Zzzzzzzzz

I have no idea how I’m still awake and I’m COMPLETELY not sure why I’m taking the time to write a post when I’m about two seconds from my face becoming one with my keyboard; I guess I just wanted to share my ridiculous, self-induced afternoon and the results of what I put myself through.

Let me start with why this even became a task for me:

I have fish tanks, for those of you who are still joining us for the first time and maybe haven’t had a chance to read the pet biography pages:

<—- Thattaway. 

I originally started out with a 1 gallon fish tank when I brought home several baby fish from my second job at the pet store.  Then the baby fish got too big for the 1 gallon fish tank, so I took advantage of a sale at said job and got myself 10 gallon tank for $20.  Unfortunately, my baby fish did not handle the switch very well and passed away.  This was a little heartbreaking, since I had raised them from pups, annnnd also frustrating because I had just purchased this tank and now had nothing in it.  However,  unbeknownst to me, it appears our house has old enough pipes, that when I was limited to getting water from the UPSTAIRS bathroom, I was inadvertently exposing my fish to heavy metals.  Thus, I killed them.  Again, heartbreaking, but I at least felt better that it wasn’t necessarily something I had done, just needed to become more educated about.  After discovering this and concocting a potion to fix said problem, I now have a tank that works. (Let me know if you have this problem, as I can easily suggest a quick and inexpensive fix!).  I now have fish (way more guppies than I ever wanted, thanks customer that can’t tell the difference between a male and female guppy!) and a snail and even a frog that seems to be doing pretty well.

Not my tank, but a good representation of what mine looked like after all the fish deaths.

I also have a 5 gallon tank, that houses my Green Spotted Puffer, Winston.  Winston is very special to me, in the few short months I’ve known him, he’s actually proven to be very intelligent, fierce and resilient despite my numerous attempts of unwitting homicide.  Although I had done my research on Winston’s brethren, I was and still am fairly inexperienced in their care.  I am still grasping the concept of proper salinity and the fact I need to be vigilant about water changes as he’s in a tank that will eventually be too small for him.  And he’s really good at pooping.  Combine those three not being taken care of and you have a very sick fish.  Which I found out last month, when Winston was nearly knocking on his tank sides to get my attention he wasn’t feeling good.  I have upped my game and thankfully he’s still with us.  I should have realized he’d be a fighter from the moment I met him though, as he was waiting patiently at Wal-Mart for someone to find him.  WAL-MART!  Don’t even get me started.  I might have my fish in a small tank, but at LEAST I know he’s taken care of and he looks infinitely better than he did there.  I have witnesses.

We're good folks, I promise!

Anyway, this long and very drawn out, insomnia forced story has a point–ish?

I had a desk that I had my tanks on, but it wasn’t in the most ideal of places.  The desk had just fit into a dormer in my room which had been fine for my computer and homework, but add the tanks and it became less so.  It was hard to reach the tank to siphon or do full water changes and once I added Winston, I couldn’t see parts of my tank to make sure everyone was ok and there was nothing strange going on.  So I purchased this:

This one.

It was on sale and although it did NOT match my room decor, I figured it would be easy enough to paint it and make it work.

Holy crap, how wrong was I?

This piece of **** must have had EVERY water resistant paint, lacquer and sealant known to man used on it. AND IT’S PARTICLE BOARD!  I sanded that sucker within an inch of it’s life but every paint my Dad tried on it peeled off or crackled.  I had talked him into painting some designs on it to make it go even more with my room, but it took over a month just to find a paint that STUCK to the damn thing!  It ended up accepting a spray paint, sort of, which, if you bump into it, flakes off or scratches, but whatever.  At least it’s the “heirloom” white I was hoping for.  Took three months, but hey, it’s up now.

My Dad has requested I never buy another one of these again.

Long story short (not really), once it became clear it was actually going to work and be put together, I had to figure out how I was going to get it into my room.  Although I love my room, and it’s technically the biggest in the house, space is an issue.  I have a few pieces I got for my apartment three or four years ago that I wanted to take with me when I moved back in with my parents, so that does chew up wall space.  I sat down last night and devised a potential set-up that required me to be heavy-handed with what I intended to keep.  This afternoon after we got home from lunch, I got to work and rearranged all but two pieces of furniture in my room.  By myself.  Single-handedly.  On my own.  And boy am I going to pay for it later.  I don’t think my right bicep has stopped twitching for at least an hour.  Although I doubt it’s considered Feng-Shui, I’m happy with the results.

