Woes of the Homeowner

Holiday coming up! That means a house or animal crisis is sure to happen!

Oh, look, there's now a big, ragged hole in the ceiling of my laundry closet. The ceiling started sagging and water started dripping from two small holes sometime yesterday morning. Of course, I immediately turned off the water to the two sinks that are directly above this spot. Then I frantically called the home warranty company. Just like a health insurance provider, you need to use a contractor that they have approved, not just any old plumber that can, you know, show up and fix the fucking problem. So I won't be seeing the approved plumber until next Tuesday...a week from the day I called.

I was worried about water pooling in the ceiling and causing a much larger area of damage, so this morning I climbed up on to the washing machine and poked the ceiling with a screwdriver. Most of the mess went into my handy bucket but it was rather splashy for 30 seconds or so. I widened the hole to take a look--the sheetrock is saturated and is going to have to come out anyway.

When I carried the bucket outside to dump it, to my horror I saw a hornet floating in the water. Was it alive? Is there a nest up there? Will those horrible insects now have access to the inside of my house? I jumped in the car and headed to Lowe's for some industrial-strength wasp killer. I haven't seen any of those vicious bastards but I remain vigilant.

The dripping seems to have stopped now, which means I successfully drained the pooled water, and the leak was probably coming from one of the upstairs sinks. I've moved my daily ablutions to the downstairs sink, which I hope is not similarly leaking into the crawlspace.

And the dogs have plenty of time to get into trouble before the holiday is over.

Getting Old

I've been keeping this blog for over 10 years now, and I could swear I've written a post with this same title. (I in fact did, in December 2011, about Harry.)

I was watching Mimi sleeping the other morning, and I started thinking about all of the places that she has lived: two different houses in Texas, Saudi Arabia, Oregon, and now a new house here in Arkansas. She dipped her toes in the Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Gulf. She has traveled a lot in her long life (2 months shy of 14 years old).

Old age is not a disease. But it certainly comes with relatively inevitable physical and mental changes. Mimi has lenticular sclerosis, a very common thing in older dogs (and people) in which proteins start depositing in the lenses of the eyes. Not cataracts, not associated with disease. Just age. She needs help navigating her world, which unfortunately at the moment changes daily, when light levels are low or there are poor lighting contrasts at doors and stairs. She is also nearly deaf. This is a bit of a blessing--Mimi is so high strung in general that not being able to hear things like neighbor dogs barking or thunder is better for her.

Sadly, Mimi is also starting to lose the thread of things now and then. She is a bit slower to wake up. She can get confused in chaotic settings, made worse because she can't hear verbal cues or reassurances. She is not experiencing dementia but I can see subtle signs of decline.

I also noticed just the other morning that the top of Azza's head and ears are starting to go white. She turned 7 years old in December 2018. She's not even close to being classified as "senior" but she's a larger dog and I'm not surprised to see signs of aging showing up now.

Our companion pets are with us for such a short time. It makes me sad to see them age. Older, maybe a little bit wiser, my dogs (and the Beast cat) have been through so much with me, and I'm grateful that they seem to be willing to keep on going, to see what the next adventure might be.

The Fence!

The lot for the house that I purchased is oddly shaped, like an elongated trapezoid. It is fenced along the property line with old chain link. To put up a 6 foot wooden privacy fence along the entire perimeter would have cost me almost $9,000! That's a lot of money that I don't have. I decided to fence half of it, getting 6-foot tall sides and a shorter, four-foot section across the middle. Eventually I will fence all of it but this keeps the dogs safe and allows me to pretend that the dense, dark jungle of the "lower forty" isn't a problem I need to deal with right now.

This photo doesn't even begin to capture the trashy, underbrushy mess that is most of the backyard. And despite the fact that the fence is the topic of this post, this is the only photo I decided to post showing the nice, new fence. 

And today, after 7 days of hard work by mainly two guys, the fence is completed! They placed it inside the existing chain link, so they only had to remove the parts of the chain link that were visible from the street. They had to do a lot of brush clearing and tree chopping, which contributed to the long job duration. Normally a fence of this size would have been up and done in two days, maybe three.

Anyway, I let the dogs out to investigate their new backyard. It's a real mess--tons of trash, broken glass, rocks, dead trees, brush, dead leaves. It hasn't been cared for in quite a while. No poison ivy that I've seen yet. Of course I'm worried about snakes but I bought a big bag of SnakeAway granules at Home Depot that I plan to put out on Sunday. Having the fence guys tramping around for a week helps too--snakes don't like that kind of commotion. They said they didn't see any but I remain vigilant. The AT&T internet guy told me that he's mostly seen black rat snakes, and those are the good kind of snakes. Even so, I think I want them far away along with the venomous ones. And the gnats and mosquitos and flies are horrible, but I can't spray for those until I get some of the brush and leaves cleared up. A big job, that's for sure.

Enjoying some time on the deck at last.

Road Trip Part 2: Starting to Settle In

I still haven't put my bed together although I hauled the futon upstairs to the bedroom. The space is slowly starting to come together. Unloading the trailer didn't take long, but it took me two days before I was able to get the kitchen clean enough, and before I was able to find all of the requisite equipment to make some coffee.

I've been getting the place cleaned and organized before the PODS arrive on Monday. I've got a week to unload them, plus another week after that to at least partially unpack before I start my new job.

