Tuesday 3 May 2011

Other shoe dropping department

In the interest of fitness and weight loss for both of us, Max and I went out for our daily long walk late yesterday afternoon. Also as usual, we stopped by a neighbour's house so Max could hang with his buddy Nicky, a female golden who is twice his size and weight. They've been playing together almost every day for over two years. Unfortunately, the dog got jealous when the visiting teenage granddaughter of the owners patted Max, and before anyone could react Nicky leapt on Max and pretty much tore him a new a... -- literally -- and just missing his spine. Max is coming up to 13, with arthritis, so isn't moving very fast these days, and he couldn't get away. You could have stuck a couple of fingers into one of the gouges in him. I rushed him to the vet, getting there just before 5 pm, afraid they would be closed, but found out they're open until 6:30. They took him into surgery right away, and I picked him up an hour or so later.

After a really rough night, his pain seems to have dropped to a tolerable level -- I know this, given his interest in food today -- which is good. In fact, he's waiting in the kitchen for lunch as I write and it's only 11:15. Last night just about broke my heart. Despite the painkillers and antibiotics, he trembled and whimpered until 4 or 5 a.m. and I could only hold his paw and stroke his head. In all the hubbub, they forgot to take out the catheter in his arm, so we went in this morning to have that done. They said he was doing fine, all the stitches are holding.

FYI, if you ever have to give a dog pills, stuff them into chunks of banana (which Max loves). Down the hatch without a problem.

While waiting to pick up Max yesterday, I got an email telling me that the new art gallery shop applications are being shelved (possibly permanently) because, after a year and a half of renovations to a turn of the century heritage building on the downtown main street, the city council announced at their meeting last Tuesday night, with zero notice or consultation, that they have decided they are now giving the building to a local community college for a satellite campus. However, the gallery director did tell me she really likes my silver leaves. That was shoe number two.

Shoe number three is my truck engine light came on again on the way back from the vet this morning. It appears I now have serious radiator/coolant problems. I'm getting really, reeeeally sick and tired of all of this. Minus Max, last week was equally fraught what with a computer virus on Wednesday, a day and a half without power all day Thursday and Friday morning, with work coming in, and ditto with the engine coolant which I had topped up figuring that was going to resolve the problem.

When I got back from dropping Max off yesterday for his surgery, I told the landlord I wouldn't be able to pay the rent for longer than I'd expected this month (I'm still waiting to be paid for work done in early March and there's not a thing I can do about it) and he laughed. Told me his girlfriend had just phoned to tell him that their basement tenant had just given his notice, so there wasn't going to be a May rent cheque from him, either.

I'm at the point now where I'm just shaking my head, although I guess bin Laden had a worse day than I did. That's pretty wild that they nailed the guy, eh? Even more wild is the book I'm currently reading -- Dead Zero by Stephen Hunter. Around the same time the raid was going down, I was reading about exactly that: taking out bin Laden.

That's my news for this week and it's only Tuesday morning.

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