A long ramble about dogs and containers... [?]

Waiting with bayted breath [well... sort of] for the delievery of my storage container. I have been wandering around the property in the morning with my coffee in hand, throwing rocks [and other available objects] at the black racers [snakes] in my path, looking at available neat nooks to have it dropped and thinking, "Well, that would be a nice place, but what if a tree falls on it?" I have some lovely cedar trees where I would like to put it, but I lost one in 2001 to the residuals of Gabriele and lost another, it's twin, [they grew up side-by-side] last year to Jeanne. Or was it Frances? The time-line and memories of hurricane season 2004 all seem to run together.

Maybe I will take the time and cut that one up with my neat, new, never used chainsaw. I bought it last year in anticipation of having to use it to clear hurricane debris. May I never have to use it for that reason.

So... Chez Container is probably going to go in the one clear area that is also higher than the shaded area. Too bad, really. The little glade would have been cooler.

I might be considered bizarre [not the first time, nor the last] but I want to get several of the containers and build a 'house.' My brother-in-law is also interested, so something might come of it. There are several Web sites about doing just that that we have discovered.

The fun part is that I can just visualize the county building folks trying to come to grips with that: 'No, it's not a house, its nonpermanent structure... I can break that weld...'

Anyway, it will be interesting once it does get here. I'm really at a serious choke point where I can hardly move... the birdbath that I have 3/4 of the way done is sitting in the living room surrounded by stuff that will end up moving out into the container.

So, in preparation for it's arrival on 1 June, this coming weekend I really have to mow [the incredibly rich and very green] grass. It's getting deep enough that if a dog lays down - they are essentially off the radar till they sit up [talking adult Rottweilers here]. It's also difficult to find the doggy land mines at this length, but that is another story.

Speaking of of the 'kids'... the old girl, Elba has been getting shots weekly for the past two weeks to reflow the lubrication in her arthritic leg. She started crying out when she moved and I took her into the vet. We did a muzzle thing because I wanted him to really check her out and he did. She didn't growl at him, even though I know the manipulation must have hurt. So, 200mg of Rimadyl a day [she's down to 100], supplements and Adequan.

Lovely thing, those shots - yes... expensive - but you get what you pay for. The first week she got two of Adequan. Adequan is used to ease arthritis in sport horses [hunter jumpers]. At $40 a shot, it did what it was supposed too, but I asked to go back to Legend - a varient that we used in 2004 when I thought I was going to lose her. Legend is one IV shot a week at $50. She got one today and because the Adequan was in a muscle, I had forgotten about it being IV... and she growled at the vet, she growled at him for the shots last week, too, but after it was all over - went and wagged to him. Now that's my girl - a Rottweiler to be proud of.

She is also went on a doggie weight regime because he wants weight off to ease her leg. Two weeks ago she weighed 98 pounds. They cut her a weight-loss schedule and I have to calculate her food just like I would my own. Do you know that two pieces of bacon is 90 calories? We started with the food - Purina OM [overweight management]. I didn't even get to make a comment about using sawdust, the vet beat me to it, but it's actually peanut hulls.

You may well laugh, but let me tell you... she loves it. 'We don't do the Science variety' been there, done that and ended up throwing it away after we gave it a go years ago... but we absolutely love this.

For the record - Elba says that she also likes the food's coordinated dog cookies. She weighed in at 96 today and the vet was very happy.

Misery loves company. I was so impressed by her inhailing of the food the night that I put her on it, that the next night - Miss Piggy [Pris, the rescue, who weighed in at 105 on her vet visit in May] - got put on the same schedule. Pris agrees with Elba about the tastiness of the food, but especially about the coordinated cookies.