Narcissism

I'm in Baton Rouge to take my 95-year-old mother's car away from her. I feel like the meanest daughter on the planet. She's been crying since I got here, intermixed with fits of anger.She has a benign brain tumor, an aneurysm and she's banged up her 5-year-old ride at least 10 times. It's full of dents.  She says she's just going to go buy another car. Add in that she let her insurance lapse 3 years ago for about 6 months and now owes a $300 fine to the LA DMV and therefore, has no driver's license and you'll understand my concerns over my graying hair.

CH (looking in the mirror at my vast amounts of gray: Look at all my gray hair! YOU caused that! (I say to her, laughing.

Mom: Look at mine! It's solid white!

CH: Mine is from staying up all night worrying about YOU!

Mom: Mine too!

CH: Worrying about yourself?

Mom: Yep.

November Bittids

I keep thinking I will get here for a proper update ... and then only feel terribly guilty that I don't. Life just seems to be throwing me one curve ball after another. Just this month alone has been a doozy and the whole year has been like that!

• While I've passed two of the three teaching credential exams with flying colors, I keep delaying the math and science test...and if I continue to delay, it'll cost me another year in the sub pool. And yet I cannot find time to study...
• Macy Blue had managed to learn what to do with toys. While I would like to take creidt for all my running around and tossing toys in the air...it was Sue living here that really taught her about interacting with humans and playing with toys. I got a text one day at school... Macy was cleaning out the toy box! The day our pals left for Portland, we couldn't bear to watch them drive away, so we went to PetSmart for all new toys for the girl. 

 

• For the first time all year, I had scheduled bookings in the larger school district. But two weeks ago,  I got a bad sore throat and while hiking that Sunday, I could barely move. I just felt weak. I drove to urgent care with Macy in the car. They took my temperature and it was 103! I usually get tingly lips with the slightest fever...but not that day. I was shocked! A trip to the drug store followed by hours of phone calls / faxes and emails to cover my jobs before I could take to my bed. 
• Barely 24 hours later, still with a fever, I found out my mother was mugged at the casino. Before I could talk to her, I jumped online and started closing her accounts and phone and sending AAA her way. This led to days of work restoring her life to normal. The asshat takes a purse but nearly rendered her helpless... New drivers license... she is 92. New glasses, new credit cards... The thief took her only electronic key to her car... $80 bucks and a half hour digital programming. New phone. Those things have finally all been restored...but the confidence she lost is gone. 
• And on the same day, I learned my long time tenant at my condo had lost her mother in England... and I have no rent coming in this month...when I've lost so much work already. 
• A few nights before I got sick, I got to go and visit Dave. I was so upset at being sick as I knew I wouldn't get to see him again...and I didn't. While his death was expected, it has hurt so bad. He's my first adult friend I've lost. I've lost lots of family, but not a friend til now. It's just so terribly sad to lose someone I thought of as "young." 

•  Thanksgiving was small and quiet. I spent too much time cooking food that came out awful... but got to visit with an old and dear friend on Friday. 
• Saturday was a dog beach day. Macy just loves the ocean. I never see her smile the way she does at the beach. She often races to the water and dives in the breakwater. The full moon brought the highest tides I've ever seen. Luckily the girl used such good judgement and didn't go too deep while enjoying a romp with her boys! 
• I'm prepping for my annual holiday trunk next weekend... making jewelry into the wee hours. 
• My glass guild will have our annual holiday party next weekend and the following one brings two more events... making me more social than I've been in months. I don't do sockial well.
• Mother is coming for Christmas in a few weeks.
• My bestie's niece that we all helped raise is expecting her first child in March... a girl. I'm gonna be a Gramma! We are all over the moon! So many boys in the family. The niece is the only girl... and now a little girl to spoil!! 

Maybe you'll get why my head is spinning... 

Mom's A Pain

Hello good people and pups of Blogville! Macy Blue here. Just chillaxing by the pool.

Mom's been a little nuts MIA lately. She's working on some other teaching certificates...not that she wants to teach but she doesn't want to see little whippersnappers hurtified because she some wrong initials after her name. So she's been going to school and studying like a demon.