I have to be, or, as Jack Sparrow once said, “I hope everyone saw that, because I will not be doing it, again.”

It might not be the prettiest set up to most people, but at least now it’s more conducive to my fish being cared for.  I’m less afraid of it breaking this than I was the desk as the stand is a little sturdier than the desk was.  I can also reach my window again, which is a joyous experience now that it’s getting warmer and warmer up here.

AND, this is exciting for me and hopefully will be for my pigs too; now that I’ve moved my computer/TV to the other side of the room.  The pigs have the whole wall to themselves!

Don't look too hard, ran out of energy to clean their Royal Messinesses' cage.

Excuse the clutter, I had to choose which side of the room (I almost spelled tomb, subliminal?  I think so) to finish first, so they got a quick vacuum and I’ll get to it sometime tomorrow.  This will be more exciting in the next however many weeks because I will be upgrading them (hopefully they consider it an upgrade) to a C&C cage, or my own version if I can find the right materials.

For example…

I would love to make one just like this for them, but even with the newly acquired square footage, I don’t think it’ll be possible.  I will of course make a top for it, as we have dogs in the house that don’t understand little fuzzy things are for looking at, not munching on.  It looks insanely simple, but I have to make sure if I make it myself that the grids are not too wide for them to get their heads stuck in.  Buddha may be smart enough to stay away from that, but Dharma– is a special flower.  She does what she does and doesn’t really think about it.  How do I know this?

She’s knocked their water bottle off the cage 4+ times a night, every night for the last month.  I don’t know what she’s trying to tell me, but she’s grounded.

I know there’s a lot of people out their that probably think I’m a nut for the amount of time and money I put into my animals (I think I’m related to at least two of them).  They’re right.  I am a nut, but at least I’m a happy nut.  They bring me joy and if I can give that back to them in any amount, whether by letting them stretch their legs outside for a grassy snack, chop their veggies into chewable bites or make sure they have enough space to be happy, then I’ll do it.  I may fall behind on clean-up or playtime, but I do try (I think) and it is important to me.

This is the face of a dog who doesn't get why Mom is getting emotional.

Had to get some Faith love in there, somewhere.

Ok.  I think I’ve wasted enough time on here.  I congratulate you if you actually read the post and didn’t just look at the pictures.  I don’t blame if you did, I might too, but I figured I had to have worked half my weight in sweat off this afternoon trying to get the majority of this furniture moving done.  Might as well share my accomplishments.

I’m not very good at finishing things and when I do, it’s a milestone, so why not celebrate?  Everyone pack your bags, we’re going to Disney World!

I need sleep!
Until then,

Jaina

Sunshine… Rain. It’s all the Same in Iowa

I got out of work this afternoon, as planned and boy was I glad to be done.  I figured it was nice enough, that I would let Buddha and Dharma enjoy the day before it started to rain.  They’d never been outside before and they got to borrow Baxter’s playpen just to check out the scenery.  Mom was nice enough to watch them for me so I could get my camera or we’d be stuck with some really crappy cell phone pictures.

Whoa, crazy hair!

What is this?

Mom trying to tempt Buddha with a piece of Clover.

"Do you see anything?" "No, do you?" "The grass on the other side of this thing must be *way* better!"

Annnnngry Dharma

Yay, grass!-- What's grass?

*Phoo* *Phoooo* Your hair is in mah face!

*Phoo* Really--

Oooh, leaf!

It started raining shortly after I got them outside.

Rain!?!

They still enjoyed themselves and they got to kick up their heels.  They actually enjoyed it so much, when I went to grab them as the rain started to fall faster– they both grabbed a mouthful of grass on the way up, just to have a snack on the way back to their home.  I laughed a little uncontrollably when I saw this.  My girls are hilarious.

How about them pigs, eh?

