Can you spell G-I-A-R-D-I-A ?

helllooooooooo?

Dumb cat is drinking water out of the downspout tubes from the gutter.

ewww....

And evidently, it doesn’t taste very good.

Heh.

We’re entertained daily with Xander’s attempts to catch his tail.

Now we know why Dobermans have their tails cropped…

… so they can’t catch them and chew them off.

But he WANTS TO CATCH IT SOOOOO BAD!!!

In my adult life…I’ve had 3 dogs.
Dog #1 was an accident. I took her from a friend when she was 4 mos old because she wasn’t able to keep her. I wasn’t really supposed to keep her. But I did. For 12 years. She had no problems other than chewing up everything she bumped into when she was a pup…and she ate all the Tylenol in my makeup bag once…and survived (with the help of lots of fluids and turkey baby food for 2 months cuz her tummy couldn’t handle anything harder).
Dog #2 was planned. Me and my ex adopted him from a shelter. He’s whiny. We found out that he has some kind of bleeding (not clotting) disease when we had a tooth pulled. So…we can’t have any major surgeries without some major planning. And he has allergies in the spring. His eyes get itchy and red…but it’s manageable with Benedryl.

And then there’s Xander.

He’s a mess. Paid for a purebred…paid for the problems, I suppose. And not only that- we wanted a blue dobie… a dilute color gene. THOSE guys come with skin issues…maybe. So, we knew what we might get— and we got it.

He was itchy when we got him. Blame it on stress. Blame it on diet change. Blame it on puppy sensitive skin.

No mites. Tried special shampoos that help soothe and protect from seasonal/environmental allergies. A little better.

So- we changed his diet. 4-5 weeks later, better…but still itchy.

Benedry helped the itching, but the bumps still came.

Changed his diet again… duck and potato dog food.

Itching stopped in 3 days. Bumps cleared up in 2 weeks. Woot!

Narrowed his food allergies to anything with chicken, turkey, corn, wheat or barley.

He can eat venison and sweet potato, but it gives him HORRIBLE gas and runny poop.

Duck does best.

Then there are treats. I can’t give him anything to chew on… all the chew treats have junk in them. The dried animal parts make him itch.

Dried sweet potatoes are ok..but mostly chewy. Not much to work on.

And the company that makes the duck and potato food makes a duck and potato treat….that’s the only one we usually use around here. It’s gotta suck to get a special treat that tastes the same as your food.

So I bought some fish and sweet potato treats (same brand…none of the known itch-inducers)—

In two days, Xander’s belly is red and raw like a sunburn…and in-between his toes is fire red. And today, he’s licked one of his paws to the point of bleeding.

Solution? Treats are trashed. Back to duck. Add another protein to the list of things Xander is allergic to.

And the dog? He’s not really happy right now.

Yep. He’s wearing an e-collar.

And a sock.

heh…

Xander found a new favorite toy.

A soccer ball.

For the last two days, he’s carried it around in his mouth. He barks at it when it gets stuck under the futon. He shakes it. And kicks it. And throws it.

I think he’s in love.

Well.. two pieces of a tree (that cost WAY too much for dead wood scraps)

Sunday we woke up with an itchin to do a project of some sort… and we’ve been neglecting the tank for a few months. Algae and evaporation were taking over.
So, we packed up the kids and headed to Knoxville to see what kind of fun, fancy fish stores we could browse around.

After 3 different fish places, we couldn’t find exactly what we were looking for (and alas, I was doing some price comparing- can’t help it)…we found ourselves at a reptile/fish store…and they had the tree parts we were looking for, at a good price. Then we went to a hobby/craft store and bought some river rocks and some plastic plants. Live plants are awesome, but MAJOR work. Between the fish eating them and the decomposition from them… they can really wreck a tank that doesn’t get touched every week.

