Sunday, November 27, 2011

I still can't make this stuff up...


If I've learned ONE thing since adopting my second dog, it's that I am foolish to lay in bed on a Saturday morning making plans in my head to accomplish anything that day.  As soon as my feet hit the floor, any and all plans are quickly derailed by Tazmanian Doodle and his endless list of needs and turmoil.

Yesterday, I was able to sweet-talk Osc and Nugg into going back to sleep when they woke me up at 5 a.m.  I was nowhere near ready to start my day at the ass-crack of dawn.  But when Osc began stirring again at 6:30, my day started very abruptly once I discovered he was bleeding all over my beige carpet and bed and walls.  WTH DOG?!?!

He's had a small cut-turned-gash-turned-gaping hole in his right ear for a few weeks, presumably from a playful and careless altercation with Nugg.  We've been to the vet on 3 separate occasions, where they've tried everything from liquid bandage, glue and silver nitrate.  NOTHING has closed it long enough for it to heal entirely.  So upon realizing he was gushing blood, yet again, B scooped him up and headed straight to the vet.  (Seriously, thank DOG for Saturday hours!)

I spent my Saturday morning scrubbing and steam-cleaning blood out of my carpets and furniture, washing my walls and putting my freshly washed bedding back through the laundry.  If you'd asked me before sunrise, whilst still snuggled in my warm covers, if that is exactly how I did NOT envision spending my Saturday morning, I would have naively said, "yes".

Pictured above is Mummy Head Doodle.  That is what B and the vet rigged up to keep Osc from shaking his head, thus causing the ear wound to open and profusely bleed, yet again.  (Yes that's an ACE bandage inside of the cone...)  On Tuesday, he is scheduled to have surgery so the vet can reopen the wound, clean out dead tissue and properly sew it back together.  That's not going to be cheap.  I'm debating whether I should let B know I already bought our Dyson and it will ship next week, or if I should let him think someone bought it for us off our registry.  He might actually birth live kittens...

Anyway, shortly after I'd finished cleaning up the blood and B had returned from the vet with Doodle, I was sitting on the couch contemplating a nap.  Moments later the phone rang, which B ran to answer and I sat up just in time to see Nugget lose his breakfast all over the floor, just in front of my feet.  All I could do is cuss...  a lot.



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

'Nana 'Napper

No, I surely do not know what happened to those two bananas that were on the kitchen table...  No, I do not think that is banana goo in my whiskers.  Nope.


Monday, November 7, 2011

Doodletainment 2.0

My mornings are significantly less chaotic since we moved to Boston.  Knowing I have to be at the train station by 7:38 a.m. (or else I’ll be REALLY late to work) provides more “get-up-and-out” motivation than did my 5 minute Charlotte commute.  I had a snooze button habit I couldn’t kick.  Though, the fact that the sun rises (and sets) a solid hour earlier in Boston probably helps, too.  With that said, I now have more time to deal with the inevitable Doodle shenanigans each morning.


Fortunately, B’s travel schedule has been very light since we moved.  (After all, that was the deal for getting me to move from the equator to the North Pole…).  Most of the Doodle shenanigans happen on his watch, for a change.  B has cleaned up a lot of Doodle vomit and blood.  But still only a fraction of what I’ve cleaned over the course
of the last 16 months.


Out of the kindness of Oscar’s little Doodle heart, however, I am not forgotten.  This week, I had 3 mornings alone with my boys and the events occurred as follows:  
Monday morning while I was in the shower, Oscar ate the box of tissues that was on my nightstand; 
Tuesday morning while I was in the shower, Oscar ate through the garbage bag and devoured chicken that was God-only-knows how old; 
Wednesday morning while I was in the shower, Oscar was counter-surfing and began
nibbling through the bag of dog food I just bought. 
On each of those mornings, Nugget was planted on the rug in front of the shower curtain, so as to make sure I knew he was there and NOT involved in the messes occurring elsewhere in the house at that very moment.  In fact, that’s usually how I first know that Oscar is into something – Nugg is glued to my side and Doodle is nowhere in sight.


In addition to my morning entertainment, he’s taken all of the sponges out of the cabinet under the sink  (in his defense, I did not close it all the way), bled all over the dog walker (his ear… again), and knocked over a bottle of drops I was putting in his other ear for a yeast infection...  Yeah, I'd say we're adjusting to the new place rather well.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Confessions of a Doodle Mom

Don't judge me... I do what I need to do to get by.  Barely.  By some stretches of the imagination, I might be considered lazy.  But thanks to a good sense of humor and no sense of shame, I'm totally ok telling on myself.  And more often than not, my short cuts come back to bite me in the @$$ anyway.

Last Saturday morning, the temperature was somewhat brisk and the skies were dumping buckets full of rain in preparation for the freak snow storm that came through later that evening.  Since I was feeling a slight twinge of guilt for having asked B to take the dogs out every morning that week, I decided to get my day started when Oscar sounded his alarm at the painfully early hour of 6 a.m. and I took the boys out.  Partially due to my own laziness, but mostly due to the fact that it was monsooning, I opted to set the filled poo bags by the back steps rather than walking them to the poo-recepticle around the front of the building.  (FIRST OF ALL... if the landlord prefers we walk the dogs out back, then why is the doggy doo depot in the FRONT?!  Please... and thanks.)

Well, I forgot about the poo bags until about Tuesday morning.  B was away on a work trip, so I found myself, again, on early morning potty duty.  Just as I let the boys off their leashes to run out and do their business, I spotted my prize-filled green bags by the back steps.  Again feeling somewhat lazy and not yet quite awake, I decided a trip to the front of the building was not likely to happen.  And since it was still dark and I couldn't hear anyone lingering near, I carefully picked up the very ripe bags, peeked out to my left; peeked out to my right, and launched them into the woods.

I heard them land and a half a second later, Doodle was dashing into the trees to see what was there.  Mother of God...  it was 6 a.m., pitch-damn-black and poorly lit in the back of the building, colder than the North Pole... and I had to go find a DARK BROWN DOG among the trees?  But first, I had to stop laughing... 

Fortunately, I didn't have to go far.  Doodle quickly returned, toting a sapling I'm sure he uprooted.  All I had to say was, "Who wants noms?"  Too easy.

Friday, November 4, 2011

(Belated) Nuggiversary

Since I'm a fairly terrible and careless dog mom, I completely forget about our 3 year Nuggiversary - a.k.a. the celebration of the anniversary of me adopting the Nugg.  In all fairness, we have been a little busy.  But I'll try to make up for it now...


Nugg's birthday post wasn't too long ago and I used that to honor him with a brief Nugg history.  So I figured I would recap his birthday celebration now.  Mostly because it was adorably fit for the Prince that he is!


We went to the lake so he could do what he loves to do more than anything in the world: SWIM!
Swimming was a great idea until Oscar cut his foot and bled all over... and I lost a flip flop in the mud.  I was annoyed.  But seriously, that Doodle is always bleeding.  I told him to stop taking so many anti-coagulants. 

So we went home and had a little Nugg birthday cake.

And Nugg opened his presents, which included a bag of his favorite treats...

...and he got a new bone!

He even shared his cake with Osc...

But not before he licked the entire thing!