Category Pets

Last night Cindy was out at a fitness networking event so I had some rare time home alone.  I used it to try some interactions with the “Impossible Box”.  I spent maybe 15 minutes trying to get anything resembling a response to questions but got nothing back but random bits and pieces of various Shoutcast audio streams.  It’s the result I expected but perhaps not what I hoped for.

I also was surprised to see my cell phone ringing last night with Randall’s name on the caller id.  I immediately feared that something terrible was wrong as Randall and I do not normally talk on the phone.  This is not a situation unique to Randall, I generally do not seek out phone conversations.  So anyway I answered, hoping he wasn’t in a ditch by the side of a road somewhere.

There was no emergency, Randall was just calling to say hi.  He has just started his new job which has a decent commute so he spent some of it catching up with me which was nice.  One of the reasons I am not a big fan of phone calls is I generally am not very good at them.  I have a hard enough time flowing between conversation topics most of the time.  The insertion of cell phone lag where you find one person talking over the other quite often just adds to my frustration.  Anyway we talked for a good 15-20 minutes and made loose plans for Randall to possibly come over for a visit in between Xmas and New Years.

At the tail end of my call with Randall I went out to the chicken coop to put the chickens to bed.  This process involves closing and locking the chicken run door and then going into the coop, making sure the chickens are settled in and all on the perch.

Well you may recall that we added a light on a timer to the coop a few weeks back.  The reason was the chickens were out roaming the yard until the very last speck of light was in the sky.  When they would eventually go into the coop it was very dark, making it difficult for the chickens to get onto the perch because of their poor night vision.  The addition of the light eliminated this issue but seemingly created another.

For whatever reason the chickens seem to not want to be near the light when it is turned on.  We have the light off to the left side and pointing towards the far wall but still they seem bothered by it.  The end result has been most of the chickens trying to crowd onto the right side of the perch.  There isn’t enough room so one of the hens, Stephie has taken it upon herself to find new sleeping arrangements which has been on the shelf where all of the electronics are set up which obviously is a problem.

So for the last week or two we have had to pick up Stephie and place her back on the perch.  We then immediately turn off the light which calms all the chickens down pretty much immediately.  After I placed Stephie back on the perch last night I had my left arm outstretched with the remote control to turn off the light.  The second before I could press the button Kristen, our all white hen jumps off the perch and onto my forearm, like a trained hawk or eagle would do to its handler.  She just stood there content, unwilling to go back on the perch even as I put my arm next to it.   I then petted her for a second before using my other hand to scoop her up and get her back on the perch.  The other night she jumped onto Cindy’s shoulder in a similar fashion.  I never expected chickens to have this many quirks but I do find them endearing and entertaining regardless.

So even though yesterday was a day off from work it didn’t feel much like one.  Maybe that’s because I started off the day going into the office.  I have been trying to get something implemented at work that require it to be done off normal working hours. Cindy tagged along since we had a few errands to run on the way home.  I spent a couple hours at work spinning my wheels trying to figure out an issue that has been in my way for awhile.  The end result was once again having to punt, making me feel like I just wasted my time.  I left feeling very frustrated.

Our first stop after the office was the nearby Goodwill.  Cindy was there the other day looking for cheap children bikes.  The reason was I needed to replace the wheels on the chicken tractor, which are repurposed from an old kids bike.  The bearings on those wheels were shot and hardly wanted to roll.  Cindy picked up a bike earlier in the week but the wheels were too small.

The store had another bike with wheels that were a good match.  The $20 price tag seemed a bit high considering the brakes were permanently bent in such a way that caused them to constantly rub on the wheel.  The chain on the bike was horribly rusted as well.  If I wasn’t dealing with a charitable organization I would have went into Craigslist mode and offered them half of the price tag since it wasn’t good for anything but parts.  However the two wheels I needed were in decent shape so I paid my $20 with a smile.

After a stop at Sam’s for some grocery items we were back home where I could continue to do more work.  The first project was to do the wheel swap.  This was a little more challenging than I expected.  The old wheels came off of a single speed kids bike.  The bike we bought was a geared model.  This meant the rear wheel was a bit wider because of the hub.  I had to take a pair of vise grips and bend the frame mount points on the tractor out slightly to make it fit. The wheels are a fraction of an inch bigger than the old set so the clearance with the frame is tight but by the time I was done the tractor was once again rolling freely.

You would think with our chicken coop palace we built that the chicken tractor would be obsolete.  It actually is heavily utilized by the chickens during the day as they free range.  We have water and food in there that they utilize all day long.  They like feeling safe while eating.  The hens sometimes use the tractor as a playground, going up and down the ramp and jumping out one of the side doors that we normally have open.

