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Hi all,
Well, we're home. Actually, we've been home for a week (sorry) but we've had some stuff to deal with. For those of you who don't know (and are interested) my daughter has been having some health issues and has had a few scares in the last few months. She is having chest pains, but they can't figure out why. Her ECG's read normal, although her enzyme levels this week showed possible muscle damage. But her heart is fine, and her active stress test went well. So we are feeling a bit better, but the internist is still looking into more tests (a 32 year old woman shouldn't be having chest pains!!) and it looks like nuclear medicine is our next stop. Of course, in the meantime, she's still in nursing school, raising two kids, border-line diabetic, overweight, smoking and having a drink and I just want to smack her. Her blood pressure is too high and she eats like a teenager (like crap, in other words)... But I digress. Things have been stressful over here, to say the least.
Our holiday to Calgary was uneventful, which for us is really saying something. Usually we have the most unusual things happen to us while travelling, and my family has become enamoured of our stories of horrendous motel rooms, amazingly bad service in restaurants, and plain strangeness of folks we meet on our travels. I have uploaded a couple of short videos to YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/phyrie) that we took on a trip a couple of years ago, just to show you the oddness of what we encounter on our travels. I should really invest in a real video camera (all video is captured by my regular digital camera’s video function) because, if you didn’t know us, you would never believe the weird shit that happens to us.
Luckily, we have a good sense of humour, and it’s very seldom these oddments bother us. Indeed, it adds to the travelling experience, and coming from such a small community, and not being very world-wise, these strange occurrences add a bit of spice to an otherwise common-place get-from-here-to-there kind of vacation.
But I digress again… So we’re back. Kiba was, of course, delighted to see us. Is there anything better than your dog trembling and squirming with delight, just ‘cuz you showed up? I don’t think so. He has picked up a bit of a barking habit (from spending three weeks with Shadow, the keeshond who is a bad barker) but vigilance is getting him back on track. His leg gave him NO TROUBLE while we were gone, and I’m thoroughly convinced that he is healed just finethankyouverymuch. We will, of course, have him checked again by Brian (our friendly neighbourhood Super-Vet) but I am confident that our worries were unfounded, and Kiba’s knee is fine, fine, fine. He sure is back to his normal, full of P&V self, running around like a mad woman’s footprints, just generally enjoying behaving like a maniac. I am SO glad to have my happy boy back.
Well, it lasted about four days. Now Kiba is having some topical allergy reactions (there must be something out there blooming or something) and he’s having some really serious itching problems. I have started him on Vanectyl (thank gawd I had a few left onhand, since it’s the weekend), and we are putting some cortisone cream on his raw spots. The problem with that is he’s not allowed to lick or chew the cream, so he’s back in the e-collar for a few days. He’s actually handling it pretty well, and I suspect he’s just grateful not to be driven to chew his skin off. Since he had the e-collar for so long while he recovered from his knee surgery, I think he’s just good at it. He needed to think a bit about how to get water and food out of his dishes, but he managed. He hasn’t knocked the collar into a wall or anything, so far, and I think he’ll be fine. He really doesn’t even seem upset about the whole thing. *sigh* Poor guy.
I must tell you a sweet story about Kiba. It happened the other morning. I didn’t want to get up right away (as is quite normal) but I thought I would let Kiba out of his crate to wander if he wanted to, since it was kind of later in the morning (OK, it was 11:00. Sue me…). I opened the crate door, and my bedroom door so he could go out into the rest of the house, and then crawled back into bed to read for a while. Kiba looked at me, looked at the open door and looked at me again. It was obvious I wasn’t getting up, so he PUT HIMSELF BACK IN HIS CRATE! Oh, my! It was so cute: “Well, if she’s not getting up, obviously it’s not time to get up!” Gawd, I love this dog.
Thanks to all who cared that I was incommunicado. If there are issues here that to be “phyried”up, please let me know. I’ve been neglecting my Art for so long that I’m devoting as much time to it as I can spare right now, but I truly miss you all, and couldn’t bear to stay away any longer. While I may not be as hands-on as I would like, I hope you forgive me, and accept my scant attentions, for what they’re worth.
Deb, you are a treasure. I can’t tell you how nice it was to see your “Missing You” message when I got home. And I am looking forward to the “Beer and Barns” tour next summer. Start saving those sheckels, people! I can see it already… Man, oh, man… What fun we’ll have!
Love to all,
Phyrie
