Images of Winter

Light snow collecting on our shingle roof

 

 

The bird feeder after an ice storm

Near Tragedy

After getting their stomachs pumped and spending two nights in the hospital on IVs, it looks as though Violet and Ray will be OK. Here’s what happened:

When we’re not home, we leave the dogs in the laundry/mud room. It’s a relatively small space with dog beds and water, and it’s safe. We keep a lot of stuff in the cabinets and drawers in there, too, including dog food and doggy meds.

It only took Ray a couple of days to figure out how to open the cabinet and get the dog food. A day or two later, he figured out how to open the drawer and get the doggy medicine. I came home from work last Tuesday to find him on the floor with a chewed-up, empty bottle of drugs nearby — a prescription that in small doses eased Gus’s joint inflammation in old age. In large quantities, it’s toxic.

Back home at last

We’ve had some smart dogs before, but never one that could open a drawer. Ray and Violet seemed fine, but when Mrs. SR013 came home shortly after that, she realized that they had eaten all 30 pills and were in danger of liver and kidney failure if the drug worked its way into their systems. It’s kind of like eating poisonous mushrooms: you feel fine for a couple of days and then your liver shuts down and you die.

She rushed them to the animal hospital, where their stomachs were immediately pumped and the contents examined (probably not a vet’s favorite job…). They found remains of the pills in Ray’s half-digested food, and possibly in Violet’s too. So our two dogs remained in the hospital for two days, while a saline solution washed through their kidneys and livers, and their blood was drawn several times to check for early signs of organ failure.

The tests came out fine, so it looks as if — thanks to Mrs. SR013’s quick work — they will be OK, although now we’ve got new meds to give them for a while. Ray, of course, was the main culprit, and we will take some steps to ensure that he isn’t able to repeat this misadventure. Violet already seems her usual ditzy, happy self; I can practically hear her saying, “I didn’t do anything! I was just sittin’ there!”

And Heeeere’s… Ray!

Violet (to the left, sort of) seems to like him

It’s official: the new guy’s name is Ray, short for Raymundo.

Sometimes we call him Sugar Ray, because he’s so sweet.

January 2, 2012

This post is all about the pic.

The first snowfall of the season

New Year’s Day 2012

So here we are — Mrs. SR013 and me — eating Hoppin’ John for breakfast as we do every New Year’s Day, and reflecting on all that happened to us over the last year. Some of the highlights:

We bought a house and moved.
I found a new job.
I visited friends and attended my  nephew’s wedding in San Diego.
We made our first visit to Mammoth Cave National Park.
We had visitors from San Diego and Los Angeles.
We ate our first two Kentucky Hot Browns.
We survived record rainfall and a record summer heat wave.
Our dog Gus died.
We added a new member to our little family.

The New Guy

But more about him later. Happy New Year!