Medium Dawn Felagund of the Fountain

Alex went to the vet today. Here are the conclusions:

• He now weighs 57 lbs/26 kg. I figured in the low 50s ... when the tech said 57 lbs, I nearly fell over! He's only six months old! Wow!
• He's probably going to be neutered on Monday. Lick 'em while they last, Alex.
• And the bad news ... he was diagnosed with Lyme disease today. The good thing is that it's really not that big a deal, as far as doggie diseases go. It's possible for the test to be a false positive, so he might not even really have it. He'll take antibiotics for a month anyway. The vet isn't worried about it and explained how we'll treat him. It might go away; it might not. He hasn't showed any symptoms, so it looks like we caught it early.

In the U.S., 97% of Lyme disease cases occur in just ten states. Maryland is one of the ten states. As Bobby pointed out, he and I could have it and not know it; it is transmitted by the deer tick. It is roughly the size of a pinhead. I've found one on myself before, though it was not attached. I kept it to show to Bobby, for educational purposes, of course. One of the vet techs actually has Lyme disease; my aunt had it as well (though hers was advanced and her doctor thought that she was malingering and wrote off her symptoms, so half her face is paralyzed. Yay medical arrogance.)

Alex just jumped up on the couch next to me with this soggy, icky rawhide bone that he's worked down to mush. My baby ... *pets*

Okay, he just jumped down ... and left the mush-bone with me. Thanks, Alex.

Meanwhile, on work-related news, there is now one less jail behind my office.

( MHC )

Other life updates: Bobby and I have half-days at work tomorrow because we're driving up to Hershey to see the Stars on Ice show tomorrow night. I have a good husband ... he buys me Stars on Ice tickets and even sits through it with me without complaint. I figure that I owe him at least three stupid action movies for that.

Wednesday, we are off from work; I don't know what we'll be doing (since the weather might be nice and it is the first day of Spring), so I might not be online much.

Today, the work computers were slow so I decided not to do anything computer-related that was also work-related. Work-related stuff that did not involve computers was okay and computer-related stuff that did not involve work (and the network, which was what was slow) was okay too. So I got a lot done. I reformatted Of the Valar and the Building of Valinor for the HoMe reading, so I just need to convert it to PDF and upload it to SWG and HA. That took the entire morning and much of the afternoon. I did a critique for Critters. And I finally (finally!) finished Bobby's Valentine's Day story. It will be posted here (f-locked) just as soon as he reads it.

Yesterday, I finished the notes and summaries for The Music of the Ainur, did a fanfic beta, and cleaned half of my Gandalf-and-cart model. (Those of you who want access to my HoMe notes who may have missed the original post ... go here. The new stuff will be posted soon.) It seems that that quick whiff of Spring that we got last week was enough to clear me of my apathy!

No, I'm not dead or anything drastic like that. The weather in Maryland has been beyond gorgeous the past few days, so rather than spending it inside on the computer, I've been outside, painting and training Alex. It's supposed to cool off again this weekend, so I'll be back and answer the many comments that I've neglected.

It's been too long since I've done an Alex pic spam, so here we go. Alex will be six months old on Thursday.

( Alex--Four Months to Six Months )

Murphy's got his eye on me today. Please pardon the shameless griping.

( Dawn & Murphy BFF )

Despite all this, the day was not a total wash, and so I will end on a positive note. Because I despise the thought of becoming one of those negative people who looks at life and only sees everything that is wrong.

Bobby picked me up at work, and we went to look at my car. He opened the hood, tinkered with a few cables, and it started. So that saved any expensive repairs or having to be towed, when I hope to be getting rid of the car in a few months anyway. He also showed me what he did; I will admit that I am a stereotypical "girl" when it comes to cars. I don't like cars, and I don't know the first thing about them. But now I know one thing to try if this ever happens again.

We may not be going to Bermuda in three weeks, but we will be going to see Jimmy Buffett in concert on 28 June! I "waited on line" for tickets online this morning and got them. Whee! Jimmy Buffett tickets are very hard to come by around here.

