Blog Salad for the New Year – No drinking but lots of puking!

I was on vacation from December 11th until this Monday. It was nice, and I did nothing and went nowhere. Of course, I had a list of stuff that needed doing but I still did nothing.

Christmas was nice but not so nice. I mean, I got cool loot – pretty much everything on my list – but the actual family time was only so-so. Mel and I went to my dad’s house and there was something going on with my step-mother and my two younger brothers. Just this undercurrent of tension, you know? The boys were surly, the doormat step-mother obviously tired and stressed, and dad is just oblivious. It’s probably like that most of the time which is why I don’t spend a lot of time there.

Mel and I celebrated five years of togetherness on the 26th. We had a lovely day playing with various and sundry Xmas gifts, then went out for a fabulous dinner. After dinner we visited a friend. Later that night after we’d gone to bed, Mel got sick and barfed all night. She’s a barfy kind of person, has somewhat of a delicate stomach. It always seems that she loses the nice, expensive dinners. But after five years, I think I’ll keep her anyway.

I did finally finish the scrapbook I’d been working on – off and on – for the last three years. It chronicles our first three years together. I was determined to finally finish it this year and ended up giving it to her a few days after our anniversary. She was appreciative and impressed (I think) but it was a bit anti-climatic. And damnit, I didn’t succeed in making her cry.

New Year’s eve was spent at home nursing a sick dog. Mel’s old Westie seemed pretty close to her end for a while there. Mel had made the decision, she wouldn’t let her suffer. We were just waiting for the blood tests to confirm kidney failure. Whiskey had been diagnosed with early stage renal failure last spring. After a change of diet and an herbal supplement regimen that Mel devised she was a changed dog, and had a rockin’ summer and fall.

In the last month or so we’ve had trouble getting her to eat. Finally she quit eating altogether. Mel took her to the vet who did blood work and sent her home with some special food and medication. We were pretty happy that she actually ate the food the vet gave us. But then the poor dog barfed all night long. So, it was back to the vet for an overnight stay and IV rehydration. Finally the blood results came back and it turns out the dog’s kidneys are better than they were last spring. Our 17 year old doggy has pancreatitis. We’ve been following the treatment plan and she’s doing pretty good now. She’s still chasing the little dogs around!

Not much else has been going on. My current electronic addiction is the smartphone I got myself for Xmas. The weather has been crazy – had a few days that were over fifty degrees. That’s really weird for December. And now it’s super-cold.

Did anyone see Angels in America in December? It was amazing.