Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Such a geek...
I'm wondering...(Ed, probably you would be the one to know this) do they have a cd that has the sound effects used on Star Trek: TNG? I think the engine noise would be so soothing to listen to. You know, like white noise.
Mice *shudder*
Ever noticed how "terminated" and "exterminated" mean pretty much the same thing? Was thinking about this as I, the reigning queen of mouse death, killed another two this morning. Not with my bare hands or anything, but I finally figured out how to set those freaking traps correctly.
Guess I should back up a little. We just recently noticed mouse evidence (read: "poo" as Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs would say) in the laundry room and we couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. We've lived here for a year and a half without a problem. And it's warm now! What the heck...mice come in for warmth and water, or so I'm told.
Anyway, after Greg saw something moving in the early morning light in the laundry room, we decided to get some traps. Right now, Stacey: 3, Mice: 0.
But I'm proud of myself because I learned something today and fixed the problem, at least temporarily, for myself. Apparently, mice chew through caulking. So if you caulk a hole into your house, like where you have pipes or tubes leading out, they can eventually eat through that. I went around to the side of the house and found that the tube or pipe or whatever leading from the A/C into the house, which USED to have grey caulking around it, was now bare. Ha, ha, caught you, you little buggers!
I also learned that the way to fix this was to stuff steel wool into the hole and then caulk it shut. Well, I can't caulk it yet (too wet outside) but I did go and buy the steel wool and fit it into the hole.
So, I'm feeling quite proud of myself! : )
Guess I should back up a little. We just recently noticed mouse evidence (read: "poo" as Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs would say) in the laundry room and we couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. We've lived here for a year and a half without a problem. And it's warm now! What the heck...mice come in for warmth and water, or so I'm told.
Anyway, after Greg saw something moving in the early morning light in the laundry room, we decided to get some traps. Right now, Stacey: 3, Mice: 0.
But I'm proud of myself because I learned something today and fixed the problem, at least temporarily, for myself. Apparently, mice chew through caulking. So if you caulk a hole into your house, like where you have pipes or tubes leading out, they can eventually eat through that. I went around to the side of the house and found that the tube or pipe or whatever leading from the A/C into the house, which USED to have grey caulking around it, was now bare. Ha, ha, caught you, you little buggers!
I also learned that the way to fix this was to stuff steel wool into the hole and then caulk it shut. Well, I can't caulk it yet (too wet outside) but I did go and buy the steel wool and fit it into the hole.
So, I'm feeling quite proud of myself! : )
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Quick update
I know, I've been very lax in updating. Just a little too much going on! Snowy had a biopsy to confirm that she has osteosarcoma. Then, on Tuesday of this last week, she had amputation surgery on her front right leg. It was a difficult decision for us because it is such a big surgery and we have no way of knowing how long she'll be with us. But the pain in her leg was getting to be so much that we knew it was really inhibiting her quality of life. So it was either this or the ultimate decision. We felt the surgery was the right choice. It is what was recommended by all three of the vets we saw as a reasonable course of action.
So she's at home with us now, recovering. Some days are better than others. Yesterday, she came to my writing room and poked her head in, just like she always did. So, I brought her bed in and she slept comfortably in there. And when I went out yesterday to run errands, she hopped to the door to watch me leave, just as she did before. She's still not eating very well, so I'm worried about that. She seems hungry, but she won't eat unless I add water to her food and hold the dish for her. But it's only been a few days and she's standing up to drink water and go to the bathroom. So, we're hoping that the worst is behind us in terms of recovery from the surgery. : )
So she's at home with us now, recovering. Some days are better than others. Yesterday, she came to my writing room and poked her head in, just like she always did. So, I brought her bed in and she slept comfortably in there. And when I went out yesterday to run errands, she hopped to the door to watch me leave, just as she did before. She's still not eating very well, so I'm worried about that. She seems hungry, but she won't eat unless I add water to her food and hold the dish for her. But it's only been a few days and she's standing up to drink water and go to the bathroom. So, we're hoping that the worst is behind us in terms of recovery from the surgery. : )
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The bad news
Sorry, I've been away for awhile. We're going through some difficult stuff here that's hard for me to talk about. One of my furry babies, Snostorm, the first dog I've ever had, was diagnosed last week with osteosarcoma--that's bone cancer.
We're going in for a second opinion tomorrow just to be sure, but we're fairly certain that the diagnosis is correct.
The cancer has not spread yet as far as we can tell, which is good. But x-rays can only detect cancer after it has accumulated enough cells in one place. So, it may have spread but is just not big enough to be detectable yet. Unfortunately, our only possible treatment option (that we know of at this time) is to pursue an amputation. And even that may not extend her life and it's a very painful procedure.
So we're kind of stuck with this very ugly decision. If we decide on pain management only, she probably has about three months. If we pursue the amputation, it's at least two or three weeks of recovery time and then...who knows? I would just hate for half of her remaining time to be spent in such misery, if it won't extend her life.
The good news is that right now she's still her happy, goofy self. She's limping, to be sure, but she is still playing and begging for treats and butting her head into my leg when I type at the computer. She's my good girl : ) I love her so much and it's going to hurt just that much when she's gone, whether it's three months from now or years.
This sounds selfish, I know, but please keep us in your prayers--we know she is a dog, but she's our dog, and more than that, we have to make this big decision about her life and when it should end and that's a responsibility I was really hoping to avoid--foolish as that sounds. We just want to make the right decision by her.
Anyway, I will provide updates as I'm able and please don't think I'm a horrible person if I'm on here writing about other stuff. This is tough for me to write about and I can barely talk about it. Sometimes talking and writing about other things is the only way I'm keeping it together.
We're going in for a second opinion tomorrow just to be sure, but we're fairly certain that the diagnosis is correct.
The cancer has not spread yet as far as we can tell, which is good. But x-rays can only detect cancer after it has accumulated enough cells in one place. So, it may have spread but is just not big enough to be detectable yet. Unfortunately, our only possible treatment option (that we know of at this time) is to pursue an amputation. And even that may not extend her life and it's a very painful procedure.
So we're kind of stuck with this very ugly decision. If we decide on pain management only, she probably has about three months. If we pursue the amputation, it's at least two or three weeks of recovery time and then...who knows? I would just hate for half of her remaining time to be spent in such misery, if it won't extend her life.
The good news is that right now she's still her happy, goofy self. She's limping, to be sure, but she is still playing and begging for treats and butting her head into my leg when I type at the computer. She's my good girl : ) I love her so much and it's going to hurt just that much when she's gone, whether it's three months from now or years.
This sounds selfish, I know, but please keep us in your prayers--we know she is a dog, but she's our dog, and more than that, we have to make this big decision about her life and when it should end and that's a responsibility I was really hoping to avoid--foolish as that sounds. We just want to make the right decision by her.
Anyway, I will provide updates as I'm able and please don't think I'm a horrible person if I'm on here writing about other stuff. This is tough for me to write about and I can barely talk about it. Sometimes talking and writing about other things is the only way I'm keeping it together.
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