After I gave the tractor a new set of wheels I pulled out my roughly 25 year old mountain bike from the small shed.  I told Cindy that I want to buy us a set of inexpensive mountain bikes so we can ride the big loop at Rookery Swamp.  My old bike just is not up to the task with two dry rotted tires, horrible brakes and a seat that is leaking impact dampening gel.

I bought this bike as a young man.  I recall riding it up and down in the street in front of my first wife’s parents home after I bought it.  I remember being very proud of the purchase.

Before relocating the bike to the roadway where it will surely be picked up by one of the many scavengers in my area I wanted to remove a couple accessories that could be useful when we get new bikes.  I carefully removed a rear cargo rack and two vertical handle bar grips that allowed me a more upright riding position for variety and comfort.  Sure it will be sad to get rid of something that has been part of my life for longer than it has not but it’s definitely well overdue.

My next task was continuing the work in transforming the shipping box my race clock arrived in into a crude carrying case.  I had started work last weekend by installing metal L brackets on each corner as well as a handle.  However in my testing with the clock inside the wood was bending dangerously, too thin to support the weight in that configuration.

During the week I went out and bought some more supplies to further reinforce the box. They included some 5/8 inch fencing boards.  My thought process was to put one board on the handle side and the bottom of the box since those were the two points supporting the majority of the weight.

I cut and attached the boards in both spots as well as attaching the front “door” section with hinges with Cindy’s help.  I thought I was going to have to go buy a latch to lock the box but Cindy made the good suggestion of taking one of the four I had installed on the chicken tractor.  I had to do some creative mounting to get the latch in place but it worked out.

I replaced the wood screws that were holding the handle in place with machine screws using nuts and washers which are much better suited to support the concentration of weight in that area.  I placed the heavy clock back in the box, closed the lid and lifted it up solely by the handle.  It felt much stronger with the additional boards able to support the weight without significant flex.  I was able to carry the clock the 200 feet from the back yard to the hobby room exclusively by the handle which was a good real world test.

I also added some secondary L brackets to some of the sides, doubling up the strength of those joints.  Cindy suggested that a set of roller wheels on one end might be a final helpful addition, allowing you to pull the box like a set of luggage if need be.  Now of course this box is not designed to be tossed around like luggage and surely would not hold up to severe abuse however I think it will manage to fulfill the basic needs I have.

Yesterday I stumbled across some old pictures on my local NAS at home of Nicki.  It inspired me to put together a memorial type video similar to what I did for mom.  Getting through the process was tough and impossible without having to reach for the tissues more than  once.

Cindy and I got up a few minutes before 4AM for Saturday’s race.  Cindy wanted to transform us into zombies since it was Halloween.  She did a pretty incredible job for only 5-10 minutes of work.  My 25 year + old Grateful Dead concert shirt was the perfect accessory for the look.

When we got on site we had to get our bearings since this was a first year race.  There were several issues like power that was supposed to be run for us not being there and the onsite bathrooms being locked until 20 minutes before race time that were annoying but outside my realm of responsibility.

This race was unique because the start and finish line were at the same spot.  I timed the race with the same set of mats using one file for the start and another for the finish.  It worked out well from my perspective.

My timer buddy John and his family were at the race which was cool.  It’s not often that I get to talk timing with someone who actually knows how much of a pain in the ass it is.  He had let me borrow one of his timing clocks for the CC meets we did so I had it with to return to him.

My timing went fine with no hardware failures, the only errors coming from the human variety with runners switching bibs.  The awkward interactions I anticipated were not as prevalent as I expected which was good.  There were a couple people I could tell were off put by my decision to leave the team but for the most part it was business as usual which is fine by me.

I had a few brief conversations with some board members and although noone is happy about me leaving, they understand the reasons behind it. It felt weird in a good way knowing this was the first and last time I would be timing the event.  It seems surreal that in three months I will be able to abandon 4AM alarms and all of the work/stress that precedes each and every race day.

It was funny going into Dunkin Donuts in our zombie make up.  As you can imagine it merited more than few glances and smiles.

When we got home post race work took us up until lunch time.  After eating we both headed out into the heat of the day to get outdoor chores done.  We were joined out there once again by the sandhill cranes that are becoming more and more trusting of us.  We have gotten within 10-15 feet of them although the key is to act like you aren’t paying attention to them.