-Jaina

Mystic: The Face that Makes No Sense

Mystic has been here a week and although there have been a few tense moments, so far it seems to be going fairly well.  She really is a sweet dog– Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better personality from a newbie.  She’s desperate to please everyone and she hasn’t caused any trouble.

She makes no sense as a dog.  She’s squat, short-legged, Husky-tailed, Lab-colored and a head that’s twice as big as any I’ve seen.  And yet I think she’s one of the sweetest faces, ever.

She was hoping to get this:

ow.

She’s been here a week and most days I wonder if she ever wasn’t:

Like she’s always been here:

And she’s a loyal friend already.

She’s going to be a good dog.  I can tell.

I Haz a Happy!

For anyone following the blog– you may remember this post.  About a week ago, we discovered that Paisley’s mom, Mystic had found her way back to a shelter after being adopted, returned and lost many times in the last almost 2 years.  This last family had discovered too late that she is an energetic, intense dog and rather than returning her to the shelter (which they will ALL happily do, no questions asked), they listed her on Craigslist and gave her away.  Which explains how they “don’t remember” who they gave her to.

Because of her connection to us and the fact her life has sucked this far, I took it upon myself to convince my Dad she needed to come live with us.  He was resistant, as usual, but “Operation: Save Paisley’s Mom” was in full force.  I am perfectly comfortable stooping to begging when it comes to saving lives.  When it appeared Dad was immovable to her sad story, I stepped up my game.  This included a kidnapped phone, a quick contact edit and a personalized ringtone, concluding in a phone call that lead to Mystic finally finding her way home with us.

Today, Mom and I traveled back to PAWS & More (she had been transferred back a few days ago), where she met Faith and Luka.  We waited with bated breath, hoping that she would get along with them both enough to come home.  Luckily, she did!  It was heartwarming to see that, despite being shipped off and returned and dumped so many times, she still appears to be in good spirits and very loving.  She does look like she wasn’t treated very well and she’s trying to please everyone, even though our expectations are simply for her to listen as best she can.

It amazes me how much of Paisley I see in her.  From her tail, soft fur, to the way her tongue lolls out of her mouth.  I look in her eyes and I see Paisley.  I know she isn’t Paisley, and that was never the point of me wanting to adopt her.  I wanted to give her a home that was stable and loving, where she would never have to worry about someone kicking her out, or leaving her behind.  We at least understand what kind of personality and energy level she’s bound to have.  In fact, we discovered pretty quickly what kind of energy level she has, as she figured out how to get the front door open almost 20 minutes after she got here.  Running after someone for the first time in a very long time, definitely brought back memories.

I’m really glad she has a microchip.  I’m sure we’ll be seeing that again.

I’m happy she’s happy now :0)

I have a car!!!

I'm so glad I have a car!!!

Oddly familiar...

I took a picture of Paisley, Christmas before last that looks just like this... Clearly she's family...

She was actually a very good car rider.  She was quiet and kept to herself in the back seat.  She wagged the whole way home and stared into passing cars as though she were telling them she had her own and was going home.  She really is a sweet girl, even if she does need to work on her manners.

She handled all of this really well, even if she doesn't understand why we're doing it... AGAIN.

He likes the scratching...

And then he fell asleep against my pop bottle...

I really hope they get along.  It’ll be good if they do.

Hopefully I’ll have time to get real pictures of her soon.  I’m just happy she’s here now.

Until then!

~Jaina

Under Construction

It’s here!

NEW HUTCH-- YAY!

Actually, it’s been here for about a week, but I haven’t had the time or the energy really to work on it.  However, after the millionth time of tripping over the box and seeing their sad little faces I finally just gritted my teeth and told myself to do it.

*cough* while dragging my poor Dad downstairs to help me *cough*

I could have done it, I swear!  But power tools and I don’t necessarily mix (should have seen me two weeks ago, sanding my fish tank stand!) and Dad knows that and he knows that I obsess over my animals.  So he was the dutiful father and helped me get it all screwed together and commiserated with me when a few pieces didn’t look like they even belonged in the box.  And of course the inevitable “shipping damage”, as in a whole hinge breaking off in the box.  Sweet.

Either way, the majority of it is complete:

Yay!

