How many "G's" in Gurty?

Look at her with her iv and that feeding tube through her nose :o(.

A long time ago I said I would post why Gurty was missing fur on her legs, but I never did -- until now.

We got Gurty from a rural shelter and she had not yet had any shots. Don't ever get a dog without shots.

We brought her home, fell crazy in love with her and about day three or four, she puked. Later that day she was holding her tail low -- after what happend with Izzy (died from a tummy puncture from eating sticks or something) , I wasn't waiting around to see what was up. It was the weekend (naturally) so we had to go the ER vet where they tested her for parvo and it came back +.

We had no idea what parvo was -- the Doc explained it was a puppy killer, but most will live if they are supported through it so we checked her into the doggy hospital.

The first day or two wasn't bad, but then it got ugly. What happens is they puke and shit to the point of sloughing off intestinal lining. Dehydration will kill and/or the ravage leaves them super vulnerable to secondary infection -- most will die without some kind of intervention.

Okay, here's the part which pissed me off. The ER hospital costs way more than just a vet, why we didn't think to move her...after Izzy, we were just like, "fix it" and weren't really thinking of $, rather, "Oh, please, I can't tell my children the puppy is dead". We hadn't just lost Izzy last year, but Santa had brought a guinea pig which promptly died a horrible death over a few weeks worth of rapid declining (lessons: vitamin C leaches out of fortified food over time and exotic animals need to be seen by exotic animal vets -- regular vets may miss OBVIOUS signs of scurvy and send you home after giving a $70 dollar hydration shot that will do nothing to stop your helpless pet from hemorrhaging to death ).

Back to the Bel-Air parvo center. When an animal has a highly contagous and deadly virus, they house them in isolation -- sort of. They have an isolation room where they put ALL of the highly contagious patients -- which is a great idea if you think having one deadly virus is not enough for one pet. Not only that, but each day I visited Gurty, a different staff member would give me different precautionary procedures to follow -- some were like, ' Hey, she's in there, have at it.' While others were, "Here are the rubber gloves, and step on this bleach pad before and after entering the room and leave all protective gowns and such in this pail here." And some were in-between.

Infectious disease! Cross contamination! Get your shit and staff together, care facility.

For the most part, Gurty was the only one in isolation, there was a sick pet or two briefly passing through whith the stand out exception being a coughing cat who was there for part of day. After 4 days of shivering and minimal movement, Gurty was finally on the mend and walking around again. Things were looking good and she got her iv drug line out and they started giving her shots instead. One such shot taking place while the cat was there and funny enough, shortly thereafter, Gurty starts to carry her leg (the same one the shot went into). A couple days later, Gurty is realeased, bad limb and all.

They say "it's most likely a secondary infection -- it happens with the Parvo, see your vet if it doesn't clear up".

It was a secondary infection of a nasty bacteria, about the worst kind you would want to see come back from pathology -- the very same kind that will give your cat a nasty cough! Hmmmm.

The bacteria was so bad, that the drugs powerful enough to kill it had the potential to destroy Gurty's kidneys along with it. Plus, she couldn't even take the pill form b/c that would kill a puppy for sure, she had to have daily injections -- not only daily injection, but surgery as well, you know, to scrape out the infection (in her joint) and hope that, along with the kindney killer drug, it would save her life.

So she lived and will forever have a leg that bugs her when it's cold, etc.

I have never found another person on this planet who has spent more on getting a dog through parvo. I'm glad we were emotional and didn't have time to be rational about the money, or I don't think we could have justified it and I am so glad we have her. And once we had spent a certain amount it was like deal or no deal -- let it ride -- it became about protecting our investment. Again, hindsight, I think they could have gotten her through the parvo with much less treatment (two transfusions), but who knows? But I think I read 90 plus percent make it through with several hundred dollars of iv fluids??? Hundreds is better than thousands (with an s).

As much joy as she brings to our life, I would spend it again, but there is a part of me that thinks about Dar Fur and how can I spend that kind of money on a dog when shit like that is going down. The reality is, we wouldn't have put our family in debt like we did in order to give a donation. This was a, do what you have to do as it is dealt to you, kind of situation. As peace of mind would have it, my spiritual beliefs allow me to think that Gurty was sent to us and a way was provided for us to handle it (as well as a donation to Dar Fur, but it wasn't in the thousands).

And that's the story of Gurt. Thank God she is an awsome dog, could you imagine if she turned out to be super obnoxious. We had a stupid dog once -- we still loved him, but not very much.

