We've actually had a fairly quiet day today so far. We went to lunch with one of my aunts. Originally, I was going to spend the rest of the afternoon with her at her house, but some stuff came up and she had to go somewhere. Mr Moo and I came back to my other aunt's house instead. He's now taking a nap and I'm trying to clean up and deal with email. In a few hours, we're taking my parents, brother and cousin out for dinner. Afterward, we'll stop and say goodbye to a few people before heading back here to pack. I still can hardly believe we're leaving tomorrow already. It's all gone by so terribly fast. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again and seeing all of the animals, but I will miss my family and friends a lot after we're gone. That, by far, is the worst thing about living so far away. I wish I could see everyone more often.

I can hear Mr Moo snoring. Think I might join him in napping for a little while.

I met up with a bunch of friends from high school tonight. We got a large table at a local Chinese restaurant for several hours and people came and went as they could. I think, in the end we had 10 people. It was all very last minute so it wasn't a huge turn out, but we still had a lot of laughs and really good time.

Next year, we'll plan ahead better and give everyone more warning. I'm already looking forward to next time.

Mr Moo and I took my cousins' seven kids out today as their Christmas present.

We took them to lunch first then to the lanes for bowling.

With seven kids, it was a bit chaotic, but everyone seemed to have a good time. I was more than ready for a nap when all was said and done.

This evening, I had a couple friends over here at my aunt and uncle's house for an informal sewing class. M had never sewn before and needed help learning how to thread and use her machine. D was deconstructing a favorite old sweatshirt to use as a pattern to make some new ones. I like being able to share sewing with other people. Since it's not being taught in schools anymore, those of us who do know how need to teach anyone and everyone we can so it's not lost forever. I joke that I only do it so I can write off part of my trip as a business expense, but the truth really is that I like teaching. I'm looking forward to seeing what both of tonight's students make in the future.

I called D, the behaviorist, tonight to see how Oscar is doing. She picked him up from my in-laws yesterday morning for his five days of doggy boot camp. She said he is doing very well so far. They went to the dog park today. He did great with the other dogs D brought along and the new dogs they met at the park. There were some issues when she fed everyone in the evening (he wanted to eat someone else's food once he finished his own), but she corrected him right away and nothing was allowed to escalate. It was a relief to hear that he's behaving himself. Only three and a half days until I get to see him again. Can't wait!

Mr Moo and I went out for ice cream with a good friend of mine tonight.

We were having such a good conversation, the employees let us stay for a while even after they had closed the restaurant. They cleared away our dishes and mopped around us while we chatted. It's a good thing they finally had to kick us out or we probably would have stayed and talked all night.

Good thing we decided to not go hiking today. It's pouring out! Now that our day is free, we're not sure what to do. We'll probably stop and visit some friends and family, and watch some of the Patriots game with my dad. We can use a slow paced day today after the chaos of the last few. We're thinking of rescheduling the hike for Tuesday morning, but it will depend on the weather. It might be scary cold, which won't be much fun. Frostbite and hypothermia weren't on my Christmas list this year.

Several friends of mine from high school and I went out for a girls only breakfast this morning.

There were six of us, but, unfortunately, we forgot to break out the camera until after Cindy had already left. Sorry, Cindy! Right after breakfast, I met up with an entirely different group of friends for lunch and spent the afternoon with them. We were having such a good time, I totally forgot about the camera and have zero photos from that get together. I blame it on my old age.

I swore to myself I was going to take and post some photos today, then promptly forgot all about it. Sorry. Got nothing for you just yet.

Today was pretty laid back. Mr Moo and I finished up our shopping and headed over to my parents house in the afternoon. We had dinner quite early there. Everyone was feeling kind of tired afterward so we didn't stay too late. We came back to my aunt and uncle's house and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out. Mr Moo took a nap and wandered around aimlessly for a while. I've been online trying to get caught up on emails. Exciting, eh? We don't mind though. Given the absolute zoo it's going to be here tomorrow, we're enjoying having some quiet time to ourselves.