After finishing up the weeding and other stuff I decided to hop on the tractor and mow the back of the property.  I decided to go a step further and mow some of the property beyond the fence line which literally may only get done once or twice a year.  The lack of frequency means the area is almost jungle-like as I was mowing down grass that was three feet high or more at spots.  Mowing these spots is extremely time consuming.  Not only do you have to go at a snail’s pace, you have to mow each spot repeatedly, a minimum of two to three times until it is all knocked down to ground level.  Thank goodness I don’t suffer from allergies like I once did, there were bushels of organic material thrown into the air.  The mowing is a precursor to another horrible yard maintenance task that we have to do shortly, the annual tree trimming extravaganza.

Halloween night Cindy and I were both beat from the combo of getting up early to time the race combined with the work around the house.  We decided to skip going to the movies and instead watched our current Netflix rental, The Gambler, with Marky Mark.   The character he plays is not likable at all, a degenerate gambler that comes from a family of entitlement.  He plays the role well but this character was so unlikable overall that it pulled down my opinion of the movie to a B.

Sunday night Cindy and I finished watching Boogie Nights, another MM film which I never saw believe it or not.  The 70’s time period and copious porn simulation in the movie of course made for good entertainment but by the end things got pretty dark and depressing.  I’d still give it a B+ overall.

Oh, we kept our streak of zero trick or treaters for the last decade alive Saturday night.  Not a single soul appeared at the door.

The time change over the weekend allowed us a welcomed and needed extra hour of sleep on Sunday.  We decided to get out and do the same four mile run we did last week.  My expectation was it would feel slightly more comfortable than the week before since that is the natural course of things.  When we pulled into the park we saw cones and people running with race bibs on, evidently there was a race going on as well at that time.

We started out running against the direction the racers were going, seeing some familiar faces along the way.  We were surprised by the amount of people walking the “race” even though it was only a 5K distance.  Running among the racers had an undesired side effect of me running faster than I normally would during the first two mile lap.  By the time we started the second loop I was already feeling miserable.  The faster pace to that point combined with the annoyingly warm and humid weather considering it was November 1st was doing a number on me.

Lap two was pure drudgery, I had to declare it as a NTZ (no talk zone) about half way through it.  When I declare NTZ that means I would prefer Cindy did not speak but if she does she can expect no verbal response or acknowledgement from me.  When I am in the midst of feeling that shitty I just don’t want to communicate.  When the end of the second lap drew close I accelerated only slightly, I just had nothing in the tank.  I was very, very glad to be done.

After a DD stop we headed to Home Depot and Rural King, a near weekly occurrence.  We loaded up on a number of things including an electric pressure washer.  Regular blog readers know of my years of pressure washing hell with my gas powered pressure washer.  This electric model is much lighter and about the half the pressure of the gas washer.  We bought it so Cindy can easily use it for routine cleaning without the hassle of the gas washer and less chance of damaging surfaces with 3000 PSI.

We also bought stuff to provide some lighting in the chicken coop.  The chickens have been waiting till the very edge of darkness until putting themselves to bed.  As a result when they go into the coop it is very dark and they are unable to see well enough to get themselves situated on the perch.  Cindy and I have been going out and placing the stragglers which isn’t a good long term solution.  The plan is using a timer and an LED bulb to keep the inside of the coop lit shortly after dusk to the birds can get to bed normally.

When we got back home we went out before lunch and installed/deployed/spread the various things we purchased.  During the afternoon I had mostly indoor things to attend to, including paying my bills.  Later in the afternoon I spent close to a half hour just sitting in the yard watching the chickens and the cranes in the backyard.   It was peaceful.

While we filmed a video Sunday targeted to let people know where their eggs come from there was this funny moment caught on tape when Pumpkin decided she didn’t want to sit on Cindy’s lap.

I had a a few different times over the weekend where I was thinking about Nicki, picturing her walking around the pool deck or sleeping in one of her beds only a couple weeks ago.  The thoughts brought instant moisture to my eyes as I redirected my mind to some other subject.

Saturday morning Cindy and I decided to change venues for our run, skipping the track and instead heading down to the waterpark.  We wanted to run the loop around the perimeter of the park which is almost exactly 2 miles, my goal going in was two complete loops.  The park was quite busy as there appeared to be large soccer and baseball events going on simultaneously.

It didn’t take very long into the first lap for me to start reconsidering my 4 mile target distance.  I didn’t have any specific reason other than just an overall lack of comfort running.  I just have not gotten to the point that any distance of running actually feels “good”.  After the first lap we reversed direction and I told my inner voice that was encouraging me to stop early to shut up.  I chugged along and managed to complete the four miles, disliking every step of it.

Even though I have not really felt comfortable during any of my my running sessions since starting up again, I have been not having any significant post run aches and pains which is a good thing.  I just wish I could shake the old and slow feeling I have while doing it.

