Bear has a cold.  I gave it to him, by accident - I told him not to kiss me but he did anyway.  So he's off to the doctor, after a fairly sleepless night spent coughing.  I took Max upstairs so he wouldn't bother Bear all night, and he did very well, this was the first night he didn't sleep in his crate since he came home with us.  Bear will get meds and be better by this afternoon, and back to normal by tomorrow, but I still worry every time he gets sick.  He's always so strong, it scares me when he isn't. 

Max and I went to the dog park yesterday and I learned not to call your happy happy puppy to you when he is on TOP of the big tall hill and you are on the bottom, especially when he has not yet learned how to put on the brakes.  Normally he swerves when he gets to me, but I don't think he had time and before I realized that he was gonna hit me, I was ass over teakettle and lying on the ground - saying to the laughing boy, "are you okay?"  Then I realized that my ankle really hurt and my knee hurt a bit too, not on the same leg, of course - so I got up rather carefully and prayed that no one had seen me do my pratfall.  I'm sure it was pretty funny, but I'm glad it didn't get caught on tape! Monster  Boy happily took off in the other direction and ran and ran and ran and played and had a wonderful time.  I love the dog park so far - I was concerned, and still am, that people will bring less than well socialized dogs there and there will be a problem but I keep a close eye on the Monster Boy and hopefully will be able to catch a problem before it becomes one.  (not from him, from another dog, although he does have teeth and there is always a possibility that he will get pissed off at another dog.)

I've pretty much decided I'm done with "my" message board.  I miss the daily banter - a bit - but I'm tired of feeling like I have to edit myself.  Apparently my presence isn't greatly missed, only 2 people even seem to have noticed. 

My neck hurts.  Probably from Max.

He's now lying in the hall, exhausted from 15 minutes of play, and three times in and out the door.  Yup, I could get a job as the greeter at Walmart, got tons of experience.  "oh, you want out?"  Skip ahead 5 minutes.  "You want in?"  Skip ahead 5 minutes.  "You want out again?" 

And so on.

I need a shower.  And a nap. I'm saddened that only one person from my board has contacted me, other than the person who upset me in the first place and who can take her advice and put it somewhere because here's a new flash, she isn't always right.  I guess I invested too much in people I don't really know, but that's okay, I've learned, I won't take the board down but I doubt I'll go back for quite some time.

Apparently I am not only a terrible grandmother and dog owner, I am a complete idiot as well. 

I have pulled several ticks off myself in the past few months - actually, Bear has pulled them off because I tend to go "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!"  A few casual comments to friends about this and the mention of feeling sort of tired and achy, led to me being advised to go get tested for Lyme Disease.   I was also advised that the test is not 100% accurate, but since our insurance will cover it, what do I have to lose?  I am not one to run to the doctor for every fart stuck crossways, I don't feel well at the moment and while I think it's merely a case of lack of sleep and stress - can it really hurt to be tested? 

Apparently the answer is yes.  I was given some much unwanted and unneeded advice and I am extremely tired of being treated like I am a moe-ron.  My oldest sister has cursed me, I swear she is sitting wherever (finding it hard to believe she made it to Heaven but trying not to judge) and laughing her noncorporeal ass off that my life is full of people JUST

LIKE

HER!!!!!!!!!

Bear made crab cakes for dinner.  So I ate too much.  Prolly gained 5 lbs back. 

I am firmly in charge of the crabby pants.  I hate this month, this week.  Too many memories, too much flooding into my brain, too much too much too much.  It isn't supposed to hurt this much after so many years, but it does, dammit, it still does.  I miss my Poppa.  I don't care how old he was, I don't care that he  had a good life, I don't care about anything but that I miss him and I can't talk to him, and I can't say "good morning, Old Man," and see him smile.  It sucks and there is nothing anyone can say to make it not suck.

I used to vent on my message board.  Apparently I vented too much and irritated those who think that children are gods and should be worshipped and bowed to at all times.  Forgive me if I don't think that making macaroni necklaces, or wiping a 5 year old's ass, or letting a child tell me it's time for me to do anything, is just the epitome of wonderfulness.  There is a reason I didn't have children.  For the most part, I can't stand the little monsters.  So I really don't want to be given advice on all the wonderful bonding experiences we can have, etc.  All I wanted was to vent.  I got nailed, time after time, till I couldn't take it any longer and just gave up.  I don't feel like posting, so I haven't in a few days.  Doesn't seem to be bothering anyone.  Sigh

It is not a good thing to gloat, but it is very difficult not to do so.  When someone has been a complete and total prick, it is very difficult not to rejoice to see that person brought down a peg, or in this case, several pegs. 

This person called me many names.  According to him I was the epitome of evil.  Those of you who have been around awhile remember the stories from when my mom died.  I never wished him evil, I never wished him or anyone else harm.  I did think his self-righteousness would rear up and bite him in the ass one day. 