The latest projects

The coffee table thing is on it's fourth life. Once it was Rich's mom's curio cabinet, then Rich turned it into a "bar" (it still has mirrors on the inside), then a toy box for the girls and now a coffee table in our room.

I saw a commercial for a furniture store and there was a painting with colorful egg shapes like these -- I liked the look, so I made it my own.

I liked it so much, I painted it on a vase thingy too (it doesn't hold water, so what do you call it? Dry flower vase? stick holder?) .

I really need to get working on a web site or an etsy page because it would be nice to start selling some of this stuff.

The last thing is "medicine" that Lizzie made for a stuffed animal that she had given to her dad. Seems he's not taking very good care of it. That medicine sat on my counter for two days because, "only the owner can give it to his pet." Lucky the thing didn't die.

Grandma was Catholic

And that's why we have to rent a town hall for Thanksgiving. We had the Ohio Davis-Finney's with us this year, other than them it was just us Wisconsin and Illinois locals -- not even all of us at that.

I love having a large extended family. When I was young, I thought I wanted to have ten kids of my own, but then I grew up and realized I am not made of the stuff it takes to raise a large family. I wish I were, I'd adopt a boat load, or be a foster mom, but there's no way. I think about it on the days my sanity is pushed to it's limits by just the three kids -- if there was one more person chinkin away at my armour, I'd be eating from a tray in some institution for sure.

My kids get the big family benefit anyway. My family is really good at looking past flaws and loving what is good about each other. It's kind of like an army of speaking dogs, always happy to see each other and thinking each other is the shiz-niz. And we all have the same weird-meter installed, so everyone always laughs in just the right places and everyone has ten conversations going on at once -- we all follow along one another's broken thoughts and spark off of each others wavelenghts, etc.

I can't tell you what that does for the soul. On the lesser days this world has to offer -- I have fans, lots and lots of them.

They are the reasons why I'm so well adjusted despite an insanely screwed up childhood (or maybe the reasons I think I'm well adjusted -- I'll take it either way).

gobble gobble

Happy Thanksgiving blogger buddies. Hope you all are having happy times and good eats with all your favorite people.

I am grateful for my family, for my aunts second opinion, for getting to see my dad this year, for my super cool kids, my husband, all the rock star things I get to do even though I'm not a rock star, for my recovery, for that crazy little dog, for paint and painting products, digital cameras, my health, and of course, for my blogger friends.

Good night y'all.

Oh yes they do make pj's for dogs

I realize this isn't the best photo, but you get the idea. It's so wrong, and yet -- I bet you are smiling.

I'm telling you, if you had a dog that lets you put clothes on it -- you would have bought these too. Who knew they made pj's? And with all the legs...it ain't right.

Love it.

I am so tired

"How tired are you?!"

I'm so tired, I'm hunchback and I don't care.

I'm so tired, thinking about standing up straight makes me want to go back to bed.

I'm so tired, before this day is over I will eat something that involves melted cheese and some kind of bread product.

I'm so tired, I'm resigned to the weight gain this will cause.

I'm so tired, I forget the funny thing I was going to say about being tired -- the one that would have made this posting effort worthwhile.

*while thinking of a baked bread and cheese product, which is bad enough to be thinking about for a woman who's body doesn't bounce back the way it used to -- it made me think of this other thing. There is a place which deep fries the dough with all the cheese and whatever other pizza type topping you want inside -- we are talking deep fried pizza, friends. I haven't had one since I was pregnant with Winnie (8 yrs ), but it's like state fair food for sure, once in a while you crave it, but I swear I feel my blood moving slower through my veins just thinking about it.

Again, tired -- one thought leading to the next and all. Last time I ate that yummy fried thing, the employees were fighting in the back while prepping our food. I had ordered fried green pepper strips too -- well, they were the so over salted, to this day when I see fried veggies, I think of that kid back there yelling at the other kid while angrily shaking salt on my peppers.

I love it when they fight

My friend and her husband are in a big ass fight because he bought shiny black loafers that have tassels for extra entry points into the dorkdom of Dorkville.

Every once in a while these two will get into a doozy over something like this. One time they almost bought the lawyer over the foil wrappers from creamer cartons. Seems she habitually left them on the counters and he was extremely bothered by this and she was bothered that he was so bothered. As a solution, she started putting them in strange places, like his pocket, his checkbook, breifcase, etc. Little foil love notes in places that would remind them both not to take life so seriously when it comes to small garbgage.

