Two Very Different Weeks--Part I

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks and that's because last week was the week from hell and this week has been lots better but really busy. The week from hell started when my husband's darling sister sent him an email on the Saturday of the Thanksgiving weekend.  I won't go into the details but, as usual she doesn't know what she's talking about and she's always trying to make him look bad and herself look like the truly caring daughter. GAG!! I think she put a curse on us at that point! He was supposed to come up here on Sunday but was so upset by her that he didn't sleep much Saturday night and felt it was better if he came up Monday.  That upset me a whole bunch and I had already had the feeling that the whole weekend was going to be rotten and I would end up spending the holiday alone. From this point things just got worse.  Dave set out Monday morning and was involved in a vehicle accident right in Olds with my truck (was my mother's truck).  The other driver, an almost 82 year old man blew through a red light just as Dave was starting to make a left-hand turn onto Highway 27. Luckily no one was injured--just a few seconds later, it would have been a different story. As Dave was at the RCMP detachment giving his statement, the constable got a call to go out of town to a 'situation'.  So everyone had to wait until Tuesday. Now at the scene of the accident, the old boy had said to Dave, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking.  I went through the red light."  And there was a witness who called Dave over and said she would give a statement that she saw the old boy go through the red light.  OK--everything sounds pretty straight forward, right? Wrong!!  Come Tuesday. apparently the old fellow decided to change his version or say nothing anyway and the witness recanted her statement!! What the heck?????? So now the constable is suggesting Dave might be charged. And he said that Dave might have influenced the witness because he's a pretty intimidating looking guy!! Huh? Yes Dave is 6' 2", but he's skinny and hardly some beefy, broadshouldered, muscle bound guy.   Then there was the issue of endorsements on the vehicle because Dave wasn't insured on a vehicle in Alberta and wasn't down as a driver on the truck because of that. So it was looking like I might be paying for the repairs. There's not a lot of damage--the grill, bumper, a cracked headlight cover, and hood, but it's estimated at around $3000.

Here is the other driver's vehicle

In the meantime Duffy was suffering from runny poops day after day although he didn't appear to be sick--his nose was cold and wet, he's full of energy, etc. The real joy of this happened on Friday.  I had to be at the EG for a meeting, then visit with my dad and then a couple of us were going to check out a Ukrainian restaurant in anticipation of a dream for a resident. The other 2 gals had differing versions of what the address was and foolishly I didn't look it up, so I couldn't find the place! I did a little shopping and came home to find that Duffy had had an "accident"!! A nice liquidy, splashy one at that!! Poor Duffy! He has never, ever made any kind of mess in the house, even when he was a puppy.  He was kept in an expen and after 2 weeks here, he didn't poop or pee, even over night.  Mind you, I got up every night, somewhere between 1 and 3 and took him outside.  Talk about sleep deprived!!  When I finally took the newspapers out of the pen after a couple more weeks he started to pee on the mat--don't know what that was about! But after an admonishment, he never did it again. 

On Friday he must have been frantic and no one was here to let him out.  But he did the best he could--he did his business right at the back door mat. What a good boy!! Just imagine if this had been on the area rug in the living room!! There were some little drops through the kitchen, no doubt, the aftermath. That was something to come home to!! I spent the next hour or so, washing his beds, washing the floors, vacuuming the floor and washing it again, throwing out the mats and putting new ones down.  Luckily I always buy ahead and had a couple of new ones.  Then Saturday morning I had to give him a rear end bath outside because he was pretty filthy back there and smelly.  He wasn't too happy about it, but afterwards he looked and smelled so much better!! 

I don't know quite what this runny poop is all about. Occasionally he will have one like that but it has never lasted for days.  I fasted him for 24 hour periods and only gave him meaty bones--pork ribs.  Things have improved a whole bunch.  I wonder if going to classes has precipitated some of this problem--he gets easily stressed and anxious. When we were at the vet's at the beginning of October, she said that there were signs that he didn't digest his food properly--notably the mucous in his poop from time to time, his sneezing, and his swayback. He also either has a low pulse rate or low blood pressure--I don't remember which and have to ask Dave!  She said it was a good thing he was on a raw diet, because his problems would be worse if he wasn't! Yikes! He's been sneezing way more in the last 2 weeks and also reverse sneezing. And there's always the possibility he picked up a bug at the dog school--but not something to make him really sick. I've known for some time I have a damaged dog, but this is worse than I thought.  And of course as far as I am concerned this can be laid at the door of vaccines. This really upsets me and makes me angry.

In the meantime, I don't have my truck to drive and miss it's safety and visibilty and our trip to Lethbridge has been postponed-sniff! The truck is the Duffymobile too and although I have been taking Duffy to class in the car--with sheets all over the the velvet type of upholstery of the pristine and only 4000 miles on it, 1986 Olds Cutlass, travelling to Lethbridge with him in the car is not probably too good an idea!!  Now I am thinking about going to Lethbridge, with or without Duffy and Dave, for the end of November, so I can cheer for Jolene and Kort at the dog show!! And I have to get a new Collie license plate!!

Stay tuned for Part II--the good week!!