Thunder’s been fighting an ear infection, but he’s in perfect health other than that. When I got him, he was fat and had skin problems. Now his skin and coat look great, and he’s lost 20 pounds (down 30 from his high weight according to his records from his previous vet). At 64 pounds, he’s a little on the ribby side, but Dr. Roach said he’s perfect and she loved his muscle tone. He got his three-year rabies shot and had blood drawn for titers, and I’ve got antibiotics and an ointment for his ears.

Drummer weighed in at 34 pounds and Dr. Roach thought he looked fabulous too. Yay for playing frisbee in the hilly backyard… it’s apparently kept both boys in really good shape. The techs had trouble finding a vein, so poor Drummy was more than a little stressed by the time they finally got his blood draw done. He’s got another year on his rabies shot, so he didn’t have to have any shots, at least.

Both boys were really good in the exam room. I wasn’t sure how it would go, having both of them in there together with nothing to do other than play with each other (and me), but they managed not to totally bounce off the walls. They were remarkably calm after the blood draws… I think the subtext there was “If we’re really really good, will you keep the vampire ladies away from us??”

A week ago, my domain got moved to a different server. The host did all the work, and the move went flawlessly for all my other domains (which were using the host’s DNS). This domain, however, was using third-party DNS so that I could also have a backup mail server, and someoneWhoShallRemainNameless forgot to forward the notice that we were moving servers.

Oops.

It took a week before one of my friends pointed out, via Twitter DM, that this site was offline (thanks, Nancy!). Found/fixed the DNS problem and life is good again. Upgraded WordPress while I was at it, since there was a security patch.

Maybe if I posted more often, people would notice when this place disappeared. I should do something about that, eh?

He’d been taking his time about the whole process, having had meet-and-greets with a couple of other families before this one, but we were really hoping for that sometimes-elusive “perfect match”… the one where the humans fall head-over-heels in love with the dog, and where the foster mom (or moms, in this case) thinks “Oooh… I like them… I like them a lot!”

( details and pictures back here! )
As much as I miss the little guy, I’m thrilled that he finally has the perfect family of his own. He’s got a Shiba playmate who’s just a few months younger than him, and people who love him and want the best for him. He’s settling in nicely and looks happy and relaxed in the pictures from his first night in his new home.

Current Mood:  satisfied

( pictures are back here! )I hope you enjoyed the tour of Life With Murphy!

Last night, having spent most of the day upstairs doing laundry and unpacking books and generally doing rainy-day chores, I headed down the stairs to grab a laundry basket and realized that the carpet looked funny. Then I got closer and realized the carpet was drenched. Oops! The basement was flooding

As I started the process of contacting the insurance company (who ultimately didn’t cover it because it was a “groundwater incursion” for which I’m not covered) and moving furniture to the dry side of the basement, I also relocated all the animals to upstairs. The cats all got caught and stashed in the small bedroom, where they’re safe from the possibility of escaping while workers are in and out of the house. Conveniently, that room opens onto the main upstairs bathroom, so I can go into the bathroom, close the hall door, then open the bedroom door to go in and feed/water/snuggle cats, letting the bathroom act as a kind of “airlock” to keep kitties from escaping.

Then I drug all the dog crates upstairs and stashed them in the master bedroom, which is my temporary sleeping space (on a twin futon… bleah) until the Big Noisy Fans are gone from downstairs and I can have my room back. The dogs have taken this in stride, ’cause they’re pretty much just happy to be wherever I am, and they can still hang out in the living room with me (Thunder the English Setter looks very elegant sprawled on the leather sofa). The cats, however, are extremely unhappy about this turn of affairs. They’re used to being able to sleep with me, and to snuggle against me while I’m working on the laptop. They do not like being banished to a single room, but we’ve got at least three more days of contractors being in and out of the house to finish drying out the basement and I can run the risk of freaked-out kittie escaping through an open door.

I want my bed back… and my DVR (it’s hooked up to the big TV downstairs)… and I want my house to not sound like I live in a wind-tunnel. But we can all survive a few more days of this, and the good news is that the water was limited to the floor… the walls aren’t wet, and the carpet is probably okay (yay for really good water abatement crews!), and in a few days life will be back to normal.

She’s got a lot on the ball, so I think she’ll give great advice!

Since the move, though, and especially since fencing the yard, Drummer’s on the skinny side and Thunder is positively gaunt. The Eagle Pack doesn’t seem to be nutrient-dense enough to keep the BusyBoys at a good fighting weight while they’re running running running in the new yard. I’ve also been unhappy with (not to put too fine a point on it) the volume of doggy “output” that I’m having to pick up in the yard. Since our standard lamb & rice formula didn’t seem to be suiting Thunder, I first tried a different Eagle formulation, but the fish & oatmeal didn’t help, so the next phase of the quest was to find something completely different. This time the goal was no grain, minimal carbs, and more protein and fat.

( food, food and more food )Things I like about the Evo Red Meat: After the five ingredients listed above, four of the next five are meat (and the fifth is oil), and four of the next five are fruits and vegetables. Only thing I don’t like about the Evo, at least so far? It’s 50% more expensive than the Eagle Pack, which was already pricey. Ouch. I hope they do well on it!!

Entertainingly, this experiment in food means that the dogs are now eating a higher-protein kibble than the cats, who are of the opinion that the dog food smells really really good now.

So, dog-people… what do you feed, and why? (And yes, I’ve heard all the arguments for feeding raw, and that’s not a path I’m ready to go down.) Anybody with experience with either the BG or Evo Red Meat?

Tonight I know for sure that my vote made a difference, at least on a micro scale. My little county in Indiana, with 100% of the precincts reporting, went 49.6% Obama and 49% McCain.

And as I was in the midst of typing this, McCain made a very gracious concession speech and the electoral college projections moved up to 306 votes for Obama.

It’s been a good day.

Current Mood:  ecstatic

Entertainingly, all the blue and purple ones are now gone, leaving just the red and orange.

In this week of “Will Indiana be a blue state or a red state?” I’m amused by the fact that the color of our Pixy Stix-coated tongues in my workplace seems to be voting in favor of blue.

Current Mood:  silly

Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just go.

Worried about the lines? Take a book, or for the digitally enabled crowd, catch up on your email or your websurfing from your phone. In some areas, you may be surprised… with 10-20% of registered voters having voted early, lines may not be as bad as you expect! (I drove past my polling place this morning… there were maybe a dozen cars there. Apparently I could have voted faster this morning, way out in the country, than the time it took on Saturday… but that’s okay… I’m just happy that it’s done!)

No transportation? Call a friend… ride with a neighbor… take a cab or a bus.

Just go. Please? It’s important

Current Mood:  optimistic