Speaking of tomorrow's crazies, we should probably get to bed. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas tomorrow. Don't eat too much! :-)

It doesn't seem like we did a whole lot, but we kept very busy today. We eventually made it over to my parents' house for a visit. From there, we picked up my brother and did a bit of shopping. The stores weren't very crowded, but the traffic was insane everywhere. Guess there were more people coming and going than actually shopping. The three of us went out to dinner, stopped at the grocery store for a few things and gave a ride home to a family friend we ran into at the grocery store. Like I said, it doesn't sound like much, but we were out there well into the evening.

Tomorrow, we're running a few more errands and doing a tiny bit more shopping before heading to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner. My sister and BIL aren't in town this year and my brother has to work so it will just be the four of us. I told my mom not to go to a lot of trouble because of this so it's going to be very casual.

Friday is the huge Christmas Day family gathering here at my aunt and uncle's house. I think she's having 29 people for dinner. It's going to be crazy.

It's getting late and I'm still very jet lagged. Time for bed. Goodnight, fishies.

Quick post to let you know all is well. Mr Moo picked me up just a few minutes after my last update. We drove straight to my aunt and uncle's house with no problems. There isn't much traffic at 1:30 in the morning. We got to the house at 2:30 and got to bed at 3:30. Needless to say, we didn't have much trouble falling asleep. I was up at 9:30. I could have slept another couple hours, but figured I'd better get up, spend the day being tired and get over the jet lag as soon as possible.

Don't have any big plans for the rest of today. We need to do a bit of shopping and start making the rounds visiting people. Going to have lunch in a minute then head out.

It's always good to be back in Boston - especially when the Dunkin Donuts at the airport is still open. Woot! I've got my bag and now begins the long wait for Mr Moo. According to the airline website, his flight is going to land about 20 minutes late. That will give him just 40 minutes to get off the plane and get over to the rental car place before they close. I'm not sure he'll make it. Hopefully, they're on some sort of holiday hours and will be open a bit later than normal. If Mr Moo doesn't get the car, he'll be sleeping at the airport in Providence and I'll be sleeping here in Boston tonight. Well, actually, he'll be sleeping at the airport. I'll take the train in. Not much to do now except enjoy my donuts and chocolate milk, and wait.

EDIT: Mr Moo called. He has the rental car and is on his way to Boston to pick me up. Yay!

I made it to San Francisco. We were getting off the plane just as Mr Moo's plane was boarding back in Portland. The trip down here was very bumpy, but I didn't notice much since I was asleep almost the entire time. I'm hoping to stay awake on the second leg so I can have at least a tiny chance of getting to sleep later tonight. So, Mr Moo is on his way to Chicago and I'm waiting to board my flight to Boston. What a crazy day today.

I had high hopes of posting another round of the movie contest as well as several journal entries over the past couple days, but, as you can see, none of that happened. I was very busy getting the house and zoo ready for our departure, doing laundry, cleaning and packing. Josie and Stuka are at home. The pet sitter will come by every day to take care of them. Oscar is at my in-laws' house until Sunday, when the behaviorist will pick him up for five days of doggy boot camp. As for Mr Moo and I, we're at the airport right now. Since it's just a few days before Christmas, we left the house very early this morning to make sure we had plenty of time to check in and get through security. Turns out, we didn't need to. There was almost no traffic, the shuttle picked us up as soon as we stepped out of the car and there is virtually nobody in the lines here at the airport. It's kind of spooky, actually. We had so much time to kill, we went to the restaurant and had a sit down breakfast and we still have plenty of time to wait. According to ticket agent, the massive rush was about an hour before we arrived. I'm really glad we missed it.

My flight is scheduled to depart in about an hour. Mr Moo leaves about an hour and a half after that. I'm going to Boston via San Francisco. He's going to Providence via Chicago. We'll arrive at our respective destinations about an hour apart. He'll get the rental car then drive to Boston to get me. We're expecting to arrive at my aunt and uncle's house sometime around 2AM. It's going to be a very long day.

