Miser Family update: snow and dog health version

Life in the Miser Mom household continues to be rich and full.

The boys got to spend much of my spring break shoveling snow; we all spent much of the week working with our new dog, Prewash.

The dog is turning out to be even more of an adventure than we thought he would be, not only because he's got a lot of energy (mainly in the evenings), but also because he has quite a few health issues (allergies, a bad knee that might or might not be ligament damage, and a possible propensity to eat things that cause bad digestive issues). He was at the vet 4 different days this week; he's had x-rays and antibiotic injections and fluid replacement treatment. He's on 6 or 7 different medications, and his leg doesn't (alas) seem to be getting much better. He has a few more medical appointments scheduled for the future; we'll cross finger to see how that goes. The current total of spending on the beast is $1,711. Yoicks.

I should add that my step-daughter and my uncle, who both work with rescue dogs a lot, have been giving me good long-distance advice on caring for this pooch!

N-son has unexpectedly emerged as the in-house family Dog Whisperer; he sleeps in the same room with Prewash at night. N-son also had a squash match earlier today. Because he's the captain of his squash team, he automatically plays the toughest opponent, and he was outplayed. But my husband, who went to watch him, said he had great stamina.

N-son and Prewash

J-son had a boxing match tonight. My husband drove there to cheer for him; he called back home to enthuse about how the match went.  J-son started off slow, losing the first of three rounds.  In the second round, he started hammering back, and he apparently barely won that round.  In the third round, he punched his opponent so hard, the ref awarded him a standing TKO, something I didn't even know is possible.  J-son will be getting home so late tonight that it'll be more like early morning tomorrow; I'm guessing he'll sleep most of Sunday.

In addition to my new dog duties, I've also banged my way through a bunch of paperwork in order to get ahead for when I return to teaching and committee work on Monday.  It sure is nice to be on top of my work right now!

A tiny little no-trash post

Because of the snow storm that hit the East Coast, our city posted this little announcement earlier this week:

All [Local] Waste routes have been cancelled for Wednesday, March 15, 2017. [Local] Waste will accept double the normal volume of material on your next regularly scheduled collection day for Tuesday and Wednesday pickups.

So, our family put out a trash can in January, and we haven't yet filled our next trash can.  But because twice zero is still zero, we will indeed ask our trash haulers to take twice our normal volume of material next week.

I just think this is funny.

Bringing Prewash the Dog into the Miser home

I guess the first thing I should say is that this isn't a "Saving Money" post.  Getting a dog can be expensive proposition, no question. To wit, even though we found our new dog Prewash at the Humane League, we've still shelled out almost 900 bucks this week alone, and there are clearly more expenses on the horizon.

Prewash cuddling up with N-son.
He and the boys have become good buds.

We already had a lot of the infrastructure ready to go -- we have a dog door and a fenced-in dog run; we have a crate and a variety of leashes and dog bowls.  If Prewash had been our first dog, that would have added to the overall cost.  He's also neutered and came with a bunch (but not all) of his vaccinations.  The expenses so far have been $183 to the Humane League, about $550 to the vet (more on this below) and another $150 on food and training supplies (again, more on that below).  There's a LOT (for me) of driving and gas money, between going to get the dog and the vet trips (plural) and pet store runs.  There are also replacement costs on things the dog destroys and chews up; although so far those have been surprisingly low with this dog.

There's also an "expense" of time.  I am on my college's spring break this week, so I have time to stay home and watch and train the dog.  I knew this week would be an important time of transition, and that flexibility would be important.  It's not that I'm not working -- I am assiduously ticking through a giant checklist of to-do items.  But I don't have scheduled meetings, or classes to teach, or students to see all day long, so I can work around the dog this week.  Next week, that changes.

Prewash had been surrendered to the shelter because he chased cats in his old house.  He's got what people call a strong "prey instinct".  Our first night with the dog had me worried that I hadn't taken the "high-energy" part of his description seriously enough, because he was pretty whacked out, even chasing my feet as though they were squirrels.

But I discovered in a multitude of different ways, we've lucked out with this dog.  For one thing, he crates beautifully.  That is, at night he is content to stay in his crate and sleep with no barking and minimal whining.  That's a HUGE relief.  Seriously.

