Month: March 2014

Relax, dude

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Riley is getting jumpy and nervous in his old age.  Since the weather was so nice today, I tried to take him on a pleasant outing to a nearby park.  I was sitting on a bench, he was on the leash – usually, he’ll settle down and people-watch.  Not today.  I gave up after about 20 minutes of whining, pacing, and nervous drooling.  We came home and settled on the deck, still in the sun, still enjoying the weather, but no strange people or animals.  Or so I thought.  He settled down immediately, but was startled out of a nap and onto his feet by a trio of geese who decided to announce their presence directly overhead with some very loud honking.  He looked completely freaked out.  Poor little guy.

 

The news

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Item 1: Riley slept through the night (possibly because we did), so there are no incidents to report. Yay for sleep and yay for not having to clean anything up!

Item 2: We finished Breaking Bad last night. Good ending, but I have to admit to feeling a little disappointed. Too much build-up, I think. I’ll probably feel better about it with time.

That’s all the news there is to report.

Sleepless

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We had another sleep-deprived night, thanks to Riley.  He got up in the middle of the night, John let him out, he brought him back upstairs, and then Riley wouldn’t relax.  He’d lay down for a few seconds and then pop back up and stick his nose in my face.  I’d get him to lay down again and he’d pop right back up.  After a few minutes of this, I took him back downstairs and outside, let him get some water, and then brought him back up.  Same fun dance.  The only way I could keep him down was by petting him, but I can’t pet him and sleep, and the second I stopped petting him, up he went.  So I put him in the crate.

He had to go in the crate because we went through this on the night before last (Tuesday night).  Riley got up in the middle of the night, I let him out, I brought him back upstairs, and then he wouldn’t relax.  He did the whole lay down, pop up and bug me, lay down, and bug me again thing, so I took him back downstairs and outside, and then I left him downstairs for the rest of the night.  I heard him get a drink of water right after I let him back in.  Then, when we came downstairs yesterday morning, we found a river of pee, like the Amazon of accidents.

To prevent that from happening again, we tried to limit his water intake and keep him near us so we’d know if he needed to go out again, and that’s how we ran into last night’s sleep-deprived disaster.  No accidents, but no sleep.  So instead of leaving him loose downstairs, I crated him.  We crated him during the day yesterday, and we’re doing it again today, but we really don’t want to have to crate him day and night.  He’d be in the crate, alone in the basement, for 18 hours every day (or more).

Bottom line: we don’t know what to do.  A pet sitter/dog walker would only give him a half-hour break or so in the middle of the day, leaving him with basically the same number of hours in a crate.  We’re seeing the vet again Monday afternoon for the next x-ray and an exam, so we’re holding out until then.  Sleepless (either from worry/unhappiness about the dog in the crate or from the dog bugging us) until then.

A discerning palate

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Riley still isn’t eating enough, and because we’ve been giving him so much good stuff, he turns up his nose at plain old boring dog food now.  Seriously, I didn’t put anything interesting in his food and he didn’t eat anything for nearly two days.  Tonight, though, he got a very good meal.  I call it Salmon a la Riley.

He was quite happy with his dinner tonight.  And he’s been cruising the kitchen for more.

No more, I’m begging you

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It’s not supposed to snow in March!  We got another 5 or 6 inches today.  It’s over now, and we shoveled most of it just before noon.  I think Riley is tired of it, too.  We were playing out front, and when he was done, he headed to the house at a fast trot (a hop-trot really, since his trot doesn’t look so horse-like anymore).  Sadly (for him, hilariously for us), he found a slick spot on the edge of the driveway, lost his footing, and faceplanted into the snow in the front yard.  He’s not hurt, just embarrassed.  Now we’re all hanging out in front of the fire, working and napping and dreaming of summer.

In progress

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I didn’t take a before picture.  Oops.  Yesterday, we took out the toilet (fairly straightforward) and the vanity (not so straightforward) and ripped up the linoleum floor.  The vanity had been put in around the existing plumbing, when the house was built, so it wouldn’t just come out after we removed the valves on the hot and cold water pipes.  We had a choice – cut the pipes or cut the back of the vanity.  John chose to cut the vanity (we’re replacing it anyway).  Also, the cold water pipe kept on dribbling water even though the water was turned off to the whole house.  So, you know, that was fun to keep cleaning up.  But now there’s a big empty space where it used to be.

I’m waving at you. Say hi!

And there’s a toilet in the office.

Today we measured and cut the backerboard (what the tile will be glued to) and John glued it down to the floor.

You can see the hole where the toilet belongs.  (There’s a rag stuffed in it – apparently that’s necessary.  I’d rather not wonder why.)  The shop vac is where the vanity goes.  I took the picture standing just outside the shower.  Next we buy the tiles.

Guess who’s trying new things

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John and I started a mini bathroom remodel this morning that is turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected.  Not a lot, and I’m certain it’s still within our capabilities (or John is certain, which is enough for me), but it’ll take a little longer.  I’ll have some pictures tomorrow.  We went to Home Depot this morning to pick up some things and came right home to get started.  There were a few things John had to do that he didn’t need my help with, so I busied myself with the music selection.  I tried a bunch of existing genre stations I wasn’t in the mood for and then decided to create one based on “Modern Nature” by Sondre Lerche (which you may recognize (I know Mom will) as the song played over the credits of Dan in Real Life).  My new station (which is on John’s Pandora account – I’ll have to create it on mine) is AWESOME (in an indie pop/rock kind of way).  And I discovered some songs I like very much.

“Hard Luck Tom” by The Silver Seas

“The Show” by Lenka

“She Moves In Her Own Way” by The Kooks