Alex behaved exceptionally well during the snafu today, much better than I would expect of a dog as young as he is. Also, several instances today proved to me that he knows all of his basic commands. No, he is not perfect yet, and we still have a lot of work to do, but it will happen. He is still testing the waters to see what he can get away with with me. He understands what I expect of him; now it is just a matter of shaping his behavior until he's perfect ... or as close to it as one can reasonably expect. :) And so we will begin to move on to much more fun training exercises now, which I suspect is a relief for both of us.

My short story "Cold Hands" was up for critique on Critters this week. I will admit: I was nervous, afraid that people would either 1) tell me to scrap the story or 2) no one would read it at all. But I have gotten two critiques back already, and both were fantastic! Both were very encouraging but also made excellent points about where I might focus during the final revisions. It really reminded me of the value of a good critique and the importance of learning to write better critiques, just as I work to write better stories.

Tonight, Bobby and I are going to Rocky Run for supper for Meryth's birthday. He is going to be twenty-six next week. We'd decided to go to Rocky Run first, and since Rocky Run is Meryth's favorite restaurant, I figured we might as well justify it as being for his birthday. Yes, Meryth is a muse, but almost everyone likes to be remembered on his or her birthday, and Meryth--though he may be "imaginary"--is no exception. I will draw the line at trying to explain Meryth to our server and getting a free dessert out of it, however.

This entry was written over the course of a couple of sittings. Pictures will soon follow, as soon as I yoink them off of Bobby's camera and get my film developed. (I know...film? What is that?!)

( Thursday )

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

I'm caught up on comments! Woohoo!

Since I was busy through all of December, I missed posting my Alex updates. Alex had a vet's appointment a few days ago...he doubled in size again and now weighs 30 lb (13.6 kg). He's now big enough to jump onto the couch, and his coat is darkening as well to his adult coloration.

To offer a comparison....

( Alex Pic Spam! )

I'm caught up! *happy dance* All of my drabble series are written and posted, all of my LJ comments are answered. I answered all of my long Pit of Voles comments the other day and so just have a few little ones to take care of. Whee!

It only took...twelve days?

Oh, I forgot to mention twelve days ago that I did complete NaNoWriMo again this year, clocking 51K words as of 29 November. I didn't write the last day because it was my last day of work before Ocean City, so I spent it getting the office presentable so that I didn't come back to a mess. The novel still isn't finished, but it's getting really close. And I pretty much hate the last section, but that's why Eru invented revision and rewrite. I'll be doing a lot of both, I suspect.

( Other Random Thoughts from the Life of Dawn )

( ETA! Dawn's Christmas Stocking )

Alex is ten weeks old today. Happy birthday, Alex!

In honor of his big ten weeks, we took him for his first walk in the park. It wasn't quite a hike, since it was on a paved trail (Grist Mill trail at Patapsco Valley), but I told Bobby that until he can walk up the steps on his own, I don't think it's such a good idea to have him hiking up steep trails. He did great, though; I'm amazed at how well he walks on the leash. We're trying to get him used to staying on the left side and teaching him the "easy" command. He also had the opportunity to get used to bikes and other hikers, since that trail--being paved--is popular for cyclists and runners. At first, the bikes scared him. I think it was the whir of their tires. But soon, he was used to them and eager to meet anyone who paused to make a big deal over him.

We walked for about an hour and a half at a brisk pace, and he kept up. Then he fell asleep in my arms in the car. These are the times that I try to enjoy. One day not to long from now, he will be too big for this sort of cuddling, and I will miss the days when he could curl up in my lap. (Or right now, he is stretched next to my leg on the couch. He likes sleeping next to me while I work on the computer. Earlier today, he tried to sleep with his head resting on the corner of it. He gets this from me, I guess! A geeky dog for a geeky woman.)

Here's the latest batch of Alex pictures.

( Alex Pictures--Nine and Ten Weeks )

The other day, Bobby came home from work to a surprise. I had left Alex in the kitchen, his "room." I put his crate under the breakfast bar, gave him some old towels and his toys, a bowl of water, and blocked him in with the baby gate. Yet...Alex was out when Bobby came home.

