Life is...

Life is not fair. I know that. I tell my kids that all the time. But sometimes you just wished it wasn't so unfair. The other night Tank got out and was on a walk by himself. When we discovered he was gone Olaf and Middle Child went looking for him. I got a call from MC asking me to look all through the house. A minute later I got another call from MC. He was sobbing and inconsolable. Olaf had seen Tank on the side of the road. He wouldn't let MC get out of the car. It was right by the house, my sister's house where we had gone for Thanksgiving. I hurriedly got dressed and asked my sister to drive me to where they were. But by the time I got boots on they were back. Olaf asked for a tarp to wrap him up in. He told us that Tank had been hit by a car and was gone. He didn't want to leave him all alone out there so he wrapped him up and brought him back to my sister's house. The next morning we decided to leave a day early because a snowstorm was forecasted. We got in the car and came home. After getting the kids home and in the house Olaf prepared a box and blanket to lay Tank in for his final resting place. Then he went out in the freezing howling wind and dug a grave for our sweet dog. Baby ran and told his best friend who came over. He wanted to write a note and so did Baby. So they wrote a note to Tank and put it in his box. Then when everything was ready we all went outside and watched as Olaf lowered him into the ground. We told him goodbye again. Then the boys helped shovel the first dirt onto his box. They filled the hole.There wasn't a dry eye in our circle.

Tank was a great dog. He had come to love us  and we had grown very attached to him. We will miss him waiting by the door for us when we get home. We will miss the jingle of his collar as he walks around the house. The boys will miss him sleeping at the foot of their bed. I'll miss him sitting by our feet when we're sitting around. I'll miss him trying to get in on every family hug; it seemed he could smell a hug from the other end of the house. We'll miss him taking us on walks. We'll miss his deep barks. I'll miss taking him for his monthly bath appointment. He loved getting all prettied up. We'll miss him pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to go outside. We will miss him tremendously!

Tank the Sleeping Dog

Can you spot the dog in the blankets? He's on Baby's bed. He's been in there 1 1/2 hours longer than Baby has this morning. He has no intention of going outside to take care of business.

Tank! Time to wake up! Sleepy Head!

Don't bother me. I'm trying to sleep here. I don't get enough sleep.
Being awake six hours a day is hard work.

Fine! I'm coming! There better be hot chocolate in that drink bowl when I get back in.

Walking the Dog

After a lazy hazy summer I decided I needed to start walking the dog after work. The first day I got a late start. I leashed up the dog. I thought I'd take a three mile walk. Tank was ready to go. He kept prancing around the house with his leash on. I headed out and Tank pulled me along. It was a hot day. After about 20 minutes I decided maybe I only wanted to take a two mile walk. At this point Tank started slowing down. He was no longer leading me. In a few more minutes I was pulling him along. Thank goodness the kids were home from school, supposedly doing chores but I'm sure they were just watching TV without the Slave Driver home.

I called up Middle Child. He didn't have any witticism for me this time like these other times I wrote about here and here. "Hey, can you get a bottle of water and a bowl and come meet me and Tank over by your school. I don't think he's used to walking very far."

"Sure Mom, I'll be right over!"

And then Tank promptly plopped on someone's front lawn in the shade. Finally Middle Child found us. When he gave me the bottle of water I asked "Where's the bowl?"

"Well, it wouldn't fit in my pocket. So I thought we'd just use the lid." The minuscule lid that would provide about a teaspoon of water. After he realized that wouldn't work we took to pouring the water down his throat. Normally I don't think he'd like that but he didn't care that day!


We finally got home. Since then I've been walking the dog three times a week. I go more often, but Tank isn't up to walking that often. I thought it was pretty funny that I'm in better shape than he is. He's getting better about the walk. He no longer plops in peoples front yards. But he does drink gutter water, which is not normal. Normally he won't drink water unless it's fresh today, no leftover water for him.