By the time they both come around everyone has been sufficiently entertained.

He's not ready to laugh yet, but she's already working out the details of the comedy routine. I told her she could extend a branch by buying him some shoe polish and some scissors for the tassles.

complaint department

Stupid mozilla.

Twice now, this particular browser has taken it upon itself to update to a newer, improved, version. Pish! And not to mention, the butt-wipes clear my favorites file each time it updates like that -- get your shit together firefox people.

I'm going back to explorer, I can't tell any great benefit here and explorer never screwed me over on my bookmarks.

Twice.

So much for posting every day in November

I thought about it thought, so there's something.

I'm here today to document some kid love.

Once in a while, when my kids are at school, I'll set up a toy scene in their room. This has a two fold effect -- first, it causes delight in the children because they think mommy has been playing with toys and they think that's great. Second, they can't resist a good toy set up and they forget about Hannah Montana for the evening and play until bedtime. On these nights, dinner is more planning than eating -- too cute.

I can't do this all the time or it becomes old news. Sometimes they play for several days out of the same starter scene -- too cool.

Two days ago, I set up a littlest pet shop scene and the next day I found notes everywhere. The pet shop mixed with all of the Wii Zelda as of late, so here is a sample of what I have been finding:

Winefred & Louise

Dear Frankie,

We need your help in Kakiro Village. there's animal's lose that you need to find! There's 50 of them to be exact. Just take a pen, A pocket, and A checklist, or& don't forget there's A bag that the mesanger will send with this note. Please help us find our animals. (Hint: they're small & might be in smaller places!)

Sincerly,
Winnie Ann
&
Elizabeth Louise

P.S. Please Knock on the door in Kakiro Village that says...
Winefred's house.

We,ll be waiting at 6:00!!!

----------------------------------

Then I find a large sword drawn on paper, it's stamped with a pig stamp and has Frankie's name on it.

Another note:

Dear great Warier Frankie,

Your help here in Kakiro Village is greatly apreciated. I can prodict the future. Right now Kakiro Village is in great danger on Thursday Novermber 8th 2007 monsters, spirits, foes, & ugly creatures will be Invading at 5:00 P.M. for this of course you will need special weapons. Like a sword & sheild.

Please come & Help,

Winnie H.

_______________

With that note came a sword and shield drawn in pen on paper with the words "The Sword of truth" and "The sheild of Triforces"

and it says, "Here are your wepons. cut them out & they will become real."

-----------------------

There are a bunch of scrolls too, little scrolls with crayon drawings and pig stamps, rolled up and bound with yellow yarn. They are everywhere.

I love my kids, this is the best kind of crap to have laying around -- they were so into it.

Frankie did find all but one of the animals, a lizard, which we found next morning at breakfast.

I hope they are ready for today at 5:00, it's going to be a battle.

Time to rename my blog

I'll call it "People I know on the TV."

This is how much of a geek I am, my favorite restaurateur puts out a quarterly newsletter and I read it from cover to cover. Maybe that's not so geeky, because there are deals and event announcements, but it sure feels geeky to be so hopped up about food.

I used to work for this guy and I kind of idolize him a bit. I can't say that about many chef's I've worked with, some think so highly of themselves that it's hard to take. But not Joe. Joe's love and passion for food is infectious. He and his chef's travel the world and hang with the best and bring the best flavor combos a palate could ever hope for - right here to Milwaukee.

Part of the waitress training involved a week in the kitchen -- I had to cook and eat one of everything on the menu. Brilliant. It was how he taught us the food, instead of memorizing ingredients and spouting them out when asked -- you could convey the heaven of each dish by really knowing how it was prepared and such.

All I can say is, I have worked in a lot of restaurants and it's somewhat typical to have the kitchen filled with chef's who think they are Gods that have to work with a lowly wait staff as a necessary evil. Joe has a way creating an all for one, one for all environment -- I loved working for him and his family, it really felt like being a part of something.

Truthfully, it really was being a part of something. When you think about some of the best food in it's category, that the entire world has to offer, and I get to eat it regularly -- holy privilege Batman.

I'm making myself yearn for Bartalotta food. East Coast, West Coast -feh! The best is here in the Midwest -- I know it every time I'm eating it -- this is the real deal.
Salivate.

I'll get to the point already, but that was a nice memory trip for me. Alas, great food is like great love, it defies words -- I only wish I could share bites of food over the computer.

The point -- Joe's brother, Paul, is a James Beard award winning chef and he is going to be on Iron Chef!

