You Can Tell There's a Full Moon About

Tuesday, I found a small black snake on my sidewalk at my house. Killed it. Dad said "where's there's one, there's more. They're after water since it's been so dry." While that was comforting to know that there were other snakes out there, I thought, "Well, I could dig a hole in the yard and fill it full of water. Then the snakes shouldn't come to the house."

Wednesday, I came home to find Lapcat had killed some big animal and left the animal's internal organs on the stairs and sidewalk. I had to get rid of those as soon as I got home. Then Lapcat had the nerve to come to the porch and beg for catfood.

This morning, the puppies tore up a puppy pad even though I had sprayed it with bitter apple spray. I guess I didn't spray enough of it on the pad. They were good to make more work for me on a workday.

Tomorrow evening, the puppies have to go to the vet to get round two of their vaccinations. They are supposed to be checked for worms too. The vet gave me one vial to collect a sample. But I have two dogs. So, I've put some of the other sample in a ziploc bag. I don't think they have worms. I think the worm medicine the seller gave them before I brought them home worked.

I don't want to think about what else can happen this week. I hope things die down and become very uneventful.

Puppies' Day Out

I took Winnie and PJ to mom and dad's today. They played, and played, and ran circles. They used their puppy pads too. I brought them home around 10am and they've been sleeping ever since. They are worn out.

PJ Has Regressed

She is not using her puppy pads as well as she was during my week off. At first, I thought it was just that she couldn't find a big enough clean part of the puppy pad, but tonight she had clean puppy pads and she still did her business on the floor. I think it's that whole "you left me so I'm going to stand right here at the gate and act out" thing that Phoebe used to do. I have a feeling that this weekend, I'll be sitting on that floor, butt hurting because I don't have any padding there anymore, watching her and waiting for her to do her business so I can pick her up and put her on the puppy pad. Tomorrow isn't going to be good for PJ. Mom and Dad are going to a doctor's appointment in the afternoon so the puppies will be alone for much of the afternoon.

Work sucked today. First day back from vacation is never fun, but this time it just sucked. I didn't even wait a whole day before having to argue policy. I should just take the money I've saved for a house and go back to college. Get a fun degree in something that doesn't suck the life force right out of you.

Bathroom is a No-Go

I put the puppies in the bathroom this afternoon and sat down in there with them. After a half an hour, they seemed to be doing ok so I left to work on their nursery area. Well, they started crying and one of them did #2 in the floor. So, they won't be staying in the bathroom.

I did get to get rid of the crate and tape up the phone jack in the nursery area. I put a big old milk can in front of the phone jack to keep the puppies from chewing on it.

They've been playing with each other for a little while. It's nice that they are awake and NOT crying for my lap.

I got to go for a walk this morning and take a nap too. So, that's good for me. And I baked a pie this morning for mom and dad since they are going to come up this week while I'm at work and keep an eye on the puppies. I used a recipe for a crust that you don't roll out. You use cream cheese in it. So, I had extra crust dough left over since you don't use a whole crust for the top crust and I made little cookies with it. I spread melted butter on them and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar and baked them. I thought they would go well with the carmel swirl ice cream I've got. They are ok. The dough needs more sugar if it's going to be turned into cookies.

Proud of the Puppies

I left them out of the crate last night to see how they would do. I got up at 1am to check on them and they had used their puppy pads and were sleeping. Of course they woke up when I checked on them so I had to get in the nursery area, sit down and let them climb up on my lap like the good lapdogs they are. I also changed the puppy pads last night since I was up. When I went back to bed, my nose got all stuffy and I couldn't get back to sleep for a while. I think tonight I will sleep straight through and not get up to check on the puppies. They seem to be doing fine :)

I did give them a bit of a bath today. I didn't stick them in water since I don't think they've ever had real baths before. I set them down on towels beside the sink and used a wet towel to wash them.

I'm going to put them in the bathroom for a while either this evening or tomorrow so they can get used to it. I pulled up the shower curtain off the floor since the puppies are using the puppy pads. Now I have to tape some cardboard to the bottom of the door that covers the furnace. I don't want the puppies to crawl in there.