Yesterday I got home from work, let Tank in the house, and changed for our walk. "Tank, Tank," I called, wanting to hurry and get back before the kids got home from school. I finally found him on Baby's bed, his new bed since he's been banned from the sofa. He was laying there. To the unpracticed eye he would look sound asleep, but he wasn't. He was playing sleep so he wouldn't have to move! He's done this a few times, usually in the morning when it's cold and he doesn't want to go outside. He's pretty good at it too. So I let him stay home and rest. I'll drag him out tomorrow and he won't be able to get out of it because I'll know he rested recently.

Tank

We love our new dog. He has become one of the family. We weren't so sure how we'd like him. The first day we brought him home he was so excited and crazy that he jumped over the sofa. Olaf and I just looked at each other. But he has adjusted to our family and become another member. He has been wonderful with the boys and helps to heal the hole in their hearts.

Last Thursday he was sitting under the table, anxious for scraps, we were having pepperoni and italian sausage pizza. He loves meat and cheese. Then he was running around with the kids. Middle Child headed to bed a little later and Tank followed, he usually sleeps with one of the boys. But 15 minutes later Middle Child brought him up and put him outside. He was acting like he needed to throw up. Dogs do that sometimes.

But an hour later he was still trying to throw up so I went out and checked on him. His belly had swelled! It was larger than his ribcage. It scared me. I ran in and told Oaf, "He has to get to the Vet now!" Olaf went out and checked and when he saw him he scooped him up in his arms, put him in the truck, honked for me, and we took off. He drove like a Bat out of Hell to the Emergency Vet in North Orem. They took one look at the poor dog and said "He needs surgery. While we get him prepped we'll work up an estimate." So we anxiously waited around for a little while.

Once we knew he was in surgery we went home. But neither of us could sleep. I had finally drifted off just before 2am and the doctor called (we had told her to call when she was done.) She said the operation had been a little scary but he had come out of it okay. He would probably need to be hospitalized and on fluids for a day or two. So I went and picked him up in the morning and took him to a regular Animal Hospital. They hooked him up to an IV and got fluids, antibiotics, pain medicine, muscle relaxant, and (of all things) a doggy antidepressant running through his system. When the vet called to update us they said he was depressed. I'm sure he was! He had just been through major surgery and then we just dumped him off at the vet. I'm sure he thought he had been abandoned again.

We went to visit him Saturday and he looked so much better, but still sick. We were able to go Monday and they said he was doing better. He had even barked at the cats that day! They said they wanted to keep him till he had eaten some solids to make sure his stomach could handle it after his major surgery. At this point he hadn't eaten any dog food. I didn't have the heart to tell them he doesn't like dog food. I know you're asking, "What do you feed him?" Dog food. He just eats it as a last resort when he doesn't get anything else, which is 95% of the time.

Wednesday I finally was able to bring him home! He even jumped in the car. I knew he had been cooped up for the last week so I drove home on the back roads and rolled down the back window so he could hang his head out and feel the wind on his face. He was so happy to see Baby! He jumped up and down and licked him. He ran around the house and in the backyard, just glad to be home again.

I brought home an arsenal of medicine. I have antibiotics, pain pills, anti inflammatory, and antinausea. They also gave me this thickish stuff that he's supposed to eat 20cc's of twice a day till it's gone. I put some in the tube, sat on the floor, hung on to him (I knew he wouldn't like it), and tried to feed it to him. He may have taken it for the vet but he sure wasn't taking it from me. He spit it out, he dribbled it on my pants, and he ran away. Poor thing. Then I mixed his special canned food into his regular dog food. He turned his nose up at it until he finally got hungry enough to eat. I would say he is on the mend! We are just happy to have him home again. I've missed him.

Revenge on the Cat

When Baby got home tonight Olaf told him to go and get some dinner.

"Go get some Cat-Tacos."

"What are those?" Baby asked.

"Tacos made out of cat meat. We have a lot of cats around here and we were out of meat. So we made do."

Baby went and changed and when he came back in the kitchen Olaf asked him, "Did you get some Cat-Tacos yet?"

"What cats are they made out of?"

"Black cat."

"Thank you for getting revenge on him! Did you see what he did to me a little while ago?" Baby was all kinds of excited.