Tomorrow, after work I’ll probably wander into the abyss that is Menards so I can get some new hinges and get the roof attached and hopefully get Baxter and Watson moved into their new place.  Just in time for spring and needing to buy them the OUTDOOR hutch I want for them.

Yay!

I wish they’d consider getting a paper route.

I hope to have better pictures soon, also hopefully of the two checking their new digs out.  I will say this, it’s good this isn’t a smell-o-blog, because this hutch is stinky.  I don’t know if it’s whatever they treat the wood with to keep it from rotting or being bug-eaten or if it’s supposed to emulate pine.  Whatever it is, IZ NOT PRITTEE!!

Here’s to it airing out soon.  Blegh.

Until then!

Jaina, Faith & the fuzzy kids

Pepper Breath

I gave the girls green peppers that we had left over from our chili dinner.

PEPPERZ ARE DELIZIOUS! YAYYYYZ!

 

P to the U!

That would be the result of the peppers… Happy pigs with a sudden urge to snuggle and mom’s face melting off.

WARNING: Do NOT leave piggies unattended with any large animals you may have.  Even the best dogs are still dogs and if given the opportunity, they will snatch smaller animals up.  Be very careful– Faith is gentle and I was within grabbing distance, so my worries were small, but that by no means, means it’s a good idea.

Whatz you doing down dere?

 

I givez up.

Luka was also being, though it happens very little, adorable towards Faith– But she was having none of it.

He makez me sweepy.

That was all– Nothing big, just had some cute pictures.

~Jaina

Everything Rolled into One

I got busy, life kept going, I didn’t update, so shoot me.

I’m here now.

So here we go:

Watson:

Is doing WONDERFULLY!  Less than a week after the surgery, the vet said she would be healed enough for me to start letting she and Baxter hang out.  I was a little surprised by that, but after looking at the surgery site, her fur was already growing back in and it was little more than a scab.  That was exciting news and to be perfectly honest, I feel like she’s mellowed out quite a lot.  I still wouldn’t stick my hand in her cage and poke her, but she doesn’t freak out as easily and she is actually quite snuggly now.

 

Baxter & Watson Meeting:

I didn’t actually get any shots of them getting together, since I was too busy chaperoning, but I did get some cute pictures of Baxter anyway.

Yes... I'm on the couch.

Still on the couch...

And now I bathe.

As for their date– It went pretty well.  Baxter’s still a little forward with Watson, but at least now we can be sure there will be no baby-making.  I think they like each other a lot, so I can only hope to get the money together quickly so they can live together.  I think it will go well.

Valentine’s Day:

Let me make it clear– I hate Valentine’s Day.  I think it’s overrated, over-advertised and I’ve had relationships that didn’t go as I had hoped start on it, so I’m always happy to see it gone.  The only enjoyable part for me, is half-priced candy afterwords.  However, my Mom seems to have caught the ‘crafty-plague’ and the last few holidays, we’ve done more in the way of crafty or baking to acknowledge them.  Apparently this included Valentine’s Day.  So she bought all these supplies and things and I showed up.  The weekend before, we sat down and made about a billion (felt like a billion) little chocolate cherries and brownies and then glitterfied some plastic heart containers for those really nasty conversation hearts– What?  They taste like chalk!– For her coworkers and the little ones I work with.  The house is still covered in glitter from that incident.  Although the glitter didn’t stick as well as we had hoped, they turned out pretty well.

 

I think everything turned out all right– Her coworkers enjoyed them and so did the kids– and I guess a few couples need to go into therapy because of the fights that ensued after tasting the chocolates.

Dad got to be involved, even though he hadn’t intended to, when we discovered one of our canister’s lids had inconveniently become stuck and wouldn’t come loose– especially when it was needed at the time:

We'll try anything around here...

Now it was a quest...

Ta da! THAT took ten minutes longer than it should have.

Ah, the spoils of battle.

It was a valiant victory.  Against powdered sugar.

Of course, while we were working hard, there were some people that were hardly working.

