a99kitten's Musings

Home after a 2.5 hour Angelus beachfest. He had a pretty darn good time! Played and played with lots of dogs we’d come across and it was super low tide so good tide pools to cool off in. Then went over to the harbor beach and ran and played chase off-leash with a 2 year old black lab. He seems like he *might* be a little tired. At least for now.

He got cheesed on his walk yesterday as post-op Storm couldn’t go very far and I had to keep an eye on him. Like a good big brother, he was patient…for a day :) This morning he said RUFF! We took Storm out too but he only wanted to go a couple blocks so we brought him back. I could tell Angelus seemed bummed thinking that was going to be the extent of his walk like yesterday.

But as soon as I just let Storm inside and kept him out, he knew we were going for fun! He got his spring back in his step :)

Took him to Surfer’s beach. It is gloriously sunny and warm and super low-tide. So he had lots of tide pools to cool off in and it was early enough that the beach wasn’t crowded with tourists yet.

We walked to the point where dogs are no longer allowed (they are not allowed on State beaches because CA is a stupid reactionary state) and met another doggie who LOVED playing with Angelus. Angelus was  on leash and the other doggie was off but they were having a good time!

I have let him off leash there before (technically it is leash-only but the harbor patrol don’t care if you have good control) but there are a lot of ways off the beach and up to the bluffs and Highway 1 and that freaks me out too much so I don’t do that anymore.

Plenty of people do let their dogs run off leash and I’m all for your dogs having a fun time and think the no dogs allowed rule on the other beaches is stupid. BUT – if your dog is agro with other dogs or doesn’t listen to you, then he should be on leash. Not a big deal. But I’ve had a few instances where aggressive dogs run up to Angelus and start crap with him. Angelus never starts a fight. But he doesn’t back down from any dog. Not ever. So if a dog comes up to barking and teeth bared, he will respond.

Generally, I will put myself in the way. And have stuck my arm into a few scuffles. But no one is hurting my dog. Anyway, today I saw this brown pointer running willy nilly all over the beach and you couldn’t see who was with him. No person was around in the general area. Then Angelus started playing with his dog friend and I was talking to his owner as we walked down the beach. Then I saw up ahead the brown pointer again and he was chasing and barking at a little dog who was on leash as his people tried to get away.

Then he came charging at Angelus. Angelus just stopped and waited. At first the other doggie just stopped and sniffed. But then as we started to walk away, he growled, bared his teeth and tried to bite Angelus! And then Angelus turned and growled and that started the scuffle that I grabbed the other dog and pushed him back.

Then I see the dog’s owner come up (who had been calling the dog for a good 10 minutes, with NO response, as he bothered the little dog and then Angelus – clearly the dog saw him as pack leader and listened well…)

He then has the nerve to say to me after his dog attacked my dog “well, if your dog wasn’t on leash, my dog wouldn’t have done that.” Ummm…what did you just say? Yes – you are correct in that the leash creates anxiety. However, it’s usually the dog ON leash that has the anxiety and not the attacker!

And if this were a dog park where all dogs were off leash, or an off-leash dog beach, I could understand the annoyance of dealing with leashed dogs (I have it too).

BUT, to actually say out loud to someone whose dog was just attacked by your dog that it was basically their fault. When in fact the beach is technically leash mandatory anyway…wtf?

In my head I imagined a swift and hard kick to his man-parts. And then Angelus peeing on him as he writhed in pain on the ground. But luckily for him, I used my Jedi control and did not lead down the path to anger…(although really..sometimes it is justified.)

I tried to be calm. I said simply “well, this is technically a leash-only beach and my dog might take off up the beach.”

He says in response “well it’s not like he could go anywhere.” That was it.

I said “No, pal. This is a leash-only beach and I don’t care if your dog runs around having a good time but dogs shouldn’t be allowed off-leash if they don’t respect their owner/parent enough to listen when called. Or charge up to other dogs and bite them. Plus they can run up to the bluffs or Highway 1 at a number of spots. And considering your dog doesn’t listen to you AT ALL and was clear down at the other end of the beach with you nowhere in sight – you have nothing to say here except “I’m sorry”. It’s people like YOU that give dogs and dog owners a bad name and cause stupid laws to be enacted so we all can’t take our dogs places. Jackass.”

And Angelus and I walked away to go enjoy more tide pools and beach fun time…

So Storm had a black spot here which was about 2″ x 2″ big of dead/dying flesh. Underneath was healthy tissue but the black top layer had to go.