Baby is referring to an incident involving Black Cat that happened about five years ago. He was playing with Black Cat who ended up giving him a little scratch on his arm. He hasn't forgotten the offense and brings it up regularly.

Now Baby is happily eating his Cat-Taco with Tank dancing around him looking for loose shreds of cheese to fall on the floor. (He became a cheese addict when we had to give him some pills and the only way we could get him to take the pill was to squish it into a small hunk of cheese. Now if he hears the fridge open he is right there, hoping he's getting his share of the cheese.)

Whatever you do don't upset Baby, apparently he knows how to hold a grudge and I don't want his revenge visited upon anyone.

Random Happenings

1. Discovered a RedBox movie sitting on top of the TV since last Saturday.
2. My DVR can't tell the difference between "New" and "Rerun" and recorded about 10 iCarly shows for the kids. I took care of that series recording.
3. Middle Child has been sent to clean his room every day for the past two weeks and the floor is no more visible than it was two weeks ago.
4. Attempting to break Tank's habit of sleeping on sofa by leaning chairs against the front of it to no avail, he jumps over them and sleeps on the back cushions as if he were a princess.
5. Ate out way too much this week, but looking forward to it tonight.
6. Bought some soft and warm Acorn slippers for half price last night while Olaf was buying paintballs for his game today.
7. When I told Baby to wash his face he replied, "I'm a Boy! I'm supposed to be dirty!" and he ran away to play with a friend.
   
8. Actually worked out three times this week!
9. It snowed and a lot of trees were damaged.
10. Baby made cookies with Olaf's coworker last night and I ate most of them cuz they were delicious! I need that recipe! (I don't think the workouts counteracted the calories I ate.)
11. I bought my first Paul Frank t-shirt. (I'm probably too old to wear it tho.)
12. Left the truck out in the rain in a feeble attempt to get it clean. It doesn't rain hard enough here to wash a car.
13. Reserved the campground for Girl's Camp this summer.
14. Went to a beautiful roof-top wedding for a past co-worker. I wish her many happy years!
15. Balanced the checkbook and I'm still in the black.
16. Got all the laundry folded and put away. Helps when you don't do all the dirty laundry.
17. Tanned in an effort to keep up with the Rock Star Wives. I'm failing miserably in that deparment, I just don't have it in me.
18. Got to sleep in 15 minutes this week since the kids are on Spring Break and I don't need to get them up in the morning.
19. Put in my first "Time Off" request for Sister's Weekend!

Tank

Last night Tank was acting a little strange. Usually he goes to bed at night soon after the boys. But last night he was so antsy. He kept pacing back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he would stop at the back door. And then he would stop at the garage door. I'd let him out and after about 1 minute I would hear him whining at the door to be let back in again. He was driving me crazy! I'm used to him being asleep like the boys. I'm not accustomed to him roaming the house after bedtime.

After letting him out three or four times I told him I wasn't letting him out anymore. You'd think he could understand me. But he didn't. He kept stopping at the doors. Finally Olaf let him into the garage. He thought it was odd that Tank wanted in the garage, he's never done that before. He ran right into the garage and started sniffing all around. A couple seconds later he started barking with a vengeance. Something must have gotten in the garage and was tormenting him.

Olaf hoped it was a badger or porcupine or skunk. Thankfully it wasn't a skunk! I figured ThunderCat was in our garage again. He is an adorable cat that adopted our corner, specifically Dave across the street. And as much as I don't like cats this one is really sweet. So I wanted to save the poor kitty. I started to open the garage door and quickly Olaf hollered "Tank'll get out if you open the garage!" I realized he was right and I didn't want to chase him in the cold and dark, so I shut it. But I didn't want the kitty to be stuck in there all night. So I just opened the door a little, enough for ThunderCat to get out but not Tank.

Finally, we made Tank come back in. I was going to bed and didn't want him out barking anymore. This morning the first thing he wanted was back in that garage. Olaf let him in and he sniffed all over but couldn't find anything. He was a little disappointed and went out in the backyard to see if he could bark at any birds or stray cats roaming the field. Poor Tank was a little disappointed at his chance to be a Real African Dog.

