2 dogs, 2 vets, 2 surgeries.

2 dogs, 2 vets, 2 surgeries.  That was the plan for today, with full expectation of having both my girls back home with me by evening, groggy and, possibly, grumpy, but home.

Best laid plans ...

I took the day off work so I could handle the logistics of 2 vets and 2 drop off and pickup times.  Peanut was dropped off first at 7:30.  She has a broken molar on one side and a cracked tooth on the other that were going to be extracted.  But, because she has a heart murmur, they planned to do a chest x-ray before giving her any anesthesia.  The look she gave me when I left her tore at my heart. 

While there I picked up Angel's x-rays of her left rear knee.  Her appointment was at 9:30.  She has a torn ACL, like a footballer's injury.  It isn't healing after 2 months and she barely puts that foot on the ground despite 2 months of pain pills and anti-inflammatories.  We got to the specialist at 9.  I filled out papers while Angel made the acquaintance of a heeler mix called Sony, with a leftover bump from a bee sting.

After the nurse took down all of Angel's information, but before the doctor came in, I got a call from the first vet.  The x-rays showed that Peanut's heart is enlarged and they don't want to put her under without the okay of a cardiologist. I tell the vet I will make an appointment and will pick up Peanut as soon as I am finished with Angel. Fortunately, the cardiologist is in the same location I am at right now. 

The consultation with the surgeon was both comforting and disturbing.  Comforting in that she doesn't expect me to cage Angel.  I don't have a cage.  And in the fact that she says most dogs gain back full use of their leg in only a couple months.  Disturbing in that it was almost twice the cost I was expecting.  Ouch. 

I look at my sweet girl and know that I can't not have it fixed.  She is only 3.  She deserves the chance at a happy, healthy life.  I sigh and agree.  Then learn that she will have to spend the night.  This is a momentary concern because I need to go into work tomorrow, but they are happy to keep her until 4.  And maybe the extra day immobile will be good for the knee.

I make the financial arrangements and she is dragged away from me, my heart breaking again.  Then I make an appointment with the cardiologist for Peanut. 

Back to the first vet to pick up Peanut.  They give me her x-rays now for the cardiology appointment so I don't have to remember to come back.  Peanut and I get home and she looks all over the house for Angel.

The house is quiet, too quiet.  Angel is a large presence and always nearby.  It is going to be a long 28 hours until I get her back.

Random thoughts

I have been having problems thinking of worthy topics for my blog.  I pressured myself with the expectation that each blog should be long, clever, and thought provoking. 

Then I remembered the topic of my blog - Random thoughts, memories, and observations.  Random thoughts just have to be random, not long. 

So here are some of the random thoughts I've had over the past couple weeks:

I love The Smithsonian magazine.  I learn all kinds of interesting tidbits that I would never have thought to research on my own.  Recently I read about Mayan ruins in Guatemala (I always thought they were in Mexico), the devastation of the Japanese earthquake – in 1923, innovations in cancer treatment, puffins being lured back to Maine, Shakespeare forger (William-Henry Ireland), and Upper Peninsula Michigan. I had never even heard of the Soo Locks, which are third in the world after Panama and the Suez canals.  The Smithsonian and Mental Floss help me feel smart. 

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How do people afford to raise children?  My dogs cost me a fortune in food, treats, toys, and veterinarian bills.  So how do people afford to have kids?  Or kids and dogs both? Angel injured the ACL in her left rear leg.  The medication alone cost 90 cents per pill.  And the first 2 weeks she was taking 11 a day!

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I haven't watched American Idol since season 3.  I watched this season to see how Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez were as judges.  Once lured, I ended up staying for the whole season.  I take comfort in the knowledge that many of the finalists will end up with recording contracts even if they don't win.  And I got lured into Dancing with the Stars by the inclusion of Kirstie Alley.  It appears I am an easy mark for the musical competitions. 

I have to go now.  Angel is whining for attention.  

What stained Glass is - and isn't

I find that about half of the people I tell about my stained glass hobby have no idea the amount of work that is involved.  I admit I get a little defensive about it.

Stained glass art is not buying a plastic kit at Walmart and painting it like a paint-by-numbers kit.  Stained glass art is not buying pre-cut pieces and soldering or gluing them together.

For me, creating stained glass art is a 8 step process.