Last stop, back in Oak Ridge at my store… bought some new gravel (cheaper than anywhere else we saw) and some very cool submersible LED lights. The lights were kind of a toss-up. We were wanting to do some night lighting, but didn’t want to buy a whole new light strip. They turned out VERY cool.

————————-

Step 1. Remove all old plants and ornaments

Step 2. Siphon 1/2 of the water and rake through gravel to remove LOTS AND LOTS of nasty black stuff.

Step 3. Scrub algae off of glass

Step 4. Remove all gravel.

Step 5. Rinse new gravel and slowly add to tank.

Step 6. Add fresh water and Stess Coat into tank.

Step 7. Add driftwood.

Step 8. Add rocks to top of driftwood to make it sink.

Step 9. Add more rocks to top of driftwood to make it sink.

Step 10. Go outside and get landscaping pavers and put them in ziploc bags…
put them on top of driftwood to make it sink.

Step 11. You are frustrated now. Stop messing with the tank and have a beer.

Step 12. The next day, remove SOME of the rocks
(as long as the driftwood isn’t still trying to float)

Step 13. Add plants and bubble stones.

Step 14. Add river rocks.

Step 15. Add REALLY cool LED lights and try REALLY hard to make them sink
(tying to big rocks helps a lot)

Step 16. Look at the tank and hope the sediment and clouds go away soon.

Step 17. Change carbon filters.

Step 18. Enjoy the BEAUTIFUL new tank setup. (I stop and look at it every time I walk by… have to actually look for the fish now. They are all having such a good time!)

YAY!

Today is Xander’s 1st birthday.

He won’t get a cake, because giving him sugar is a BAD BAD idea —
He MIGHT get a chew bone, if we can find one that he won’t swallow in one bite…or one that won’t give him gas.
He will probably get a fuzzy squeaky toy, even though he will promptly find the weakest stitching possible and de-fluff the little guy piece by piece… if it’s lucky, it will get promoted to the outside with Duck and Fish.

Wildcat asked if Xander won’t be “simple” anymore…now that he’s 1. I asked him if he’s done learning things now that he’s 6. No response. : )

Not a puppy anymore… I can’t believe it’s been a year.

Happy Birthday Xander!!

Today was better.
Mikey is settled snugly in his crate. Xander just wants the chew bone that’s in the crate with Mikey…so there’s some whining. And Apache follows us around and tells us repetitively that Mikey’s stuck in a box. He wants him out.

I had a trip back to the oral surgeon…the knot I’m feeling in my jaw is just scar tissue from the wisdom tooth extraction. Yay! Wanted to check… the way our week has gone, I wanted to make sure.

Jake had to call the doc again today. They told him to call if the pain got worse, or if it got bigger. Waiting for the antibiotics to kick-in and whoop-up on this infection… meanwhile, it still hurts. He was prescribed some painkillers today. So, I guess I’ll have to tuck him in bed in a few minutes. I just hope they help.

There’s a theme. And it reminds me of something we haven’t done in a couple weeks. … ugg. Who’d have known it was foreshadowing?

Now I wanna play some Rock Band. : )

Mikey came home today about 5. Complete with pain killers and muscle relaxers. His crate was ready…comfy bed, his blanket and a pillow of off our bed. He’s walking around ok. Gently. But he’s walking… which was more than he was doing yesterday. Vet is optimistic that it will heal if we can keep him from running and jumping for awhile. And… while he doesn’t particularly LOVE the crate (never been in one), I think he’s thankful it keeps the Dobie from licking his ears all the time. 4 weeks. Gotta get through February like this.

Wish us luck!

It’s the first “real” snow we’ve had this year. Yeah, I know. It’s not really a lot. The boys played yesterday…and are itchin to get out in it already today. And it’s Xander’s first snow. It’s been fun to watch.

I will have to trek to work at some point today, but no worries….least I don’t have to drive to the Knoxville store anymore. 30 miles in the snow sucks.

Here are some pics…

And here’s a video… Enjoy!!!