Quick & Dirty News from Here

1.  I come to you fresh from watching Juventus pull out a squeaker of a 2-1 win against Lazio which keeps them first in the league by one precarious point.  My boyfriend Alessa got the winner at around minute 83 or so.  That brute Kozak seems to have broken Leo's nose.  ADP kissed Claudio.  And at the end, when the tifosi were all signing the Juve song, Gio joined in.  &hearts

2.  Juve spams take me pretty much an entire day to put together.  I just can't do them regularly and still keep my job.  I miss doing them, but it can't be helped.

3.  Der Kirbenhund has a new trick.  Every day, he comes up with something new to give us all a heart attack.  Yesterday, it was a runny pile of poop surrounded by a lake of mucous and bright red blood.  Today, it was about five minutes when he decided he was unable to stand up.  So we get all frightened and worked up and then everything goes back to normal as if nothing happened.  It's freaky.

4.  In connection with #3, I'm sure I told you all before that when I walk into the regular vet, it's like Norm walking into Cheers.  We have now reached the point where it's the same thing at the specialty vet.  *sigh*

5.  In connection with #3&4, Kirby is no longer on chemo.  His platelet count is so low (below 8,000 when 200-500,000 is normal) that it isn't safe.  There is very little that can be done about this.  It's possible he has a tick-borne infection that can be treated, but if it isn't that, then we are pretty much at the end of the medical merry-go-round.

Aside from the five minutes a day when he has us completely scared out of our wits, Kirby is not acting sick at all.  He doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, and he's happy and affectionate like always.  That's the important part.  Truly, I'm almost glad that there aren't really any medical options left to pursue.  It would suit me fine if he were to stay around forever, of course, but we are way past the point when it makes a difference if we understand what's going on.   If his platelet counts can't be raised, then does it really matter what the cause is?  And if it doesn't matter what the cause it, then why should we be extracting bone marrow samples and doing more ultrasounds?  He has been a medical mystery since the beginning when he started coughing up chunks of plastic; bloody diarrhea for no apparent reason is just another bit of unexplainable Kirby-ness that makes him my Special Sweetheart.  It's time to enjoy the time he has left while he still feels good and can still be a dog and do dog things.

6.  I've tried going vegan again.  So far, about two weeks.  Oops.  Except tonight, we finished off a bottle of salad dressing that has dairy in it.   See this one is vegan, but this one isn't. Perhaps you can see how Mr. D brought the wrong kind home.   I forgot it wasn't vegan and didn't throw it away and so it accidentally made it onto the plate and into my tummy.  Oh well.  It's a sunk cost.  Whether I remembered to throw it away or decided to finish it off can no longer have any effect on the market for animal products, so it was essentially a neutral act.  This is all going pretty well.  It's easier than I thought it would be, and I've discovered that there is a whole lot of vegan junk food available if you have the patience to read labels at the Fresh Fields.  I've also figured out which type of soymilk makes good gelato, so we've got it covered.

Except for one thing.  I listened to a podcast the other day featuring a short story, A Dog's Tale by Mark Twain.  I cried for hours and stayed red-eyed and puffy for three days.  Every time I looked at one of the beagles, I could imagine them being in a cage at a market in China, waiting for someone to choose them to eat for dinner.   The details of what people do to animals are just too much for me.

Lost footage recovered

I discovered a whole bunch of podcasts on iTunes and I was messing around when what should appear but some old beagle videos I took a few years ago that I thought were lost.  How they ended up on iTunes I'll never know.  Anyway, this one shows my boys before they went all white in the face and back before Kirby's illnesses, back when he was sleek and fat.    I'm glad I found this.  As he beautiful as he is now, it's good to have something to remember how he looked then.  And Tiki was way squirmy.

Enjoy.

EDIT:  If it isn't working for you, follow this link.