I am so proud of my dog at the moment I'm almost in tears. Right after we adopted Oscar, we made several trips to the pet store for both shopping and obedience classes. He was a nightmare every time we went. He barked at everyone, tried to pee on everything, went bonkers if we got anywhere near the birds, tried to eat all of the other dogs and was just a hot mess in every aspect. We needed to get a few things so we ventured back again tonight. It's the first time we've been there in about a month. I knew we would see some improvement, but I wasn't expecting what happened. He was an absolute angel. He stayed right with me the whole time and sat down when I told him. He happily greeted all of the people we met. He even went right up to a kitty in a cage, said hello (gave her a good sniff) and walked away without a single bark or fit. He did try to wee on an end cap (can't really blame him because the store is full of markings), but I was paying close attention and stopped him before his leg was even in the air. Other than that, he was perfect! He even got compliments from several people about how well-behaved he was being. It's absolutely amazing what a few weeks of consistent training can do. This wasn't our regular store where we take obedience class. I'm really looking forward to going back there now so our trainer can see how well he's doing. She's not going to believe it's the same dog!

I recently bough Oscar a new toy.

It's a Busy Buddy Twist N Treat. It's a small toy that drops treats as he plays with it. As with everything new to which we introduce him, he was afraid of it and we had to teach him how to play with it.

It took him a while to gain enough confidence to even approach the darn thing. It had a very strong plastic smell when I first opened it, which I'm sure didn't help. I ended up smearing a bit of peanut butter inside to get his interest. He really liked that. I then tried it with the cookies inside again. Once his little brain realized there was food coming out of it, he was all on board. He can now have all the cookies out in about 20 seconds. Time to get some bigger cookies so they don't fall out so easily.

I'm absolutely in shock right now. I took Oscar for a walk to a small park in our neighborhood. I tied him up to a long lead so he could run around a bit and we could work on the "come" command. Since it's early afternoon on a weekday, I figured we'd have the place to ourselves while we were there. Boy, was I wrong. Within about 15 minutes, there were three labs and a retriever all running around off leash. I thought poor little Oscar was going to lose his mind. I kept him on his rope so he could run around if he wanted, but not get too far away from me. I was anticipating some fear based aggression, but, miraculously, there was none! He greeted the other dogs with his tail up, let them sniff him and even ran around with them a bit. When they got a little too forceful with their sniffing (one of them practically picked Oscar up with his nose), I stepped in to protect him and show him I had his back, which is what the behaviorist said to do. He would venture out to play a bit, then always came right back to me so it's definitely working. And he only barked one time out of excitement when the other dogs all ran right past him at full speed chasing a tennis ball. The whole thing was absolutely amazing to watch and a total breakthrough for Oscar. YAY! The only bad thing that happened was when he lifted his leg and marked the back of the pant leg of one of the men. OMG, I was so embarrassed. I don't think I've ever apologized to anyone as much as I did then. Fortunately, he was a good sport about it and didn't seem pissed off. I'm definitely going to have to keep a closer eye on the muttley when we're meeting new people. Yikes.

Potty Break, a story in pictures

Before we go outside: Yes, I know it's freezing out there. I don't want to go out in the cold anymore than you do. However, you cannot pee in the house so we're going.

As soon as we get outside: No, your pee will not freeze as it's coming out. I promise. It's not THAT cold.

Once he runs around a bit and realizes it's not so bad being outside: Will you hurry up and poop already?! I'm cold! Let's go!

Major change in plans. I am not leaving in the morning after all. We changed my ticket tonight so I am now leaving on Tuesday morning along with Mr Moo. We're not going to be on the same flights. Heck, we're not even flying to the same cities. He's going to Providence and I'm going to Boston. He'll get the rental car as planned then drive to Logan to pick me up before heading to my aunt and uncle's house. It sounds like a nightmare, but it really isn't. We'll be landing at our respective airports at about the same time and the drive to Boston is only about an hour. It will be very late at night, too, so traffic shouldn't be an issue either.

Oscar says hello.

It's going to be a very busy day today. I'm on a plane bound for Massachusetts in the morning and I have lots to do before I head out. I still can't believe Christmas is only a week away.

Every day is an adventure with this dog. Today, I learned Oscar will not poop in the rain. A little sprinkle is okay, but not heavy rain like we're having right now. He hadn't pooped since his walk last night so I knew he was due. He barely peed the first time I took him out and was acting like he wasn't feeling very well when we came back inside. I knew he had to go. And I certainly wasn't going to let him go in the house. So, we got out the giant golf umbrella, headed outside and tried again. I must have been a sight all bent over trying to keep my silly little dog under the protection of the umbrella and focused on pooping. He'd circle around a couple times and, just as he looked about to go, a big drop of rain would hit him and we'd have to start all over. Sigh. It took a while, but he finally did his business. Poor dog needs to realize he's not in California anymore and get to growing some webbed feet like the rest of us.

