The sweet little dog has an ear infection. A yeast infection, of all things, from swimming in grandpa's pool. Apparently a dog's ear is a similar environment to other places that can harbor such infections. Go figure.
Anyway, the vet sent me home with one enormous bottle of goo, one small tube of other goo and an instruction sheet. The instructions tell me to simply fill the dog's ear canal with goo from the bottle, massage it around for five minutes or so, then use cotton balls to muck out the now loose/icky goo in the ear canal. Follow that, it says, with a 'small amount' of goo from the squeeze tube, which is apparently steroids & medicine.
"You might," the vet added in a verbal aside, "want to do it outside."
What the vet failed to mention is that the dog will not only hate this, but consider it a personal attack as savage as if you had clubbed her with the bottle instead of just squirting a bit into the ear canal.
The dog is resting up from the wrestling match. I think I won, but I'm not sure. I hope the goo from the big bottle does not kill grass, because it is ALL over the back yard.
15 June 2006
14 June 2006
First load
My new washer & dryer arrived today. In the words of mom, who was here to accept the delivery, "The space shuttle has landed."
Mom got a high-tech, high-efficiency LG washer/dryer last year, and I was there to do the first load of laundry in her new machine as soon as the Home Depot techs finished installing it. So it was only fitting that she was there today to greet the Home Depot guys and do the first load in my new GE space shuttle. Er, washer/dryer.
I paid twice as much for the washer as I would have paid for a plain old boring washing machine that does not light up like the space shuttle cockpit or spit water economically from hidden hydro-ports and use oh so much less electricity. But I think someone who purports to be a liberal tree-hugger should be buying EnergyStar products. Then, as I started researching washer/dryers, I wondered why the dryers are not labeled as EnergyStars. Then I realized that if I was *really* a tree-hugger, I would hang my laundry to dry. Eek! So ok, I'm a tree-hugger when it is convenient. (I think The Woodlands has deed restrictions against hanging your laundry outside. That's my excuse, anyway.)
I agonized over getting pedestals for the things, but in the end the marketers convinced me that I would like the 'dump all your laundry in the drawer first thing in the morning, and the machine sorts it all, then washes, dries and folds them while you're at work' option.
OK, it's a dream. But I'd pay extra for that.
Mom got a high-tech, high-efficiency LG washer/dryer last year, and I was there to do the first load of laundry in her new machine as soon as the Home Depot techs finished installing it. So it was only fitting that she was there today to greet the Home Depot guys and do the first load in my new GE space shuttle. Er, washer/dryer.
I paid twice as much for the washer as I would have paid for a plain old boring washing machine that does not light up like the space shuttle cockpit or spit water economically from hidden hydro-ports and use oh so much less electricity. But I think someone who purports to be a liberal tree-hugger should be buying EnergyStar products. Then, as I started researching washer/dryers, I wondered why the dryers are not labeled as EnergyStars. Then I realized that if I was *really* a tree-hugger, I would hang my laundry to dry. Eek! So ok, I'm a tree-hugger when it is convenient. (I think The Woodlands has deed restrictions against hanging your laundry outside. That's my excuse, anyway.)
I agonized over getting pedestals for the things, but in the end the marketers convinced me that I would like the 'dump all your laundry in the drawer first thing in the morning, and the machine sorts it all, then washes, dries and folds them while you're at work' option.
OK, it's a dream. But I'd pay extra for that.
13 June 2006
Sprinklers
Smart people buy houses with automatic sprinklers, all set up and aiming in exactly the most efficient places possible to create a lush, green, happily watered lawn and lovely, happy flowers.
Crazy people (pointing to myself) spend an hour a week trying some new configuration of three sprinkler options, hoping to be able to water at least 80 percent of the grass without totally soaking the driveway, street and oh of course the neighborhood mailbox. My guess is that my neighbors will wonder why the eccentric new lady watered their mail. (sigh)
I have this fear, see? I'm not great with grass. I kill it just by looking at it. My dog kills it by peeing on it. And I don't think my neighbors will be terribly excited if my yard looks like a dried up brown patch of weeds after not even a month of my 'care.'
So I'm probably overdoing it to avoid screwing up. I can't help it. Blame it on my genes.
Anyway, the grass looks very happy & wet, so it's all good. Now, don't even start on how I'm only supposed to water in the morning, because that's just not going to happen.
Crazy people (pointing to myself) spend an hour a week trying some new configuration of three sprinkler options, hoping to be able to water at least 80 percent of the grass without totally soaking the driveway, street and oh of course the neighborhood mailbox. My guess is that my neighbors will wonder why the eccentric new lady watered their mail. (sigh)
I have this fear, see? I'm not great with grass. I kill it just by looking at it. My dog kills it by peeing on it. And I don't think my neighbors will be terribly excited if my yard looks like a dried up brown patch of weeds after not even a month of my 'care.'
