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May 2, 1996 – November 20, 2008

Sadly, today we had to say goodbye to our “little girl” C. She was almost 9 years old when she joined our family in 2004. She came to us through American Brittany Rescue (ABR). She’d been in pretty bad shape when they found her; she was apparently kept outdoors in a kennel and used for breeding.

Her early years weren’t pleasant. And she was such a sweet little thing. So we made up for it in her later years. With us, she got to enjoy life. She got to experience the love and care that she deserved. And she made our lives much richer in return.

Hubby and I both agree the above is our favorite picture of her (C’s on the right). Because of the way she was raised, she didn’t know how to play like other dogs do. Except for when she was out in the snow.

Hubby used to always call her “pretty girl.” As he said, “She doesn’t know what ‘pretty’ means, but she sure likes it when I say it.” That’s usually because it almost always accompanied by an ear rub.

This is another of my favorites. It was taken late in 2004. She’d only been with us for about 10 months and we’d managed to fatten her up nicely. She’s the picture of good health here. Until she got sick, she NEVER looked her age. Especially when her ears were trimmed.

I’ve always liked this picture, too. With C on the left and Meg on the right, they look like Ma and Pa Kettle to me.

I’ve written other posts about C. Like this one, where I talked about her cute, hairy brown lips. One of my favorite posts about the dogs is the one with the video showing them playing The Nose Game.

She was a bit neurotic at times. But we loved her anyway.

It was unbelievably hard taking her to the vet for the last time even though we know it was the right thing for her. As painful as it is to lose her, we’re really glad to have had her in our lives.

Yes, I have lots more pictures. A good number of funny stories, too. But writing this is torturous, so I’m going to end here for now.

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My World, For Better or Worse

Yesterday I took the easy way out. I grabbed someone else’s photo and just admitted that not much had happened to me on Monday.

Well, I later realized that was pretty lame. I mean, stuff happens every day, right? The question is, is the stuff interesting?

You be the judge.

As I sat at my desk, eating but not enjoying my Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Pop Tarts straight from the package, I was feeling a bit, well, confused. I usually love this particular flavor Pop Tart. Hot or cold. But they totally were not hitting the spot.

I pulled the remaining pastry from the package and saw this (photo at left). I think it is Kellogg’s way of sucking people in to buy more pastries. I wonder how well it works. What is “BG” anyway? And really, it looks ugly. And because it looks ugly, it tastes ugly. After I took this lovely photo, I re-wrapped the second Pop Tart. If I get desperate later, I might eat it. Or feed it to the dogs. Or toss it in the trash.

Speaking of the dogs…

I noticed Meg (above) was looking a bit melancholy.

So was C.

I couldn’t figure out why. Not that I wasted a ton of brain energy trying to figure it out. I was working after all. That requires lots of focus.

But I was having a hard time focusing. Maybe it was my lame-ass, half-eaten breakfast?

Perhaps it was the fact that C, who prefers hanging out under my desk while I work, had gas. (I was even feeling a bit dizzy.)

So I decided to take the dogs outside to cheer them up. And hopefully give C the opportunity to air out.

But, it was raining. And we were confronted with this, which I think you might agree is not very cheery.

Doesn’t this shot below make you shiver?

That’s when I realized it was darn cold out there. Wanna know how cold?

Yep, not only was it wet, it was a mere 44.6 degrees Fahrenheit outside. But, what was worse, was the inside temperature. Did you happen to notice that in the handy photo posted above? It was 59.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Inside.

Hmmm. I think that means it is time to switch on the heat, don’t you?

Maybe that will cheer ole C up. I’ll let you know later if it worked.

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It Isn’t All About Money. But…

I have a bit of a quandary.

I really like my dogs’ veterinarian. One of the reasons I started using this particular vet is because he helps American Brittany Rescue (ABR) by discounting services significantly. Which is huge. Quite a few ABR dogs have been helped by this particular vet.

I’ve known for some time their drug prices are higher than prices on the Internet. But they match prices, so it never really mattered that much. Besides, I’d rather the extra money go to this vet who helps ABR all the time than some other vet.

