ARGH

Spoke too soon. Sometime in the night, Piper managed to reopen her leg. I’m off to get bandaging supplies until we can get her to the vet tomorrow.

Minor setback

While I was living the excitement of CPR recertification today, Piper went for a walk with Spouse and somehow opened a couple of inches of incision. While I faux-shocked dummies, Spouse took her to the vet where she received additional staples and antibiotics.

Rather than the staples coming out next week, she gets to be FrankenDog for an additional 7 days.

In unrelated news, there is a trip to DC afoot! I am very excited as this is our first real travel since the NOLA conference *and* it’s to another awesome city where I *also* know awesome internet peoples. I love the web, y’all. It is no lie.

There’s also this weird thing where, when explaining internet friends to people who do not have internet friends, it feels like it devolves into a history of how I am an internet nerd. Probably these days I should just say I met people on Facebook?

FrankenPiper recovers

In the first week of the new year, we found out Piper had cancer. Mast cell cancer, which is vastly to be preferred over the osteocarcoma that our dog Lola developed. This week Piper had surgery to remove three lumps and the vet couldn’t locate her lymph node which seems to make a good case for it not being involved. All the lumps were subcutaneous, so there was no cutting of muscle tissue.

Piper has drugs and has had humans home with her all day for the last couple of days, so it’s safe to say she’s not that unhappy in her current circumstances. In two weeks the staples come out and in the meantime she’s taken JUST FINE, thankyouverymuch, to using a step stool to get on our bed. Also, peanut butter and bacon treats.

Dog maintenance

We were in Glenwood Springs last week and while we were there, we visited the Petco. It’s great because Piper gets to sniff new stuff and stare at the ferretts (she can’t quite figure out what they are) and Spouse gets to look at the turtles. It’s better than the zoo!

At any rate, the reason for stopping (besides stocking up on dog food, ferretts, and turtles) was to pick up a Pedi- Paws. Piper is a black dog,with black nails, and I’m paranoid about nicking the quick and making her bleed. She also doesn’t love people touching her feet to START with, which does nothing to assuage my Piper-maiming anxiety. Enter the Pedi-Paws, which is essentially a portable sander for your dog’s toenails. They give you a whole step-by-step guide to acclimating your dog to the sander which I promptly ignored. My reason? There is nothing in the world that cannot be cured with lots of petting and treats in Piper’s world. Plus, nail trimming involves full body contact with Piper.

She seemed okay with it. She didn’t love it, obviously, but that’s why the brilliant people at Purina make Beggin’ Strips.

Recovering.

Piperbath

This is your daily Leadville.

Pipe hasn’t had a bath since we got here, so tonight I wrangled her into the shower, bathed her and, insult to injury, took photos.

My favorite part is how she displaces her BathHate energy into eating the ass out of the fake mallard she picked out at the pet store last week. And yes, despite what Spouse thinks, she picked it out herself. I wasn’t even going to BUY her a toy.

How are YOUR holidays going?

Pretty much covers it

More pet torture here.

Beer

I really enjoy beer. Post-practical, Carly and I went out and had a couple dollar drafts and potato skins. Potato skins are tied with chocolate as my favorite thing to eat with beer. It was a nice semi-celebration. I let it settle for an hour or so and then I took Piper for a 2.5 mile run.

Piper had considerably less fun than I did because my sprint intervals have gotten longer. Right now she’s passed out on the floor breathing helicopter breaths – the rapid fire respiration that shakes her whole body and makes her sound like a helicopter. I am probably going to serve as Shane’s designated driver company for a little bit later on.

It’s weirdly quiet in the house without Spouse. Not that he’s loud, but he takes up space in the rooms and it seems less empty. He’s back on Thursday. I am a mushy dork.

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I spoke too soon

Yesterday I went outside to show Carly the empty bunny nest and who was looking up at me but three little bunnies. I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or them. One by one they scampered to the back of the garden but I’m pretty sure they came back to the nest to sleep. So Piper is still on Bunny Watch.

