Two Women, Three Dogs Trolling Mass Pike in the Wee Hours

Back on April 9^th, we left our house at 4:59 a.m. to head to Waltham, MA for Chancey’s oncology appointment at 8:30 a.m. We were told by friends that due to the morning rush hour traffic around the Boston beltway, getting on the road any later than 5 a.m. could result in our missing the appointment.

You might think that we just all piled into the car and drove off. Not as simple as that. Many details had to fall in place for us before we pulled out of our driveway. It started the night before. I emptied out all the contents in my car. Then I started adding. First, a vinyl liner and then a blanket spread out in the back of my car (thank goodness the back seat can be laid down). Second, two doggie beds, water bowl, a gallon bottle of water and extra leashes go on top of the blanket. The rest of these items were stacked behind the passenger seat. First bag, had individual baggies of kibble, one can of dog food and three bowls.  Second bag, dog towels to wipe them off if it should rain or they step in yuck, dog brushes (if they roll in the grass or tangle with a bush that has burrs on it) plus the little orange scoop to pull off ticks.  Third bag has miscellaneous items such as a map (never trust Google Maps), tissues, Advil, and directions to the clinic.

Now it is 4:30 a.m., I’ve loaded up the cooler with treats for us – muffins from Dunkin Donuts (purchased the night before) bags of almonds, oranges, apples, protein bars. I also filled up four drinking bottles of our filtered water and they went into the cooler as well. The cooler went on the floor behind the driver’s seat. On top of that were our coats and two bulky purses. We let the dogs out for one last pee before they got in the car. We got their collars on (which requires running through the house to capture Eddie) and load them into the back of the car. I did a final walk through, checking that all lights are off and no water is running, that the doors to the front yard and back are dead bolted (strong winds have popped the doors if they are not) and I've glanced around to see if I left anything behind. Oops, “Hey Mary, I thought you were already in the car!” It is now 4:59 a.m. and we are rolling out of the driveway.

Two things I noticed about being out and about at 5 a.m. in the morning. Lots of places are already opened. Such as McDonalds, gas stations and Dunkin Donuts! I could have gotten fresh muffins. I never asked them the night before what time they opened. Second thing, there are many more 18-wheelers than cars on the Mass Pike.

We made great time and ended up in the clinic parking lot by 6:45 a.m. They have a great doggie area that is very Zen like. A mobile hanging off a tree and metal dragon flies arranged on a wooden fence.  We let the dogs explore and then we piled back into the car to find a restroom and food for the mommies. We drove around and found a Panera Bread open and had an enjoyable breakfast while the dogs hung out in the car. Upon our return, I took Chancey for a walk around the shopping center so Mary could feed the other two. Because of possible blood work, Chancey had to wait for his breakfast. One of the stores we walked by was a pet store and they had shelves of dog food facing the window. Chancey could smell the dog food and he was jumping up and down wanting to tear open one of those bags.

We headed back to NEVOG, New England Veterinarian Oncology Group, for our appointment. The staff was so kind and thoughtful. When they learned that we had two other dogs in the car, they were invited in. Fast Eddie was having a great time in the examination room, Chloe not so. She started whining and got restless then Eddie chimed in too. Back to the car they went. We then met with Dr. Silver who explained to us how his cancer would progress and what the options were for Chancey. It made us feel better when we learned that this type of cancer rarely had any pain associated with it. She explained to us what we should expect and she thought that he had about six months to a year.

With that information, we headed back to the car so Chancey could have his breakfast. I walked both Fast Eddie and Chloe while Chancey had his breakfast. By now they had already forgotten they had been fed and would have gone for Chancey’s food. That folks, is how food fights start.

One memorable moment occurred on our way back home. We had stopped at a rest stop. Mary went in first and I followed. My mistake was I just got out of the car and walked away without saying anything to the dogs. That’s when the howling started. As I got farther from the car the louder they got. I was laughing and a woman looked at me. I said “Yep, those are mine” and she smiled. You could hear each distinct howl. When they are like this, we call them “Eddie and the Howlers.” Their new single should hit stores next month. What a hoot.

Until next time…

Just Heartbreaking

Back on March 17^th Chloe and Chancey had a spa day where they got washed and trimmed down for their spring do. When Chancey came home, I pointed out several white hairs which I hadn’t noticed when his hair was all curly. Each day more white appeared. With his fur turning white we joked that “Chancey was having a mid-life crisis and was turning into a Westie.” Our vet had seen Chancey twice in one week and was concerned about how much whiter he was getting.  At that point, she suggested a biopsy which was done on March 28^th. 

The results came back on April 2^nd.  Chancey has a rare skin cancer called Epitheliotropic Cutaneous Lymphoma.  It was decided that we would take Chancey to the New England Veterinarian Oncology Group (NEVOG) in Waltham near Boston to get a second opinion, which we did. We learned he is in Stage 4 and neither surgery nor radiation is an option. Chemo is the only option and we don't like the odds. Without any treatment, he has about six months to a year.

