Day 2429

Dash got stung by a bee this evening. At least I think he got stung by a bee. We were taking our evening walk and all of a sudden he started limping on his right front leg. We were about three blocks from home, and he refused to put any weight on the leg the rest of the way home. He growled at me when I tried to examine the leg too. It was time for a trip to the emergency vet. Since I didn't have an appointment, Dash and I had to wait a long time in the lobby. During the hour or so we were waiting, Dash started to calm down and by the time the vet got around to seeing us, he seemed well on his way back to normal.

Basically we still don't know what is going on. It definitely could have been a bee sting, but there was no obvious redness or swelling. The vet said there were lots of things that could cause this sort of sudden lameness. It could be a soft tissue injury. It could be arthritis. Although unlikely, it could even be an early sign of bone cancer. I decided to wait to do anything further. We'll give him a Benadryl tonight and see how he feels in the morning. If he needs x-rays, we can do them during his next re-check at the cancer center. Dash probably does have arthritis. His rear legs are starting to get stiff and I wouldn't be surprised if he develops hip dysplasia as he grows older. It's always something with these dogs.

The last thing I expected today was a trip to the emergency vet, but I really shouldn't have been surprised. Nothing else went right today either. I wasted a huge amount of time trying to get AT&T tech support to show me how to enable port forwarding on my router. I knew how to do this on the old router that broke, but this new one doesn't seem to allow port forwarding. There ought to be a special place in hell for companies who outsource all their customer support. It takes forever to resolve the simplest of problems when you're talking with someone who doesn't speak English well. About one time out of ten, I manage to get a technician who actually knows something about technology. The rest of the time I end up talking with people who are just reading from a script. I don't think the guy I talked with today even knew what a router was. My conversation was definitely a wasted effort.

I had some website updates this morning, but they didn't keep me busy all day. I actually spent more time cleaning up after Dot, than I did modifying the websites. It was good to have something to do though. Days filled with writing and coding chores are definitely more satisfying than days where there is nothing to do but clean up poop.

I was going to get my safety inspection done today, but Land Rover said that I needed to make an appointment. Evidently they only do safety inspections in Friday's now. I made an appointment for Friday and then went up on the roof to check on last week's repairs. Our current dry spell has allowed the patches to cure nicely. From the looks of things now, I think the roof is going to be OK this Winter.

I hope that Dash is back to normal tomorrow morning. If he is still limping, I'll see if I can get him over to his regular vet for some x-rays. It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed. All I need to do now is see if I can take Dot's harness off without waking her up. I don't want to wake Dash up either. Everyone seems so calm now.

Lilly is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day