Friday, January 20th, 2023
Friday Five
TGIF!! I hope it’s been a good week for everyone! Now let’s share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:
- Late Tuesday afternoon, I let Maggie out in the backyard, and realized she was out there for a while. I decided to go check on the little troublemaker and found her on the hill eating a chicken bone. Instead of acting rational with a calm command like, “Maggie, drop it.” Instead, I panicked and yelled, “Maggie!” My well trained (LOL!) dog took off running along the very top of the hill behind part of the retaining wall while chomping on the bone. This wall is just higher than my waist, and I’m not at my best, so I belly crawled up it, got on my feet and bellowed, “Maggie come!” By then she was terrified or elated or just laughing her ass off. I don’t know. But she ran further, while still chomping on the damned chicken bone. I could hear her crunching on it. At that point, I was estimating that damned chicken bone’s value between 10 or 15 thousand dollars, which is roughly what the cost of what the surgery to get it out of her gut was going to cost me (I watch too many vet shows and videos). Eventually she’d finished chewing up the money, I mean bone, and I got a hold of her collar and put her in the house. I was so mad (truthfully I was scared for her — Maggie’s not known for great digestion and chicken bones are notorious for splintering and causing serious internal damage). I’ve never encountered a situation where I had zero control over her, or myself — I flat out handled that badly. However it appears she’s just fine. She’s eating, acting and eliminating normally for two days. So my dramatics were for nothing, except emotionally scarring my dog and proving I’m a very flawed dog handler
- We assume the chicken bone was from the workers lunch. It probably fell when they cleaned up the trash, as they’ve been very good about cleaning up. Accidents do happen and dogs will find stuff they shouldn’t. Right now, Maggie can’t go outside unleashed because the concrete is still drying so we’re not worried. We’ll check everything before we let her out unsupervised again. But the good news is the workers are finishing up this phase of landscaping today. And we’re deciding if we’re ready to do phase 2 (turf and pavers) in the backyard, or wait. We’re waiting for the final ruling on that from our Financial Department
- I saw the doctor and that went well. I don’t know why I always expect to be brushed off. But the opposite happened and he demanded payment in blood…I’m kidding, he ordered a lot of labs that included six vials of blood. I got all those done and we should know more by early next week. I started a medication yesterday that’s beginning to help manage the symptoms, so yay! But the symptoms are making me a little tired so things like scaling a waist-high wall in an adrenal-fueled panic as I did in Number 1 would make a hilarious YouTube video. I promise I can normally do it with only minimal embarrassment!
- Yesterday I was driving, and got behind a white truck and my stress shot up. There were two big dogs unsecured in the back. One looked like a German shepherd, and the other was had bit white markings and looked like one of the herding breeds: border collie, Australian shepherd — something like that. The dogs did not look safe in the truck bed. Maybe in other more rural areas it is, but not here. The white dog was climbing up on the wheel well and leaning over the side, and every time the truck came to a stop, or started up from a green light, he fumbled for balance. I was worried he’d fall and I’d end up hitting him. The German shepherd appeared more cautious, but he was big enough, a sharp turn could throw him over the side. Wizard said he passed me on the opposite side of the road when he was coming home from an appointment, and I didn’t see him. I’m sure I didn’t, I was watching those dogs. The thing that was more annoying is it was an extended cab with short bed truck. There was more room inside the cab than in the bed of the truck. I just don’t understand. If they were my dogs, they’d either be inside the cab, or safety harnessed in the bed of the truck. Maybe if I lived on a farm or a ranch, that’d be a different story. But here in So Cal with faster speeds and insane traffic, it’s not safe in my opinion.
- I can’t make plans just yet, so I don’t know what I’m doing this weekend. There’s a lot I very much want to do, I’m just waiting for my body to stop glitching and get on board with my plans Wizard is teasing me that I hit the age where my warranty has run out and everything is breaking down. If I laughed, it’s only because I’m dehydrated, not because he’s funny!
