Wow, so much yet so little to talk about! Hmmm... where to start...
So the effort to repeal DADT has stalled. That really stinks. To the brave men and women out there: keep up the good fight. And I don't mean the one in the Middle East.
My Labrador turned 11. Oh my heart. 11 years old! I can still remember holding him as a puppy and wishing he would stop chewing up my hands with those razor sharp teeth! He is such a good dog. I hope I get 11 more years with him.
Fall weather has finally arrived. Woo hoo! Now I can put away the summer clothes that were getting to tight to squeeze my pregnant body into. Maternity clothes are expensive. I mean, really, they know you are only going to wear them for a short amount of time- why not make simple, basic staples at a rock bottom price and sell a ton of 'em? Oh wait, that's exactly what the Old Navy maternity section is. Love it!
Another gunman on a college campus. As a student, this terrifies me. Why does this continue to happen? I wish-- are you listening media?-- I wish that when someone goes berserk like this that the media would completely refrain from releasing the gunman's name or any information about him/her whatsoever. This would not be hard. Sexual assault victims and minors' names are not released. Make this a new practice. Giving them any attention at all fuels the fire in the belly of the next potential crazy fool who is contemplating doing the same thing. And quite frankly, I am ashamed that I can tell you after all these years that the shooters' names in the Columbine tragedy were Dylan and Eric--- but I can't tell you a single victim's name. (No, I did not Google that, I remember it). That's not right. And the Virginia Tech student was an Asian young man whose name I don't remember but I can picture his face-- I can't picture any of his victims. My point is, stop giving the attention to the maniacs. It's what they want. It gives them notoriety. Enough. If I have any connected friends out there- go lobby this on Washington.
Anyway.... I'll cut it short here.
All things Olive today:
My right to VOTE
Ultrasounds
Bonfires
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I'll Show Him!
Not much to blog about lately so I thought I'd take the time to tell you all about one of the most embarrassing things I have ever done. It still makes me shake my head after all this time, and hopefully it will give you a chuckle.
So, my Labrador Retriever, Copper, was only a few years old and we were living in our first house which was on one of those "zero lots" which means you own a house but really have no yard at all to speak of. I noticed that Copper spent a lot of time sniffing around the (small) backyard digging his nose deep into the grass and then chewing something. He would do this for hours. We also had a pond in the neighborhood that I would take him to for swimming and chasing ducks. He did the same sniff, sniff, sniff, stop- chew chew chew down by the pond. To my dismay I came to realize that my dog was one of those-- my dog liked to eat "rabbit and duck crunchies".... oh the shame... oh the horror. No matter how many times I said "No! Stop that!" it was no use... he couldn't resist the temptation.
One day I was thumbing through the Drs Foster and Smith pet catalog looking for some toys or treats to buy Copper and I found what I thought was the answer to my prayers. In the catalog, they sell a product called DisTaste. The ad even had a picture of a chocolate Lab in it, just like my Copper! The description read:
"Stops the disturbing behavior of stool eating. Makes stool taste terrible!"
One pill per day, and my dog will stop eating rabbit and duck crunchies??? I immediately ordered it. When it arrived, I gleefully started my daily ritual of poking these wonder pills down his throat in hopes he would stop shaming the family with his unfortunate habit. Problem solved! Yay me, wonder mom!
A month of so after I got the pills, Copper was due for a vet appointment. We go to a clinic with several doctors, but there are 2 there that usually see my dogs. One vet is a very kind, warm, thorough doctor who gets right down on the floor with Copper and spends as much time giving praise and love as she does examining him. The other is an equally thorough doctor, but lacks the warm fuzzies that the other vet has. He tends to be more stern and almost smug in his demeanor. He once scolded me so badly for giving Copper Tylenol after he hurt his paw that I had pretty much convinced myself I should drive straight to Child Protective Services after leaving the vet and turn myself in for child abuse. It seemed the more times I was around this vet, the more time I spent trying to make sure he knew what a smart, caring, perfect dog owner I am.
Anyway, on the day of this routine appointment, we just happened to get stuck with the smug doctor. Oh well, it was just a check up, nothing should come up to get scolded about. Or so I thought. Dr. Smug was running through Copper's chart and giving him the once over. He walked back behind the examination table and picked up Copper's chart. He began to run down the list and ask me all the usual questions: "What kind of food do you feed him? How much? Potty habits ok? Exercising a lot?" and so on.
Dr. Smug remarked that Copper could stand to lose a few pounds. I said, "Yeah, he is hungry all the time. No matter how much food or treats we give him, he is always ready to eat." And then, in my nervous ambition to prove I am a good dog mother, I said "He is even hungry enough to eat rabbit and duck crunchies, but I've got that fixed". I said this last part with extra pride.
Dr. Smug peered at me over his glasses, "Oh?"
"Yep," I replied, "I found these pills in a catalog called DisTaste! They make stool taste really bad so Copper won't eat it anymore."
Dr. Smug paused. There was silence in the room. Dr. Smug was perplexed. He looked at me squarely and asked:
"How'd you get the rabbits to take those pills?"
I stared back at him. What on Earth? I cocked my head, raised one eyebrow, let out a nervous giggle and said, "W-what?"