That changed today when I realized just how much said vet is marking-up the prices of some drugs.

Drugs like Frontline and Heartgard are usually a bit cheaper on-line than at the vet. But these are popular drugs, so the vet has to be competitive. It is the cost of the lesser-known drugs that are the real issue.

C, our oldest dog (she’s 12 1/2), has been suffering with chronic diarrhea for some time. We can’t figure out what is wrong. After quite a few expensive diagnostic procedures and several different drugs (yes, we tried different food, too) we’re at a loss. So we’ve decided to try a long-term course of an antibiotic known generically as metronidazole (brand-name Flagyl).

We decided this during our last visit. It is a drug that requires a prescription, which the office filled. For 20 pills, it cost $23 or $1.15/pill.

It seems to be working so I called in for a 100-pill refill today. Not until after I checked Internet prices, of course. I was amazed to learn that prices for this pill ranged from $0.10/pill to $0.26/pill. My feelings went quickly from amazement, to confusion, to pissed off.

I called the vet’s office thinking no way they’d match that price. They did, no questions asked. I just had to show them a printout.

The matching is nice and all, but I feel robbed. What if I’d bought 100 pills last week instead of only 20?

So, do I stay pissed off at the vet? Maybe change vets? That was my first inclination. Until I thought about it some more. I’d be willing to bet the practice is pretty common. Prices are not usually determined by considering cost alone. Prices are established based on what people will pay, or what the market will bear. And the vet is running a business.

I think I just learn to adjust. I’ll have the vet write an actual prescription, not sell me some pills. Maybe that will work. Time will tell I guess.

In the meantime, if you have pets and buy your drugs from the vet, do yourself a favor and check Internet prices. This is not the only drug I have saved significantly on.

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Two for Two and Cute Doggie Lips

Yep, I walked again today. With Meg, who actually might need the walks just as much as I do. But for different reasons. Which I won’t go into because I spend far too much time talking about Meg.

She’s not our only dog, you know.

There’s also CeCe, our little princess, who was, after all, our first dog. I can’t take C along because she has issues. Lots of issues, actually, but the one that prevents me from taking her along is intestinal. The poor girl has had diarrhea off and on for a while now. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it (yes, we’ve been to the vet).

When she has to go, she has to go. The end result is usually a puddle. So, if she goes on someone’s lawn, I can’t pick it up. Then my neighbors would consider me one of THOSE PEOPLE that don’t pick up after their pets!

When we left this morning, C was busy chewing her “chewy.” In this case, a bully stick. You don’t REALLY want to know what that is, so just think of it as a dog treat. Which it is, of course.

C loves them. Just look at the way she is focused. What I find interesting is how she uses her hands to hang on to it while she chews.

The girl is in dire need of a pedicure. Which she hates, by the way. Just another one of her many issues.

One of the things I love about C is her hairy lips. Looking at her hairy lips, that is. Aren’t they cute? Seriously.

This is one of the pictures her foster mom sent me when we were considering adoption. I just couldn’t say no to those lips. The rest of her body looked pretty pathetic (she was neglected and seriously underweight).

Could you say no to those lips? I mean, really. Aside from the hair, don’t they look painted on? And puckered into a kiss? Mike and I sure thought so. Especially since, at the time, Amy favored lipstick that was almost exactly that color (sorry, Amy, but it is true).

Here, have a closer look…

Lucky for us, C is not a kisser. But I still think she has really cute lips.

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While I Am Hard At Work…

Since this Blog is, after all, supposed to be a depiction of the world through my eyes, I decided to share some images of stuff as I actually see it.

I work from my home office. It took a while for my “kids” to realize that when I am working, I am busy and can’t give them my undivided attention.

They all learned to cope eventually. While I am slaving away at my computer, they nap. The evidence is in this picture, which is a regular sight here.

Moses (old, female cat) is the black spot at left on the green dog bed. Above Moses and to the right is Meg (female dog) curled up on the cat bed. The gray spot on the green chair is Muffin (another female cat). CeCe (female dog) is in the foreground on the cream-colored dog bed. The brown critter to the right of and slightly below Moses is CeCe’s TOY beaver.