We are extremely sad and we are trying to deal with the waves of grief that keep hitting us. It is hard to accept that he isn’t going to grow old with us. He’s only seven and we thought we had many more years with him in our lives. I can’t image coming home one day and Chancey not being there to greet me. I’m crying as I write these words. It hurts so much. I want time to stop. I want this all to be just a bad dream and it isn't.

"The Good Wife"

I am still in denial and shocked over Will’s death in the “The Good Wife” that aired last Sunday (March 23, 2014). I’ve been in mourning for the past week about the death of a character in a T.V. show. How pathetic is that?  

‘The Good Wife’ runs on Sunday nights and I record it on DVR and I watch it on Tuesday evening when Mary’s at class. So for the first 48 hours after the show’s airing, I was not aware of the death of one of the show’s main characters. Ignorance is bliss. But the past few hours I’ve been walking around the house doing chores and saying “They killed off Will” and “Will is dead.”

The co-creators of “The Good Wife” were in a dilemma when one of their original actors, Josh Charles, who plays Will, decided to leave the show for greener pastures. Will’s sudden and unexpected demise during the last 20 minutes of the episode, caught loyal viewers completely off guard. These outraged fans went online to voice their hurt over the loss of Will.  And their continuing outrage caused the co-creators of the show to write an open letter to the fans explaining why killing Will off was the best option for their continuing story line.

When the series started in 2009, Alicia’s husband, Peter, who just happens to be the District Attorney at the time, cheats on her by sleeping with a prostitute.  So the first show of the series has Alicia standing by her husband during the press conference portraying “The Good Wife.” Alicia needs a job since she has left Peter and ends up at Will’s firm. While working together, the chemistry between Alicia and Will grows into a very complicated relationship. By the way, did I mention that Will is Alicia’s boss?

This season, Alicia leaves the law firm and starts her own. Will views this as a form of betrayal and he goes after Alicia and does all he can do to make her new firm fail. So begins their cat and mouse game of proving who is the better lawyer using all sorts of underhanded tricks. But when Will dies, everything changes for Alicia.

On Sunday night, one of Will’s clients loses it in the court room, grabs an officer’s gun and randomly shoots people. Will is hit by a stray bullet and bleeds out. One of the sadder moments is when his client is seen sitting nearby with the gun under his chin clicking the trigger over and over again because he has run out of bullets. The other sad moment was a shot of someone’s foot with a brown shoe and the other with just a sock on it and a trail of blood (which was Will’s).  I watched the ending of the show twice to understand that his character was gone forever.

The good news is Will is reappearing in some flashbacks for the next couple of episodes. When I think of Alicia paired with someone, it will always be Will. I can’t image anyone else.

I always envisioned that when the series finally ends there would be a scene where Alicia and Will are walking hand in hand into the sunset and they live happily ever after. We all know that only happens in T.V. or the movies. Alicia and I are both heartbroken and it will take some time for us to realize that Will is never coming back to be her friend, lover, or even her adversary. And, Will was my all time favorite "bad boy."

Where Has All the Customer Service Gone?

Mary and I joined the 21^st century when we recently decided to get wi-fi through Xfinity . While reading the instructions, it mentioned that a backup battery should be installed. We didn’t see the battery and we spent a lot of time looking for it in the box, and looking for it in the trash as well, and just couldn’t find it. Mary called them. They informed her that the battery did not come with the wi-fi box and that we would have to purchase it for a mere $45 through the Xfinity Voice Battery Backup line.

Mary goes ahead and orders the battery. When it arrived, she installed it and nothing happened. The battery just wouldn’t charge. The green battery light never appeared as mentioned in the instructions. Two months fly by and I finally get around to calling Xfinity Customer Service.

After making three phone calls and speaking to four individuals, I truly believe that Comcast’s customer support staff originated from the spawn of Beelzebub!

In my first phone call, I explained about the battery situation and that the green light was not appearing on the front of the box which meant that the battery was not charging properly. At this point, the Customer Service Rep would not continue the conversation until I gave her the serial number. She told me it was located on the front of the box. Wrong. It was on the back of the box, and due to the short cables, it was hard for me to turn it around to read the numbers. I had to move both a chair and a lamp and then scoot the desk out from the wall to get to the back of the box.

I finally read off a long series of numbers to her and then she asks me why I was calling. This is when I had a true Juan Pablo moment - he’s the rude guy on The Bachelor who chided the host for interrupting him. I interrupted her and said, “You are not listening to me. I told you in the beginning of this conversation what the problem was.” She said, “Sorry...I can’t hear you and you should call back to the Xfinity Voice Battery Backup line” and then she hung up on me.