I have been gushing about how awesome Ariel Tweto was on Wipeout because she was hilarious and upbeat and had a great sense of humor. And then she commented on my Ariel is Great entry! Crazy intarwebz!

I’m on a break before my anatomy practical and I’m very proud of myself for not wasting all my time on the internet yesterday. Hopefully it will pay off.

My class this morning was good, even though I was a bit discombobulated. I’m also finalizing my schedule with the Township so that my students will have some other options.

I was thinking I’d go out for a mid-finals celebratory beer tonight but I’m tired enough that I may just pass out. I can’t believe it’s only 1:30 in the afternoon!

Spouse is safely in Colorado and said the drive was spectacular. Potentially more details later. It’s so weird sleeping in a bed without him (though Piper tried to keep me company). It’ll be nice when he’s home.

Apparently

Bunny fur must contain a toxin that causes dogs to have HORRIFYING GAS if they pick them up in their mouths.

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Peektures!

I took Piper outside this evening and she went back over to the nest. Since I moved the baby bunny, I wasn’t overly concerned. She snuffled her nose in the bush again and then all of a sudden I heard a “MEEEEEP!” She’d picked up ANOTHER bunny!

She dropped the bunny and I put her inside. I went back out and found TWO MORE baby bunnies in the nest. Mama doesn’t seem to be returning, so I moved them over with their sibling (shaded, sheltered area with plenty of grass). They were clearly happy to see each other and began furiously grooming one another before snugging down for a nap.

So I took pictures.

*Edited to add: I moved the bunnies back to the nest once the sun went down, in case the mother comes back. With any luck she’ll claim them in the next couple of days and move their nest.

With my fingertip, so you can see how tiny they are!

Snuggles!

Baby Bunnies make you use exclamation points!

Close up baby bunnies!

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Baby bunnies

So today we discovered that there is a baby bunny in our yard. We knew there were rabbits (because the little shits kept eating my tulips) but today Carly was walking Piper out back and she got very excited about my lavender bushes.

Aside: are they lavender bushes or just plants? Because mine are large enough that I consider them to be bushes. They smell delicious.

At any rate, Piper was kind of snuffling around the lavender and (we think) picked the baby bunny up in her mouth and then set it down. The bunny crawled out of the nest and out of the bed into the yard. Piper, who likes to chase grown rabbits, has no idea what to do with a baby bunny and ran away. I didn’t take a picture because I was worried that it would freak the poor scared little bunny out.

I’m a little worried that the mother might not come back to the bunny because it smells like Piper, but we’re going to give it until tomorrow morning. If the bunny is in the same spot (no mama) then I guess we’ve got a pet bunny. It’s so small its eyes are barely open and its ears aren’t much larger than the space between my fingertip and first knuckle.

It’s kind of early but (for a change) I’m tired so I think I’m going to sleep.

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Purpose-driven lives

I hate running. Normally I wouldn’t run unless someone was chasing me with a weapon. Unfortunately, running is the best way to wear out Piper. Yesterday we did a 3 mile interval (running/walking) and finished up at the pond on campus. Piper was worn out enough that she got into the water, waded and swam around, and then laid down in the water. This is spectacularly unusual because Piper is 100% mutt, but enough lab that she can’t resist a stick or a ball.

Oprah’s doing this thing with Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. And watching Piper in the water, halfheartedly holding a stick in her mouth but lying down in the water so I can’t make her fetch it, I started thinking about this need people have for a Life’s Purpose.

Piper is not a complicated animal. In fact, most animals aren’t that complicated. Piper likes to chase sticks (and balls, and rabbits). When there’s a stick or a frisbee nearby, Piper is completely and totally focused on it. That is the center of her existence. But when there isn’t a fetching tool around, she’s not MISERABLE. She doesn’t lie down and heave enormous sighs, feeling bad because there’s no frisbee or all. She clearly doesn’t spend all of her time thinking that she needs a frisbee. She finds other things to do with her time. She enjoys having people pet her as much as she likes fetching. She likes to look out our front door and windows. She likes to lie in our bed. She loves truck surfing.