So they cut it out yesterday. Took a chunk of my puppy. And then sewed him up. He has stitches underneath the skin too.

Then last night he either chewed it (doesn’t look like it though) or snagged a stitch so it pulled. But not completely out. Just obviously  mucked with. Why it’s so red and enflamed today :(

He keeps these until 6/11. No beach or lake for him – boo.  What a frankenpuppy…although his knee surgery had way gnarlier (uh-oh used that word ;) ) stitches/staples/carnage…

I think he will be playing up the wounded soldier role for extra treats for days :)

Owie...

this was originally posted yesterday 5/27/10 but was somehow nuked from my blog. The text was luckily recovered so am re-posting since husky-related things must always be saved and treasured :)

Doc just called and Stormy is waking up after a small and successful surgery. Whew. I stress sooooo much when the buds have to have surgery/are put under general anesthesia. They have both had knee surgeries and foxtail removal (plus other stuff removed ;) ) so I’ve had plenty of occasions to stress. I think my cortisol levels go higher than Storm’s!

He had a “foreign body” in his side. I was able to extract a foxtail a couple weeks ago but it had actually gone into his skin, burrowed into his body and then I pulled out as it re-opened his skin. So the little bit that was left inside him was killing the tissue around it as his body tried to fight it. I HATE foxtails. They are noxious weeds that should be eradicated from the planet. So many dogs get them up their noses, in the ears, even in their eyes! And if you have a dog with a thick coat – it’s a nightmare in spring. Ugh.

But he came through with flying colors and with some stitches. Thankfully it was in an area that was already shaved from his ultra sound months ago so no shaving more fur!

Because of the lack of fur regrowth, I have been giving him a lot of B vits and fish oil along with their already oceanic diet. Angelus’ coat has been soooo soft. But Storm only has some peach fuzz growing in the shaved areas. So we tried some B12 injections today as well. They can only do them when the dog is under as they are a lot of deep injections. So I went for it. We should see results in a few weeks if it worked. Fingers and paws crossed.

AND the BEST thing! His ACTH Stim test (test to check his cortisol levels because of his Cushings) came back with excellent results! His levels should be at a 3-4 (if he had no Cushings that’s where they’d be) and they came back right around 4. Yay!! So the dosage of the medication he is getting now is right and we will stick with it. Whew. He will need to get these tests about once a quarter or so to monitor the levels but this is great news!

I get to pick him up in an hour or so. His doctor said, as Northern breeds tend to, he is howling a bit there but will probably be calmer once he gets home since he tends to complain when he is there and without his Mom :) And he gets pain meds for tonight and tomorrow (loads of stitches – they cut a hunk of flesh out of his poor little side!) She said if he starts to lick the area, he needs to wear “the cone” or suggested trying a small t-shirt. I promise pictures if he gets a t-shirt :) Man….he will be annoyed.

I promised him mcnuggets on the way home – this will make up for quite a lot! He wasn’t allowed any food since last night so he is withering away (his words.) And Angelus will be happy to see him. Angelus refused to eat the Greenie I gave him after dropping Storm off. He worries about his little brother when they are not together. He would probably deny that – but he does :) I’ll make sure to get enough mcnuggets to share…

as an update…they both inhaled their chicken mcnuggets :)

There are days that I definitely feel more secure in my dog-mom hat than a little human Mom hat.

Walking the huskies this AM as usual. We’ve been out for 2 hours. We were tired and the huskies wanted to get home. We are about 3 blocks from home. We get stopped by a Mom with a kid saying “can I pet your dogs?????” This happens all the time. Sigh….but I do stop. They are awesome – how can I not share :)

Little girl. 6.8.9? I have no idea. Around that age-ish. I am already discriminating since I prefer little boys. Little girls always seem so whiny or bitchy. She comes running across the street with her Mom following. I stop and let the her near the huskies. Her Mom looks at me “Thank you for stopping” (almost a desperate look in her eyes…maybe just me.)

The Mom lets Angelus sniff her hand. And she pets him. The kid tries. Angelus moves away with no interest. Storm is standing back like “keep me out of this.” The kid keep trying to get Angelus to sniff her hand. Angelus keeps avoiding her. She breaks out into a HIGH-pitched whine/cry “Why won’t he sniff me???” She burrows her head into her Mom crying “why won’t he sniff me?!?!?!?”

See….my head editor kicks in her. Inside I say “because you are whining and annoying.” I say out loud “Well, he is interested in sniffing squirrels and gophers.” She starts whining louder. “I want him to sniff me!!!”