Doing well

The puppies woke up from a nap and went to the puppy pads on their own and did #1 and #2 today. So, they seem to be improving. I am going to leave them out of the crate tonight. I placed small bookcases on my side of the baby gates to keep Fritz from jumping on them, so hopefully the puppies will remain in their nursery. I'm going to see how well they do overnight without getting up in the middle of the night.

I wish they would get over that crying thing though. When they remember me, they cry because I'm not in there with them. Then they scratch at the wall.

I went to walmart this morning to get some catfood. Dad was giving whole, big, handfuls of catfood to Fritz and Steffi every time they looked at him I guess. I was running out of catfood so I emailed mom and told her that dad was on a catfood diet until I could get some more food. Unless he wanted to go buy me some. Well, he didn't buy me any. So, I went to walmart this morning. I bought another dogbed for the puppies. If/when I start leaving them in the bathroom all day while I go to work, they will want a bed in there to sleep in. I also bought some more ice cream, a frozen pizza and some pringles minis. I had coupons for the pizza and the mini chips.

Consequently, I ate most of the pizza today and I'm stuffed. I walked a couple times today to try to walk some of it off. At least the ice cream melts so there's always room for that. LOL.

I did some online shopping today too. I ordered some romance novels from Eharlequin.com. They sent me a magazine and said I'm a member of some kind of club, so I thought I would order some books. Plus, on Fridays you get a free book with your order. And I ordered another puppy pad holder. This one is great, it's got a solid base that the puppy pad sits on.

Tomorrow I have to cook a turkey for Steffi. I might try to either bath the puppies or cut their nails. I haven't decided. I think the bath might be more important. They roll around on their puppy pads when they play so they get stinky.

Update on the Housbreaking

The puppies think the crate is for doing their business. I think that's because the seller raised PJ and her littermates in a crate with their mom. I shut the crate door during the day today and you could tell it confused the puppies. But they do use the puppy pads on their own most of the time. They still have an issue with #2. I'm hoping they get over that soon. At least it smells so you know when you need to look for it.

In that last post I told you how I wasn't feeling well, well that ended up with me throwing up that evening. I went to the store the next day and got some saltine crackers and diet sprite. And ice cream. Probably shouldn't have ice cream when you're throwing up, but it didn't bother me.

Today, Mom and Dad stopped by and they had the puppies on the couch and 'interacting' with Fritz and Steffi. It was a big day for the puppies. They slept for 3 or 4 hours after that. And steffi and fritz were so excited to see mom.

And the puppies still don't know their names. The current plan is to puppy pad train them first, then when they are old enough to appreciate doggie treats, teach them their names by giving them treats.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Well, I made chocolate chip cookies today. Actually, they are chocolate chunk cookie bars. And now I'm thoroughly sick. At least there was only a half stick of butter in them and I used light butter. But, sick I am. I wasn't feeling well before I ate them. I've been outside a few times today walking, trying to work whatever's going on out of my system.

I'm All For This Holiday

According to Martha Stewart and this website, tomorrow is National Chocolate Chip Day. Yum!

Update on the Puppies

The puppies are doing fairly well. They know what the puppy pads are for and about 70 to 80% of the time, they use the puppy pads. They currently have an issue because they think the pads are for pee and not poop. But they can overcome that. They don't eat very much, but then they are chihuahuas and have very small tummies. And they are confirmed lap-puppies. They much prefer to sleep on my lap than in their bed. I try not to let them do that too often.

Mom and dad came up today to give me a little help with them and to do some things around the house. Dad mowed the grass and moved a small dorm sized refrigerator out of my way. He also cut Steffi's nails for me. Mom puppy-sat while I did a few things around the house and she cut my hair today. They got to watch the puppies play and see them use the puppy pads.

I've had the tennis channel on all day and I'm just about to the point of insanity over hearing the repeated cheers of "let's go _______, let's go". The crowds are driving me nuts.

