Last week, the weather spit out a surprise 100 degree scorcher sandwiched between two gloomy overcast 60 degree-ers. It was on this blistering Thursday that I realized our air conditioner wasn't working. So I waited the three days until the AC guy was available to come out, because of course everyone in the county came to the same broken AC realization on the same day, and let him poke around the unit while I sat in the living room with no idea what he was doing. He came in 40 minutes later, ... Read more »
Blog
Giveaway: Aussan Natural Pet Care
When I was three, my mother learned the hard way that her kid had sensitive skin. They were out of our regular laundry detergent at the store, so she brought home some Tide, that chemical cornucopia in the blaring orange box. She did 5 loads of laundry and bundled me into my winter snowsuit. 5 minutes later, she found me wiggling on the floor like a caterpillar trying to escape the chrysalis. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "ITCHY!!" I wailed. So she unwrapped me like a teeny angry mummy, ... Read more »
What’s Eating Dr. V?
My children are a little bit jealous that I'm going on an adventure to the Amazon without them. Totally understandable. To mitigate this somewhat, I've recruited both sets of grandparents and set in motion Spoil-a-palooza, which I have a feeling will be far preferable to them than anything I could come up with. Grandparents sure do know how to show grandkids a good time. Once I got that under control, they became very interested in hearing what I would be doing in Peru. "Working with ... Read more »
Happy Fools Day and Happy Birthday to a little someone special :)
I love April Fool's Day. I'm terrible at pranks, though. I'm the person who can't make it through the first two lines of a joke without dissolving into peals of laughter, ruining the timing and the whole thing. I'm the one hovering behind you as you're about to sit on a whoopie cushion choking down chuckles loud enough to make it pathetically apparent something's up. In short, I'm a terrible comedian. After several years of decreasingly original attempts to fool my husband into thinking I've ... Read more »
Too old to adopt?
In Englewood, Florida 81 year old Ward Twining was feeling the loss of his companion chihuahua to cancer. As many of us do, he felt it was time to take another pet into his heart, so he applied to adopt two 11 month old chihuahuas from a local rescue. The dogs were ready to go, and so was Twining- until the rescue learned of his age. He was informed that the rescue did not adopt young animals to older people, and that was that. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the ... Read more »
Wordless Wednesday: Housemates
Well, I think I've established that I am incapable of doing a Wordless Wednesday without words. Can I just call it Wordy Wednesday and be done with it? Our home is at an age where everything is falling apart at regular intervals. Some pipe or another bursts in a 12 month cycle. Last year's was one in the slab. This year, the burst pipe was in a less critical area but the paint is looking tatty aand in need of some touchups. While we're at it, we decided to replace the nasty 80's teal trim ... Read more »
The Litterbox Chronicles, Part 3: A Nightmare on V Street
Apollo is 13 years old now. He had never marked the house as a kitten, not with the introduction of a new dog, or even a new cat to the home. When I moved after vet school, he would very occasionally mark, but only when my mother-in-law brought a package over that must have smelled like one of the cats in her household. No big deal. It wasn't until we moved into our current home that his marking behavior picked up significantly. I've ruled out medical problems for him- multiple times, so I'm ... Read more »
Smartypants Showdown
Brody is many things. Beautiful, yes. Feisty, without a doubt. Fun? Every day. Loving? Like a Care Bear. He is all that and more. Smart, though? Well, I don't know that I would put him on the Lassie end of the spectrum. He was more refractory to training than any dog I've had save Nuke, the elderly agoraphobic irradiated coonhound. It took me 6 months to get him reliably housetrained, despite following my trainer's guidelines to a T. He just didn't seem all that concerned with doing things ... Read more »
The Parent Trap
The message board title plaintively screamed to be clicked: "I'm breaking up with my boyfriend and I don't know what to do!" It was in the "pets" section, which I found rather perplexing. After clicking on the link, she went on to explain that although she could care less about the demise of her relationship, she was having major misgivings about losing the companionship of her ex's labrador, Moe. It comes up more often than one might think. There was a divorce case here in San Diego that ... Read more »
Indiana Bones in Peru: Capybara Blood Bait
I know I already dubbed Brody Indiana Bones in a prior post, but I'm stealing the nom de plume for my upcoming trip to Peru with Amazon Cares. I am Indiana Bones, slogging through anacondas and tarantulas in search of the elusive capybara. It's the largest rodent in the world, and I want to see one. It's not a photoshopped guinea pig: It's the world's largest rodent. *squish* I admit it will take a bit of luck, since I'm going to be pretty busy doing veterinary work- the main reason for ... Read more »