After the run we stopped and picked up Sadie for her visit.  When we got back home it did not take long for me to feel weird as I looked around the house.  It felt strange to have Sadie there without Nicki.  I stopped and stared at Nicki’s food stand, the South Dakota license plate we bought her on the road trip, her dog beds in the office/bedroom and even the spot by the end of the bed where she would often sleep with her head hidden under the dust ruffle.  Looking at these things and realizing they will never be as they once were was painful and felt tragically final. Although Sadie was mostly her happy self there were moments were it felt like she too was confused and sad that her long time companion was nowhere to be found.

Cindy and I kept busy Saturday afternoon working on various things.  The flag we had mounted on the chicken coop had been torn to shreds by the brutal Florida summer.  We replaced it with a higher quality flag that has mounts that should let it deal with the wind better.  We also relocated the main bird feeder pole.  Since the new chickens have been around they have been rather bullyish when it comes to the feeders.  Whenever regular birds would come in the chickens were very quick to chase them away.  It’s gotten to the point that the feeders were not even being used by the regular birds.

We moved them about 100 feet further back in the yard, hoping it would discourage the chickens and allow the smaller birds to eat in peace.  I think we also need to spend the extra money to get higher quality seed.  The stuff would have been using is very heavily made of cracked corn which the chickens love but not so much for smaller birds.

After moving the feeders we had some unexpected birds that appeared to appreciate the relocation, the huge sandhill cranes.  A family of three birds have been hanging around the house all week, much closer than they used to.  One of them got close enough to poke a hole in a window screen.  Well they hung by the feeders forever, tapping the feeders and poking at the ground endlessly.  Cindy and I love when they hang out on the property.

On Saturday night Cindy and I wanted to go see Bridge of Spies.  It was a nice night out so we decided to take the SSR.  When we were on Immokalee Road about 5 miles from the house I glanced at the gauges and saw something very disturbing, coolant temperature gauge was pinned to the right at 260 degrees (normal is 210).  Oh shit.

I had no idea what was wrong and the truck was running normally but a pegged temperature gauge is nothing to f with.  I did a U-turn as I flipped on the heat to full blast to help cool off the motor.  I babied the truck on the drive back and despite running the heat, the gauge never moved from the right.  I ran scenarios through my head as to what was going on.  The three that came to mind was a bad thermostat that was preventing coolant from entering the radiator, a bad temperature sending unit that was sending a bad reading or a failure of the electric cooling fan. When I pulled back into the garage I could hear the fan running so that ruled it out as a potential problem source.

Cindy assumed I was going to just say f it, lets stay home since we now wasted 15-20 minutes, meaning there was no way we would make it to the theater by the posted 7:45PM start time.  I told her I still wanted to go, counting on the 15-20 minutes of previews that normally lead up to each showing.  We hauled ass in the Prius and pulled into the parking lot a couple minutes after 8.  Even after grabbing a bottle of water and quickly hitting the bathroom we sat down literally just as the opening scene was starting, what luck.

I was having a very bad time with drowsiness, so much so that I walked back out to the concession stand and grabbed a small Coke and a box of Reeses Pieces, hoping the caffeine/sugar would help pry open my eyelids.  It did help but I still was fighting off drowsiness at various times.  My drowsiness was not a reflection of the movie which was A- quality.  The true life story regarding the tension at the height of the Cold War era was interesting and disturbing.  Existing during a time where mutual nuclear obliteration felt like a very real threat just seems impossible but it was very, very real.

On Sunday morning I did some more investigation into my apparent SSR overheating problem.  I turned the ignition to the detente right before starting the truck which initializes the gauges.  I saw that the coolant gauge was stuck in the middle at 210 degrees, even with the truck being stone cold.  It quickly became apparent that none of my initial ideas about the problem were correct.  This is a stepper motor issue, one of the many problems that are common in the SSR’s. (and other GM products of this era).  Basically the little motors that control the gauge needles in the instrument cluster are shitty and prone to failure.  A search of the SSR Fanatics forum revealed tons of instances of people getting these motors replaced.

That same search on the forum revealed there is a kind guy that is happy to perform the repair for owners for a very minimal fee if they pay for the parts and shipping.  If push came to shove I could probably do the entire repair myself but it involves soldering new motors in place, something I am not very skilled at.  I would rather have it done by somebody that is adept at it, especially if he is willing to do it at a heavily discounted rate.  My part of the process will still be a bit tedious as I will have to pull apart the dash and the instrument cluster to send it out to the guy for repair.

While this is being done I am going to have some further customization completed. I am having the factory black cluster face replaced with a silver face, matching the rest of the truck.  It will just one of the many tweaks I have done since taking ownership of the truck in 2011.