So I'm probably overdoing it to avoid screwing up. I can't help it. Blame it on my genes.
Anyway, the grass looks very happy & wet, so it's all good. Now, don't even start on how I'm only supposed to water in the morning, because that's just not going to happen.
12 June 2006
Heat and Chores
Having lived in Phoenix for a couple of years, I like to brag to Texans that their heat is puny compared with the 115-degree scorchers that suck the life right out of your lungs in Phoenix.
Today I'm happy to admit that 97 degrees is plenty hot, thanks.
One of my chores* on Sunday was to plant some flowers in the expansive front landscaping area at the new house. I felt pretty good about making about 40 holes in the dirt before noon. Then this afternoon I walked from one building to another in my office complex at the peak heat of the day and saw the landscaping crews planting about 100x as many flowers in the open spaces between buildings. My hat is off to those guys.
*Chores = things homeowners do every single freakin' day that renters never thought about. Or if they thought about it, they laughed and said, "I don't have to do that. Let the landlord do it if he wants it done." Oddly enough, even though I pay the mortgage company my 'rent' for the house now, they don't seem inclined to come and do any chores. Go figure.
Today I'm happy to admit that 97 degrees is plenty hot, thanks.
One of my chores* on Sunday was to plant some flowers in the expansive front landscaping area at the new house. I felt pretty good about making about 40 holes in the dirt before noon. Then this afternoon I walked from one building to another in my office complex at the peak heat of the day and saw the landscaping crews planting about 100x as many flowers in the open spaces between buildings. My hat is off to those guys.
*Chores = things homeowners do every single freakin' day that renters never thought about. Or if they thought about it, they laughed and said, "I don't have to do that. Let the landlord do it if he wants it done." Oddly enough, even though I pay the mortgage company my 'rent' for the house now, they don't seem inclined to come and do any chores. Go figure.
11 June 2006
Catching Up
Every day or two I think, "Hey, I ought to blog about xxxx." Then I remember that I have not blogged in months, and maybe I won't remember how, or I'll have to spent too much time on this just to catch up...
Excuses, excuses. Here's what's happened since I fell off the Earth in January:
-- Work is great. If I could have written my own job description, it would be this job. It is especially nice to have a 13-mile commute on all back roads with no traffic. Yippee!!
-- The Camaro has gone into foster care, possibly adoption to new handlers. I traded him in on... wait for it... a new Mini Cooper. Yellow, convertible. I always wanted a convertible, and now that I live in a place of eternal summer, I deserve this. In some future blog I will debate whether I have been a good girl to deserve such a fun car or a naughty girl to deserve a car that demands to be driven topless even when it is 97 degrees (F) and 97% humidity. Either way, I am loving it.
-- The wonderful two-story townhouse I had been renting since last summer now has new inhabitants; I have (gasp) bought a house. It's a cute one-story house with huge trees in an established neighborhood, and it is almost exactly (within 0.1 miles) the same distance from work as the townhouse.
--The dog is loving her new backyard with trees & more space to romp. The house is also witin walking distance of one of The Woodlands' great dog parks, if only it were not 97 degrees and 97% humidity.
Pix to come. I moved on 3 June and have not yet managed to hook up the PC for a number of reasons (redoing the flooring shortly, PC hard drive kablooie, dearth of cable/ethernet outlets in old house, etc.) I'm working on the Mac but iPhoto is apparently not equipped to resize photos for the Web (how dumb is that?) and Picasa is not available for the Mac (grrr).
Excuses, excuses. Here's what's happened since I fell off the Earth in January:
-- Work is great. If I could have written my own job description, it would be this job. It is especially nice to have a 13-mile commute on all back roads with no traffic. Yippee!!
-- The Camaro has gone into foster care, possibly adoption to new handlers. I traded him in on... wait for it... a new Mini Cooper. Yellow, convertible. I always wanted a convertible, and now that I live in a place of eternal summer, I deserve this. In some future blog I will debate whether I have been a good girl to deserve such a fun car or a naughty girl to deserve a car that demands to be driven topless even when it is 97 degrees (F) and 97% humidity. Either way, I am loving it.
-- The wonderful two-story townhouse I had been renting since last summer now has new inhabitants; I have (gasp) bought a house. It's a cute one-story house with huge trees in an established neighborhood, and it is almost exactly (within 0.1 miles) the same distance from work as the townhouse.
--The dog is loving her new backyard with trees & more space to romp. The house is also witin walking distance of one of The Woodlands' great dog parks, if only it were not 97 degrees and 97% humidity.
Pix to come. I moved on 3 June and have not yet managed to hook up the PC for a number of reasons (redoing the flooring shortly, PC hard drive kablooie, dearth of cable/ethernet outlets in old house, etc.) I'm working on the Mac but iPhoto is apparently not equipped to resize photos for the Web (how dumb is that?) and Picasa is not available for the Mac (grrr).
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