THE Needy

It warms one's heart to hear the response of this community to a story of a couple in dire need and living in their car having been evicted from their home because they could not pay the rent.
According to the news story, local agencies were trying to help this couple. With the little they received, they were able to buy a little food and were washing up in the Food Lion bathroom facilities. At night they were sleeping in their vehicle and moving from parking lot to parking lot for safety's sake. It was a sad, sad story and the couple appeared to be trying to help themselves. The husband had recently gotten a job and was trying to work. Someone people, including the news reporter, had given them money for gas so they could keep their car running.

After the story aired on the early news yesterday people had called and donated money for the couple to be able to stay in a motel last night. By today, they had money for the next four nights. In the meantime, agencies were getting donations to help them secure an apartment. They had already helped them move their belongings from their former residence into storage.

Perhaps more will be shared as to how this couple became so destitute. The social workers at local agencies, as well as the news reporter,s kept referring to the fact that there are many living in their cars at a given time. It really makes me sad to think of these people and their plight. I will continue to follow this story.

Lazy

Are we entitled to lazy days? I have just taken one (all day) today on President's Day. Actually I could give a long list of reasons (for being lazy) but that really isn't necessary because I am in charge in this house. I just always feel intensely guilty when I do this. I should have been anxiously engaged in cleaning and washing clothes. I also could have been busy doing my income taxes....but I wasn't! Instead I did do some indexing for the 1940 US Census that will be released in the near future.
Being lazy today means I will have to pay tomorrow and the next day to make up for my "badness."

Today has been really cold but the sun has shone brightly all day. The bit of snow that fell last evening soon melted away but not before there were about fifty car accidents creating lots of damage and heart ache. Another among many reasons that I do not like that white stuff.

My doggie girls ran in and out of the house for a while but soon settled down to "lazy" just like their humanoid Mom. They have now snuggled down in their doggie beds like good girls.

I wish the snow that we had last evening could be the last and only one for this winter. We have had mild weather but I still hate it so badly that I am ready for Spring to arrive and just take over. We are only 19 days away from DST and I am pretty happy about that. I have loved the lengthening of the days minute by minute. It just makes me feel so much better.

Dawg Stuff!

After the fiasco earlier in the week with "my heathens," I finally came up with a random plan that worked to get the rest of their monthly maintenance meds down them. As I fed them this morning I incorporated what was left of those medications into their chicken and kibble. Some how this worked for the most part. Now in my mean mind I have to figure out how best to get it down the "little demons" next month.

Just like raising children...always looking for the best or a better way.

Feeding my dogs has always been somewhat of a concern for me ---- don't know why but...!
All three of my schnauzers have come through the same bloodline from Tennessee. These people all feed their dogs Flint River Food. I have tried to maintain them on that food but it has not been easy and for the most part has not worked for long. I, then, find myself trying to find an appropriate diet -- one that agrees with the dogs and the vets. That may sound like a simple task but nothing could be further from the truth. My vets are weight conscious and stay on my back constantly about the doggie girls gaining weight. Sassy was always too heavy; now Piper Kensleigh is considered too heavy. I should walk them more but I don't know that that would be enough!! Sassy had digestive issues and wound up on a prescription food which Piper has continued to eat. Kami got tired of Flint River and refused to eat so I switched her over. She now eats the Rx food or another Royal Canine formula. But, they also get canned chicken breast (packed in water) with their kibble (1/3 cup or less of kibble).

I belong to an online group of canine owners who feed raw. I also had a teacher assistant work with me at LR who fed raw. Those who feed raw are convinced that is better. You can buy raw frozen food at local suppliers. Most of these people supplement with various vitamins and minerals. I read their "stuff" but have never been convinced to switch.

Ahhhh, problems of being a doggie parent.

Canines For Sale.......in my threats!!

WOW, I am distressed or is it stressed?!!!! Have you ever tried to get medication down the throat of a resisting canine? Such was my plight this morning.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love these "hounds" of mine. But this morning I almost threw them out to the "dawgs", er I mean the wolves! I was trying to get two things that they really need down their resisting little schnauzer throats. I dreaded it because I had gotten resistance the last time I tried with Comfortis.