Late Sunday morning we hosted a bib making party  where we had a total of eight people (including us) peeling timing chips and affixing them to the back of the bibs for the the upcoming Thanksgiving race which utilizes custom bibs.  Cindy prepared a nice spread of food for everyone and the project was completed in around two hours, faster than we expected since there were roughly 3000 bibs to prepare. Our guests seemed to have a good time and the chickens were quite happy to meet them.  Cindy and I were both very grateful for the extra sets of hands.

Late in the afternoon I had the random urge to take Sadie for a walk over at Bird Rookery Swamp which is literally a couple miles from our front door.  When I suggested the idea to Cindy she was enthusiastic as well.

I used to take Nicki and Sadie there pretty regularly but had not done so in well over a year.  Nicki’s aging legs made each trip into the swamp slower and shorter.  The last time we went she was in obvious pain afterward so we stopped going. I thought Sadie would really like to go back.

The first thing I noticed when we pulled into the lot was they have been making improvements to the area.  They built a nice observation deck that extends over lake by the parking lot.  The second thing I noticed was how high the water level was after a very long and intense rainy season.  It was the most amount of water I could ever recall in the place.

As we headed in we talked to a couple that said there was a large gator near the start of the path and that a biker had told them he saw a number of gators as well.  We hoped to see a lot of these for ourselves.  Unfortunately we only had two baby gator sightings, neither of which exceeded four feet in length.

We did have a very cool wildlife sighting right before the turnaround point.  There were two young male deer hanging out in the shallow water nibbling away.  The one that was closest to us seemed remarkably calm in our presence, giving us a few casual glances in between mouthfulls.  In all my trips to the swamp I had never seen any deer up close and personal.

We only walked 1.25 miles into the trail before turning around.  Even with the weather conditions being pretty comfortable we could tell Sadie was tired, not used to extensive walking, something we hope to address more often.  On the way out she was the trailblazer, leading us most of the time by 10 feet or more.  On the walk back she gradually fell back, walking even or slightly behind us at times.  Even with being tired you could tell she had a fun time.

The Eagles played late for the second week in a row.  I was so tired I did not even make an effort to stay awake, drifting off for good in the 2nd quarter.  I awoke to find the conclusion I expected, the team lost to the Panthers with the offense underperforming once again.  This is a pattern I expect during the rest of the year, the team may pull off some wins against the lesser quality teams but won’t be able to hang with the playoff quality teams because the Eagles are not a playoff quality team.

There has been a lot of virtual and in person condolences directed our way in the last day regarding Nicki which of course are all greatly appreciated.  I tried to go about my day as normally as possible, I worked a full day (and then some), went to the gym and in general tried to keep my focus to non-Nicki things.  Of course I was not entirely successful in doing this and had multiple occasions where I closed my office door. I kept up that strategy last night, burying myself in Wow for a couple hours.

Last night we did finally hang a remnant of Nicki on the wall, a project that Cindy undertook several months ago.  It is the customization I did for the original dog deck back in 2004 where I used left over tile supplies to make a custom Nicki section.  It even contains her paw print.

When I resurfaced the deck awhile ago with composite decking I pulled this section out and sat it in the shed on a shelf where it resided for years untouched.  It’s years in the elements had broken the thin set into many sections.  It literally looked like a jig saw puzzle. The restoration Cindy did on it was pretty remarkable.  Neither of us had anticipated her work becoming a tribute piece  quite so soon.

I remember clearly the look of concern on Nicki’s face as I grabbed her paw and shoved it into the thinset.

This weekend we are going to have Sadie out for a good portion of it.  It will be interesting in a sad sort of way to see how she reacts being out at the house solo, a situation she has never been in her entire life.

This weekend I have things to do as is always the case.  I plan to again keep my mind and body busy.  On Sunday we have a few kind volunteers that are going to help us affix timing chips to 3500 race bibs.

Recanting the events of the last 24 hours likely will not become easier at any point soon so I may as well tackle it now.

During the day yesterday I got an update from Ali on Nicki.  She said they had started on the next steps of the treatment plan, administering her steroids and inserting a nasal feeding tube, the mere thought of which made me feel discomfort on Nicki’s behalf.

When I stopped in to see her last night it was a rough visual for me.  Not only was she hooked to four or five lines she also had a soft cone around her neck to prevent her from pawing at the feeding tube.  I started petting her and got minimal response.  It was the first time I couldn’t even get a tail wag out of her.