I immediately called back and person #2 kept me on the phone for a total of 12 minutes with many minutes of silence between each question he asked me. I had to say on two occasions “Are you still there?” because all I could hear was background noise of people talking. He finally came back on the line and said, “We will send out a new battery.” Yeah!!! I was then informed that I would have to personally return the first battery to the nearest Comcast store. For us, the closest one to us is 45 minutes away which does not make me jump up and down with joy about returning it.

My third call of the day…I’m looking at my notes and I realize that the battery is called the “voice battery backup” and I wanted to be sure that I really needed a battery for the wi-fi since I wasn’t using the phone jack on it for our phone service. Person #3 told me the battery was only for the phone and that it wasn’t meant as a backup for the wi-fi if the power goes out. At this point I’m so frustrated that I’m making strange sounds instead of intelligible words (I was envisioning practicing my high dive off the nearest cliff). Then she said, “I’m transferring you to our technical service department.”  

This is just getting better by the minute. I spoke to person #4 and explained the entire battery situation again and that the woman I just spoke to informed me that the battery was only for the phone service and not for our wi-fi if we lost power. Person #4 said the battery was for both the phone and wi-fi t if here is a power outage. Why didn’t the previous person know that? Aren’t they given any training???

His next comment was priceless - he informed me that we must have installed the battery incorrectly. I took a very deep breath and said, “Well if this second battery that is being mailed to us doesn’t work, I will call back for instructions about how to install a battery.” Because at that point all I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs at this individual that I felt that the entire Xfinity Voice Battery Backup staff was a bunch of untrained idiots, but for a change I kept my mouth shut. I thanked him politely for his helpful assistance and wished him a nice night and hung up.

I now have bruises on my forehead from hitting my head repeatedly on the kitchen table after this last conversation. All I can say is that second battery better work or mayhem will ensue.

Until the next time…

Update: The second battery was the wrong size. The only reason I cared about having a battery was the instructions said to “install the backup battery.” Word to the wise – don’t always rely on instructions as whoever is writing them may not know what they are talking about.

My Morning so Far

My morning as of 8:15 a.m. 

·        Walked around the house and opened all the curtains

·        Made the bed

·        Made my coffee

·        Emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes. And, tried to find room for all of our coffee mugs. Why do we have this many mugs? Is it really necessary? I had to stack them on top of each other which I know is frown upon by management.

·        Ate a bowl of yogurt with some cereal thrown in for fiber

·        Folded a load of laundry

·        Put on a wash of towels

·        Put that load of towels in the dryer to dry

·        Emptied out the kitchen compost container into the container we take to our local dump on Saturdays.

·        Finally, drank my coffee

·        Emptied four wastepaper baskets into the kitchen trash can and took it to the outside trash can. Why do we have four wastepaper baskets plus the kitchen trash can?

·        Did poop patrol in the back and front yards. Some of it had frozen in the snow and I had to use a shovel to dig it out.

·        Put a 12-foot plastic flex-drain on one of the down spouts in case it rains today. Too much snow close up to the house so I wanted the water to drain away from the house and not into the house.

·        Fed the bunny – he got a large carrot (no greens because this wasn’t an organic carrot) and slices of cabbage. To put his food in the spot we normally put it, I had to move a lot of the hay that Mary had placed there. She was told that the bunny would use it in his nest and eat some of it as well. From what I can tell he is not a fan of hay.

·        And, now off to earning a living. I'm exhausted all ready and my day has only begun.

More Fast Eddie Adventures!

This positing was written in December, 2008. Eddie had just turned two the past October and was still very much a puppy. Five years later he still has not graduated out of Puppy 101. Eddie is a goof ball and that is quite obvious when you meet him. There are many more stories about him coming up that will make you smile and laugh. This October he will turn eight, in his early years, I never thought he would live past the age of five because of all the things he ate. But thankfully, he has a cast-iron tummy!

                             *****************************************

Of Fast Eddie’s nine emergency visits so far, three have been related to cuts to his paws while running off leash at the Old Hospital Grounds here in Northampton. The first one was rather minor he cut himself running on an icy path. I had no idea that dogs can get injured on ice obviously I haven’t had any Iditarod experience with dogs in icy conditions. That incident resulted in a couple of stitches and no park visits for a week.

The next one was a little bit more serious. Eddie was running around at the park and went into the woods where he sliced open the toe pad of his paw. With several stitches and orders to keep him from jumping or running around for two weeks, we went home. The vet’s concern was if this didn’t heal properly, his toe pad might have to be removed. We knew we couldn’t keep him from not being a Mexican jumping bean, but we did try. With that said, several days later he leaped off of the three-foot high retaining wall in our backyard and split open the stitches. In spite of his dare devil leap, his toe pad finally healed but it is now a very odd shape. Well, there goes the idea of using Eddie as a paw model to pay off his vet expenses!

