medication looking for any signs that he is having a bad reaction to it. And he will have to go for tests every 4-6 weeks to make sure his body is handling it. So I will stress then too. But if he walks around ah-rooing like he used to, waking me up in the mornings and chewing on Angelus again – it will be worth it.

Storm smile

Finished a good husky walk this AM! Just me and Angelus since Storm is on light duty. We walked along 2 beaches for just about 2 hours. He got LOTS of sniffing and peeing on things in :) Got to say hi to a few dogs but pretty quiet out until the end of the walk (why I LOVE Sunday mornings – everyone ie either at church or hungover so it’s quiet :) )

Yesterday on our walk at Surfer’s Beach there was a huge school (or pod or herd – they all work – I looked it up!) of dolphins. So many that the area they were in and jumping in and out of the water was black. Then today, in almost the same area, there were tons of sea lions jumping in and out of the water and honking (they way they talk) and pelicans dive bombing the water. So obviously there are a bunch of fish out there creating it a yummy smorgasbord. Of course, this then creates it a cafeteria for Mr. Great White who likes to frequent NorCal coasts (they closed the water portion of the beach at Stinson Beach last week after 2 were spotted.)

But then maybe some of the jerk tourists who come and leave their trash on our beautiful beaches will venture into the water today and not be able to swim as fast as the seals… :) Here are a couple pics of the water but you can barely make out the seals (look for the little gray heads in the water!) There were so many jumping in and out but with a husky on an extendoleash and trying to get a good pic at the right moment was tough – especially with the just a phone camera.

Seals and pelicans

pelicans and seals

Got home and took Stormy out for a short walk. His tail was waggin’! Husband left to go to Monterey so Storm was left home alone – he hates that. He was happy to go out, sniff stuff and pee on some trees. But he gets tired and hot quickly with his Cushing’s. Will be great for him to get on a medication that fixes that and he feels better. Although he will never enjoy long walks like his brother does. Angelus is a crazy outdoors maniac!

Now I’m home and time to make my todo list for the day. I have so many items that I want to get done flying through my head – we will see how much I can actually get done. Getting them in list form will be helpful. The sun looks like it is trying to break through the fog so if it does, I might have to break for some PTH (prime tanning hours.)

While I write my TODO, I have the GAC Top 20 Countdown on. I had CMT’s on yesterday am :) Pretty song I had not heard before by a group I have never heard of…”I Get That All The Time” by Due West:

Ok…list-making time….

Storm updated his Dogster diary tonight…he wanted to pupdate his friends on his paw boo-boo :)

http://www.dogster.com/dogs/114778

The buds had a good weekend I think. Storm seems much happier. Angelus has been pretty happy but wishes I would let him catch critters. He definitely gets that annoyed look on his face when he chases a chipmunk and I stop him from catching one!!

But they are having a good time this weekend :)

Hi Mom!

Ummm...Mom.....dinner?

Mmm...dingo bones are delicious...

Are you going to finish that?

He hasn’t done this in awhile so he felt it was time. He recognizes that he needs to be better about that since his Dogster pals don’t know about his twittering (@StormDevil)…he is quite the popular guy :)

Just yesterday the team from our SEO marketing firm came for a meeting and asked about the buds (they do work at my company almost daily too!) before they got in the door.They really can’t help being so dang cute and awesome :)

If you are interested you can always click on the Dogster buttons on the right (done the column a bit) to see what they are up to.

Here is his page – the diary is down at the bottom. :)

http://www.dogster.com/diary/diary_entry.php