In my head I think you suck – why would he care about you? BUT I have a fairly decent head editor. So I say “well, just try petting him.” I really just want to take the huskies and leave…can you tell? The huskies like those that are part of their pack. Everyone else is extraneous. This is a strong husky trait. It’s also a strong me trait :)

Her LOUD whining and crying make me think – maybe I am just a great dog Mom and would not make a good human mom. Because right now, I just want to to tell you how fn annoying you are. And how my dogs have no interest in being around you because a) you are loud b) you are annoying c) you don’t get everything you want in life by being a fn whiny annoying bitch and most importantly d) you don’t smell like cat or chicken. You are not part of the husky pack and are ridiculously annoying and whiny so why would they sniff you?

Anyway, Angelus stood still for like 10 seconds. She pet him. Smiled, laughed out loud (well really who could not…they are the best!), the Mom was so happy to have a happy kid and I got the hell on my way…

I gave my boys extra treats for not being like that little girl…

My dogs are great :) But the 4 people that read this blog already know that :) And while they are the same breed, and even related, they have very different personalities.

Storm is feeling better and better now. He has Cushings and I’ve been trying to get his medication dosage to the right levels for months now. I think we did it. His energy levels are definitely back to normal. Now, this doesn’t mean he won’t be a lazy little fur-sausage when given the chance! He has always been more of a couch potato than his brother.

Yesterday husband took Angelus to Squaw Valley with him so he could get some off-leash snow play up on the mountain and meet some other buds. There was an Earth Day event up there so Angelus got to meet a porcupine! Apparently he was *very* excited and wanted to play with him. I doubt the porcupine felt the same way :) He only takes Angelus because it’s difficult to control both at the same time in such an environment and husband is not up to that. Plus Storm has been fairly unenergetic for the past 9 months or so due to his illness so not up to the task.

But yesterday, I had left for a hike and husband was loading Angelus up and Storm jumped in the truck like “nuh-uh – you are not leaving me!” So he called me and I doubled back a bit to meet him and get Storm. So Storm went on my hike with me. And he was a little trekker. Storm used to be like this all the time on long hikes and I was very happy to see him return to it! Head down so he walks like a wolf and trek, trek, trek, must finish the  mission, must get to where we are going. This is why he would have made a great lead sled dog. Just point him in the direction and he just goes. No stopping.  No dilly-dallying. Unless woodland critters are involved that is ;) But then when he gets home, he is just as happy to rest wherever I am.

On the other hand, Angelus has a more Buellerian outlook on life. Life moves pretty fast and you need to slow down and sniff around or you might miss good stuff :) Angelus just wants to be outside, enjoying himself all the time. Doesn’t have to be crazy running around or climbing mountains goat-style (in fact he says uphills kinda suck), just outside, sniffing, saying hi to other buddies, peeing on trees or just lying on top of a snowhill and looking around.

Funny how they each have different strictly-husky traits. And then each has other traits that are definitely not “husky-like”. If you put them together, they would form a perfect stereotypical husky. But then they wouldn’t be Angelus and Storm.

Love my boys. :)

This morning I woke up to lots of fresh snow outside! The trees were covered in fresh, fluffy whiteness, the decks were all white, our driveway hadn’t even been plowed yet! Needless to say, the huskies (well, Angelus) were anxious to get out!

Since the vet had to shave Storm’s belly for his ultra sound, and it hasn’t really grown back yet besides peach fuzz, he is not quite as excited about the snow right now. Imagine your bare skin out there in the snow! So he goes on shorter walks or on completely plowed/smashed down snow walks. I actually don’t wear my gloves when I take him so I can gauge how cold his belly is getting. So no freshies for him :(

Angelus on the other hand cannot get enough of it. He does get tired after awhile of going through the deep stuff. But then he will rest for 10-15 minutes and wants to go again! He is definitely a 9-yr old puppy :)

Every day we have been here for our Christmas vacation, I have taken both of them on a short morning walk and then take Storm back home. Then Angelus and I go out and search out a snow adventure :) And if you let him lead, he will find one!

We finally figured out a weird loop trail/street walk that we couldn’t figure out before. Figured best to do when it was snowing and everything looked the same ;-) But we did it! We started out from our driveway and then took the fire road up the hill which was now just a deep snow trail…up hill…can you say legs burning? But I let Angelus lead and this was the way he wanted to go. Thanks bud… But then we made it to the top (well, the “top” where I decided to turn right) and then took a few streets, a few snow trails and eventually, after about 2.5 hours ended up back on our street. That was the first day Angelus actually looked a little tired. He did find a few spots where he had to dig some snow caves which probably makes him a little tired after awhile :)

But this morning, we walked with Storm for little awhile – I think he liked the snow :) Our street was kinda-sorta plowed. But our driveway was not so they were gliding through it. It really is amazing to watch huskies in the snow. Talk about completely engineered for the weather. We saw our new neighbor and their little dog (who is a little savage beast – what is with little dogs?) Then we dropped Storm off at home when he said he had enough (he sits down and says with his eyes “I’m not going any farther”.)