Read the story here:  Car crash

I joined a couple GR forums.  One won't let me post, and the rest never validated my membership.  I think I'll just start one and see if I get any members.

I am very glad this semester is almost over.  It's been frustrating and stressful.

Last week Max had an overnight guest.  A puppy followed us home from the field - no tags on her, just a collar.  Frantic phone calls to all and sundry ensued, and no one knew to whom she belonged.  She and Max had quite a wonderful time for a while - but by bedtime he was tired of her, and so was I. 

Life with a dog is way more tiring and way more fun than I ever expected.

Max and Duke both avoided the same guy at the park today, wonder what was up with him.  Duke tends to get between all of us and people and other dogs, it's pretty cool that he's so quietly protective. 

I have a headache.  Kids later today.  Should go eat something and get a shower.  I need a nap and the chances of that are slim and none. 

I think that's about all I have to say today.

You have no idea how much I needed that, my knight.

Thank you for always being my friend

I don't think I like Mondays.  Carol died on Monday - doesn't seem that it's already been a week.  Now I hear of a child being hit by a truck, a 2 year old.  Life just sucks sometimes.

Max and I went to the park today and met a nice lady with a Golden Retriever named Duke.  Duke is almost 4 years old and Max is nearly as tall as him.  My damned camera was home and the phone camera was useless, so I didn't get a picture of them, they were so beautiful standing side by side.  We took them into the tennis court - a fenced in area - and threw a ball and let them run and chase each other, it was great.  Duke totally put Max in his place, just rolled him over onto his back and stood over him and mouthed his neck a little.  Max was cute, he had this air of awe, like, "wow, this guy is cool and he's playing with me!" 

The lady and I are going to try to meet there on Friday so they can play together again.  She gave me some good training tips - and assured me that Max is not fat, she said Duke hit 98 lbs before he stopped growing and he was most assuredly NOT fat at all!  So there, CanadianGolden-twit-head! 

So Max is resting on the sofa, I've cleaned the bathrooms and started laundry and it's time for lunch.  I think noodles today.  Corned beast cooked in the crock pot all night, it's sliced and in the fridge and I'll do the veggies later so we can have it for supper at about 2:00 am.  mmmmmmmmm, cabbage farts!   It will quite noisesome in this house tonight! 

Apparently I piss people off. 

I joined a message board for golden retriever owners, hoping to get some hints on training the monster boy.  I read the posts for a couple days, decided that I was starting to seem like a lurker (which I was) so I started a thread about Max and posted in a couple other threads.  Someone started a thread about how big her puppy was growing - and since Max hit 65 lbs, I can totally relate to that, I look at pictures from when we first got him and I was carrying him around, shoot, I can't even think about lifting him now. 

She was worrying that her puppy was getting fat, because she weighed something like 40 lbs at 4 months, and commented that the vet said the dog's weight would probably double till she was full grown. 

I said that Max weighed 60 lbs at 6 months and I expect him to hit 100 lbs when he's full grown.

And now the fun began.  There's a poster who seems to pop up in every thread, and while I know it's hard to read attitude and tone in words on a screen, this one comes off as very arrogant and very blunt to the point of rudeness.  I had noticed but thought that my posts were innocent enough that there would be no reason for him (I'm assuming it's a him, I don't really know) to comment on them. 

Wrong.  Took a couple days and then I saw a response to my post from the person who calls himself CanadianGolden.  "Shit," I said to myself.  I swear to myself sometimes, I know it's crude but even Princesses have their moments. 

He informed me that no golden should weigh 60 lbs at 6 months and that 100 lbs was definitely wrong.  I should have let it go.  But no, I didn't.  I posted a picture of Max and wrote, "he doesn't look fat to me." 

His response was that it was impossible to tell anything from this angle and he went on to lecture me about how I should be able to feel ribs but not see them, etc.  My response (yeah, I know, shoulda shut up) was that I didn't know what his qualifications were but my vet seemed to think Max was fine, and then I went on to say that I didn't get into arguments online (not since Greg disappeared, anyway) and I would find somewhere else to talk about my dog. 
The next day I discovered that my response was gone.  Then I discovered that when I posted, I got a message saying it would be a minute till it showed up (hey, I run a board, I know that means I'm being monitored).  What a surprise, it didn't show up!  The next day, I discovered that the thread I started about Max is gone. 

So I wrote to the board owner and asked what I had done wrong.  No response.  Two days later, still no response.  Guess CanadianGolden didn't like me, or something.  So I say, "pfffftttt" to all of them, I'll find another board or start my own.  Geesh!

Here's the picture: 

The plan was to blog more often.  The time was when this was all I thought about, nearly every day, sometime twice a day or more.  But lately, I just don't seem to have the time. 

it's all Max's fault.