I've been getting up at 1:30am to let the puppies out of their crate so they can use the puppy pads. Saturday night, it worked great. Last night, I must have been a few minutes too late. There was #2 in the crate. But it was half on the puppy pad so I think whichever one did it had good intentions.

Meet the Puppies!

The one with the floppy ears is Winnie Garcia, a long haired chihuahua. The one with the pointy ears is Phoebe Josephine Maria Olazabal (PJ for short). She's the short haired chihuahua.

Up until I brought them home this afternoon, I thought Winnie was the cryer. But PJ cries much more. I got them this morning and took them to Mom and Dad's to hang out until the vet's office opened. Mom got to spend a lot of time with them, which is good since she didn't get to visit them any before. When I brought them home, I sat out the puppy pad and PJ went to it and peed on it. But that was a fluke I think. She had been placed on a puppy pad three or four times at mom and dad's so she knew what it was for.

Fritz growls at them through the baby gate. I don't think he would do that if they weren't separated. Hopefully, Winnie and PJ will catch on to the puppy pad training really quickly and I'll be able to spring them from the 'nursery' soon.

I took them to the vet's on the way home to get them checked out. They are healthy, but I think PJ has worms, which isn't unusual for puppies. She and Winnie got wormed on Thursday when they got their first round of shots. The vet's wife works in the office and when I told her who I got the puppies from, she said "Oh, she's good. I've heard good things about her." So, that's comforting.

And I got applications to register Winnie and PJ with the CKC.

The only thing worrying me right now is that they haven't eaten since probably 11am and that was only a few pieces of food. They've been sleeping for a while.

I think I need to go check on them.

A Day of Laughs

I left work early to go to the bank. I wanted to reinvest my CD that came due and I wanted to open a savings account. The woman at the bank added an extra zero to the amount I wanted to deposit into my savings account. I didn't find out until I got home and looked at the paperwork. I have to call them tomorrow and tell them that they inadvertently made me rich. Then I went to the post office and made sure I got the forever stamps. It was the same woman as last time and she didn't want to sell them to me. I think she wanted to get rid of all the $0.39 stamps.

After that, I went to walmart. I bought a sub sandwich and after the cashier rang it up, she accidentally rang it up again when she went to put it in the bag. I had to go to the service desk to get my money back because they can't make the adjustment at the register. There were two women working the service desk. One of them took care of me and after I explained what happened, she said in a snotty tone, "I think the cashiers need some training." Then she hit a couple of buttons on her register and then turned to the other employee and said, "It's telling me blah, blah, blah, what do I do?" I thought, "yeah, I think cashiers do need some training." I didn't say that out loud. The woman was going to give me $3.69.

I got home and tried this new recipe I found for pie crust. I can't make regular pie crust, but this one you don't roll out. You mix it up and then pat it out in the pan. I made a horribly rich chocolate pie - baked the crust, then put a layer of melted milky way candy bars in it, then added a layer of marshmallow cream, then a layer of chocolate pudding. Once the pudding set up, I topped the pie with chocolate cool whip. I only ate what I consider a small piece and I can feel the sugar in my blood. I'm not a fan of pudding or cool whip so I'm not going to eat much more of the pie. In fact, I emailed mom and told her to come get the pie tomorrow. LOL. Dad's going to come up and get it. The pie reminded me of ice cream in a waffle bowl or fried ice cream or something like that. The crust was like a shortbread cookie.

On Paris Hilton and Jail

I would just like to say that the taxpayers of California would be better served if Paris Hilton was hit with a huge fine and about 200 hours of community service (like at an animal shelter since she likes dogs) rather than sending her to jail. Not too long ago, I listened to a news story on NPR about prison overcrowding in California. It's a huge problem there. I believe they are shipping inmates out of state, or if they haven't then it's in the works.

Here's a news article about the prison overcrowding situation in California:

By Ed Mendel

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 8, 2007

SACRAMENTO – The Senate Democratic leader is urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to use his administrative power to change parole rules to ease severe prison crowding, possibly by as many as 8,100 inmates.

Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Republican opposition kept parole reform out of a $7.8 billion plan to ease overcrowding through a building program and transferring some prisoners to other states.

Perata said speculation at the Capitol that the bill signed by the Republican governor last week includes an unwritten “side deal” to have Schwarzenegger bypass the Legislature and administratively enact parole changes is inaccurate.

“I wouldn't call it a deal,” Perata said of talks with the governor. “What we said is we couldn't put it in the bill because the Republicans wouldn't support it.

“We said further that if you don't do something with parole, you can't make any of this work,” said Perata. “So you've got the ability to do it. It's up to you to do it.”

Adam Mendelson, Schwarzenegger's communications director, said there is no agreement for the governor to take administrative action to ease prison overcrowding.

“The agreement is to sit down with Republicans and Democrats to determine what next steps need to happen,” Mendelson said.

About 173,000 inmates are packed into 33 state prisons designed for far fewer prisoners. More than 16,000 inmates are in “bad beds,” some stacked three high in gyms, classrooms and day rooms.

“The governor has a lot of emergency powers,” said Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin. “I would not anticipate that is going to be a significant thing in trying to get the 'bad beds' taken care of.”

Lawmakers scrambled to get a plan in place to ease crowding before three judges hold hearings next month that could put a cap on prison population, resulting in the early release of some inmates.

The state is scheduled to file its proposed remedy next Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson. Critics say the legislation does not contain sentencing or parole changes, which could quickly reduce the flow into prisons.

AB 900 authorizes a $7.4 billion bond and $350 million from the general fund to provide up to 53,000 new beds, increased rehabilitation and the transfer of 8,000 inmates under contract to prisons in other states.

But the first new beds may not be ready for at least 18 months. Before prisoners can be shipped out of state, a court order blocking transfers must be lifted and inmates must be screened.

The state budget Schwarzenegger proposed in January contained two parole changes for low-level offenders that corrections officials estimated could result in 8,100 fewer prison inmates next fiscal year.

About 70 percent of inmates released from California prisons return in three years, the highest recidivism rate in the nation. California and Illinois are the only states that put all released inmates on parole.

The governor's budget proposal is expected to reduce the number of prison inmates because having fewer people on parole, now about 120,000, would reduce the number of people returned to prison for parole violations.

One reform, “12-month clean,” would shorten the three-year parole period for more parolees if they have no violations for a year. Under the other, “direct discharge,” some inmates who have served their sentence would be released without parole.

The governor has the power to expand the “12-month clean” program. But “direct discharge” without parole, which accounts for about 7,000 of the estimated reduction of 8,100 prison inmates, is not authorized under current law, said Brian Brown of the Legislative Analyst's Office.

Next Week Can't Come Soon Enough

I went to the store this morning. I came home and Steffi sniffed me all over, ran circles in the yard and watched me carry in every single bag. She was looking for the puppies. She wants me to bring them home. I keep telling her 'next week', but I don't think she understands.

Puppy Update #4

Dad and I went to see the puppies tonight. The short-haired one is looking more spry this week than last week. I'm glad. I was worried she was going to be a slow one. But she's catching up. She's still a little scared but she's getting better. She wagged her tail some tonight. The long haired one has turned into a cryer. She whimpered several times tonight. I think she's getting old enough to realize when she's away from her mommy and litter-mates. She should get over it soon though. At least she will have the short haired one to be with in the crate when she gets here. The short haired one's ears are standing up now :) The long haired one's are half way up. They are both going to be adorable, but right now they are especially so since their noses aren't sticking out that much. The dog seller had her grandkids there again and the little girl snuggled up to the long haired one and she kissed the girl's little nose. I don't like kids, but that girl has a cute little nose. The puppies are on track to come home next week. Probably Friday or Saturday. Then I'll have pictures!

Other experiences at the dog seller's house this evening:

The seller played with the grandkids by putting them in a dog crate and closing the door. They should invest in some of those for the lobby at work.