Sorry about the quality, at the beginning.  I was using my new camera and I still have a ways to go at being proficient, so it took me a while to get it into focus.  :0/

He was howling for a variety of reasons (not just us winding him up) but the fact that not only had he been banished from the kitchen- but that his plan of rolling ALL of his new tennis balls under the gate and into the kitchen had failed in making him unbanished. So not only was he still banished, he had also lost of all his tennis balls.  Which, let’s be fair, is a travesty.

When he finally DID become unbanished:

He found a really fun game to play!  All by himself!  He was so proud.  He does this, will just start doing something completely odd and out of the blue and act like he’s done it forever.

I don’t get him sometimes, I’m just glad he’s happy.

Well, I think that’s all I have in me for an update.  Not a whole lot has happened on the home front and I’m days away from finishing my undergraduate, so I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on anything that’s not school related until Wednesday afternoon.  That makes me overjoyed– not.

Until then!

Jaina & the fuzzy faces

Bring on the Stress

Welcome to my world.  I need a vacation.

The last few months, I’ve been pondering bonding Baxter and Watson, seeing as they both seemed to like one another, I figured it would be a good experience for them and for me.  And then you might recall this post: One of these things is not like the other…

Where I discovered that Watson may not be the droid I’m looking– er, male I thought he was.  Since this put a bit of a damper on my plans, obvvvvviously, I’ve been unsure what I want to do, so it’s been put on the back burner until now.  They shouldn’t have to live alone and I don’t want to keep saying I’ll do it, only to not– So, I made an appointment.

I originally made the appointment for Baxter, thinking it would be easier and less stressful for him to be neutered than Watson spayed.  Well, I took them to the vet, to have him take a look and confirm that everyone is actually who they say they are.  Despite the vet having an issue understanding what it is that I wanted, he did confirm that Watson is female (surprise!) and Baxter male.  He also recommended that Watson be the one given the surgery because it would not only prevent pregnancy, but also be a preventative measure against uterine cancer.

iz gud

I’m all for prevention, but that doesn’t make it any less nervewracking.  After Phoebe’s passing over a year ago that was so sudden, as well as the loss of Paisley, it just would be too much to go through it again with Watson.  She’s already a skittish bunny, I just don’t want her to be afraid and I don’t want her to have any complications.

Too much drama. :/

All I know is that I will be a nervous wreck tomorrow, until someone calls me to tell me she’s ok and ready to come home.  Of course I have a stupidly busy schedule tomorrow, so I’m having to ask my family to take care of her until I can do it myself.  ARGH!

I guess, until I find out more, keep your paws crossed that there won’t be any complications and she’s on her way to being healed soon so she can live in a nice hutch.

~Jaina

Buddha’s Spa Day

You know what’s really hard?  Giving a Guinea Pig a bath…  I know I’ve commented on it before, but I think it merits repeating.

Giving a Guinea Pig a bath is very hard.

And anyone who attempts it and survives should be awarded a medal.

<.<

>.>

Thanks to school and work and just general laziness I suppose, the fuzzy upstairs pets have been a little on the neglected side in terms of cleaning out bedding and trimming nails and such.  I like to try to clean everyone’s home out every week or week and a half, but alas, as stated above, it didn’t quite happen that way.  It’s actually been more like two weeks and it’s definitely shown.  So today, since I’m still on break and wasn’t scheduled to work at either of my jobs, I took the time to clean my room and everyone else’s too.

Evie and Uno rejoiced at the opportunity to take a spin in their exercise balls around the room, Faith watching them protectively from her new orthopedic bed:

Dog Not Included

It even has that stupid little tag in the corner that I’m itching to cut off.  So stupid– Like a dog is going to look at that and exclaim excitement over the type of foam.  I digress.

She got it for Christmas and loves it, I think she’s starting to prefer sleeping on that compared to jumping on my bed.  Good and bad for me I guess, as I’m glad she’s comfortable, but sometimes miss her being on the bed with me.

So while those two puttered around in their balls, I cleaned up, cursing Uno and her aim, for so effectively getting her bedding on EVERYTHING on my cabinet.  I do not understand why she does it and how she gets it over the netting I have around her two story condo, but it never fails.  Finally got those two cleaned up and moved on to my favorite little Guinea Pig and realized what a mess she was.  I felt really bad too, thanks to me her fur was in a state and her toenails needed clipping in the worst way.  So I cleaned up her house and then bundled her into the sink for bath time:

You. Are a horrible person....