This cheerful space will be my office. I finally got internet set up last night. 

I think you can tell that one of my priorities was dog beds!

The cat has finally starting showing up regularly for meal times, and is sleeping with the rest of us upstairs at night. The fence is not completed, so the dogs have to potty in the front yard on leash, and they are none too happy about that. They are all still a bit jumpy--the trip was hard on them too, and they are just starting to get used to the new environment. It will take time for all of us to settle in.

Road Trip Part 1: "It Was Fairly Horrible"

So exactly how does one get three dogs and a cat from Oregon to Arkansas? Driving was the best option but it came with some unique risks and problems. That's a long trip for just one driver. Plus I was going to pull a 5x8 foot trailer. And my plan wasn't too clear on lodging options. I figured that I would just pack it all up, hit the road, and figure things out on the way.

Taken in Utah.

It was a marathon event. I drove 2350 miles in three days. I did a bit less than 600 miles the first day, just under 900 miles the second day, and around 850 miles the third day. It was fairly horrible.

The cat was not doing well. He was in a large crate with room for a small bed, litter box, and bowl of food, but he was by no means happy or comfortable. He wasn't eating, drinking, or using the litter box, and that can be a big problem for cats. I was worried about him, and decided the sooner we reached Arkansas, the better. I was going to spend the same number of hours on the road, and whether we pushed through in three days or four wasn't going to change that.

And about those sketchy lodging plans? After wasting an hour or more trying to sort out a hotel on the first night (when I was already exhausted), I gave up and slept in the van in an interstate rest stop, buried in a pile of dog blankets and the two terriers. With four crates in the van, there was just enough room for me to sort of stretch out along one side. I could only let the terriers out--no way would I have been able to lie flat and let Azza out too. I did the same thing the second night too. In a way, it was easier. I could feed the dogs in their crates and didn't have to shuffle a hundred bits of crap in and out of a hotel room. Sure, I didn't shower for three days. And it was really cold both nights, around 45F. But I have plenty of dog blankets and the terriers are used to sleeping right next to me. So it worked out.

I stuck to major interstates for 99% of the trip. It was a good plan because I was able to stop often, let the dogs out and stretch my legs.

Here are some random observations from the trip:

• There is a lot of empty country out there. 
• Wyoming is fucking enormous. And empty. But amazingly beautiful. 
• Even after three days, I would look up at the rearview mirror and think, damn, that car behind me is too close, before realizing it was the trailer. I packed the shit out of that trailer. It was about the same size as the van and didn't move an inch even in high winds. 

Dogs along the driver side, cat in the dark red crate. 

• Kansas has the best rest stops I have ever seen. Large grassy areas surrounded by trees, places to pull the van and trailer into the shade, clean bathrooms. 

Enjoying some early morning Kansas sunshine.

• Oklahoma doesn't even bother with interstate rest stops. Disappointing. 
• It takes a pile of five thick fleece dog blankets to muffle the seat attachment brackets on the floor of the van but once they were in place, and I was wrapped in another king-size fleece blanket with two terriers snuggled in with me, I slept pretty comfortably. 

There was snow on the ground at the rest stop outside of Laramie, WY. Mimi is not amused by the cold winter wind. 

• I can't come up with a good reason for this, but with respect to traffic, the east-west corridors were the most empty and the north-south corridors the most crowded. 
• While I can confirm that the coffee culture of the Pacific Northwest has not fully penetrated The Big Empty of the western US, decent coffee can be found. 

So after three days, we arrived at the new house. My bed was in the trailer, but after that trip, I was too exhausted to even contemplate trying to unload anything. Plus we rolled in close to midnight and that's no time to be toting boxes and bales. So I slept on the floor of the house for yet a third night in the same pile of dog blankets, although this time Azza was able to join us.

Diary of a New Veterinarian: We Did It!

The Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2019 graduated yesterday. I'm glad I went to the ceremony--it was just the right amount of emotion and tradition. I think we were all quite surprised at how nervous we were. The important part was walking across the stage, being hooded by two faculty members that our class voted on to do this task, then being handed a fancy diploma by the dean. Once that was done, the rest was downhill. I suppose that my perspective is skewed since I am at the start of the alphabet and was the second of our class to cross the stage. The last person had to watch the other 53 of us cross before it was her turn--I'm sure she was far more wrung out by that point than I was.

I was fine until it was all over and I was saying goodbye to my pocket pet, my best friend in our class. She started her internship this morning. I'm still packing, planning to head out this weekend. When we realized that we might not see each other again for months, maybe longer, things got a bit teary. I will miss her fiercely.

This photo was taken before the ceremony when we were all nerves and smiles.

Over the past four years, I got to know most of my classmates, particularly those in my surgery groups and in my fourth-year clinical rotations. As we now scatter to all kinds of interesting jobs and internships, I hope that I can keep up with all the exciting things they are doing and learning.

Diary of a Fourth-Year Student: "Stefan and His Bestie"

One of my classmates is going to do a presentation on Stefan, the alpaca with perplexing skin issues. He and I visited Stefan's stall so I could show him the nodules, and he took this pic and sent it to me with the title "Stefan and His Bestie."

Stefan was recently sheared so the weird carpet-like texture of his coat is the result of that. Nothing to do with his skin nodules.