Partying Hard

This is how the New Year's Eve festivities began:


What more could one ask for? Hot men and guns! After the excitement of checking out new guns and scopes and comparing a few stories (someone shot a buffalo this past year) we were ready to eat and party like 1999. We had a yummy potluck dinner and then proceeded to the partying part.

We played Guitar Hero for hours on end! (refer to 9 New Year's Resolutions for 2009 #8) It was a blast til no one could get past a certain song at around 1 am when everybody decided to head home and sleep. So we finally got to sleep around 1:30. The next morning came with everyone feeling like the Baby and his Dog.

This was at 9:30 am. Tank soon got up and went outside to take care of business. Lately he's on a short leash. With the snow and wind we now have a three-foot snow drift in our backyard, enabling the pooch to jump the four-foot fence and run free. So we had to buy a 20-foot chain to attach him to so he stays with his loving family. But unfortunately he promptly wraps it around everything within reach in the backyard and ends up whining when he's stuck with about a one-foot radius to move around in.

Then at 10:30 am Baby was in this position.


Then Tank came in and decided to wake the sleeping child.





But then Tank said "On second thought that looks comfy. I think I'm gonna join him."


And that was how 2009 began for us! Hope yours was almost as fun as ours cuz we had the rockingest party in town!

The Aftermath of Christmas Treats

Christmas Day was quite uneventful at our house, despite the fact that there was mad unwrapping of presents, paper flying all through the air, and children squealing in delight. As usual those kids of ours made out like bandits! The Jolly Old Man brought the kids a Wii! They were so delighted and ecstatic to FINALLY have a Wii like everyone else in the world. Baby has been playing Lego Star Wars nonstop. Middle Child turned off his Nintendo DS for a few minutes yesterday in order to play Guitar Hero Aerosmith, one of the best games ever invented!

Olaf and I got some nice things from each other and Santa. But the best present of all was the new carpet cleaner stuck in a big box under the tree. As I opened it Olaf told me I could return it but thought it would be good since we have a dog. I figured we'd keep it cuz we sure could use it occasionally.

That night after I had put the kids to bed and turned on Guitar Hero Aerosmith and played for a while, Olaf, at the computer playing, looked in the other room at Tank and asked, "Are you all right Tank?" After asking this several times over the next ten minutes he turned to me and said "I think our dog has a cold."

I put the guitar down and went to check on him. I didn't know you could tell when a dog has a cold. Turns out he didn't have a cold. I flipped on the light and saw splashes of puke on the sofa blanket from the poor dry heaving dog. I sent him outside and threw the blanket in the washer. We let him back in and then as soon as he would start dry heaving I sent him back out for a few minutes. Unfortunately it was snowing and very cold and I didn't have the heart to leave him out for very long. Olaf went and put a big blanket over Baby's bed and Tank went to sleep with his boy. Unfortunately he still wasn't feeling good and soon he had puked all over the end of the blanket and it trickled down to Baby's regular quilt, pillow shams and blankets put on the ground to be out of Tank's reach, and finally the floor.

At this point I got a little frustrated. I put that dog back outside while I gathered up more things that needed washing. I then decided I wanted to go to sleep, it was midnight. So I took the pillow out of the kennel and put in a blanket. Then I wrapped a big huge blanket over the top and sides of the kennel. Then I let Tank back in and put him in the kennel and hoped he wouldn't get too sick. And if he did I hoped the blanket would catch any messes from flying all over the house.

In the morning I got up and noticed he had only gotten sick once, and of course most of it landed on the floor, but at least we have that cool new Carpet Cleaner. So I put the contraption together while I waited for my friend to shower. This way Olaf could get to work right away when he got home and wouldn't have to waste time. And then I went shopping with that freshly showered friend of mine.

And Tank was fine by morning. We don't know what he got into but it was probably some of the enormous amounts Christmas treats we have laying around the house.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas with your family!