All of the side streets had not been plowed yet so it was going through a snowfield just walking through all of the neighborhoods. We saw a family trying to push their non 4-WD truck of the snowbank in their driveway – good thing they had 4 teenage sons! But everyone had a smile on their face – how could you not in this pretty snow?!

Then we came upon a guy who was the biggest grump ever! We saw him on one street walking his black lab and I smiled and said hi – he just scowled. Ummm..ok. Then we saw him on a another loop and his dog barked at Angelus so Angelus grrred back (but in his friendly tail-wagging let’s play grrr) and the guy got all pissy! After his dog was barking and pulling first. Whatever dude. As he is literally dragging his barking and snarling dog away I hear him say (in a non-authoritative voice so no wonder his dog was not listening) “no, no, we don’t want to get near that kind of dog” WHAT? Dude – my dog is behaving and not yanking MY arm of the socket. I think I found who Dr. Seuss modeled the Grinch off of.

What made me giggle a couple minutes later was I saw him way ahead of us (Angelus stopped to play in some snow…)

…and I saw 3 off-leash dogs shoot out of trail and onto the street and start running up to that guy and his dog who was now pulling and yanking. The dogs were pretty harmless(ish) but it was sure annoying him. Normally I would agree with his annoyance about the off-leash dogs (and still seeing no people yet) in the street but meh…he was grump.

I mean – it was a gorgeous, snowy day. The kind of day Dean Martin sings about! Everything was so fresh and fluffy and white and pretty and marshmellowey world-like! How could you be outside walking around in that with your buddy and be such a sour-puss??

So the 3 off-leash buddies came up to us and one of them tried to get a little pissy with Angelus but he handled that. And then everyone was fine. Dogs generally figure things out pretty quickly if you just let them.

So we continued on our way and then stopped at the open field and Angelus decided this was a good place to lay in the snow and eat some. So I climbed up there with him and we hung out for a few minutes :)

As we pulled into our driveway, it was still unplowed. So I let him off leash and he jogged down to a snowbank and climbed up there and dug a bit. Then he thought we should just hang out there for the day :)

I got up there with him and we laid in the snow (thank you waterproof clothes) for awhile. Then when I said we should go in…I got mopey face from him :)

So we went in. But we will be going out again for another snow adventure! It’s still snowing as I type. And according to weather.com we are supposed to get more snow today, tonight, tomorrow and Friday. So really – this has been a very merry husky Christmas :)

Today is a Monday. I should have been awake at 5:00am and taking the huskies out and then packing, closing up house etc. to head back to the Bay Area and work for another week. It seems however that the husky snow dance works very well.

What’s the husky snow dance you ask? Well…when the huskies and I look at the weather report for our winter weekend trips to Tahoe and see the snow we want is not forecast until Monday or Tuesday AFTER we leave, we decide that isn’t right. It’s not fair to the huskies. So we decide to should change it.

Our first snow of the season (back in November) was not supposed to start until the Monday morning we were driving back. This was according to the highly-paid meteorologists using billions of dollars in weather satellites. This was the forecast on the Monday before, the Wednesday before and even Thursday before we went up. The huskies and I decided we wanted the snow while we were going to be there, not after we left. So we did a little dance like I imagine the ancient indian tribes did for rain…(ok, not really but mentally we did! Funny visual though right?)

We drove up on Friday…in a snowstorm. Basically white-out conditions on the highway, icy roads, cars pulled off as they couldn’t drive because they had cars, and not trucks or SUVs, or even chains. Why? Because they checked the weather and it said clear weather for the weekend. Silly tourists listening to weathermen….

Our driveway was buried when we got to the house. We got the truck down the driveway and into the garage. The huskies leapt out of the truck and ran around like tasmanian devils. I seriously need a video camera :) Even Storm was crazy excited and he doesn’t like snow half as much as his brother. Especially now with his belly shaved from his ultrasound a couple months ago. It’s sllloooowwly growing back but his belly is basically peach fuzz. Could you imagine running in the snow with no clothes on – bare skin? COLD! It snowed more on Saturday and then was clear as the weathermen predicted…after the snow they didn’t. :) Husky snow dance – 1; Weathermen – 0.