That’s my five, now I’d really love to hear about your much more interesting week! Hope you all have a great weekend!
January 20th, 2023 at 7:33 am · Link
Oh, no. Naughty Maggie. I’m relived to read she didn’t have any ill effects from that bone. And I’m glad you didn’t hurt yourself trying to get it away from her. Yay for the meds beginning to manage your symptoms. I hope everything works out for you. Gah, people who put dogs in the beds of their trucks. On a farm? Okay. On the highway? Stupid. Bummer about not being able to make plans right now, but the medicine will work and you’ll soon be right as rain. LOL about Wizard’s comment, though. I’ve wondered myself whether my warranty is up.
1) When I was young and someone called me pretty, I would blush. Apparently now I blush when someone calls me kiddo.
2) Gah, work is giving me hangnails. It’s all the paper I shuffle. I really need to moisturize more.
3) I actually thought about writing last night. That’s about as close as I get to actually writing these days.
4) I can’t believe it’s Friday. The week went whooshing by.
5) I’m reading a Nero Wolfe right now. I snag any Rex Stout when I can find him at the thrift stores, but it’s rare, so I was super excited to find this one. Yay. I also snagged a Ngaio Marsh. Her Inspector Alleyn mysteries are awesome.
January 20th, 2023 at 9:03 am · Link
Wow! What a week you had! Maggie will get over it faster than you. Yay for yard phase 2. Hope the meds keep working and the blood work finds something out. Not knowing is awful. Uhm…I used to put my St. Bernard mix in the bed of my truck. He was huge, stood on the wheel well and barked at the big trucks. They honked back and he’d grin. He was a farm dog–I lived in the country on 10 acres. And yeah, I took him to town and we had to be on the highway but the speeds are only 50 or less through there. Small town. Doing it at 75? That’s insane and in the kind of traffic in SoCal? Also insane. I’ll admit, even when I’ve had other trucks, dogs have gone inside. Hope you can make at least some plans today for the weekend. Crossing fingers. 🤞🏼 My five:
1. LG had a meeting up the turnpike Tuesday so I picked up Stormy after school. It was “Stupid Grandparent Day” evidently. Cars form two parallel lines. When the headmistress signals, the first four vehicles in the inside line pull into the circle and park by an orange traffic cone. Their kid comes out, gets in, buckles up, and they take off. Then the first four in the outside line do the same. As I pulled into the lot, a HUGE Caddie SUV that was like the 7th car back in the inside line suddenly pulled out in front of me and dashed to the front of the outside line. I pulled in behind them. When it was our turn, Sarah (the HM) had to knock on their window. Then they pulled straight across and pretty much blocked ALL the cones. Sarah knocked and gave further directions. It pulled a little forward so the rest of us could follow protocol. The way it was parked blocked the drive so none of us could pull around it after our kiddos were on board. Sarah walked by rolling her eyes and Stormy was headslapping himself. 🤦🏼♀️
2. Loki goes to LG for pets. I walked into the family room the other night and Loki was IN LG’S LAP!!!! GETTING PETS!!! The stupid cat looked up, saw me, looked guilty for about 3 seconds then Ninja-catted away, dashing between my legs as I stood in the doorway. If I try to pet him, he runs away. I remind him that I’m the one who bloody-well feeds him but does he care? Stupid cat.
3. I think I mentioned that I found 2 cans of Cafe du Monde coffee at Wallyworld before Christmas. The sticker is still on the shelf but no cans every since. Even on line, it has to be ordered. Then I found a deal on the ‘Zon so I ordered SIX cans! Yay! There went my Christmas GC but whatever. COFFEE! 🥰
4. We had a meteor about 3:30 this morning. I slept through it and none of our security camers were pointed in the right direction. Ah well. People up around Tulsa could hear it so it probably landed somewhere up there, Mizzou, or Arkansas.
5. I’ve fleshed out several chapters this week and should get several more by the time the weekend is over. Stormy has soccer at some point but other than that, no plans.