Ali showed up towards the end of my visit.  She felt much more upbeat about the state of things than I did.  She reported to me later last night that Nicki woke up a bit more and seemed interested in some boiled chicken they stuck under her nose but she didn’t actually eat it. I went to bed hoping these baby steps would get bigger the next couple days as the feeding tube and steroids kicked in.

Well in the middle of the night I heard the house line ringing.  My assumption was it was the automated alert system we have from work which calls if an environmental sensor is tripped.  I let it ring since it would try the next number in the rotation.  I am the farthest away from the office so these things are normally handled by the people that live closer.

Well the phone rang again.  The house phone stopped just as Cindy got out to it but she saw my cell was ringing, it was Ali.  Cindy handed me the phone.  I knew something very bad was about to be said.  Ali choked back the emotion as she told me Nicki had passed away.  She told me she was heading down to the vet to see her (it was about 3:15 am) and said I could as well which of course I was going to do.  After hanging up the phone I just laid there for a few moments, stunned.

Cindy came with me.  For the most part I kept it together on the drive there.  When we got to the vet I at first went back myself to the room where they had Nicki laying in the middle of the floor between some blankets.  Ali was already there and was laying next to her,  petting her slowly.  I came over to the other side and sat down.  When I touched her head she felt cold.  That sensation was like throwing a bucket of water on me.  I lost all composure for a short while and cried uncontrollably.  It was so final.  I couldn’t believe the adorable little 3 month old puppy that we brought into the house nearly 13 years ago that has filled my life with so much happiness, love, and smiles was laying there, still.

My mind raced for stable footing but I had a difficult time finding any.  I hoped that maybe just maybe Nicki was hanging out with my mom somewhere at that moment in time.  Ali stepped out for a few minutes so Cindy could come say goodbye.  Of course seeing Cindy break down at the sight of Nicki brought on another wave of emotion.  I just couldn’t believe this time, the time I have dreaded for years had actually come.  After we were done Ali was going to go back in one last time so we embraced and began to prepare ourselves for the mountains of sorrow that come with losing a beloved pet. Despite Nicki having numerous health issues the last few years we all had held out hope it was not yet time to say goodbye.

When you are a childless adult your pets become your adopted children.  You love them intensely and the pain when you lose them is equally intense.

When I got home I knew sleep was pointless.  I instead ate breakfast, got dressed and drove into work to do some after hours work that I had been putting off.  I figured keeping my mind as busy as possible was the best course of action.  It’s something I will be leaning heavily upon for quite awhile.

I’ll always love you baby Nicki and will think of you often.  You were the definition of love.

Rest now.

Goodbye sweet baby Nicki…

I stopped by to see Nicki at lunch and after work.  When I stopped at lunch Ali was still there.  I didn’t get to interact much with Nicki during that visit as they spent most of the time unsuccessfully trying to insert a catheter in her leg.  Nicki was so tired/out of it that she was hardly reacting to the repeated stabs of the needle.  While the techs were working Ali and I talked more about the game plan.

The myriad of tests that the vet has ordered have basically revealed nothing.  Their only other thought was doing a liver biopsy to check on some liver numbers that were somewhat low however in Nicki’s current state that would be ridiculous to do and even if there is a liver problem it is not the immediate culprit for her condition.  The vet suggested that we could try a steroid shot to see if it gets Nicki up and moving again.  Awhile ago she had one and she did have some noticeable short term improvement.

I am still amazed that Nicki’s lack of any substantial food intake for 6 days has not been given more weight in the process.  The vet keeps saying that dogs can go long periods of time without eating without it having a significant impact on blood numbers and well being.  Although I have seen the same thing when I researched I also saw this is affected by the dogs age and health prior to the lack of food.  Neither of those factors are in Nicki’s favor.

When I came back after work I wound up sitting in an empty waiting room for almost a half hour.  Evidently my timing was bad.  The techs were unable to get a good catheter spot so they were in the middle of suturing one to Nicki’s leg.  They allowed me to go back as they were finishing up.

I walked in to Nicki up on the table, looking exhausted.  I went in front of her and pulled back her loose forehead skin so she could see me clearly.  She perked up for a few seconds and then laid her head back down.  I felt terrible as I saw her laying there.  It was the first time I wondered if this was really what Nicki wanted.

When they finished wrapping up the freshly sutured wound  we took Nicki outside briefly.  Nicki is far too weak to be able stand up on her own or walk without assistance.  The vet had this harness set up that they strapped on Nicki to offer support.  It has a handle in the front and back.   When we got her upright she could stand still without major help but any movement required a firm grip on the handles.  We took her outside maybe 40-50 feet from the door and walked her back.  It seemed surreal to me we just had Nicki out at the house the weekend prior and had a normal, fun time.  Seeing her in this state of dysfunction so shortly afterward is hard to wrap my mind around.

