glitches

me and my bubons.

I know I haven't been posting, and I'm so guilty.  But I've been in a wierd state of mind lately, and posting about it hasn't been that appealing to me.  Trust that I'm good, life is good, and everything is decent. 

But deep down, I'm just on the verge of crying and I don't know why.  I feel like I'm losing something, something very dear to me.  That could just be the anxiety from the time slipping past and no dissertative work being produced, but who knows. 

Anyway, today's story.

I've been gone for about a week.  First the whole family went to Wisconsin to visit the crusher and his lovely family.  They were great, and we have a wonderful time.  Then we all returned to NM, and I hopped out again on a plane to Arizona for a conference.  Yay, conference quick quick then back to NM, then off to another conference the next day.  By the end of Wednesday I was completely drained.  As it turned out, it was the networking at the second conference that proved most important, so I'm glad I went.  But when I got home it was clear that the shit was hitting the fan. 

The lentil was a mess- a super-long tantrum when he saw me.  Then he would act wounded and worried that I was going to go away again.  And then this morning I noticed that sweet biscuit was acting funny.  After enduring her sad little face for half the day, I finally decided that she needed some professional attention.  I took her and the lentil to the vet's office (oh!  Joy!  Let's take the two-year-old to the veterinarian's office!  hooray!) and learned that she was gravely ill.  Apparently they think she got the plague.  The plague!  I knew that the plague is endemic around here, but I've never had a pet get sick from it before.  And she has some yucky seroma on her back that required draining and yes, the plague is contagious. 

She had a fever of 105.1 when I got there, and an hour later it shot up to 106.something.  They are keeping her overnight, partly to monitor the drains they installed and partly because she needed IV fluids to keep her temp down.  Poor girl.  She was really sick. 

We're all on the lookout now for plague symptoms in our own bodies.  My dad already reported that he had a fever this afternoon and the gnat is convinced she's dying.  They had me do a quick exam on her, just to be sure she's still breathing, I suppose.  Because she's so dumb, it takes a professional to determine such a thing.  (sweets just laughed and then admonished me for being "not very nice."  but still!)  So if you don't hear from me in the next few weeks, assume I got the plague.

baby biscuit

I know you're just champing at the bit for a few biscuit photos.  The problem is she's a very shy dog, so it's hard to get a photo of her where she isn't looking completely submissive.  In real life she's a gorgeous and perfectly proportioned animal.  In photoland she's got her ears tucked back and her tail between her legs and she's waiting for some bad man to show up and beat her with a stick.  It's sad, and I don't want to share that with you because it's just too depressing.  Anyway, this photo is her and bucko, the resident dumb dog.  Little biscuit is the one in front looking blissed out.

I'm working on socializing her a little better.  She's such a sweet dog, but she's been neglected for a little too long and it's hard to get her to hang with stuff in the way that a more nurtured dog might.  The other day I took her and the lentil to the dog park.  I don't know what is wrong with people here, but the New Mexico idea of adog park isn't quite the same as my idea of a dog park.  For example, the past two dog parks we've visited haven't had fences that would prevent a dog from, i don't know, escaping?

So I took her to the dog park at the pound.  They have this great fenced-in area for people to take their dogs and I thought it would be a good place for her to meet other dogs off-leash.  When she meets dogs on-leash she gets a little neurotic and it's hard for her to control her anxiety.  When she meets dogs off leash she's a terrific friend and everyone loves her.  While I'm leash training her, I thought it would be a good chance to see that other dogs are just as neat when I'm around as when I'm not.  Anyway, the books say to socialize your dog and that's what I'm trying. 

Long story short, we're at the dog park and she's wandering around off leash and I'm behind her walking with the lentil.  At just about the moment I realize that the squares in the wire fencing are pretty big, little biscuit takes a similar interest in the fence.  And then she squeezes right through the fence, like a hamster through a little toilet paper tube.  And I'm on one side of the fence, and she's on the other.  And the lentil starts wailing for me to pick him up (his latest past-time:  how crazy can I make my mother?!)  So I'm chasing my dog around the lot at the pound hoping some car doesn't come and wipe her out, and hoping the pound officials don't show up and think I'm the worst dog companion ever.  She's running away from me as happy as can be, the lentil is crying for me to pick him up, and I'm swiftly walking after her calling "biscuit!  biscuit!" and whistling and clicking that damn clicker to try to keep her from running right into traffic.  It was a scene.  Finally she looks back at me, hears the clicker, and runs to collect her treat.  Then the lentil runs to me and we're one happy family again.  Except for the part where I've gone and exploded. 

So yeah: dog park people?  please use better fencing if you want to keep the dogs in the stupid park.

Oh- added to post- my little flowers from the previous post are called pale trumpets and they have this sweet nectar.  you pull them off their stem and then suck on the stem part of the flower and you get this little hint of sweetness that is unmatched in modern culinary science.  it's just magic.