Friday, March 29, 2013

Miró's coming home day

Exactly four years ago today, Airecraft Airedale Miró flew home with me from Ohio, mostly on my lap. Ten pounds at eight weeks old, he was the biggest kid in a litter of twelve, which I nicknamed The Dirty Dozen.

He settled in right away.


Today he is the picture of neglect  robust health at almost 60 pounds.

But he cleans up and gets serious sometimes.
 

 
The next post will be #500!

 


 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Friday, March 22, 2013

Saturday, March 16, 2013

The wearing of the green

How could anyone not kiss my adorability?
 
 
 
How about the profile for true nobility?
 
 
 
Mom says I'm relaxed 'cause she gave us green beer for St. Paddy's day.
 
 
 But here's the real story. She bought this stuff after Alanis had her teeth cleaned. It's supposed to keep new tartar from forming. I'm not so sure I like the funny flavored water.
She says I'll get used to it. Yeah? So why isn't she drinking it?
 
She says she gets to have this kind of funny water tonight.
 
Seriously?


Thursday, March 14, 2013

$1200 later

Alanis' $400 teeth cleaning today morphed into $1200 with the unexpected radiographs, additional anesthetic, and extractions. For that price, they should include false teeth; instead the vet took out five. Poor Alanis has the worst teeth of any dog I've ever owned. She's also on her way to outliving my previous Airedales. Maybe running less and sleeping more helps you live longer.

The weird thing is that her front incisors are worn down to nubs. The vet says that will happen with dogs who chew on toys a lot and/or like to carry tennis balls around. In the 4+ years I've had her, I've never seen Alanis do more than pick up a toy and drop it again. The only chewing she has done was on the occasional bone.

I did learn that tartar and other tooth problems build up faster in older dogs. Her teeth had looked OK six months ago and were in bad shape today. The veterinarian, as vets do, suggested brushing her teeth. Right. Like trying to brush the teeth of the Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil when he's in dervish mode.

Alanis will get soft food for the next seven to ten days. I bought some canned food to have on hand but cooked ground beef, potatoes, and carrots for her and mashed it all together. Miro will be soooo jealous. Anybody know how much of that stuff to feed a 40-lb, elderly Airedale?

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The never-ending battle against anonymous posts



Alanis has a serious question.


Did Blogger's setting options change? My blog was comfortably set to reject anonymous posts while not requiring the delay of my approval or the frustration of those awful word boxes. Then spam posts from the dreaded Anonymous began to appear. I took another look at Settings and comment approval seems the only option. Does anyone use the Open I.D. requirement? How are you protecting your blogs from junk posts these days?

Miro has an opinion about anonymous posts.





Saturday, March 2, 2013

Aren't we jumping the shamrock a bit?

Alanis speaks out

It started when an investigation into a particularly interesting corner turned my face green.
It was just a bit of green but it gave Her ideas. She decided it was my turn for a photo shoot.
She said it was just a rehearsal to find out if I'd sit still. Well, I'm twelve-and-a-half years old and I sit still most of the day, except when the camera comes out.
What do you think you are doing?

 Anyone with a lick of sense (and I am not giving that lick because she doesn't deserve it) can see this is a bow-tie that belongs around the neck of the male of the human species, not on a venerable dame's head
.
Will I ever be able to show my face again in this town?