Once before, when we put his crate up by the gate, he climbed on top of the crate and jumped over the gate. This time, though, the crate was a good two feet away from the gate. We could not figure out how he did it.

We had supper the other night, and Alex goes into his room for this, as he gets a bit too excited. At one point, we heard the distinctive ringing sound of the wires of his crate being struck. Bobby snuck around the corner and caught Alex on top of his crate, under the breakfast bar.

Apparently, he'd been getting on top of it and jumping the nearly two feet to clear the baby gate. He's clever and apparently more athletic than one would expect from a nine-week-old puppy!

Tonight, we went out to dinner at Rocky Run, so we put Alex in his room but put his crate away from the baby gate, against the counter. We came home and Alex wasn't in his room. Or didn't seem to be. He'd gotten on top of the counter and was standing on the stove, pretty as you please. He had his eye on the baby gate. From the top of the stove, he could jump over it and fall the three feet or so to the other side.

He's obviously quite a problem solver, and he's forcing us to do the same, to outsmart him! I've nicknamed him DOC (Division of Corrections) because Johnny the Boss, Bobby, and I were talking about our puppies the other day. Johnny has a Bichon puppy named Jackpot, and he says that when Jackpot goes into his crate, he starts the "DOC walk," pacing back and forth, waiting for the first opportunity to escape. Alex, likewise, has a DOC outlook on life.

Alex won't be spending so much time in his room, though. We'd thought of hiring a dog walker to take him out midway through the day; he is alone for eight hours when we are both at work, and we don't really like this, since he's so young. Alas, my mother-in-law is having some issues with her job, so we offered her the job, and she took it! She will be coming three times during the week to puppysit for an hour or two: walk him, feed him lunch, and just keep him company. He'll still spend most of the day alone, but it won't be such an unbearably long stretch, and we're much more comfortable with his grandmother coming into our apartment than a complete stranger.

I have come to the conclusion that my body hates me. It's sole object in life is to make me as miserable as possible. I suppose that I should not complain. My mind seems to like me a good deal and is fine with letting a dozen or so muses camp out there on a permanent basis. But my body hates me.

( Cut for Really Gross (Vomit-Related) TMI and General Griping )

But on a positive note, yesterday was my big day, and the spirits were smiling upon me. Bobby was supposed to have class, then hockey. He opted out of hockey so that we could spend part of the evening together. Then he got word that class was cancelled, so we got to spend all of the evening together.

We have certain Halloween traditions. We always rent a cheesy horror movie (Friday the 13th Part III was this year's pick) and take a walk in the historic district. Ellicott City is one of the most haunted places on the east coast, so what could be better than that? We've never seen anything paranormal, but one day...Bobby even took the camera.

In the Halloween spirit, I wore my Elf-ears and cloak, and for the first time ever, did not get odd looks. It always feels good to know that my wardrobe is most appropriately worn on Halloween!

( Bobby's Pumpkin and Dawn's Elf Ears )

Soooo...today was the first day of NaNoWriMo. I went to bed last night, giddy to begin working on my novel again. Which, in the world of State guv'ment work, means one thing: I would be incredibly busy today. I was. I spent the morning running warrants and scanning paperwork into existing files. Then we got an emergency warrant on a sex offender, so I took care of that. Then I ate lunch. Then Johnny moped into my office with an MS Excel dilemma.

( Stoopid State! )

Eventually, I did finish my work and get to break out my NaNo story. I have to do 1667 words per day to make the 50,000 goal. Today, I did 2268, so that's 601 over my target--and with only an hour-and-a-half to work!

Tomorrow's another day, and I hope to increase that lead even further.

In big news, it looks like Bobby and I will be getting a golden retriever puppy. One of Bobby's coworkers has two boys he needs to get rid of; they're seven weeks old now, so he's looking for homes for them. He asked Bobby if he wants one. We're discussing it, and we're leaning towards "yes"....

We've even picked out a name for him: Alex. Yes, after Alex Ovechkin. But it's a cute name for a boy-puppy besides (and Bobby flat-out refused my suggestions of "Maglor" or "Elladan." Boo.) I'm trying to remain neutral and logical but gah...a golden retriever puppy. I'm so excited!