Soggy, Soggy, and a Very Sad Doggy

Soggy. That is the word of the day. For those who remember Teal Lake, it made a brief comeback yesterday, but My Darling removed the slotted drain cover from the underground pipe this morning which quickly drained our backyard pond into the local drainage ditch. No swimming in the backyard this weekend. Please don't fuss, it was much too cold for swimming anyway.

We had some surprise visitors this morning when our friend Vinegar showed up at the door with his mommy and sister. They had been out to the dentist and thought they'd stop for a visit before they went home. How fun! I put on a fresh pot of coffee and we pulled out the toys. Vin enjoyed a sit on Hannah's lap and a cupful of his favorite pretzels while little sister emptied a big box of toys. Our soggy morning was off to a happy start.

I caught two short naps on either side of a phone call this afternoon, and then set off for the veter- inarian's office with my three-legged dog in tow. She's been a bit off lately; itching, scratching, tearing out hair, and looking generally miserable. We feared she'd picked up some kind of mange, but a skin scrape didn't show any evidence of critters under her skin. We're having blood work done, and in the meantime she's taking Prednisone and antibiotics, and wearing one of those silly cone-shaped collars. She still looks miserable and my husband isn't convinced the vet is altogether knowledgeable. I'd like to know what happened to that nice man-vet who was very objective and didn't sit on the floor with my dog's head in his lap, say words like "poor baby", and generally make me feel like this animal was more human than puppy dog...