Will someone, please, make it so I may spend the rest of my days like this?

When we brought Oscar home from the shelter, we were given a bag of his things. Included was a sad thin little doggy bed. At first, we put it in his crate with him, but he always ended up putting his toys in it and sleeping next to it on a towel instead.

It really is quite thin so I don't blame him. Once we realized he would much rather just scrunch up the towel to make a sleeping nest, we took the bed out. I figured it was never going to get used and was about to put it in the box to be given to Goodwill when I had an idea. We tried it out last night and were met with much success.

The bed has been reclaimed! We weren't sure she would go for it because it smells like the dog, but she doesn't appear to care. Since we set it up for her, I don't think Josie has been out of it for more than about 10 minutes total. The halogen desk lamp throws a lot of heat and, when he's home, she gets to be right up next to Daddy while he's working. Win all around.

Back in October, I bought two new Christmas jigsaw puzzles. I finished one of them on Thanksgiving night. The other I actually put together right after I bought it. I just never got around to posting a photo. Well, here you go:

This one went together very quickly. I think I finished it in the time it took to watch two movies.

A few months ago, I found another giant turd on my floor.

This time, it was in the master bathroom. I really need to figure out who is leaving these behind.

My in-laws survived Oscar's sleepover. He growled and had to be rolled a couple times, but, for the most part, he was well behaved. Right after we got home from picking him up, the behaviorist, D, came over for another training session. This time we went for a walk and worked outside. One of the biggest issues we needed to address was his reaction to other dogs. D brought along one of her dogs, Bradley, who is some sort of Golden Retriever and Saint Bernard mix. He mostly has the look of a Retriever, but he's really large and has a humongous SB-like head. It was quite amusing to see our itty bitty Oscar next to him. Based on his reaction, we're fairly certain Oscar was probably bullied by one or more larger dogs in his previous home. We still have a lot of work to do with him, but we made some new progress today. As long as things keep moving forward, we're pleased.

Since things went well last night, it looks like Oscar will be staying with my in-laws for most of Christmas break. What he doesn't know yet is that we're arranging for D to pick him up right after the holiday and take him to her house for several days of doggie boot camp. He will live with her and her dogs for five days and receive lots of training. He will live as part of a pack, make trips to the dog park with the group and receive one-on-one training, too. Based on how quickly he's come around with us, the clueless wonders, D should have no trouble whipping him into better shape. We know she's not going to fix all that troubles him in just five days, but we're all confident he'll improve significantly.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 187

Click here for the entry form.

There are several rounds of the movie contest still open. Take a look and make a guess!

It's froggy out this morning.

We didn't get a single flake of the snow they forecasted for this weekend. I demand a refund!

The dishwasher is back in business.



Oh, well. Someday I'll get a new one.

Stuka is home from the hospital. He's back in his cage resting comfortably. We have antibiotics to give him twice per day for the next seven days. We're also to keep him as warm as possible and feed him as much as we can. He's got his regular seed, spray millet and some fruit flavored treat thing in his cage already. I just made him some corn on the cob and will give him some broccoli in a little while, too. I swear the animals in this house eat better than the people.

Next on my list of things to do is getting Oscar's things together for his sleepover at my in-laws' house tonight. As much as I'll miss the pup, it will be nice to not have to worry about taking anyone out for a walk tonight or in the morning. I need to update and print out a copy of his schedule then pack his "suitcase", a cardboard box. Poor dog isn't going to know what to do with himself when he realizes we're leaving him there. I hope he doesn't give them too much trouble.

Mr Moo is currently out in the garage with the dishwasher. A few days ago, I set it run and walked away. When I went to unload it later, the dishes were all still dirty and the soap was in a pile on the bottom. I got a little panicky thinking the water line, which runs under the house, had frozen, but that's not the problem. Something else has broken. I have to admit I got a little excited thinking we might finally get a new dishwasher. This one came with the house. It's cheap and has never worked well. I would love to get a new one. However, I am married to an uber enginerd, who is a tightwad to boot, and he will not let it go without a fight. So, he's taking it apart as I type to see if he can repair it. I sense many trips to Home Depot in our immediate future.

