a99kitten's Musings

Came home from work yesterday very sore and tired. My leg was bothering me a lot. Too much moving around I guess. You don’t realize how much you get up and down and go here and there until you can’t or it’s a really big production to do it.

I pull into the garage and hobble out into the entry way. I had left the dogs home with husband since I knew I would only make it a half day and he promised to take them for a good walk. So I ask him if he took them for their walk yet (it was 3:30pm but still a reasonable question) and he says “Well, why don’t you sit down and get situated.” I’m like what the heck does that mean so I look for the dogs. But again…not so quick and nimble currently. He says “They are fine. We just had a bit of an issue but it’s all fine, everyone’s fine. Just sit down and rest.”

Ok, so this is basically verbatim what he said to me when 10 years ago when I left a teeny puppy Angelus in his care for the first time ever while I went to the Madonna concert with a friend. I took Angelus to work even then and so he had him there (we worked together) with his stuff, my detailed instructions and it would be only be for a few hours. But this was his first time flying solo in puppy care.

I’m at the concert and it is about to start and I get a call. He says “Ok, so everything is fine. Angelus is fine.” WHAT?? How do you start a conversation out like that when I can barely hear you due to the music they are piping in while people sit. “What happened?” I ask. So…husband left Angelus in his office with the door closed while he stepped out for a quick 15-20 minute meeting. He was sleeping so no big deal. He came back to find Angelus had climbed up onto his desk and broken into a Christmas basket of food and ate something – a big hunk of chocolate shaped like a computer mouse. WHAT???

He said he basically saw his life flash before his eyes right then. And then called the vet and explained what happened and that his wife was going it kill him dead if anything happened to Angelus. They told him try getting him to vomit right now since it just happened. How he asks? Hydrogen peroxide they say. OK – so he sends our VP of Marketing running to the store to buy some and then husband tries giving him spoonfuls. Well Angelus immediately spits it out all over himself and husband. Pretty sure he started wondering why Dad was trying to poison him.

Husband could not get any down Angelus’ throat (the key is a turkey baster.) So he called the vet back and they said bring him in NOW. So he left work and drove over and they pumped his stomach and they got him to throw up and monitored him and his vitals were all fine so he could go home after an hour or so. He also threw up the tin foil that was around the mouse. Puppies.

So he got Angelus home and called me. After telling me all this he says “I thought about not telling you since it’s all fine but you would have seen the charge for the vet on the AMEX and wondered what it was and asked me and then I would have told you and then you’d be mad for not telling you sooner. So I told you now. But he’s all fine, so enjoy your concert”

Now, you have to understand, I’ve only been gone a few hours (we had VIP passes so we went early). A few hours and this chaos occurs. Sigh. There are other stories of puppy chaos but this was the first one.

So yesterday when he said “everything was all fine” I was like what the heck happened? I’ve been gone like 5.5 hours. So I went and sat down and got my leg up on the sofa and was like ??? He’s says “It’s all fine.” Yeah – got that part.

So I have this piece of drywall that I’ve been using to block off our front entry deck so that I can keep the front door open and the yard gate open and the buddies can come and go in/out but not escape into the wild of our neighborhood. They really are awesomely well behaved so never try and jump over it or push it down. They respect the barrier. Now…if a cat was on the other side I’m not sure how much respect there would be but the neighborhood cats have learned to steer clear of our yard. And this way I do not have to hobble up and down the stairs to let the dogs in or out.

When I left the house Angelus was in the front yard and Storm was inside. This is quite typical. So apparently husband got up and then took a shower before he was going to take the dogs out. He gets out of the shower, gets dressed, grabs the leashes and calls for the dogs. Storm is right there but no Angelus. Then he notices the dry wall is askew. It was WINDY yesterday (windy like garbage cans were rolling down the street) so it looked the wind pushed it in a bit. He said it didn’t seem like enough room for a husky to escape but he couldn’t find Angelus.

He said once again, his life flashed before his eyes. He starts jogging around the neighborhood looking for Angelus, calling him, shaking his leash. Nothing. He is standing in our driveway, shaking the leash and Stormy is howling (he does that if you call continually for Angelus) and he said he can feel the fear welling up inside about telling me. Then he hears a whining. And a howling that is not Storm. So he goes around to the backyard and there is Angelus on the desk howling because he thought he was missing the walk! Why he didn’t just come running back to the front yard, I do not know. Why husband didn’t check the backyard first, I do not know.

So then he breathes sighs of relief. Leashes the dogs up and starts to leave. But he never moved the semi-tipped over drywall “gate”. So Angelus goes around it, Storm hops over it but in the process the leashes pull into 2 different directions. And he trips a bit as he was starting to stretch his leg over it and the dogs pull in 2 different directions and to steady himself puts his foot down…right on my makeshift gate. Breaking it. He also said that the first thing in his head as he was tripping was how much crow he’d have to eat if he hurt himself since this is basically how I fell – 2 dogs, 2 different directions as we go down a muddy, rocky hill and kablamo and there goes my foot/ankle – and he’s been calling me clumsy ever since. Uh-huh.

So after he is done telling me all this I ask “So did you actually take them on a good walk?” Oh yes – fun beach times, etc etc. So did you find me a replacement for my gate I ask. No – but that dry wall wasn’t going to last long anyway, we will build a good gate with the remodel (I’ve been wanting one forever) blah blah. How does this help me now? I ask. Today and next week? With me as a gimpy? Silence. Sigh.

So he left for Tahoe last night. Yes…left his disabled wife home alone. Don’t get me started. But WITHOUT my gate?!?! Grrr. So now I need to come up with one because hobbling up and down the stairs (we have a lot of stairs in this house) to let the dogs in and out will not work. I am not supposed to move much in the first 2-4 weeks and I know I already violate that. Grumble.

This is why men are not the caretakers in society. If it were all men, well….you’d all be dead.