The most expensive incident so far, again at the park, and with only seconds to go before getting Eddie back into the car, he ran off into the woods and came out limbing and bleeding heavily. Poor Mary brought him home and just wanted to wash all the blood off of him. I took one look and knew that he had cut tendons. We quickly headed up (on a Sunday morning, no less) to the Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital in South Deerfield near Yankee Candle.

The vet, Dr. L. knew Fast Eddie from previous park experiences. She knew Mary’s ex-partner and when she found Eddie running around the park one day with no adult supervision, she called her to get Mary's number. At the time, Mary was madly searching for the elusive Eddie at the park. Dr. L. also knew of some of Eddie’s previous exploits with the snake and the mouse (that will be explained in a future posting).

Well, the diagnosis was that his tendon had been cut, probably from a broken bottle of which many litter the woods. Thank you, you moonlight booze-hounds for throwing your bottles around and leaving dangerous broken glass that can injure humans and animals! He had minor surgery with internal and external stitches needed to repair the damage. They wrapped him in a huge cast-like bandage with splints to protect his limb. Dr. L. cleverly created a pumpkin “iron-on patch” for the bandage since it was so close to Halloween.

We were told he had to wear a cone (Elizabethan collar) for his entire recovery period of four weeks or more, and he would need to get the bandage changed on a weekly basis with our local vet. And thus began the tug of war with his bandage. Eddie and Chancey (our third dog) love to play tug of war, but this was the first time Eddie could do it all by himself.

 He didn't like the cone so we didn't make it a priority for him to wear it. Big mistake on our part. So he just kept pulling and chewing on his bandage which resulted in a total of eight bandages! Oh, did I mention that at some point he broke the splints and had to get them replaced too. Isn’t he special!

The idea that one could keep Eddie from doing something he‘s not supposed to do is rather humorous. That boy lives to chew and destroy. It’s his mission in life…one he does quite well.

Eddie is still recovering even though the splints and bandages are now off. He still favors the leg and when outside hops around on three legs. Once he’s fully recovered he will return to his daily walks at the park which really turn out to be flat out sprints. 

Another Day..and the Saga Continues

This posting was originally written and posted in January 2009. I wrote this when Mary's friend, was temporary camping out with us until her new condo became available. Her dog, Tyler, and her African Gray Parrot, Justice, were staying with us as well.

                            *********************************************

At this moment in our lives, we have three women, four dogs, and a handicapped African Gray Parrot living in 1,197 square feet of house. And, it is working out much better than the three of us had ever hoped for. But, there are days when it is a freaking zoo around here!

Take yesterday for example. I was taking a break after getting home from my Saturday job. Two of the dogs started barking because they heard something out on the road. I look out and it is the furniture delivery truck arriving 2 ½ hours sooner than we had expected!

Thankfully, Mary and Lisa had spent time in the basement that morning re-arranging all of Lisa's boxes so there was a cleared area. But, we had planned for the delivery to go through our outside cellar doors and we hadn’t cleared off the snow. Lisa went out in her house slippers and cleared it off while the truck was backing into our driveway. With Mary’s help, they both moved garbage cans and shoveled a walkway from our driveway to the cellar doors. This is with four dogs loudly barking and running back and forth wanting to go outside and poor me wishing for ear plugs and trying to calm them all down.

Fast forward - the furniture has made it to the basement with only minor drama. But now someone is knocking on the kitchen door and the dogs go berserk, again! I squeezed past four dogs to see who it was. It was the delivery driver wanting me to sign paperwork. I explained to him that one of our dogs doesn’t like strangers and that was why I was making every effort to keep her from them.

In the meanwhile, I couldn’t figure out where Mary and Lisa were, but I went ahead and signed the paperwork. As the driver headed toward his truck, I asked him if Mary had given him his tip. He said “No” just as Mary barreled around the corner of the house. She’s yelling, “You locked the basement door and we couldn’t come up through the house!” So I ran back into the house trying to keep the dogs from pushing their way out and I unlocked the basement door. I find Lisa standing on the steps saying “there is a missing table leaf,” while I am handing her the signed paperwork! She squeezes through the mass of fur and goes out to talk to the driver.

It was decided that the driver needed to come in to the house to look at the table in the basement. But thanks to my earlier statement about Chloe, he didn’t want to. So, I had to get a collar on Chloe, walk her to the other end of our house, and hang out in the study with her. She wasn’t a happy camper, but with lots of encouragement and a few dog treats, we made it through this latest hurdle. Come to find out, the table only has one leaf, so all is right in furniture land.

So this is my life right now: four dogs barking, one handicapped parrot talking a mile a minute, and three women all living under the same roof. Life is good.

Until the next time...