!!!

I am an absolute Food Network junkie and Alton Brown is one of my favorite geeks ever. What's even more fun is that this is also a bonding point for Rich and I. We did a little happy dance over our two degrees of separation from Alton Brown.

Once again, there is no air date yet but I'm setting my DVR for first run Iron Chef's right away.

I'm such a dork because I get really excited about that show anyway, so I'm a really geeked about seeing the episode. Oh, and he is bringing Chef Adam Siegal from Bartolotta's Lake Park Bistro here in Milwaukee -- so that's another layer of geekedness because I've had both of their cooking before which means we are practically related.

I bet he wins.

tagged by Kay

7 random things:

1. Before it got broken, I rarely used my spoon rest. I didn't like it getting ooked up and would rather clean the stove top than have to deal with the dirty spoon rest.

2. I love coffee. Me and coffee, coffee and me -- 2good 2b 4gotten, 2gether 4ever -- it's like that.

3. I don't think my adrenal glands are too happy about my love affair with the coffee.

4. I have lesbian hands. I read a study about testosterone exposure in utero and what, if anything, it had to do with autism -- somewhere in there it mentioned a correlation between ring finger length and lesbians -- if your ring finger is longer than your index finger you are more likely to be a lesbian (something like that).

5. I'm not attracted to women in the, want to be your life partner way, but sometimes I do dress a lot like Ellen, hmmmm.

6. Once I tried to jump some rail road tracks with my car . Apparently, I'm not a stunt driver and I got my car stuck on the tracks instead (the road was under construction, there was a ledge...). As I was walking to a phone, I heard the ding, ding, ding of the train warning, lights, gate, horns, breaks, LOUD metal smashing. That poor conductor. The people I worked with had a field day.

7. I love a good coat. Be it trendy or classic -- it's the one thing I don't mind paying full price for and if I had a home with decent closet space, I might aspire to be the Imelda of coats.

If you haven't been tagged, tag yourself and post 7 random things about yourself.

Am I on TV yet?

When my sister's friend was on the Rachel Rae show the other day, so were her kids.

Winnie, who has the acting/singing bug, was about to pop out of her skin with excitement that her friends were on TV!!!

Now, when I say my kid has the bug, I mean it. I watched it all come together for her at about three years old. She's always enjoyed the center of attention, but what kid doesn't? With her it's more of a thing and it came together one day when I thought she might enjoy watching ballet on PBS. That clinched it for her.

There she was, frozen in awe, but at the dancing? Not so much. She wanted to know what they were dancing on, "it's a stage, baby."

You should have seen her eyes and her entire body come together with that bit of knowledge -- her next line of questions were about how a person gets to be on one (my destiny, it will be mine, I will perform, I will be great!).

It will not surprise me one bit if she did turn out to be a stage performer. She can carry a tune and she has a vocal quality that would be perfect for that sort of thing (her and her brother both have it, no microphones necessary for those two -- see how my eyes are crossed? But it would be handy on Broadway).

She could just as easily be a teacher -- the child is bundled with all kinds of natural talent, she loves research and teaching it too...

Anyhow, all this story is leading to the part where I reminded her that she already is on TV. And so I could share Bzot links again because I think Kay and her kids would really dig the music (If you like to rock out to Laurie Berkner and They Might Be Giants, this is up your alley)

Her and Lizzie are in an episode of a show that my brother-in-law did. He hasn't sold that particular thing as a show yet, but Nicktoons snapped it up and broke it up into song videos which play between shows sometimes. So even though we don't watch Nicktoons, we could, and somebody does, so somebody has seen her on TV.

If you watch Nicktoons and you see the Bzots perform a song called "How much is that elephant" my kids are among those kids running through the zoo. It's brief, but it counts -- they are on the TV.

Dave's youtube page

I don't see the elephant video, but "Power Down" is one of my favorite lullabies ever. In "Is it really true" that's my mom who may or may not be a blender (watch it to see what I mean -- my sister Robyn is the baby she is holding).

There is a content video of a guy who builds robots -- that's fun. Declan's Zombie video is there -- I posted that some time ago. If you see the video with the "Lunch Launcher" commercial -- that's Dave and it's his voice doing the commercial too -- love him.

Here's a Dave interview I found while trying to find a nicktoons schedule (I don't think there is one for filler content, but I tried).

If you have kids, there are coloring pages at Bzot website too -- fun times, who doesn't like to color a robot (especially one which has dreadlocks -- helloooo.)

Enjoy.