I left before they subjected Nicki to more discomfort as they were to hook up a urine catheter since Nicki is unable to go conventionally and is on constant IV fluids.  I felt absolutely miserable when I left.

Despite my criticism of some of the practices and staff of this vet, there have been a number of the staff I have dealt with back in the ICU that have been incredibly nice, accommodating, compassionate, and kind.  They understand what it is like.  I almost wish they could give me an off the record opinion of the situation.

On my way home last night I stopped in to visit Nicki.  The vet where she is at is literally right on my homeward route.  I had called for a status update on Nicki earlier in the day which didn’t sound like much changed.  However Ali told me when she had visited they actually had Nicki up and walking outside which was good news.  I was hoping to see her feeling more energetic.

When I walked in the ICU she saw me and wagged her tail but did not move from her laying position.  The excitement was not very long lived as she put her head down, doing slow, labored breathing.  The visual I saw did not seem any different than Sunday.  I felt terrible for her.  She had wet her pad so I asked the staff back there if we could change it.  I served as a human forklift as I lifted Nicki up as they tried to quickly swap out the bedding. She laid still in my arms as I held her, too wiped out to even really react.

Since Sunday they had completely wrapped Nicki’s right front and rear paw in elastic bandage.  For some reason they have an IV connected at both spots.  I saw that Ali brought in Nicki’s blue monkey toy, something she was fond of as a younger dog.  I just took turns kneeling/sitting on the floor petting her.  She kept moving her rear left leg, almost like she was trying to reposition herself.  I tried helping her move but she couldn’t really show me what position she wanted to be in.

I talked to the vet that was there (this place has a lot of them). He indicated that their main focus was something different than what the vet on Sunday told me.  (low blood sugar and low protein)  He said Nicki’s low blood pressure was the main thing they were trying to address.  He also said they are concerned about her getting mobile as soon as possible.  Much like an old person that breaks their hip, the longer Nicki goes without being able to get around herself the more difficult it is going to be to get her back to that point.  She just seemed so tired and weak to me at that moment I could hardly believe she was walking around earlier in the day.

I left the place not feeling the optimism I hoped for.

When I got home I jumped right into high speed chocolate cake making.  Over the weekend I realized I didn’t give Cindy an official birthday cake although we did enjoy some pretty good deserts at the Turtle Club.  I told her if she could make sure we had the ingredients I would make the cake last night.  I had to rush the process a little bit so it isn’t the best cake I ever made but based on the cupcakes we made out of the same batch I think it is still pretty good.

Last night I watched a good portion of the Eagles game until my sleep deprived eyes closed late in the third quarter.  I was happy to hear they held on to win easily 27-7.  It was an odd game, you would think beating the Giants by 20 points would really make you feel good about the Eagles future.  The reality is the Giants played AWFUL making mistake after mistake and turning the ball over like it was coated in butter.

The Eagles defense played well.  The Eagles offense was ok but Sam Bradford continued to display a pretty glaring lack of accuracy.  He just is not throwing the ball well, especially anything over 10 yards.  The Eagles at 3-3 are now leading the NFC East which is battling hard to be the worst division in football.  I’m happy for the win, I’m still not convinced it means the team is going anywhere this season.

Saturday morning I was out the door at 5AM to time a large cross country meet I have been doing for 5 or 6 years.  The difference this year was I was in a supporting role.  I rented the timing equipment I own to Chris, the guy that helps me at a lot of my other races.  He timed it with different software than I normally use.

You may recall the close call we had with a dying battery at the meet on Tuesday.  I made precautions against that happening again by bringing not one but two marine batteries that can be used to extend battery life.  Chris told me he charged the timing box fully the night before.  This fact made it very concerning when he turned on the box and the battery indicator was already firmly in the red, wtf???

I had replaced the internal batteries on this box several months ago so I knew the batteries should be fine.  I didn’t have time to figure out why it wasn’t getting a good charge so I hooked up one of my external batteries to the box using one of the cables I have used successfully in the past.  As soon as I connected the battery the box started making a clicking noise, just like it did when I connected the DC power supply on Tuesday.  I tried the other battery and another cable and had the same results. Son of a bitch.

For a few moments I stood there, flabbergasted, wondering how in the world we were going to get through four timed events with a box that was already showing a weak battery.  I then started to react, coming up with several plans.  First off we turned off the timing box and reconnected the charger.  We figured if we had to, we could just turn the box on shortly before the first finisher from each race crossed and then turn it off as soon as the last finisher crosses to minimize battery usage.

