Day 2816

Traveling with Dash in the car is usually a disaster. Today was no exception. We made it to our appointment with the photographer this morning without incident. I think she even got some good pictures. The trip home was the problem. We had almost made it back to the house when Janet noticed that there was blood everywhere. Dash had ripped out one of his dew claws. Don't ask me how it happened. I don't know. He was fine when we got him in the car. He was fairly calm on the way home and didn't appear to get his nail caught on anything. He didn't even yelp or appear in pain. One minute he was sitting on his bed and the next minute there was blood everywhere.

We took him to the vet to stop the bleeding and see if he needed stitches. They were really busy, so we had to drop him off and pick him up later in the afternoon. When he returned, he had a bandage on his paw and was wearing a cone. The vet thinks he will be fine, but we need to keep him from chewing the bandage or getting it wet. Hopefully, the dewclaw will grow back. Dot lost a nail once when she got it caught in a crack in the pavement while on a walk. Her nail eventually did grow back, but it grew in crooked for some reason.

Dash hates wearing the cone and bumps into everything. Hopefully, we can take it off tomorrow. The bandage needs to come off pretty soon as well. There will be less risk of infection if the wound is exposed to the air. To be safe, he is taking antibiotics, but a damp or wet bandage is not what we want right now.

Taking Dash to have his portrait made and then taking him to the vet to get treated used up a big chunk of the day. I feel bad. Maybe if we had trimmed his nails a little sooner, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. I'm really nervous about taking Dash in the car now. Bad things seem to happen whenever Dash rides in the car.

I ran my Saturday errands while Dash was at the vet and when he returned, I spent the rest of the afternoon with him to keep him calm. It wasn't that hard to keep Dash calm. He was really tired and pretty soon both of us were asleep on the bed.

Janet thought the refrigerator was broken again, but I thought she just left the door open too long while loading in new groceries. It still seems to be working to me. At any rate, the appliance repairmen will be returning next week anyway to install the new thermostats they ordered. I'm more worried about the shower. I had to use the wet/dry vacuum again today to clear away the water that had collected under the tiles. I think the shower pan will prevent the water from getting into the rest of the house, but it still shouldn't be getting under the tiles.

I hope Dash is back to normal soon. One problem after another is wearing me down. I feel vaguely guilty being bothered about trivial problems, because every time I turn on the TV, it seems like the rest of the world is dealing with huge, almost apocalyptic problems. A torn nail is nothing compared to a hurricane. I'm sure it's a big deal to Dash though. The little guy seemed pitiful today.

Chief is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 1824

Today was pure misery. My cold was worse than ever. I don't have a fever anymore, but I seem to be having all the other symptoms concurrently. My nose was running, my throat was sore, I had a headache, and my sinuses were congested. I kept sucking cough drops all day long so I wouldn't break into coughing spasms and frighten our customers. After a while the sweet cough drops started making my bad tooth hurt. Yikes! Then my shoulder started to hurt from holding the heavy camera for such a long period of time. Santa wasn't in much better shape than I was. He claimed that he was all over the cold he gave me last week, but I didn't believe him. If he didn't have a cold anymore, why was he still coughing? Even our imaging wizard, who crops and prints the photos on the spot, was coughing and wheezing. He claimed that he just partied too hard last night, but I think he caught Santa's cold too. We were a mess today.

The photos looked just as professional as they always do, but I think everyone was dying to get home and take a long nap. I was so loopy that I took several photo sequences without a memory card in the camera. I had to go back and do the photos all over again. Santa had his beard on crooked several times and we had several computer crashes that might have just been operator error. We were all tired. At least tomorrow is our last event for the year. One more of these to go and we're all finished. I hope nobody books us for Valentine's Day. I don't think I will have recovered by then.

I've noticed that we're doing a lot more family portraits this year. It's probably a sign of a bad economy when people decide to go to a pet photographer for their family Christmas pictures. Several families didn't even bring a dog with them. I'm curious about these families and wonder why they ended up choosing me. I don't ask questions though. That would be rude. I just try to take a family portrait that would make their grandmother proud.

When I was complaining that I kept waking up at night with a terrible sore throat, by doctor gave me this nasal spray and told me to takes it every evening just before I went to bed. I still don't know what the stuff is, but it actually works. Every night I've been taking it, I've slept soundly and didn't have much of a sore throat when I woke up. I though about using the stuff today while I was shooting photos, but I wisely decided to read the warning label first. "Causes Somnolence" the label said. "Do not drive or use machinery while using this product." Well that explains why I slept so well. Reading further, I noticed that the clinical trials for this product weren't even finished yet. Jeez. I don't think my doctor has ever met a pill he didn't like. I'm not going to be taking this stuff much longer.

Tomorrow's location is traditionally where most of the Dalmatian owners go for their Christmas pictures. I'll probably see some old friends tomorrow, but I'm still glad that it's our last event for the year.

Cookie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day