Day 2830

It never ends. I was just getting ready to go to the grocery store this afternoon when I heard a horrendous noise. I went outside to see what had happened and discovered that a big chunk of our elm tree has just fallen on the roof. I wasn't expecting this. There was no wind today and the large branch that had fallen was alive and filled with leaves. I didn't do anything immediately, but knew how I was going to be spending the rest of the afternoon as soon as I returned from the store.

I guess I should have expected this. The day certainly didn't get off to a good start. Dash wouldn't eat anything this morning. He even turned up his nose at the canned food he normally loves. This was kind of a crisis, because it is essential that he takes his phenobarbital pills to prevent seizures and they must be taken with food. I finally got him to take his morning pills inside several balls of cheddar cheese. We needed him to eat more than a little cheese, so we scrambled an egg for him. He ate the egg and then immediately went back to sleep.

Dash's poor appetite has me worried. I called his regular vet and made an appointment for early next week. Then I called the emergency vet who bandaged him up last Tuesday to see whether the antibiotics she prescribed might be part of the problem. Since Cephalexin does cause loss of appetite with some dogs, she decided to stop the medication and see if we notice any changes in the next 24 hours. I think this will be OK, since the dewclaw wound is healing nicely and doesn't seem to be infected. Hopefully, the antibiotics are causing the problem. Otherwise this might be tough to diagnose. I'm always worried that Dash's cancer could have returned. That could certainly cause a loss of appetite.

When I returned from the grocery store today, I pulled a heavy duty reciprocal saw up to the roof with a rope and began sawing apart the elm tree that had fallen. This was a very large branch and I was surprised that it didn't seriously damage the roof. I guess the little branches with green leaves fell first and cushioned the blow. This job would have been a lot easier with a chain saw, but I'm scared to death of chain saws. I won't go near them after a friend of mine practically sawed his face off with one. Wood is heavy. I feel like I sawed about a thousand pounds of wood this afternoon. Too bad we've already had big trash day for September. I don't know what I'm going to do with all this wood until the next big trash day.

I was dreading this evening because Janet is away at a Dalmatian Rescue event. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I managed to get Dash to take a decent walk on his own. He took all his evening pills and I was even able to get him to eat a small dinner. I had to hand feed him, but considering the problems we had this morning, this is progress.

The refrigerator doesn't seem to be working again. It seemed too warm this evening when I was preparing dinner. Maybe Janet just left the door open a long time when she was loading in new groceries. We'll see if it cools down again by morning. I guess it would make sense that there would still be problems. The appliance repairmen still haven't returned to install the new thermostats they ordered. It's entirely possible that the coil has frozen again. I'll have to call the repair shop on Monday and see what the delay is. They should have been able to find a thermostat by now.

I hope Dash is feeling better tomorrow. It might be a really long day. I don't know any magic formula to get Dash eating again. I guess if things continue to deteriorate, I can always try feeding him whatever I'm eating. I'll have to make a point of eating something healthy though.

Sage is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day