November 14, 2012

  • TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    We got some really bad news today.  The breeder that we bought Baron from was arrested for animal abuse and several other things.  It seems she had a dead doberman in her backyard.  It had died of heartworm and neglect.  Her kids didn't feel it was a big deal and that was startling in itself.  The kids had brought a friend over to show him the dead dog and the friend told his parents who reported it to the police department.  A sad day to learn that some gear had gone loose in her mind and life.  She bred some great doberman's once upon a time.  It had to have been her divorce that started the skid downhill.  Can't think of another reason she would have allowed it to happen (the heartworm, I mean).  Her female that she bred was a great red and she had won some championships that I recall.  That part didn't matter to us.  We were just looking for a companion dog and a watchdog.  Baron is definitely a companion to the Beast and has turned into a great watchdog this past year or so. 

    Chewlee got a sad face today.  She told me that it was for playing during work time.  She also said that it was a boy in her class that started it but the teacher knew it and HE got a sad face, too.  I guess they expect her to be able to ignore it like she was an adult but kids are kids and, to Chewlee, the work isn't a challenge.  She knows the majority of it already that the kids are just learning.  So it's easy for her to be distracted.  I wish they had some more challenging type classes for kids like her at her age.  I don't want her to get discouraged.  That's why we try to keep her learning new things at home.  Her mother works with her and so do I.  It's tough to have a kid as smart as she is and keep her interested in learning but we have to try at least.  So far, so good.

    Her teacher said that if she only has one bad day a week, it's still a good week.  At least she IS learning what good behavior in school is and she should eventually have ALL good days.  I hope so.

    The Beast spent the day with Baron, taking him to Pet Depot for his month's supply of dog food (the canned we use).  We have enough of his dry dog food for the next month already.  We supplement it all with veggies and chicken that we cook and mix with it.  We also add some brown rice several times a week.  He seems to like that better than white rice and it is more nutritious (for people anyway.  I'm not sure about dogs.)  It took me a while to get the Beast to thoroughly cook the veggies we give him because dogs can't digest uncooked veggies.  They don't have the enzymes needed.  He was just barely defrosting the frozen veggies we use and sometimes I found the broccoli and cauliflower were still icy.  I tried them and found them raw and had a fit.  If he can't digest what is being fed to him, that's a waste of money.  So now the Beast is making sure they are both defrosted AND cooked.  I told him *IF you wouldn't eat them, don't feed them to him!*.

    My feet were better today and I'm trying to learn just what amount of activity they can take without rebelling on me.  I was able to take just my normal prescribed amount of neuropathy medication and it was just fine.  It also means I should be able to sleep soundly tonight and not have phantom toe pains either.  I really thought I would be over that part but it seems to happen when my feet get very sensitive and hurt like hell.  I always forget to mention that to the doctor but I've written it down now so I can find out if that's normal or I am just weird.  It'll probably turn out that I'm weird but, oh well!  C'est la vie!

    Love you all.  Have a great rest-of-the-week.  Drive carefully and don't forget those people still suffering from H. Sandy.  They still need your prayers that their lives get back to normal A.S.A.P.