The seller's husband showed us that two of their older Chihuahuas know tricks. They rolled over, ran around in circles. A white one named Cookie sat straight up on her butt and begged. The husband put some jerky on the coffee table and told Cookie to show him what she wanted and she stood up and pointed to it. Cookie also is a grouchy one. She's all right if you're petting her on her head, but try anywhere else and she growls and snaps at you. She got up on the couch between me and dad and then finally got on dad's lap. The husband showed us pictures of what Cookie and the other trained Chihuahua looked like when they got them. It's good that they have pictures of their dogs in picture frames even.

There's another Chihuahua there named Daisy. Daisy is about 3 pounds and about 6 years old. The seller told us that for the first year and a half of Daisy's life, she stayed sick. The vet didn't know what was wrong with her but she wouldn't eat or anything. So, the vet finally told the seller to take Daisy to Virginia Tech to a vet school there where they could run all kinds of tests. After $1600.00 of bills, the Virginia Tech people diagnosed Daisy with some kind of disorder called "Polyarthritis" (I think that's what it is) which isn't what we think of as arthritis. As it was explained to me, It's something like an immune system disorder. Daisy's immune system was fighting her body. So, the VT people gave Daisy steroids to take and that would destroy her immune system. Then she would get weened off the steroids and over time her body would create a new immune system and she would get healthy. And that's what happened. The seller had decided not to breed Daisy because, while the VT people told her it was a fluke, the seller couldn't be sure that any puppies Daisy had wouldn't have the same thing. Daisy may be only 6 years old, but she looks about 14. But she's healthy now. And she was spayed. The seller said that every time Daisy would come in heat, she'd stop eating so the seller decided to get her spayed. A 3 pound Chihuahua can't afford to stop eating.

And tonight they allowed a female weiner dog to meet up with a male. I guess in a few weeks they will have some weiner dog puppies :) The male came in the house and peed by the door. I guess he isn't allowed inside very often. And there was one little weiner puppy that escaped from the room she was in and ran out the door to the outside. She was an active little thing and friendly. Really big paws. The puppies are cute, but I don't think I like the looks of adult weiner dogs. Their chests low to the ground then their lower tummies and butts higher - they look a little weird. Of course, it could just be her weiner dogs and not the breed.

The husband told us about this Pomeranian puppy they sold. It was a really, really small one that the seller had kept for something like 4 months because it was too small to sell for the longest time. Well, she finally sold it and took it to the vet to get its shots and then the buyer took it home. It died that night. They think it might have been the shots that did it - that maybe the shots were too strong for the puppy. I forget how small they said it was but I think they mentioned that it was 14 ounces at one point. I don't think the seller deliberately bred poms to get really small ones, I think that one was just a runt. Anyway, the seller gave the buyer her money back even though the buyer said she didn't want the money back. It was probably one of those things where the buyer thought she was taking a risk on the puppy and felt she paid her money in good faith knowing that there could be a sad ending.

Excellent CD

I got Miranda Lambert's new cd, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, yesterday. I've been playing it at work for the last two days, repeatedly and I even played it here at home. My cd player in the computer at work has a short in it or something, there's a weird sound on it. Plus, I can't play the cd loud enough to hear everything. So, playing it here tonight was like hearing it for the first time. It's a great cd and what I would call progressive, even though she has a couple of traditional-sounding country songs on there.

Attention US Post Office Employees

I went to my local post office today to buy stamps. The poster hanging up in the lobby told me all about the forever stamp. I had also read about the forever stamp on the USPS website. The website says it's on sale now. Well, when I got to the window and asked for stamps, the worker did NOT offer me the forever stamp. I had to buy $0.39 stamps. I'm used to the US Government lying about things like weapons of mass destruction and how well the war on terror is going. But to be lied to about the availability of the forever stamp is unacceptable. Sure, they deliver mail in the rain, sleet and dark of night, but when it comes to selling you the stamps, there seems to be a different kind of code they are following - the same kind that inspired the bait and switch laws.