Last Updated on: 14th April 2014, 11:54 am
I have some random thoughts I’ve been meaning to write down. So here they are, in no particular order.
The other day, that old song “Knock Three Times” came on. You know the one, “Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe if the answer is no.” this made me think some strange thoughts. You wouldn’t want to do that in a building with rusty, clicky pipes. Otherwise, you might here click click, and think the guy was blowing you off when it was just clicky pipes. Then he’d knock three times and you’d be so confused. Is it yes? No? Should I meet him in the hallway? I don’t know! I heard three knocks and two clicks. Yeah, I’m a loser with a twisted mind.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and I had a pretty good one. Steve and I went out for dinner at Eastside Mario’s, mmm…Eastside Mario’s, and Steve gave me the Pacman Talks game. It’s Pacman for blinks! I’ve wanted this game for a while, but the Canadian price looked like a ripoff, so I wasn’t getting it. But because Steve is king at finding another way, he found a way to pay through PayPal for the right price. So I now own Pacman Talks, and I’ve discovered I’m a big loser! Ok, there’s a training mode where the ghosts stay stationary. Yeah, they don’t move. Even so, I still have managed to lose all my lives! Yeah, I suck. But I’m getting better, and have managed to pass one level so far. Woo Give me a gold star! I’m addicted, and have already played the thing more than 10 times, because I’m all over my high score standings that only have 10 spots. They’re totaly lame scores, and anyone halfway good at this game could clean my clock. But there they are.
I noticed something the other day that persuades me that languages are weird. We were flipping around the digital music channels that come with our cable, and landed on the French kids’ music channel. Because sometimes that can be kind of entertaining, we stayed there for a minute. This pretty little song came on, and we started listening to it. The chorus said something about “J’suis avec Maman, j’suis avec papa, avec la tortue, le poisson rouge et puis le chat.” Translation: I’m with mom, I’m with dad, with the goldfish, the turtle and the cat. Notice anything, anyone? A goldfish, when translated into French, becomes a red fish. Why? Anybody know?
And here’s another anybody know question. What happens if it’s a leap year and a baby is born on February 29? Is that the baby’s birthday? Or do they change it for the dday before or after? What do they do, since that day only shows up once every four years.
Since Trixie got to talk about how she was doing the other day, I figure I should give you guys a quick update from my perspective. Now that we’ve stopped putting boots on the poor beast and started putting on wax, she’s better, although the wax isn’t standing up to the crazy salt that is put down. Let’s list off all the things I have tried for her feet so far.
- a set of boots with the brand name Fashion Pet. Yeah, because that sounds like they’ll work. They didn’t. They would fall off at the drop of a hat.
- Muttluks. They fit a lot better, but they’d still fall off, and Trixie found an art to removing them. She wasn’t happy when I then attached some straps to her back like those mitten straps for kids so that if the boots fell off, they were still attached. They were a bitch to put back on on the move, especially on cold days! My fingers would go numb, and numb fingers don’t put boots on well. Gloved fingers don’t work either.
- A set of boots called Barkn boots. I haven’t even left the house with them because Trixie won’t heel properly in them, and jumps around in the hopes of shedding them, which happens.
- A product you spread on the pads of the paws called Pawsitive Therapy. It seems to keep the pads soft, but it does not act as a proper shield against the salt, as promised, and that’s what I need.
- A product called Biobalm that the vet wanted me to test. It does better than Pawsitive Therapy, but it’s not durable enough. She guides a hell of a lot better with this stuff on, but it fades mid walk, and I don’t think reapplying it on the move is a good idea, since it doesn’t get a chance to dry before hitting wet snow that would probably just wash it right off.
I’ve ordered something called Mushers’ Secret. That’s supposed to be the holy grail of foot protection! Let’s hope it is! The yeeeping needs to be prevented. It breaks my heart. I’ve also been given a lead on booties for injured paws that are supposed to be unshakable. Expensive, but unshakable. So, one way or another, Trixie won’t suffer anymore.
Yeah, I mentioned that she’s doing a lot better. I’m amazed at the difference comfortable feet are making. For a while, I was actually afraid to go out alone with her because she was so wacky. With the boots on, she would just stop walking at random. I couldn’t be sure if she was stopping to show me something, or just stopping. My confidence took a pounding, and it made it hard to do anything, because getting there was such an epic struggle! People would comment about how badly she was guiding. I hadn’t heard that…ever! Even in the “new dog” days, that was all it was, wondering if she was new. But this was so bad that people were saying it didn’t look like she was guiding me properly. I called my field rep from the school, and he told me I wasn’t the first one who had troubles like this, which made me feel a lot better. He sent me more boots, which weren’t the ticket. But he told me one way or another, we would get through this.
Now, with this wax, even though it fades half way, I feel safe with her. She’s gotten a few corrections for trying to walk way too fast to be safe, and she seems to have realized that the same rules apply even when the ground is covered with white and there are mounds of snow everywhere. I come home happy after walking somewhere, which I didn’t do with the boots on her. Now I just need the protection to be longer-lasting. Come on Mushers’, get here now!
I’ve noticed something else weird she does. When we’re out relieving, if she sees another dog she’d like to play with, she makes the weirdest noise. It’s barely audible. It’s this low, short grunting sound. When I first heard it, I froze in terror. I thought some other wild animal had found its way into the spot where Trixie goes pee, and we were about to meet it up close and personal. I put my hand down, and then felt Trixie’s throat vibrate when I heard the grunt! It was her! Steve hasn’t even heard it. The closest description I can give is the noise chickens make when they’re thinking about breaking into a full buckbuckbuckbuckbuckock, but havent’ yet.
And that’s about it. What a pile of randomness. Hope it was fun.
