So, let's talk about poop:
Poor Emma B. Bear (that's what we've been calling her, for pretty much no reason other than that it rolls off the tongue when we're cooing at her). She got her shots on Monday and has had nonstop diarrhea since then, including accidents in the house and in her cage. I don't know if you've ever experienced coming home from work at 3am to a poo-covered bulldog, but it is not the most pleasant of experiences. This is not the first time it happened, but the last time we took her to the emergency vet, a $300 expenditure that wasn't exactly a waste of money in that we had the peace of mind to get a few hours sleep that night. Last night, Aaron stayed up all night with her to make sure someone was awake to let her out, and then came to bed at 7am only to have her wake us up at 10:30am (after I had gone to sleep at 5am) throwing up, right on top of Aaron, the tree bark that's been blowing into our yard thanks to the nonstop winds. Fan-tastic.
I threw the offending shit- and puke-stained blankets into the wash and called the vet to get the prescription we got for her last time this happened, but they couldn't give us the pills without a checkup first. The vet officially diagnosed her with IBS, but said that we were doing everything we can for her at this point. The thing of it is, she doesn't act any different. It's so weird to have a dog with no shame, because Damien, I mean, even if he farts in the same room gets The most shameful look on his face. He can't look at anyone or have anyone looking at him when he's, uh, making. She's just like, "Hey, guys, I'm pooping. And I'm alright with that!" I think the whole thing is stressing Damien out more than it's stressing her out. Even now, I brought her to work with me and she's happily romping around with her toy in spite of her anal leakage.
One of the things that's great about having two dogs is how they look out for each other. Well, Damien looks out for Emma. If she's doing something wrong, he immediately comes and finds us. The past few mornings that she's had to get outside STAT, he's the one who whines us awake. It's really kind of ridiculous, this little family we've made.
If Emma were a high school stereotype, she would be the ditzy but loveable girly-girl who's friends with everybody. Damien, on the other hand, would be the gentle but loveable nerd who's friends with all the girls but never had a girlfriend but grows up to run a software company or something.
Besides that, I've been keeping to my cleaning schedule which has helped immensely with my peace of mind. Rather than have a panic attack and attack the bathtub and get high off bleach fumes, I do my little 15 minute bursts of cleaning and then feel totally entitled to watch tv for three hours.
I've been complaining to one of my bar regulars about how bored I am, in spite of how busy I am, so he brought me a bunch of 60s French films to watch over the weekend. That's the great thing about this bar--the regulars, for the most part, are all super nice. One of them is even going to lend me a bike until I pick up my mom's.
Funny thing about my mom's bike: it's been in the family for, oh, 6 or 7 years at this point, and no one ever rides it. I had it at one point in San Francisco, but never rode it so she took it back claiming that she would ride it if I wasn't going to (didn't happen). I had it again when I moved to Santa Barbara a year and a half ago, rode it once, and it sat for another six months until she picked it back up (she was going to start riding it again...but never did). Now that I have a friend, K--, who's going to start bikeriding with me (I think the reason I've been sleeping like such crap is the lack of physical exertion, which was okay when I was in school because the mental exertion was enough to knock me out), it may actually get some use. And I'll get toned legs! Everyone wins! Yeah, we'll see.
Oh gross, I just took Emma outside to pee and she was getting into the brush outside my work and came back with what I thought were two little spiders on her side but were in fact two giant ticks, one of which was quickly burrowing into her leg. Good thing she got her shots this week. Now my skin's crawling.
Awesome, K-- just called and I think we're going to have a poker (but I hardly know 'er!) night tonight. Friday night is usually my girls-night-out-to-excess, but I can't leave the B-Bear alone, so party at my house woo! Ahh, the glory of not having roommates.