Lady Celia

Josie is now about twice as big as she was when I asked for help.

2012-09-09T23:42:25Z

She is also starting to wander a bit. In fact, she was just on my deck. Which means that she's learning bad habits from Hershey.

But she's doing remarkably well.

Josie has been to the vet. I suggested they take her to the one I take my dogs to.

2012-08-14T23:35:52Z

Her prognosis is EXCELLENT! There doesn't appear to be any spinal damage, and what the first vet diagnosed as breaks of the pelvis and leg (without x-rays, as there'd not been enough money for them at the time), are not breaks (today she got x-rays). She's still pretty much a mess, but she's a mess with a solid chance of a really good recovery. And she shouldn't need surgery. While she was there she got her shots, got treated for the mite infestation that was eating her alive, and also got heartworm preventative (there's a lot of heartworm around here). She's now cleaned up and has officially become a house dog until her hips and legs are in better shape. The vet actually convinced them to keep her indoors and quiet.

Wouldn't have happened without everyones help. Thank you so much. I'll keep you posted on her progress.

Cross post: Josie

2012-08-13T01:00:09Z

Josie loves Lloyd. Her hips aren't looking good, but her right rear leg seems to be regaining feeling and a tiny bit of motor control. Turns out her pelvis is broken as is the leg, but the vet said splinting wouldn't help, and she either needed surgery right after the accident or just wait and see how she does. So they're in wait and see mode right now. She's lost muscle tone to her hindquarters (which isn't a surprise), but she doesn't appear to have any pain, which is probably due to the nerve damage. But she gets around. She headed down the hill with Duke this afternoon and did a pretty good job of keeping up. I think she'd be better off kept quiet until her pelvis knits, but she isn't my dog. I'm afraid she'll do more damage because she can't feel it.

ETA: She's going to the vet tomorrow!

I haven't tallied it all up yet, but it looks like a bit over $600 was donated

2012-08-09T11:25:26Z

That is just amazing. And it will cover her vet bills, both for the recovery from the accident, and for getting her fixed later. I went ahead and told Lloyd yesterday afternoon, as we stood in the rain. He'd come up the hill, worried about my chickens in the storm. We got crazy rain and lighting yesterday, and winds that were blowing branches out of the oak trees. At one point there was a stream running down the hill through my yard, creating a tiny waterfall into the nascent pond, then running back out the other side towards the gully.

I have to finish verifying the Paypal account so that I can accept the donations and get them to Lloyd. It will take a couple of days for Paypal to finish the verification process. In the meantime, thank you all. Your generosity was astonishing.

Wow--everyone has been just amazing. Thank you.

2012-08-08T18:51:31Z

Josie's vet bills are well taken care of now--I'm taking down the donation button. For those of you who spread the word, please do the same about the closure. There are lots of other critters out there who need help too.

Thank you all.

Josie's Vet Bill, aka I really won the neighbor lottery

2012-08-07T22:51:13Z

This is from a friends only post I made a couple of days ago:
Lloyd is good people. I knew that. But yet another example: I went down to his house tonight to thank him for mowing my field (it's not done, but it's mostly done, and anything helps). Anyway, on his porch were Hershey and Duke, and a new pup, little thing, docked tail, cute as a button, cheerful as all get out, and spinning around on her butt because she was so excited that I was there. Her back legs don't work right. And the reason they don't work right, and the reason that her tail is docked, is because Lloyd hit her with a car down by the lake, nearly amputating her tail and damaging her hind legs. Most folks around here, if they bothered to do anything at all beyond driving away, might kill the pup. He took her to the vet. Tail had to come off, and legs are gimpy but kind of work (they're weak, and she can walk on them, just not for long and not really well). But she's chipper as hell, and the damage isn't stopping her from being a happy puppy who is playing with Duke, greeting me on the porch, and following Lloyd around like he's her personal God.

Good people.

These are some photos of Josie this afternoon. She's a wiggly little thing, and she likes people, so getting her to hold still isn't easy. But you can see the lost tail, and that her hind legs don't work the way they're supposed to, especially the right rear. She can walk, but she loses control of the right rear leg, and after a very short while she just drags it. Lloyd doesn't know I'm doing this. But if you can see your way clear to help out a little, it would be greatly appreciated. I know he spent $100 on the tail amputation. He's retired military, mows lawns and cleans up his son's bar to help pay the bills (Ruth, his wife, has ongoing major medical expenses, so money never goes very far). And even so, he comes up here and helps me around my place, took in Alan and Jeff and let them live in his camper until they could get a place, and of course, took in an abandoned pup that he'd hit with his car and got her medical care and gave her a home. When I asked her what kind of dog he thought she is, he responded "Hunting dog. She's got some Blue Tick in her. When she's well, she'll be a good hunting dog." He's an optimist, that man. Anyway, here are some photos of Josie (and one with Duke), and a pic of Lloyd helping me build my chicken coop.

If you can see your way clear to send a couple of bucks his way, I'll see to it that he gets it all to cover the vet bills. Thanks.

ETA: I'm closing off the donation button--everyone has been just wonderful. Thank you all so much.

NaNoPhoMo 3 and 4

2008-11-02T01:25:25Z

2nd photo. Word count: 2000!

2008-11-02T00:54:20Z

Chicken Coop Air Patrol

A picture is worth a thousand words. I don't write. 50 pictures, 1 month.

2008-11-01T21:00:51Z

Two of the new ones.

2008-02-03T19:56:45Z

The Pause That Refreshes

But?

These are from scans. They look crisper in person. I printed these at 5x7, so they're really quite small.

I have a dear friend who is in a bind

2008-01-19T18:55:09Z

And I'm not one to normally do this, but here goes:

She is a tremendously talented artist who was recently accepted at SFAI (AND got merit based scholarships to pay for a goodly chunk of school).