She wasn’t happy.  And I wasn’t thrilled to see how brown the water got just from setting her in it.

Is that shampoo? It better stay there.

I SAID LEAVE IT IN THE BOTTLE! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!

After what seemed like ages, I finally felt she was clean and squeegeed out the rest of the water, wrapping her up in a towel.  Her hootin’ and hollerin’ all the way.

Stop taking pictures and get me OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took her downstairs wrapped up in her little “robe” where I did a bang up job of making my mom think she had died (holy cow) and then got her ridiculously long nails trimmed.

I REALLY WISH THIS WAS YOUR FACE!!!!

This was all too much for her and by the time I got back up to our room, the only way to calm her was to give her an orange.  All that work and she got orange all over her face.  Oy.

And to wrap it all up– You know what else is hard?

Giving a Guinea Pig a haircut.

It’s harder than it looks, nerve-wracking and really just reaffirms how much of a hair stylist I’m not.

You call this a cut and curl? Please. I want my money back.

At least she can see now, before she looked like a calico sheepdog.  She still has plenty of fur, don’t get me wrong.  I just trimmed her around the eyes, screamed once when she bobbed her head when I was perilously close to her ears and scolded twice when she nibbled the hand with the scissors.  She didn’t take me very seriously.  I’m sure it’ll all grow back in about two seconds, but at least I made the effort.

All I know is that I need to sleep now, because this whoooole ordeal exhausted me.  I do know for sure that one of her favorite movies is Superman, because she didn’t take her eyes off the TV the whole time I was drying her.

I understand Buddha.  Christopher Reeve was a hunk and one of the best versions of Superman ever.

Time for Superman III just for laughs?  I think soooo.

Until then!

~Jaina G.P.S. (AKA: Guinea Pig Stylist)

Luka’s First Christmas and Other Assortedness

Well, we had another Christmas come and go today.  It was also Luka’s very fist Christmas extravaganza and let me tell you– He handled it like he knew what it was all along.

We started the celebration yesterday, by making Snickerdoodles and Banana Bread, both of which turned out quite nicely.  Surprisingly enough, Luka actually acted like a little gentleman and didn’t need to be kicked out but once– simply because he has a tendency to lay down right behind you.  Good for knowing where he is, bad for not tripping on your face.

Can you... Just. Dwop whatever dat is pwease?

He was very interested in what we were doing and was also pleased with the scents that were being emitted by our oven.

 

Lemme jus check de wecipe, 2 cups sugew, 16 cups cookees...

He was very helpful.  Not.

 

Yes, I was.

He really wasn’t.

He was also helping me wrap presents.  Sort of.

 

I was on twash dutee!

He really was.  Not.

 

Faith was just waiting for anything at all...

And then the big day came–

 

All of these were our presents, but there were probably twice as many dog presents earlier.

Yeah, Faith is going in for the kill...

Faith waits for no one apparently and went immediately for the smelliest present she could find.

 

And then try to open them before anyone else can have some.

But Luka learned quickly...

 

And learned effectively...

And voila-- Happy Puppy...

Verrrrry Happy.

Faith-- Meet Faith...

You can’t really tell in the photo, but the toy does look like Faith, in a tug toy kind of way.

 

HALP! SHE HAZ DE PWESENTS!

So he got a monkey.

Sharing???

Nahhhh.

It was a good Christmas– The puppies were happy, the other assorted animals were happy and all of the presents I gave seemed to go over well.  I love Christmas and I’m always sad to see it go– but, there’s always next year to look forward to and more shopping to stress over :0)  I can listen to Christmas music for little while longer and then it’s off to whatever holiday comes next… Easter?  President’s Day?  Who knows.

Anyway, all of us here at the Doggy Bloggy wish you the best of the rest of this beautiful holiday and the happiest of New Years (I actually have plans!  Wha-whut-whut?!).  Also, whatever weather occurs, we hope it isn’t overwhelming, as winter weather often is!

Off for leftover turkey!

 

Merry Christmas!!!

~Jaina & Faith & Luka and all the rest!