For another, he's shown an extraordinary restraint in destroying our property.  Our first dog, many years ago, chewed the woodwork on furniture and doors, and I had to paint all our woodwork with chili sauce to get her to stop.  Another pair of dogs destroyed everything in their path, including woodwork, furniture, any objects we left on the floor, and digging up all the grass in their dog run.  And even our recent beloved Miser Dog snacked on my underwear and my husband's expensive bike gloves.  But Prewash, aside from his first two nights here when he was hyper and searching for good toys (and then destroyed two pairs of underwear from the laundry), seems to be content to go for only his pre-approved toys.  He's ignored gloves, books, shoes, and all other human objects.  I'm sort of stunned.  

(But that does explain the second run to the pet store; I really needed to get him toys that will keep him happy).

Just as stunning to me is that he seems to have no desire to run away.  He's mastered the dog door by now (smart dog), and he's even mastered the practice of sitting on top of the dog house, which is right outside our dining room window.  But he hasn't tried to tunnel under the fence or jump over it.  Even when he's with me in the back yard, he doesn't seem to want to leave the yard.  What dog doesn't bolt when the back door opens?  I don't know why he's different, but I'm not going to question my good luck.

Prewash sitting on the roof of his dog house,
outside our dining room window.

  

I've learned a bit of humility working with this dog -- I seem to be under-endowed with humility, so I can always use an extra dose.  When I was a kid, my neighbors used to pay me to help train their dogs, and I've had many dogs before, so I thought I knew what I was doing.  This week, I've been learning about clicker training, about exhausting exercise, about special dog toys, and about teaching a headstrong dog to walk on the leash.   He is indeed high energy, and I've gratefully soaked up advice from my oldest step-daughter (who deals with rescue dogs) and scoured the internet for training videos. We've come a long way already, both Prewash and me.

What else?  Oh, the health issues.  We're currently treating Prewash for allergies, including a yucky yeasty ear infection.  After the snow storm on Tuesday, he started limping, and on Wednesday the vet said that he's got a scary inflammation in his knee, for which he's taking steroidal anti-inflammatories and some pain meds.  It might be ligament damage, but we won't know until the knee inflammation goes down.  We're supposed to not let him run too much -- which is challenging, because he really is a high energy dog.  And last night, he started developing diarrhea -- so we're likely to go back to the vet for the third time today.  Oog.  

Prewash imitating a carpet.

Update: Probably this is TMI, but a pair of underwear and bits of a tennis ball just made it entirely all the way through his digestive tract.  Having those objects on the outside again might help to clear up the latest messy issues he's been suffering through.

But if we can get these health issues sorted out, I'm getting more and more optimistic about the future.  It does seem like the longer he's here, the calmer Prewash gets.  (I was really worried that the longer he'd be here, the bolder and naughtier he'd try to be, so the trend is encouraging).  Giving him a good walk in the morning and evening does seem to help a lot.  For example, I got much less nervous about heading back into the office next week when he spent much of the day yesterday imitating a carpet while I did my committee paperwork on the bed next to him.  In fact, he fell asleep while the vets were examining him -- so he can be high energy, but he can also totally nail the "relax" side, too.  Phew.  

Meanwhile, I'm getting in two or more outdoor walks each day that I wouldn't have had without him, and we've made great progress on walking without pulling (although we'll have to keep working at that).  Prewash seems to become more and more attached and devoted to me, and he seems to be getting more and more comfortable in the home.  And the boys seem to love being with him and being part of his training.  So we're off to a good start!

Miser Family update, Prewash version

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Mom household.

The week started off with N-son playing drums in church, which I thought might be our most photogenic moment of the week.

Groovin!

But at the very end of the week (earlier today), we had an even more photogenic event, because we met, cuddled up to, and brought home Prewash, our new dog.  

He's high energy, and I'm a little bit worried that I'm in over my head . . . but as I write this, Prewash is cuddled up with N-son on his bed, making a large drool spot.  

And J-son is just a little bit jealous, and offering to watch the dog for me while I finish up bill paying and such. 

Prewash has already taken fondly to his new eponymous job, and our plates are going into the dishwasher food-free.  Good Dog!

Miser Family Update: Lenten version

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Mom household

We ushered in Lent with our own pre-lenten celebration in the true central Pennsylvania way.  I-daughter, K-daughter, and Baby A came over for our weekly "Family Fun Night" and we had a dinner with unhealthy but yummy stuff:  bread made with white flour, homemade soup (okay, that was healthy), and dessert of fasnachts (Amish donuts made with the last lard and sugar before Lent starts).   