1. Create a design.  I use Glass Eye to create a stained glass design from a photograph or my imagination.
2. Choose the glass.  Glass comes in sheets, with really sharp edges, in a myriad of colors and patterns. The wrong glass can ruin a design.  The right glass can elevate a simple design to exquisite heights. 
3. Cut the glass.  Cutting glass out of a sheet is not like cutting patterns out of cloth.  There is a lot of glass waste when cutting pieces without straight edges. Truthfully, glass isn't cut.  It is scored, then carefully broken.
4. Foil or lead the glass edges.  Glass is connected by either edging the pieces with copper foil and running a line of solder along that edge.  Or it is wrapped in lead came with channels that hold two pieces of glass.  Only the ends of the lead need to be soldered. 
5. Solder.  Either solder wherever the lead came meets, or solder the entire length of the foil. Chemical flux is applied to the foil or came to permit the solder to adhere.Both sides of the project have to be soldered.
6. Putty.  If lead came has been used, the entire length of the lead needs to be filled in with glass putty so the glass won't shift.  I generally use zinc came for the frame and that needs to be puttied.  The putty is pretty greasy, so powdered whiting is rubbed over the glass to remove the grease.
7. Patina.  Solder in its natural form is silver.  Most commonly, people think of black lines in stained glass.  This is achieved with a chemical patina.  A different chemical composition is required for lead came or solder, and zinc came.  There are also bronze and copper patinas.  
8. Polish.  I like to apply a coating of wax on the glass.  It goes on liquid and dries to a sheen like car wax.  This emphasizes the sheen of the glass, highlights the solder, and cleans any excess patina or flux from the glass.

It takes many, many hours to complete a glass panel.  For me, the way a glass panel changes color in different lighting makes it worth all the effort.

Step by step photos of one glass panel I created.  
Projects I've created

Open letter to vitamin manufacturers

Small.

That's it.  Small. 

Make the vitamins small enough to actually swallow.  Where is it written that a vitamin has to be the size of a horse pill?  Is there more value in a larger tablet?  I don't think so.  I think more skill is required to make the vitamin in a manageable size. 

Aspirin sized.  Ibuprofen sized. 

A size I can swallow without it getting caught in my throat, causing me to choke and gag, and having the paramedics called.  That size.

A size where I can safely take more than one tablet at a time. That size.

I recently switched from Centrum Silver multi-vitamins to Equate because the Equate was smaller.  Cheaper was a bonus, but smaller was the motivation.

I switched from Spring Valley B-complex to Nature Made because it was smaller.  Their tablets are about 2/3 the size of the Spring Valley. 

I pay extra for Glucosamine *plus* joint lubricant, not because my joints need lubing, but because the pills are smaller than my previous brand.

Spring Valley vitamin D comes in soft gels.  This alone is awesome because a soft gel will dissolve if there is a problem.  But these soft gels are tiny. It would take 4 to make up an aspirin. 

Surely manufacturers can create smaller vitamins.  And put a life size picture of the vitamin on the bottle, please.  Sudafed comes in tiny red pills (with a picture).  Imitrex, small.  Actifed, smaller than an aspirin. 

That's my criteria - let no vitamin be larger than an aspirin.  And put the size on the bottle.

Do cold calls really work?

I am curious.  Do those random calls I get from telemarketers actually generate business?  They must, or companies wouldn't keep doing them.

I find it really hard to believe that a person can get a call from a carpet cleaner and say "Well, yes, now that you mention it, my carpet really is quite dirty.  I can tell from your voice that  you will do a good job. Without checking any reviews or asking anyone I know, let me schedule an appointment for you to come into my house."


Or "What a coincidence!  I noticed just today that I had a crack in my windshield.  How fortuitous that you called!  I wouldn't have bothered to arrange to have it fixed otherwise. I'm sure you won't overcharge me."

Or "I'm sure you are highly qualified to service my air conditioner.  No one with a voice as pleasant as yours would sell me repairs I don't need."

Seriously?

How is this different from the televised warnings about purchasing roof or driveway repairs from guys driving by in pickups?   It's worse actually.  You can, should, see the hand-lettered sign on the pickup or the shabby uniform or lack of uniform on the guy who pulls up to your house.

You can't judge the quality of the equipment or professionalism of a company over a telephone line.  I don't do business with a new company without a referral or some really smoking reviews on the internet.

Don't call me.  I'll call you.