Animals don’t need a Life Purpose. They are drawn to certain activities, biologically or not, but in the absence of those activities aren’t depressed or unable to do other things. People are animals. I mean, a lot of people don’t like to admit it but that’s what we are. Mammals. Not all that different from dogs and pigs and monkeys. But people are obsessed with having this One Reason to exist. A Life’s Purpose which will make everything else in life more relevant and enjoyable.

My dad was a very wise man. As with most very wise men, you don’t realize how wise they are until many years after they’ve been wise around you. He always told me that, “No one and nothing can MAKE you happy. You have to choose to be happy because if you’re not happy with yourself, no one else can be happy with you.” The other wise guy in my life has this to say: “I don’t go to work to get fulfilled. I go to work to make the money I need to do OTHER things I enjoy. I get my fulfillment in other places.”

Nobody wakes up and thinks, “I am destined to be a telemarketer.”* But for some reason, people are obsessed with finding this One Thing. I’m more likely to combine the wisdom of my guys and the lessons Piper provides. Find things you enjoy. Enjoy them. Those things will probably change over time. Don’t get too worked up about those things changing. And it’s okay to not love your job. It’s okay not to get any fulfillment from your job. That’s what the other things you enjoy are for.

The truth of the matter is that, like dogs, we don’t HAVE One Purpose. Each of us is different and gets fulfillment from different things at different stages in our lives. I like practicing yoga because 1. It makes my body feel good, 2. It helps keep me in the moment, which reminds me how unimportant a lot of other things are, and 3. It calms me down and makes me feel happy. I will endeavor to keep TEACHING yoga for the rest of my life because I love being able to share those things with other people. I will probably never make a living at it and that’s okay. I would also probably never have become a yoga teacher if my father hadn’t died. There are things that change your path, sometimes dramatically, so to think that there’s just One Thing that you’re meant to do isn’t just unrealistic – it’s kind of silly.

Holding on to the idea that “I’m meant to do this One Thing” is a guarantee for disappointment with your life – and how much fun is that? Accept that there are things you do because you need to, there are things you do because you want to, and neither has to have some Bigger Purpose in your life.

Do what you like.

Enjoy your life because it’s far too short to do anything else.

*Okay, I WAS telemarketer and I’m telling you for real that NO ONE thinks its a great job. Especially not the people who have to do it.

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If golf came with a beer guarantee, I’d probably play more often.

I had a couple of beers with a friend before we played and MAN, I enjoyed myself. It helped that I double bogeyed the first hole – after that, I didn’t much care if my game went to crap (which it mostly did). We also had great golf partners which made the round seem quick.

Spouse and I apparently sprained the dog. I guess he took her for a multi-mile outing where he did 3 minute sprint splits. I didn’t realize that and, the next morning, took her for a couple mile jog. Well, I *tried* to jog. Piper developed a pace I never knew existed: faster than a walk but slower than a jog. What IS that? I think it was part of her super stealthy plan though because it was freakin’ EXHAUSTING. So we were not much with the jogging, more like shuffle-shuffle-drag.

In related news, I dusted off my Vibram Five Fingers (see link to right) because it’s been a while since I’d gone running. I ended up with blisters on the back of my heels, which meant I golfed barefoot today. Sadly, lack of shoes makes no difference to my golf game. The Vibrams mean that my calves and ankles got WORKED so any time I rest for more than 20 minutes, I’ve got to stretch my legs before I walk gingerly from point A to point B.

I squeezed in a mini-yoga break before our golf round and my plan tomorrow is for a jog then yoga session.

Right now, though, we’re watching Burn Notice. Season premiere!

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