Puppy and Computer Progress

Darby seems to be perking up some now that I started her steroids (?) back. I think that helped with the pain but also seemed to be what was causing her stomach problems, so I was supposed to leave them off for 3 days. After 2 days of seeming to be in a stupor (her, not me, although that's debatable), I decided to give half a dose of the steroid this morning, and within an hour she was up wagging her tail and wanting to go outside to lie in the sunshine. That's magic stuff. I'll just have to try to not give it on an empty stomach and a smaller dose. I'm wondering what a drop in my coffee might do to perk me up. Just kidding!!

I got 2 computer estimates today and want to run them past Ryan and check out the Dell website. Really nice man at Computer Renaissance near here told me what I needed to hear and didn't talk down to me. I'd like to keep from having to go back downtown, although the guys there are really nice. I might go there tomorrow just to cover all my bases. Hopefully, I'll have something up and running by the end of the week - mainly my pictures.

Doing all that plus mailing a package, going to the bank, getting the oil changed, and buying groceries took all my middle-of-the day time, so now it's time to get back to work. It's funny how some days people seem nicer than others. Today everyone from the computer salesman to the oil change boy to the post office girl were extra nice. The Publix people are always friendly, and I appreciate that. I'm sure they didn't realize that their taking the time to make a joke or small talk would do so much to lift my spirits after all these days of keeping up with a sick dog and having computer problems - not to mention just having to get out in this January cold and wind.

Time now to settle in with robe, socks, and a cup of coffee for a bit of work before bedtime.

Update on Darby

My personal computer is still down, so I can't post a sad picture of the patient, but she is doing okay. She's very quiet and scared-seeming, obviously in a lot of pain. She will walk enough to go to the bathroom and go in and out of the sunroom but is pretty content to just sleep. One of her legs is scraped pretty badly, and her abdomen is bruised, and of course she walks very gingerly. Part of her depression might be due to the bath she had before I picked her up. Up until the accident, she thought that was the worst thing that could happen to her.

Out of guilt for allowing us to have an exterminator who would leave the gate unlatched, I went to Pet Smart on the way to the vet to get her a bed. I've been meaning to get her a nice one because she just sleeps on a bath mat in the sunroom or on towels in her doghouse. The old quilted Christmas tree skirt is her favorite, but it was time to put up the candy canes and holly. I got to PS and went to the dog section and passed up the heated beds and headed to the regular dog bed section. Not many choices. I guess lots of dogs got what they asked Santa for. Some of them were the size of a baby mattress and probably a lot more expensive. One looked promising but was $55. I realized at that point that I should have gone to Wal-Mart, but you know style is everything to Darby, and she would be offended by beds sold in proximity to Ole Roy dog food. So I kept looking. I liked one made of a tan velour with a little back, but it was no more than a thin piece of velour with a little raised portion. The bath mat would be more comfortable. I also had the idea that I could go to Hancock Fabrics (good excuse for a visit) and get some velour pretty cheap and sew it into a bed. I didn't have time for that, though, and I really didn't want snowflakes or primary colors. I resigned myself to going somewhere else, but on the way I passed the crate pads. Now those looked good. Tasteful yet soft and just the right size. So I got one of those. I gave the toys a brief look, but nothing seemed too exciting, and besides her Christmas sheep still has one ear and all 4 legs, and she has a basket of mended body parts that she likes, especially the one-legged, one-eyed froggie. Turns out she had no interest in her puppy friends at all. She looked at them like she blamed them totally for getting run over. I did buy her some chew sticks because of thinking how little there is for dogs to do during 7 days of bed rest. They can't watch TV or ring bells for attention. It's just lying there watching me work and glancing at the occasional cat that will venture near enough to sniff the vet smell. She refused the chew stick until I stuck it in a can of forbidden Fancy Feast cod and sole dinner, and then she got a little excited and chewed for awhile until she realized it was not really made of cat food but rawhide. Oh, well, thank goodness dogs like to sleep.

I'm still waiting on recommendations from my computer expert Ryan as to what to do about my play computer.

Terrible horrible very bad day

I was just thinking yesterday of how it's about time for the newness of the New Year to turn into real life when it happened overnight. The exterminator came around 2:00 yesterday, and I let Darby in to keep her from barking at him. I let her out again when I started to work at 5:00, and Mama heard her a little bit later barking at people walking down our sidewalk. I went out, and we tried to coax her in (as usual), and she would have none of it (as usual). She just took off enjoying her freedom and being her usual obnoxious self. I worked until 9, checking every once in a while to see if she had come back, but I didn't see her at the back door. Finally at 10:00 or so, I found her on the front porch all huddled up and shivering. She seemed ok but then this morning she couldn't stand up and snapped at me when I touched her back legs. So I called the vet, managed to gather her up in towels, and take her in. She had some pretty rough looking places on her stomach. I couldn't stand to look very hard. Dr. Golden called this afternoon and said she did have a broken pelvis but that that was the best kind of break to have. She most likely was hit by a car and maybe dragged or run over. They kept her overnight to watch for internal bleeding and kidney failure, but we should know how she is in the morning. She didn't seem to be sick, just hurting a lot, so we're hoping she's okay. Before I left her at the vet's office, she put her head on my shoulder and snuggled and licked my ear. Such sweet eyes.



THEN my computer died again. It's been trying to tell me for a few days. I guess when the picture goes black and there's a beeping noise, it couldn't be much clearer. I kept ignoring it though and thinking it would somehow heal itself if I ignored it. I changed monitors, hoping it was something that simple, but still no picture. I did all the tricks that I read about on line, unplugging it, holding down the CTL button while I tapped the desk 20 times (just made that up), but it stayed silent. After working for about 2 hours, just as I was sending a report, my work computer screen filled with black and green stripes. Panic. I turned it off and back on, and it was fine. I guess it was just having sympathetic blackouts. About the same time, I started smelling this burning smell, you know the one where it smells like an electric cord is burning. I looked at all the connections and sniffed around my work computer but couldn't identify anything. Then I bent down to my poor dying computer, and the smell was coming from it. So I unplugged it and said my final good-byes and got on the Dell web site. I'm asking advice from Ryan and wondering if I should just go to Wal-Mart and get the cheapest thing I can find. Surely, it'll last me a year or so.



Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow.