January 30th. Friday.
10:25 pm
I’m home. The guys went to sleep around 9, and I got a second wind.
The guys are different, again. Something new on this trip is how the end the day. Before, I’d leave when the guys were trying to sleep. They would be frozen in space for hours, but wouldn’t really sleep, because I was still there. Every time I’d move just a little, Bubba’s sleepy eyes would pop open, he would raise his head and stare. Yesterday was the first time that I left, and the guys were actually in deep sleep when I did.
I scared both guys badly when I went to pet them before I left. That was never an issue before, because they would open their eyes to look at me when the heard/felt me moving near them. But last night, both guys jumped when touched. Poor Bubba jumped up on his feet and spun around I scared him so badly. Tonight I left without touching either, and neither woke when I opened the door. They have both gotten more comfortable with me, and feeling safe.
8:30 pm
I’ve been trying to catch up the log for a couple of hours. I fed the guys, then fed myself, and old age really landed on my brain.
Buddy has been entertaining. The front door is open. He wants to go to sleep, but he doesn’t want to miss what’s going on outside. He keeps alternating between lying on the floor by the open front door, and every 2-3 minutes moving to the top of the couch. I sat, slouching, sitting in front of my laptop with half-written log entries – not making much progress in trying to catch up. I had given up trying to actually accomplishing anything, and was half-watching a music theory channel on YouTube.
Then Bubba got up. He was having a coughing fit, and it started off sounding awful. He moved from the bed to over by the front door, with that awful choking cough sound. I got up to check on him. I crouched down to pet him and try to soothe him while he was going through the fit. The cough fit didn’t repeat itself, and he stayed to enjoy the attention. The cool air from outside felt great, so I sat down, and leaned against the door and just relaxed. He sat closer to me to accept pets and scratchings. Buddy jumped down off the couch to join us, and we all just sat by the door, and just relaxed together. It was an amazing feeling, having the guys just huddling with me and enjoying the cool breeze. My headache started to fade. But then Buddy grabbed his bunny, and we had to play some tug-of-war – I was not getting up to run around. Bubba started howling and running around the living room, then to the bedroom and back to bark at me for not chasing him.
It was great while it lasted.
3:50 pm
it was hot. I needed to bring over my own fan and open up everything for the breeze. It feels a bit surreal complaining about it being too hot. My friend in Washington State has her kids at home today, because the schools are closed due to the snow. And Washington isn’t even close to what a lot of the country is going through. But I have to keep the guys comfortable. It was still a sleepy day. I ended up going home to pass out on my couch for half an hour around 2:30. But now it was walk time.
It was a very very long, very slow walk. I applied no pressure to get them to get some exercise. Every chance we got to stop for a visit with someone, we took. They stopped to get attention from lots of strangers sitting around the park and the memorial.
Both guys pooped. We walked an hour and 20 minutes.
8:10 am
I was over early. I had a work emergency that carried over from late the night before. I wanted to get breakfast out, and check on the guys, and get my portable office set up. I expected it to be much-too-early since the guys were in bed early, but I was moving around a lot, late – with lots of mumbling about the people I work with to keep Buddy wondering what I was yammering about.
Buddy was asleep on the back of the couch. He didn’t get up to greet me. He let out a giant yawn. Bubba was in the fireplace bed, looking appropriately groggy for an old guy not-yet-ready for the day. But Bubba stood up and stretched, and immediately got out of bed. That got Buddy up. I had time to put out breakfast to marinade, and we were out the door for a morning walk.
Buddy pooped. Bubba did not. We walked 35 minutes.
Buddy, and last night
Buddy’s head is going to wrong direction. The scabs are starting to disappear, along with some of his fur. He only scratched his head one time with me around, when I posted about the vigorous scratching with each foot in turn. Since then he has not scratched at all when I’ve been around. I was with him for almost 6 unbroken hours last night, until a near-11pm grocery store run.
There is still a lot of medication in the tube of steroids prescribed the last time the hot spot flared. It is probably good, but I will Google to make sure. There is no expiration date on the prescription printout sticker on the box. But if he’s getting the steroids, he needs the cone, so he doesn’t scratch with a paw, then lick the paw later. I’ll give it another day and see if he’s scratching at it. I will try cleaning the area well, and see if that relieves the irritation. That’s the general consensus advice from the sites I pulled from a Google search. There’s not any real “home remedy” for hot spots. Either they heal on their own (with a little washing and care) or they need a vet.
Buddy loves waffles. He get very excited and aggressive over them. I eat waffles, toasted but dry – no butter or syrup. I didn’t Google if they were safe for dogs – I figured they had to be, it’s mostly just egg and flour. Then later I Google, and the AI says waffles are fine, but only home made. Frozen store-bought waffles contain xylitol or chocolate. He only had two small bites, but I shook my head at myself for not checking first. I’ve checked religiously since I almost shared my pecans with him, checked if they were a choking hazard for dogs, and found they were toxic.
But as it turns out, the problem is sweetened waffles. There are no chocolate chips, and xylitol is a sweetener. There are shockingly few ingredients in an Eggo buttermilk waffle, and none of them are toxic for dogs. So now we have something that he can I can share along with the rice cakes. The Alpha had wandered over to see what treat was being shared, sniffed at the bit of waffle I offered him, then turned away with disdain. He returned after I fed his bit to Buddy, and we tried again to the same result. Good ole Bubba and his self-control. How many dogs would turn down ANY treat?
The reindeer got removed from circulation. At around 8, the guys were sleeping, and I ran next door to grab a couple of things. I was gone a couple of minutes. When I got back, the reindeer had been marked. Bubba was in bed, like he’d never gotten up.