Good news on the Stuka front! He survived the night and gained 2 grams! Dang! That's like a 150 pound person gaining nearly 15 pounds overnight. The antibiotics are doing their thing and the results of his fecal exam this morning were much better than yesterday. The doctor has given the okay for him to come home today along with 7-10 more days of antibiotics. He's not out of the woods yet since he's still very underweight, but there is hope. The most important thing we can do for him, once he's home again, is to keep him as warm as possible. We already have a heat lamp for him, but we'll need to do a bit more. Guess we're going to have to bite the bullet and turn up the heat in the house beyond the "meat locker" setting.

As much as I hate the freezing cold we're having right now, frozen dog turds are a million times easier to pick up than fresh ones.

I'm up early this morning to wait on the phone call from the avian vet. Sitting here waiting to hear whether or not our bird has lived through the night/will live through the day is certainly not my favorite way to spend a morning.

On a brighter note, I thought I'd post a little about Oscar. I have been asked how he is doing on several occasions now and figure I owe you an update post. All is good news as he's doing really well. We think he's finally figuring out this is his forever home and we're not going to hurt him like his last owners. Every day he learns to trust us more, which, in turn, means he learns to listen more. He still has a long way to go though. We'll probably have to work on his training every day for the remainder of his life, but he is learning lots of commands including: sit, stay, down, take, drop it, leave it and quiet. He's much calmer on his walks and barks at almost nothing aside from other anxious dogs. He's also learning that the kitty is totally off limits. I still don't trust him enough to leave him alone with her, but, for the most part, when he sees her, he walks away. Whimpering, mind you, but at least he's walking away.

This weekend, Oscar is going on his first sleepover away from home. Since my in-laws have graciously offered to let him stay at their house over Christmas break, he's heading over there for a 24 hour trial run tomorrow. He's still on a very strict schedule with a tight set of rules so we want to work out any kinks and make sure to answer any questions they might have before we head out of town.

On Sunday, after we pick him up from Grandma and Grandpa's house, we have our second appointment with the behaviorist. Since it was dark the last time she came over, we weren't able to go for a walk and only worked on inside the house issues. It's time now for us to resolve his outdoor issues. He's still occasionally a little pull-y on his walks. We need to work on walking by, ignoring and meeting other dogs, especially ones who are anxious themselves. We also need to find a better way to keep his attention while we're out because he gets distracted by everything when we're outdoors. Compared to how he was several weeks ago, he is a million times better. We just need to fine tune what we're doing in order to help him learn these last few things.

Are you freaking kidding me? How much worse can this week get? Stuka is gravely ill now. He's got a severe bacterial infection. I knew he wasn't feeling great before we left the house. By the time we got to the clinic, he was so weak he could barely stand up. He's lost so much weight the doctor is stunned he's even still alive. Normally, if a parakeet gets below 28g, they consider them unrecoverable and euthanize them. Stuka is down to 22g. The only reason the doctor is even willing to attempt treatment at this point is because he's still hopping around and trying to be active. After giving him a heavy dose of antibiotics, they rushed him off to an incubator. He'll be staying at the clinic for the next 24 hours to see how he responds to the meds. They'll do another fecal swab in the morning to see if there is any improvement. If not, we'll be putting him to sleep. The sucky thing is, even if there is improvement, he still may not survive because of his weight. I'm feeling terribly guilty because we got so involved with taking care of Dr Jones we failed to notice how bad Stuka was getting. I should have taken him to see the doctor a week ago when I first noticed he wasn't feeling well.

I had my first ever mammogram today. No matter what my mother says, it wasn't bad at all. It was about 10 total seconds of mild discomfort when the machine was clamped down hard. The rest of the time was spent waiting and standing around while the x-ray machine did its thing. I know that government panel was recently screaming that women don't need to be screened so much, but you know what? I don't care. I feel better knowing I now have a set of baseline images to compare future scans to. And, hopefully, in a few days, I will also have the peace of mind knowing that I am cancer free for now. So screw you, crazy government panel! I'm going to continue doing my self exams and get another mammogram in a few years. So there!