Have a great weekend, all! 👋🏼 (that’s the waving hand emoji. You know, in case you don’t have a clue because I didn’t either. LOLOL)
January 20th, 2023 at 3:33 pm · Link
1. I totally get freaking out over the chicken bone. They can cause so much damage to our fur babies insides. (Spunk got the wishbone at Thanksgiving and I freaked). So happy to hear that it passed w/o incident.
2. Your guess is probably right and one of the workers accidentally dropped the bone. It’s easy to see how the financial dept has to determine if funds are available to complete the backyard right now.
3. You are so funny with your doctors. Bet you felt a bit drained after 6 vials of blood drawn. Praying that the medication works and you are feeling better.
4. Those poor dogs. You know, that was the norm when I was growing up. In fact, we kids often rode in the bed of the truck. That doesn’t mean it was the smart thing to do. With all the information we have now a days you would think people would have better judgement.
5. Maybe this turns into a recoup weekend for you as the medication kicks in and you feel better.
1a. We had super gusty winds and a storm last evening and the power went out twice for a few second each time. Unfortunately, even a quick outage causes the Spectrum boxes to re-boot. This takes about 10 minutes each time.
2a. I ordered hubs the Lexie hearing aids powered by Bose on Sunday. They came yesterday and they are still in the box. Hopefully I’ll have time to look into them tomorrow and get him set up.
3a. I had emails come in 3 days ago that my HSA tax forms were ready. NO matter what I did I kept getting error messages. I finally called my insurance and they sent me to the HSA rep. Man was she nice. She could see them but I could not. She eventually sent me them under classified documents ( I felt like Trump and Biden 🤣 ). They are now printed and ready for the tax dude.
4a. Looked into a new computer but they’re about $1500 so I’ll wait until it crashes and I have to buy one.
5a. No weekend plans.
Have a wonderful evening!
January 20th, 2023 at 6:06 pm · Link
B.E., where’s the extended warranty when we need it, LOL! Thanks on Maggie, I’m really relieved she appears fine. I’m pretty sure she was confused by my reaction!
1) If you’re blushing, you’re still young at heart! (I can’t remember the last time I blushed!)
2) Sorry about your dry overworked hands. Lotion does help, but it takes repeated applications throughout the day.
3) Sometimes we have to put writing on the backburner to deal with life things. You’ll get to it when you can.
4) That’s what happens when you’re crazy busy at work! But I feel like it was a fast week too.
5) What an awesome thrift store find!
Hope you have an enjoyable weekend!
January 20th, 2023 at 6:48 pm · Link
Silver, that must have been quite a sight to see a huge St. Bernard mix in the back of the truck! As far as weekend plans, I’ll be fine. I always find something to do
1) You deserve a medal for getting through that without resorting to yelling or violence. Rude idiots make me insane. Stormy’s reaction made me laugh. That kid is awesome!
2) Loki, Loki, Loki! He’s such a cat, LOL.
3) It’s a great use of your Christmas gift card! I want to try that coffee now
4) I’m sorry you missed that! Doesn’t if figure that the cameras didn’t catch it????
5) You’re doing really well on writing this book! All progress is great!
Hope you enjoy Stormy’s soccer game and the weekend!
January 20th, 2023 at 7:03 pm · Link
Viki, whew, I’m glad the wishbone didn’t hurt Spunk. It’s a terrible feeling because we can’t really do anything but wait. Yep, it was the norm to not wear seatbelts, ride in truck beds when we were growing up. I’m probably just getting old, LOL. And I do feel better today, so this will probably be a decent weekend.
1) I haven’t Spectrum so I can sympathize.
2) Hope the new hearing aids work for hubs!
3) That’s really annoying that you couldn’t get into the tax forms, but glad you got it resolved! LOL on classified docs!
4) That’s what we did too.
5) Maybe something fun will come up this weekend for you.
Hope you have a great evening and weekend!