She's short $3000.00 for tuition, and additional funds for art supplies. School just started.

She's a full time student with a 4 hour (2 each way) commute.

She has worked her ass off to come this far. She's applying for additional loans, but since she's full time student with a hellishly long commute she isn't working right now and so far she's being turned down. (But she's getting some work on campus to help make ends meet.)

Her parents do not have the money to help any more than they have. So I'm putting up a Paypal thing in the hopes that some of you might find it in your heart to throw a couple of bucks towards the education of a talented and motivated young artist.

Thanks for listening.

Muadib is watching television

2007-08-28T03:22:43Z

Some nature show about bonobos.
Just staring at the apes.
Weird little cat.

I am sitting at the side of the road

2007-08-25T18:19:52Z

In a 1954 Mercury Monterey, Sun Valley edition. That's the one with the glass roof.
Water pump took a dump when I went to shoot pictures. Tried to limp back to work, but it started to overheat, so I pulled over to let it cool off.
It continued to spew coolant, and now, when it's finally cool enough to try to get back to work, the damned thing won't start.
The guys are off at The Good Guys Grand Nationals, and you'd think that it was my fault that a nearly 60 year old car started to leak.
Luckily, the windows are down (power windows), so the glass roof isn't cooking me too much. The sidewalk here is covered in sap from a beetle infested tree, so staying in the car is a slightly better option than not.
I do hope the tow company calls soon.

I have been dumping more spook roosts

2007-08-23T04:40:21Z

And man, are they pissed off about it.
There is something persistent and unpleasant in the corner of the dining room next to the doorway to the kitchen.
I think it is displeased at me (finally) setting up my altar. Also at my disrupting it's afterlife. Whatever/whoever it is, it's making Muadib very upset and it's making the hair on my head and my arms stand up. Prickly and cold and on edge.
I have put on Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall--"Sing! Sing! Sing", trying not to blast out the neighbors while still allowing it to wash over and into me.
It is my power-raising music.

I will not tolerate them screwing with my cat.

Have installed AVG anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-rootkit

2007-08-19T20:53:48Z

All of it freeware or temporary freeware versions.
Anti-virus comes up clean (Bullguard didn't--it said I had the same mess that it had spent nearly 24 hours on). Currently runnin the in-depth version of anti-rootkit. Then I'll go anti-spyware. Then I'll see if it's necessary to send a stern message to Bullguard about the accuracy and efficacy of their (expensive) product.
It would be very nice to have my machine running correctly.

The same 45

2007-08-19T16:57:03Z

When the computer finally finished this morning at 1, it 'thought' that it had successfully cleansed itself.
When I rescanned it this morning it showed the same 45. Or another set of the same, or something.
I have once more set it to attempt getting rid of them. I'll haul it to work so that I can keep an eye on it while it chugs along.
I'm tremendously frustrated by this.

26--mostly (I'm guessing) in an IMAP folder

2007-08-18T15:12:26Z

Machine is finally out of the email section of the machine, so it's chugging through the scan a bit faster. I want to let it at least finish that before I take it to work, but am tempted to just stop it now and see if I can get rid of what's been found so far.
I'm not skilled enough to do this. It leaves me uneasy, as I'm afraid that I'll fuck something up beyond repair.
Bah!

On a more positive front

2007-08-18T15:05:24Z

I've actually been really good about the whole oatmeal eating thing. I doubt I'll ever really like it, but I'm able to tolerate it, and as a bonus I've lost 6 pounds so far.

Okay, this now officially sucks

2007-08-18T14:40:11Z

Running the laptop in safe mode and rerunning the virus scan (remember it indicated 'clean' last night after 11 hours). Currently showing 24 viruses, and it isn't anywhere near done scanning. This is very, very bad.
First, because of the viruses. Secondly, because it looks like it's going to take at least 3 hours just to finish the scan let alone deal with what it found. I have to be at work in 2 hours. I have customers coming in, and then I'm hotfooting it home to change and go to Pebble Beach.
Aaaargh!!!

I may have succeeded in cleaning the laptop

2007-08-18T03:48:11Z

At least, it looks like I did. For now I've shut it down, as the poor thing has been chugging along at 100% usage for the last 11 hours.
I'll start it up in safe mode tomorrow morning before work and run another scan to double check things.
Gah, it's been a long and less than fruitful day.

Soup feels good

2007-08-15T20:24:51Z

Soup with almost too much Tabasco and green chile sauce feels and tastes even better.
Cleared my head a little and the warmth made my chest feel better.

Sold a car for too little money, but at least I sold a car. It's been really, really slow. A guy I talked to yesterday called me today and I closed the deal. It won't pay much, but a little is better than none.

Back to napping.

Going to stay home today

2007-08-12T16:38:10Z

That will leave Brian alone, and he can't sell.
But if I go to work today I'm going to be a lot more ill tomorrow.
So I'm staying home and taking it easy.
Feels like a waste of a day, though. Can't really go nuts in the house. Were I feeling well enough to do that, I'd have gone to work.
I believe I shall take a nap.

Happy Birthday, Andy!

2007-08-10T14:26:41Z

Hope it's a great one!

Just realized

2007-07-28T15:50:53Z

The weird buzzing noise that I'm hearing is the Grand Prix. Now I'm in Santa Clara, and the race is in downtown San Jose. I'm a few miles away and it sounds like a massive swarm of bees. I can't even imagine how loud it must be up close and personal.

Email still iffy

2007-07-26T14:02:06Z

A few things have come through, but not many, including things I posted yesterday morning to a list I'm on. When it all finally breaks loose I rather expect to be inundated.
So, again, best way to reach me for anything is phone. Or posting here, as I'll pop in and checl for responses.