On a totally unrelated note, our parakeet, Stuka continues to not feel well. He's fluffy and lethargic, and his poop has gotten very runny. Last week, I said I was going to take him to see the doctor on Monday, if he wasn't feeling better, but we got so caught up in trying to save Dr Jones that poor Stuka got overlooked. The doctor had a cancellation this afternoon so we're heading to the clinic shortly. Oh, he's so going to love going out in this cold.

Dr Jones, our betta fish died today. :-( He's been battling dropsy, which is almost always fatal, for a few weeks now. We tried Epsom salt baths and antibiotic medications, but nothing worked. His symptoms got really bad over the past few days so we knew his time was short. Even though he was a fish, he was my little buddy and I'm going to miss him.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 186

Click here for the entry form.

There are several rounds of the movie contest still open. Take a look and make a guess!

We took Oscar (and his brand new hiking coat) to Forest Park today for his first official hike in the woods.





We did a two mile round-trip hike. He was very excited and ready to go for the first mile. Not so much on the return trip. He's a very energetic dog, but doesn't have much stamina and burns out quickly. We didn't have to ask him twice to get in his crate for a nap when we returned home.

Welcome to Moo's House of Sick, Part 412. Yup, got a house full of sick critters once again. This time, it's all four of them.

Oscar - He's not bad, but I can tell he's not feeling good. He's got an upset tummy. He tried to throw up twice when I let him out this morning, but nothing came up. I've never seen a dog hurk-a-lurk like a cat before so that was something new for me. He didn't devour his breakfast like he normally does (but at least he ate) and was quite listless on his walk. If he's still poorly later, we might skip his walk this afternoon so he can rest.

Josie - She had diarrhea yesterday that smelled so bad we nearly decided to move. Rotting corpse flavored air fresheners would have made the house smell better. Dang. I haven't noticed any green vapors wafting from the litter box so far today though. Hopefully, the worst is over and she's feeling better now.

Stuka - The 'keet has diarrhea as well. He's fluffed up a bit and not eating very well. He probably has a little bit of a cold and could use a round of antibiotics. We're going to watch him over the weekend and take him to see the doctor on Monday, if he's not feeling better. Needless to say, after our last billion dollar outing at the avian hospital, Mr Moo is not keen on taking him back again. I, however, am not going to stand idly by and watch him die if all he needs is some meds.

Dr Jones - Our poor little betta fish is the worst off of everyone. He's bloated up like a parade float and it's not responding to meds. I was worried he has dropsy, but his scales aren't up. I'm starting to think he's just severely constipated. I've tried feeding him some pea to see if we could get things moving, but he's not a fan. Next step is an Epsom salt bath, which I'll do this afternoon.

Never a dull moment at our zoo, is there?

At our house, we find joy in the little things.



That's Oscar gnawing on his most favorite thing in the whole wide world - a beef tendon. He couldn't possibly be more happy than when he's got one of those. And good luck to you if you should be dumb enough to try to take it away from him without offering him something in exchange. Maybe next time, I'll take a video of the snarling beast he becomes when it's time to drop it.

Oscar had an accident tonight. We're still desperately trying to learn his tell for when he needs to go outside. So far, it appears he trots around downstairs back and forth from us to the door. Unfortunately, this is a behavior he does constantly whether he has to pee or not. When he really does have to go, there is an added sense of desperation to it, which we need to recognize better. Luckily, we have him wearing one of these:

It's a cummerbund/wrap for male dogs. Since he's only been neutered for a couple months now and hasn't learned it's not acceptable to mark in the house, he wears it whenever he's indoors and not in his crate. It wraps tightly around his waist, presses his wee-wee against his body and reduces his desire to lift his leg. Tonight, he wasn't trying to mark. He just had to pee really bad and we weren't "hearing" him. He started to go a little before we noticed, scooped him up and ran outside with him. The wrap managed to contain it all. Hear that? Yeah, it's my carpet breathing a sigh of relief.

How can something this little and this cute misbehave so much and so badly?

He's adorable. He knows it. And, let me tell you, he works it.

From this year's Chick-fil-A calendar, The Bovines in Blue:

MooGyver
Working for a top-secret foundation called the Feedlot, Agent MooGyver has an uncanny ability to escape even the greasiest situations. Whether he's fashioning a zip-line from a piece of bailing wire or disarming a barbeque grill with a paper clip, the resourceful MooGyver has guided countless villains toward the ways of chicken-eating.