Attentively Attentive to all Things

Tonight, around 8pm, we lost Piper.  I have to get this out, so please forgive me for the rambling. Piper was 9 years old, but never acted like she was an older dog.  She was full of energy and life.  Piper was probably the sweetest dog I have ever had the privilege of having in my life.  She always wanted to be where you were, whether it be in the bedroom, or in the living room--she was there. At the beginning of this month, I noticed she was breathing funny.  Her entire stomach was going in and out, along with her chest, and I knew something wasn't right.  She wasn't eating well, but we had just changed foods, so I thought she didn't like what we had bought.  We went back to the old food, and she still wouldn't eat.  She sounded like she had a cold, but I couldn't shake the feeling there was something else going on.  Our vet confirmed her diagnosis of blastomycosis, a fungal infection that coats the inside of the lungs with a thick yeas...

I've not blogged recently, mostly because I've been busy with school.  Okay, overwhelmed with school.  But that came to a bit of a halt this past week. One of our dogs, Piper, was diagnosed with blastomycosis, a deadly fungal infection.  She acquired this by breathing in a spore, which turned into an infection in her lungs.  My once powerful, and sweet German shepherd girlie is now a very sick, thin, baby.  It breaks my heart to have to tempt her with all sorts of foods to get some calories in her.  Today, nothing would induce her to eat but about five licks of gravy and meat.  Yesterday, she ate 4 eggs.  She still drinks, though.  Especially after I force peanut butter in her mouth and make her swallow. I'm not naive enough to think she will come through this with flying colors.  If you followed the link above, and read the information, you know we're likely fighting a losing battle.  But, as long as she continues to make an e...

I usually do not have any problems with Walmart.  I see them as a necessary evil, and so I do shop there for groceries, etc.  I'd rather have a Target, but I digress.... So today I went to Walmart to print out some pictures for Dave's Valentine's Day present.  My dear friend Sara, who is an excellent photographer, kindly took pictures of myself and Caris at my house a few weeks ago.  Today, I went to Walmart to have these printed, so I could frame them for Dave.  When I arrived, I was asked for a release to reprint the photos.  I was confused, as these prints were not taken at a professional studio, but in my living room.  When I explained this to her, I was told I could not have my pictures unless I had a written release from the photographer.  Umm...excuse me?  After explaining again that these were not from a studio (to which the guy standing next to her said "they're studio, they have to be") I became a little angry.  The girl wait...

....and I'm already behind.  This is not my fault, however.  I have only one class that I can actually do homework in, and that would be my film class.  The textbook for my ethics class has not arrived, and my professor for Shakespeare has had a power outage due to the storm, and cannot send me the syllabus because it's on her desktop computer. *sigh* So technically I'm not behind.  It's still worrisome, however.

In defiance of the continuous winter weather we keep having, I have changed my blog look to something flowery and summery. Take that, Old Man Winter!

So the adventure began Monday night when it began to rain.  As night fell, that rain turned to freezing rain, and proceeded to cover everything in sight.  Tuesday was mostly uneventful, until the sleet began later in the evening. After making an emergency pot of chili, we spent the evening watching the electricity go off and on, waiting for the  moment it would go off and not come back on.  That happened at 10:55pm.  *sigh*  Power outages don't bother me too much, because when you chose to live in the country, you have to learn to deal with these things.  What I don't like is power outages during the winter, when the temperature outside drops into the single digits.  That's what we were facing today.  We emptied the contents of our fridge and put most of it outside in a sheltered place so it wouldn't spoil.  After the genius idea of using our ice-covered gas grill burner to heat up lunch, I kept adding wood to the upstairs fireplace, and...

Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge 2011 The Diary of Colonel Brandon , by Amanda Grange Colonel Brandon happens to be one of my favorite Jane Austen heroes, and Amanda Grange's look into his private thoughts makes him even more my favorite.  In this heartbreaking, yet amusing tale, we learn of his history with Eliza, his first love, and her daughter, seduced by Willoughby.  Grange portrays Brandon's heartache so well with so few words, exactly like the soft spoken Colonel Brandon we all imagine.  His quiet love for Marianne, and his generosity to Edward create the character we all know and love.  I was moved by his grief at losing Eliza, but shed tears as Marianne accepted him at long last.  His fellow soldiers in India and in England, and his insufferable family complete the story of Austen's quiet Colonel, and give us an idea why he is the man he is.  A wonderful read for any Jane Austen fan, but a particularly delightful one for lovers of ...