I then hopped on the Timers Forum I belong to on Facebook and described the symptoms I was seeing, hoping somebody with answers would be online at this very early time of day.  I got my answer very quickly, it had to do with the cable I was using.  As I mentioned, I had used these cables before successfully to power this model of timing box although it was the older model the running club owned.  I found out that the newer models, like what I have require a wire jumper in these cords to power the boxes correctly.  Well now I knew what the problem was but I did not have an immediate solution.

I described the problem to Chris.  He told me that the brand new timing system the school had bought to time future races was supposed to be brought on site by one of the cross country coaches.  With about 15 minutes to go before the first race we drove to her car and grabbed the new equipment that was still in boxes.  Inside of them was an external battery cable which I hooked up to my timing box with the battery.  The battery meter instantly jumped solidly into the green and there was no more clicking.  Crisis averted. I found that even the fast charging adapter on the newer systems has a jumper cable installed which mine was lacking, probably explaining the poor battery level even after being on the charger for hours. Later in the afternoon when I got home I installed a jumper in all 5 of my cables, avoiding this scenario from reoccurring in the future.

Saturday night I had made reservations to go to the Turtle Club for Cindy’s birthday.  On the way there I made a quick pit stop at Staples to snag a crazy cheap deal on a small laptop that I can use as a dedicated GMT workstation.  $149 was just too good to pass up.

The only seating available at the restaurant was indoors.  Outdoor seating anywhere around sunset requires reservations far, far in advance.  Our table was jammed a bit inconveniently back in a corner but it did not detract from our enjoyment of the meal.  Both of our entrees were great as were the deserts.

On Sunday morning I saw that Ali had sent me a number of texts regarding Nicki, she had taken her back to the emergency vet because Nicki was acting very lethargic, not even wanting to get up to drink.  I got further updates regarding what the vet was doing, performing numerous tests and was flabbergasted that a very simple connection was not being made.  The pain killers Nicki was prescribed had numerous side effects including nausea and extreme tiredness. Since she was given the drugs she ate very, very little as a result.  To me it seemed like the vet was totally ignoring the fact that Nicki had hardly eaten for three days when they identified  some blood work numbers that were a little low like blood sugar and protein level.  Instead they used those low numbers to subject Nicki to a barrage of additional testing, each of which has revealed nothing.

When I tried to express my discontent with how the vet was handling the situation it was met unfavorably by Ali who did not appreciate my suggestion that the vet is skipping over the simplest explanation first in order to instead administer expensive testing.  I had the been to this vet once before with Nicki and had a very similar experience where it seemed like their number one concern was getting authorization for extensive labs and testing to “rule out” items.  It felt like going to the doctor complaining of a back ache and them asking you to take an eye test.  I have a deep aversion to vets that prey on a pet owners love of their animals. I just get that feeling in spades from this place.

Those feelings did not improve when Cindy and I went there later in the afternoon to visit Nicki.  They made us wait almost a half hour to go back to see her even though there was nobody else in the waiting room and one other car in the parking lot.  We were told initially the delay was because there were other people visiting their pets and there was a lack of space in the ICU.  When I complained a second time, asking how much longer it would be we magically were allowed to go back a couple minutes later, despite nobody leaving the office.  When we got back to the ICU there was one other client in there and the huge room obviously had no space limitations, nice.

Nicki was asleep in one of high walled kennels.  It took more effort than normal to wake her up.  She was so lethargic I asked if they were giving her some sort of pain killer or sedative in the IV.  They said they weren’t.  She also was shivering, a probable side effect of the IV. Eventually she woke up and realized we were there which got a few tail wags.  I was on my knees rubbing her ears as I saw the various shaved parts of her body as a result of all the testing.  Nicki seemed very weak and made no effort to sit up at all.  Seeing her this way brought tears to my eyes, knowing she was just out at the house the weekend before and had fun, appearing as normal as she can be nowadays.

I asked to talk to the vet that was on duty.  I asked for a recap on what was going on.  The vet was very focused on the slightly low blood sugar and protein levels as being the reason for all of the testing.  She would not acknowledge that the lack of eating after the pain killers were prescribed was a viable reason for the low numbers.  She chose her words very carefully as if not to say anything that would indicate their prior actions could be involved.  When the vet said Nicki could potentially be there a couple more days as they wait for more test results to return it only deepened the black hole I felt I was standing in. I left there feeling depressed, angry, and frustrated.

At this point it is just a wait and see thing.  If Nicki does not perk up enough to be able to stand, eat and drink on her own they will just keep her there.  I just have a sick feeling in my stomach that won’t go away that kept me up a good portion of the night.  There are multiple facets to the emotions running through my head right now and none of them are pleasant.