I had clearly worn out Dr. Smug's patience. He put the chart down, took off his glasses, and calmly explained to my ever well-meaning brain: "Those pills are for dogs that eat their OWN stool. You have to give it to the animal whose stool is being eaten."
I felt the blood rush up through my neck and my cheeks felt hot as coals. Mercifully he spared me any further embarrassment by quickly picking the chart back and up and going on down his list of questions. I answered them as best I could while literally sitting on my hands to keep from smacking myself upside the head. How did I not know this??? I have been poking pills down my poor dog's throat thinking it would make the rabbit crunchies taste bad??? And I thought they were working?
We finished the rest of the appointment, paid the bill, went to the car and loaded up. I scratched Copper's ears and told him what a good boy he is. I had a mental picture of what Dr. Smug must have thought: of me going into the backyard every morning while the little rabbit family patiently waited for me to give them the their morning doses of DisTaste. And throwing them in the pond for all the duckies to eat like a modern day Snow White.
Then I drove out of the parking lot and laughed all the way home.
All things Olive today:
Roadtrips with my dogs
Words with Friends
Autumn
So, my Labrador Retriever, Copper, was only a few years old and we were living in our first house which was on one of those "zero lots" which means you own a house but really have no yard at all to speak of. I noticed that Copper spent a lot of time sniffing around the (small) backyard digging his nose deep into the grass and then chewing something. He would do this for hours. We also had a pond in the neighborhood that I would take him to for swimming and chasing ducks. He did the same sniff, sniff, sniff, stop- chew chew chew down by the pond. To my dismay I came to realize that my dog was one of those-- my dog liked to eat "rabbit and duck crunchies".... oh the shame... oh the horror. No matter how many times I said "No! Stop that!" it was no use... he couldn't resist the temptation.
One day I was thumbing through the Drs Foster and Smith pet catalog looking for some toys or treats to buy Copper and I found what I thought was the answer to my prayers. In the catalog, they sell a product called DisTaste. The ad even had a picture of a chocolate Lab in it, just like my Copper! The description read:
"Stops the disturbing behavior of stool eating. Makes stool taste terrible!"
One pill per day, and my dog will stop eating rabbit and duck crunchies??? I immediately ordered it. When it arrived, I gleefully started my daily ritual of poking these wonder pills down his throat in hopes he would stop shaming the family with his unfortunate habit. Problem solved! Yay me, wonder mom!
A month of so after I got the pills, Copper was due for a vet appointment. We go to a clinic with several doctors, but there are 2 there that usually see my dogs. One vet is a very kind, warm, thorough doctor who gets right down on the floor with Copper and spends as much time giving praise and love as she does examining him. The other is an equally thorough doctor, but lacks the warm fuzzies that the other vet has. He tends to be more stern and almost smug in his demeanor. He once scolded me so badly for giving Copper Tylenol after he hurt his paw that I had pretty much convinced myself I should drive straight to Child Protective Services after leaving the vet and turn myself in for child abuse. It seemed the more times I was around this vet, the more time I spent trying to make sure he knew what a smart, caring, perfect dog owner I am.
Anyway, on the day of this routine appointment, we just happened to get stuck with the smug doctor. Oh well, it was just a check up, nothing should come up to get scolded about. Or so I thought. Dr. Smug was running through Copper's chart and giving him the once over. He walked back behind the examination table and picked up Copper's chart. He began to run down the list and ask me all the usual questions: "What kind of food do you feed him? How much? Potty habits ok? Exercising a lot?" and so on.
Dr. Smug remarked that Copper could stand to lose a few pounds. I said, "Yeah, he is hungry all the time. No matter how much food or treats we give him, he is always ready to eat." And then, in my nervous ambition to prove I am a good dog mother, I said "He is even hungry enough to eat rabbit and duck crunchies, but I've got that fixed". I said this last part with extra pride.
Dr. Smug peered at me over his glasses, "Oh?"
"Yep," I replied, "I found these pills in a catalog called DisTaste! They make stool taste really bad so Copper won't eat it anymore."
Dr. Smug paused. There was silence in the room. Dr. Smug was perplexed. He looked at me squarely and asked:
"How'd you get the rabbits to take those pills?"
I stared back at him. What on Earth? I cocked my head, raised one eyebrow, let out a nervous giggle and said, "W-what?"
I had clearly worn out Dr. Smug's patience. He put the chart down, took off his glasses, and calmly explained to my ever well-meaning brain: "Those pills are for dogs that eat their OWN stool. You have to give it to the animal whose stool is being eaten."
I felt the blood rush up through my neck and my cheeks felt hot as coals. Mercifully he spared me any further embarrassment by quickly picking the chart back and up and going on down his list of questions. I answered them as best I could while literally sitting on my hands to keep from smacking myself upside the head. How did I not know this??? I have been poking pills down my poor dog's throat thinking it would make the rabbit crunchies taste bad??? And I thought they were working?
We finished the rest of the appointment, paid the bill, went to the car and loaded up. I scratched Copper's ears and told him what a good boy he is. I had a mental picture of what Dr. Smug must have thought: of me going into the backyard every morning while the little rabbit family patiently waited for me to give them the their morning doses of DisTaste. And throwing them in the pond for all the duckies to eat like a modern day Snow White.
Then I drove out of the parking lot and laughed all the way home.
All things Olive today:
Roadtrips with my dogs
Words with Friends
Autumn
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