9.27.2011

A Rough Morning for the Old Boy

During our nearly-daily post-getting-Chloe-on-the-bus-in-the-morning walk, I noticed Chamberlain take a step and then wobble for a brief moment, but then kept on chugging along.  When we got back to the house, though, a light trail of blood made me wonder if there was something more to that wobble.  It was then that I noticed that the dew claw on his front left leg was practically torn off.  I blotted the area as best I could (and as much as he would allow) then had him lay on his bed to let him, literally, lick his wound.

Chamberlain and his new accessories
A couple of minutes later, I checked on him and noticed he completely removed his dew claw, and there were a couple decent-sized blotches of blood on his bed.  I called the vet to give them the heads up we were heading down, secured some paper towels to his paw with rubber bands, got him in the car, and headed down to the vet.  It was there he was outfitted with that ever-so-stylish cone and bandage for his paw, and given an antibiotic. 

As if the dew claw incident wasn't enough, the vet also check Chamberlain's heart (he has a murmur) and based on that examination, the vet felt it was time to add a diuretic and venous dilator added to the Ol' Boy's daily cocktail of drugs.


9.14.2011

A Quick Recap, and a Funny Incident Involving a "C"

Yes, I know there's been another gap of substantive posts from me (not that I consider our wedding anniversary "unsubstantial") but when things get busy, the blog takes a seat on the back burner.  But, because of a funny little incident this morning, I thought I'd bang out some words to give a quick update on things, and finish up with this morning's incident.

Finishing up the
TT in Steamboat
 - I'm still biking and racing, though my racing season comes to an end this month.  I was in a stage race in Steamboat Springs over labor day weekend.  It started out well (5th out of 43 in the TT) but the wheels came off on the following days... I had to avoid 2 crashes in the crit, and flatted going over some RR tracks in the road race.  It clearly wasn't my weekend to complete the race, so I DNF-ed.  Despite that disappointment, I'm very happy with my TT performance and place.  I'm currently taking part in a 4-week TT race series, the first was last Thursday.  Continuing the "luck" from Steamboat, I dropped a chain at the start and lost about 40"... I finished 12th out 23, but would have come in around 5th or 6th had I had a smooth start.
Chloe before her 1st
soccer match
 - Chloe's been in school about a month already and really enjoys her teacher.  Her fall soccer season started as well, and has played 2 games already.  She's playing well (though still has some "picking daisies" lapses), and seems more comfortable in the "defense" positions.
 - Peggy's work is going well, and, as anticipated during these first couple of months with her new company, has her traveling a lot lately. (I'm estimating that between July24th and today, we've been together as a family for 3 weeks.... some of it is her travel, some of that is my time in France.)  But, we knew this would be the case so it's not a complete shock.  She really enjoys her new colleagues and role, so that makes it a lot easier for her (and us) to deal with the separation.

 - And finally, Chamberlain, the seldom-mentioned member of the family... he's doing well, and is the subject of this morning's "incident."  I took him with me as I walked Chloe to the bus stop.  Once she boarded and departed, I continued to walk with him around the neighborhood for a bit.  We were walking on a sidewalk, when up ahead of us, I, and he, noticed a rabbit sitting along a fence.  He kept an eye on it as we got closer, and when we got to about 15 feet of it, it took off in front of us and across the street. 
     I fully expected to have a tug-o-war on my hands.  But instead, I watched Chamberlain watch the rabbit run, and then watched him walk over to the fence to where the rabbit was sitting and take a leak!