My husband was in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, planning for the upcoming Science march, so he missed being at his usual "Tuesdays with Toomey" protest during the excitement of the actual arrest of 11 of those protesters.  I've reassured him that he'll have further chances to get in on the fun.

J-son seems to be operating on autopilot, attending school by day and the boxing gym every evening.  I think his muscles are getting muscles.  

N-son woke up early and attended the Oh-Dark-Thirty drill practice every single school day this week; he's practicing for a ROTC drill competition.  N-son, like me, is a morning person, so he's thriving.  My husband (who drives N-son when it's icy outside) is not a morning person, but he's surviving mostly.

And as for me, for Lent I've decided to avoid all refined sugar.  On a completely unrelated note (although maybe my students would disagree), I gave back a set of midterms for my calculus class and am preparing to give a set of midterms in my geometry class.  As such, I'm getting to spend a lot of time with my students.  

In fact, N-son and I took a giant van-full of Math Club students to a Saturday matinee showing of Hidden Figures, a movie good enough that it's worth seeing twice.   

Miser Family update, vicissitudes version

Life continues to be rich and full in the Miser Mom household.

In the "vicissitudes" category, J-son went for his Sunday weigh-in and weighed high.  He'd fasted last week to successfully achieve a low weight for his last Saturday match, but either the fasting or something else weakened him enough that he lost that match.  By Sunday, a day later, he'd gained four pounds, and so he no longer qualified for the upcoming Golden Glove competition.  He's responded by training harder than ever.  

Speaking of "vicissitudes", early in the week, my husband lost his wallet.  Gone.  Somewhat disconcerting was that he'd just refilled the cash, and had a few hundred dollars tucked away, but of course the credit cards and other pieces of plastic were even more tragic to lose.  Fortunately, my husband is married to a rather anal wife who makes her family photocopy the contents our wallets once each year, so replacing all the plastic parts turned out to be a single day's cuddle-up on the cell phone.  Even better, a lawyer found and returned the actual wallet to the police, so we'll be getting the cash back, too.

N-son is continuing happily with ROTC, with his after-school Squash program, and with drum lessons.  

And me?  I got to take a pair of students to a student math conference today, where they gave a bunch of talks and listened to other students' talks, and realized a bit about why I love going to math conferences. You can see that we were thinking hard about what we learned.

On Monday of this week, the boys had no school, so N-son captured my usual morning "commute" on camera.  When I walk the two-or-three blocks from my home to my office each morning, my husband accompanies me, holding the two loves of his life in either hand.  After we get to my office, he hops onto his second love and rides downhill back home.

My three-car garage

Here's what you can do when you have empty space: you can fill it up.

Late last summer, I cleaned out our fairly cavernous garage.  There on the far wall, you see all that remained after the cleaning spree: it's my "sorting center", where I put things that are destined to leave our home for a (hopefully) better place.  Used books go to the library book sale, clothes go to a thrift shop or to the Community Aid rag bins for recycling, crafts go to our Creative Reuse thrift shop, etc.  At any rate, that wall is where we sort and store things that we'll eventually donate.

But notice what's in front of that space: nothing.  I finally got lots of bare floor between the aged Prius and everything else.

And what goes into that empty space?  More cars!

Two Miatas having a sleepover with our old 2001 Prius.  

Not our cars, of course. It would be silly for a family with only two drivers, who live in an eminently walkable and bike-able city, to have three cars of our own.

Nope, we've just been babysitting (or housing, or garaging -- whatever you call it) a pair of Miata convertibles for two different sets of friends of ours who don't have empty garages of their own.  Our garage provides cover for the cars during the winter; in the summer these cars will go back to their owners for fun in the sun.  

Not that my husband or sons mind at all having these extra cars around.  In fact, our whole experience of going from owning multiple cars down to owning only one has paradoxically meant that we've had a much greater automotive variety in our lives than ever before.  These visiting sport cars are just one facet of that variety -- the rental cars we've used for long trips have provided a plethora of other facets.

At any rate, this is just to say that several years into our "owning only one car" experiment, we're still as happy as ever with the arrangement.  In fact, we've been delighted at the unexpected opportunities that keep coming our way as a result of owning more garage than automobile.