Let's go back in history(???) a few months. Last summer we seemed to have a little trouble with the effectiveness of Frontline Plus so the vet had me also using Comfortis. Comfortis is anything but cheap --- can't remember the true cost but it seems to me in my pea-sized brain that it averaged about twenty dollars per tablet depending on the strength and comes in tablet form. As luck would have it, these two girls of mine are definitely different sizes, therefore, I need to buy two different strengths. (Tablets are different sizes.) When I picked up a new script at the vet (last week) I also picked up a package of Pill Pockets. When my Sassy was so, so, sick I usually could use these plus cheese cubes to get meds down her when she would really rather not. I also purchased a pill shooter in the process as I worked with her. Sometimes I could succeed with getting them in the back of her throat and stroking it to get her to swallow before that wallowing tongue could force the medication forward and out of her mouth. But this morning there was no winning with these two!!

These tablets are supposed to be chewable and a "doggie" flavor but I learned early K & P didn't like that. So I broke the tabs into parts, clothed them each in a piece of pill pocket and with all of the faith of a Sunday School girl tried feeding them to first Kami. She spit it out, played with it, put it back in her mouth and spit the pieces out again. So next I try it with Piper. Kind of the same....ate the pill pocket somewhat but ending up spitting the pill parts out coated with pill pocket. So next I try crushing the pill parts up, put it in the pill pocket and feeding it to these ungrateful domestic hounds! They smack it all around their mouths enough to get it all really sticky and out it comes. By now, I am truly frustrated but I pull out a new package of Peanut Butter Zuke's Little Training Treats and break up the Pill Pocket mess and add the training treats to see if I can make a go of this. As one would expect "we" will eat the training treats but "no, thank you" for what we should be swallowing.

I kept at "it" until I got most of "the mess" down each of them such that I felt my forty dollars or whatever wasn't totally wasted! Next I try to get their Heartgard chewables in their little tummies via the mouth. Piper was good, chewed hers up and swallowed it just like always. Kami bit it into, spit it out, and each time tried to get it down her she turned her smart little head away -- would not have it. It is in a bowl awaiting my next assault on her.
Such a fiasco!

As I write this these two mongrels are stretched out in a doggie bed pretending to snooze 'cuz I still got murder in my eyes!!!! Meantime, being the conniving humanoid that I am----I am doing research on how to approach this next. Any helpful ideas??

Ever Had CC????

-Ever had the creepin' crud??? I am certain you have heard of it --- periodically it afflicts quite a few of us. Somehow I was of the mistaken opinion that if you got your flu shot on a regular basis it would lessen the chances of getting this monster or help enough that you might not have a severe case. Wrong!!!

Twice now this season CC has taken over my life!! I had a mean case in December but tried to bumble my way through it without antibiotic treatment. That is probably why it took me so long to get over the mess. Just when I think I have "weathered the storm" here comes CC for another visit. This time I gave in after coughing all night for three nights when I should have been resting. So....off to the doctor's office I took my ailing self yesterday! Must have been obvious to the staff there including the doctor that I needed plenty of help. After an exam the doctor decided I first needed to turn up my rump for a shot on each side! (It always helps when the nurse administering the shot is the mother of a former student! Who better to show your fanny-bottom to, huh??) He then called in a rx for antibiotics and cough "stuff." I still crouped a great deal of the night. I never understand why one will croup for hours and then finally get to sleep when it is time to get up again. Why is that??????

So, it is Saturday morning. A nurse from the doctor's office called to check on me. She reminded me that the doctor had given me refills with the antibiotic due to the fact that people were having trouble kicking this stuff with one round and were needing another. She also insisted that if I were not better soon to show up in the doctor's office again! My "infestation" of CC is all upper respiratory relating specifically to the sinuses! Soon I will send it all packing!!!!!!!!!!!!