Week Two without a newspaper

As I said in Experiment in printless news, I put my newspaper on vacation hold for two weeks to see if I could live without what is, for me, a tradition and habit combined.

I've already blogged about week one.  How did week two go?

Day Eight - I read a really interesting article in Mental Floss magazine about Anton Chekhov.  I finish my breakfast early and get to work before my usual time.

Day Nine -The netbook I ordered on Sunday arrived yesterday. I eat a bagel while poking around the computer and seeing what's installed on it. 
  
Days Ten to Thirteen -I eat my breakfast while checking e-mail, Facebook and Twitter. I check the headlines on iGoogle  Twice I read an article . I find links to some of my favorite columnists and read them - once.

On Day Thirteen, I suddenly realize on this, my errand day, I don't know what the grocery sales are for this week.  I didn't notice the lack last week, but this week I want to know the price of Pepsi. Are the ads on-line?  I don't bother to look. 

Day Fourteen - Sunday.  I step outside to walk the dogs and am both delighted and annoyed that the Sunday paper has been delivered.  Delighted at being able to read it.  Annoyed that my two week experiment is only 12 days.  It messes with the symmetry.

I realize today that without the newspaper, I have not been checking my lottery numbers.  Maybe I am wealthy beyond belief at this very moment.  I log on-line to check the numbers.  No.  Sigh. But they do offer to text me the numbers in the future.  I sign up.

I find I am not all that anxious to read the paper.  I haven't missed reading the news.  While I don't know what is going on in the world, I am also not as depressed about the cruelty of man against man, and man against animal.  Is ignorance bliss? 

I read the comics and two lifestyle articles I really enjoy.  Then I read the Pet of the Week.  I learn the featured dog was abandoned in a back yard with another dog that attacked it savagely.  I cry.  This is the news I haven't been getting this past two weeks.  News I wish I could expunge from my brain.  

I ended the last post with "Printless doesn't have to mean news less."  In my case, it appears that it does.  With all of the other options available to me, without the newspaper, I didn't avail myself of any of them. 

My original dilemma was whether to get my news from a source other than a printed newspaper. 

My new quandary is - news or no news?

Week one without a newspaper

As I said in Experiment in printless news, I put my newspaper on vacation hold for two weeks to see if I could live without what is, for me, a tradition and habit combined.

So how did it go?

Day One - doesn't really count because my vacation hold didn't.  Hold, that is.  My paper was delivered as always.  While I walked the dogs I remembered how thorough and engrossing the coverage had been of the Tuscon tragedy.  Would I have wanted to miss that?   And in the paper I read an interesting article on the Big Horn Sheep overpasses on the highway by the Hoover Dam.  This article was listed on my iGoogle, but I don't know that I would have been as interested by the headline without the photo. 

Day Two - this time the vacation hold held.  I had no paper intentionally for the first time in at least 20 years.  AHHH!.  Moment of panic.  With my breakfast I read a fascinating article in the Smithsonian on the various wavelength telescopes that are perusing our universe. The article included some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen. 

At work, I skimmed my iGoogle headlines, but nothing caught my interest.

Day Three - ate my bagel breakfast while catching up on Twitter on my phone.  I tried to read comic strips on my phone but the print was way, way too small, even with readers on. 

Again, the iGoogle headlines interested me not.

Day Four - in Smithsonian magazine I read an interesting article on Samuel Eliot Morrison, a World War II historian that wrote a fifteen volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.   

News?  What news.


Day Five  - for some reason, in my driveway there is a copy of the East Valley Tribune.  I flip through it with breakfast, thinking it will curb my news hunger.  I am not impressed.  And it carries hardly any comic strips.  I abandon it to pore through a Leanin' Tree greeting card catalog.

At work, I overhear a conversation about Charlie Sheen's spectacular, incoherent rant and check it out on-line.  Maybe news by water cooler can keep me current?

Day Six - I am starting to feel uninformed and disconnected.  I miss the columnists I read daily and weekly.  I soothe myself with the new issue of SyFy magazine. 

Day Seven - Sunday.  I am lost without my paper.  The Sunday issue is full of fluff and folderol that I don't read, but it has my Sunday comics, the Brand column (which I can't find on-line), and the pet of the week.  I read part of Mental Floss magazine with breakfast. 

Afterward, I decide to order the net book I have been contemplating.  Perhaps I can use it to read the news with my breakfast.

Printless does not have to mean news less.