Then for Thanksgiving they predicted clear skies with 1 day of partly cloudy skies. I said no way – we needed snow for Thanksgiving weekend!! The huskies needed some fresh powder to run in! The past 2 Thanksgivings have dumped snow here so why should this year be any different? Didn’t snow on Thursday – boo :( BUT – we got it on Friday!!! Husky snow dance – 2; Weathermen – 0. :)

Then this weekend the forecast was for the snow to start on early Monday morning and snow all week! After we left – boo :( I kept my faith that once again, the power of the husky Force would win and that the weathermen would be wrong…every day I checked the weather forecast to see if it changed and every day it said the same thing. Monday AM snow to last all week. But Saturday and Sunday would be sunny. Cold…but sunny (Monday was forecasted to have a low of 1…when I’d be out with the dogs in AM…brrrr..)

When we got here on Friday night it was clear – stars in the skies. And COLD! Very pretty for sure but it’s wintertime…snow is a must. Saturday morning, clear skies. Boo. Took the huskies out (a brisk 17 degrees out) and then half way through our walk the wind picked up, the clouds were rolling in. Could it be? The huskies did a little extra snow dance (this was really more like me running & chasing the huskies through forest but same thing!) About an hour later – snow :) It wasn’t sticking yet but it was falling :) And then it started sticking and it was getting colder. That night, coming home from dinner, it was 6 degrees out. When you are not a husky or dressed the like Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man, 6 degrees is frackin’ cold!!

Sunday morning I woke up, a dusting of snow from overnight but nothing major. I got sad – looked like the weathermen might be right this time (no…that simply couldn’t be…) It was still very, very cold out. And the clouds and wind were rolling in again…Angelus and I politely requested from the weather gods to bring the snow early please…2 hours later it was snowing. Angelus had 3 snow-fun outings yesterday (Storm said 1 was good for him.) By 8pm, he was racked out on his bed soundly asleep. And it was still snowing last night…and it actually hasn’t stopped yet. About 24 hours of snow so far. Husky snow dance – 3; Weathermen – 0.

Late last night, when I was packing up I said it would be fun if we got snowed in and couldn’t leave in the morning. Not sure my husband agreed completely with it being “fun” but we checked the weather. The weather statement was a big page of RED WARNINGS about high winds, snow advisories, white out conditions on the freeway, possible freeway closures for the next 48 hours, and warnings about making sure you have enough food, water and batteries in your house. Huh…ok. I smiled…

We knew we couldn’t leave as early as usual anyway as they wouldn’t have the freeway cleared. Or our street for that matter. So this morning I woke up to about 2 feet of fresh snow in our driveway. The plow service came around 5am (you hear them come as it sounds like your house is getting strafed) so this snow accumulation was just between 5-8am.

Deck this AM after husband cleared of snow last night!

Our street this AM

I dressed in my Stay-Puft outfit (ok, actually my snowboarding clothes) and leashed the buds up! Watching huskies in the snow is like watching pure joy in a child’s face. If it doesn’t make you smile and laugh – nothing will. The driveway snow was up to Angelus’ chest – over knee-high for me. He just glides through it. Poor Stormy couldn’t stay out long – the snow went up to his belly at this point so his naked belly was submerged in snow. So Angelus & I took him back and went back out. I don’t think he minded too much be warm inside tho :)

We stayed out for about 1.5 hours – playing with neighbor dogs off-leash & kids (schools here had a snow day too), running up and down snow hills (he is a LOT more graceful at this than I am!), digging in the snow looking for chipmunkcicles (he did, I watched) and walking up our street which hasn’t been plowed since last night so the snow was almost thigh-deep for me. We stayed in the tracks made by the big trucks that can make it down.

Angelus digging for gold...or chipmunks...

And it’s still snowing…and snowing. The tracks we made on our way out of our house/driveway were covered by the time we got back. It’s a lot of snow :)

Handsome snow guy :)

Angelus is napping now after our AM snow fun. My legs got a little tired too – my snow boots are like 5lbs each so it’s a workout hiking through snow!

Rest up after snow fun!

So we will rest up and go back out in a while for a 2nd shift of husky snow fun :) So the huskies and I really feel like kids today who got blessed with a good snow day…as I hum Jimmy Fallon’s “Snow Day” to myself…:)

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….

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….

…and says “See…I’m not the only husky that thinks car rides are way better than walking!”

Funny huskies :)