To make matters worse, that "good shoulder" that she hurt at Granny's?? It's gives her fits of pain. She wakes up crying a lot! Apparently is "just" a muscle tear and will take a long time to heal with physical therapy which she's pretty good about doing! And the bad shoulder that never got the surgery?? It's much better. But Momma says she'll take the torn labrum over the torn muscle any day. The labrum hurt only when she does something stupid. The muscle one hurts all the time!

Which is why we haven't been posting or commenting much. It hurts her shoulder. But she has been reading me your blogs! So I hope someone still pops in here to check on us!

Me?? I don't really like Momma leaving me but, someone's gotta hold down the fort:

It's hard work! And... I keep a close eye on Momma when she swims late at night and does her therapy in the pool:

And I use all my mentals to reminder her it's time to hike:

So if you think of us, just send a wish that momma's shoulder quits hurting her and that she's done with this school mess real soon!

Not Feeling So Great

Hello good pups and peeps of Blogville. Macy Blue here. I spent the afternoon at the vets!  It was not fun! Momma has noticed I've been waking up gasping for air a couple times a night. She started to fear I had ingested one of those foxy tails...which would mean surgery! 

Since I had a vet appointment for Monday, Momma just moved it up. She's so efficient like that! The doc told Momma that my heart murmurs and it's kinda loud and that could affect my breathing! But they x-rayed my innards and found no foxy bits but did find inflammation and congestion in my lungs! Bronchitis!! I'm on auntie-botics for two weeks and they told Momma to steam me! I don't think she has a pot that big...not to mention that does not sound fun! 

And speaking of Aunties...MY Auntie Rottrover showed up at my vet! I was so happy, I climbed up and kissed her! Auntie and Momma talked sweet words to me while the doctor lady poked me over and over!

The doc says there is no treatment for my heart murmuring until I'm older and for now to keep exercising me! Yay! 

 So we went up the mountain...where my pal Buster had run off after a deer. Momma brought lots of cold water cause Bussie comes back exhausted...we only hiked a short ways before we found Bussie, exhausted in the shade, and Momma wore the wrong socks and was getting blisters...sigh. But I was hot hot hot and tired back at the car. 

If you can, say a little prayer for my bronchitis and that my murmuring heart never needs meds! 

Her Life in Pictures: Five

I started blogging in this year... and Mabel managed to make her first mention in post number 3! It wasn't long before she was the main subject and chief muse of this blog. That gave Mabel Lou another reason to beg me to get off the computer as she's doing here:

I just love these very rare shots of her looking straight at the camera!

In addition to our in the furs friend, Baby, at the creek, we had an occasional hiking buddy named Cocoa. Here's Mabel showing off her ball chasing abilities as Cocoa watched.

And that summer we met our dear friends Sue and Hank...the Rhodesians that live up the street from us. Oh what a trio they made: 

I took a production job that year and Mabel did not like it and tried her best to look all cutified in the mornings so that maybe I would stay home:

But I managed to get her out for some creek time most every day:

It was around this time that this photo style started appearing:

Mabel needed a daily baptism in the creek. I finally realized she did this EVERY single day. The only exceptions were the rare extremely cold or extremely windy days. No hike was ever complete until she did this.

My business had it's most successful year ever. I had money in the bank for once and just loved being at home with my baby. I bought my first torch and started making glass beads. I was just happy to be with my girl! She had grown up and settled down and I was finally in love with her. Hard to believe now that I honestly thought she would be one of "those dogs" that would simply pass through my life and that I would not love her. Her puppy years were hell and I did not like her at all during that time... but that was long behind us.

Here she is, ready to go to the post office and on to the creek.

Having a little money meant my first grown up vacay by myself! I had never gone on a trip without friends or to visit family. It remains my only one! I went to the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee for a week of glass classes. My mom came out for an extended stay to babysit. Here she is spoiling her granddog:

And for my weird story. The day I came home from the vet's without Mabel, ^^ that photo was on my computer wallpaper. Here's the weird part. I didn't put it there! I change my wall paper when I buy a computer and I always pick the stock beachy pic that comes with the Microcrap software...that's it. I never do it again. I don't know how this pic got there. I didn't even know what file the photo was from for over a week... VERY Odd!

Later that year, I found out I had been feeding Mabel contaminated food. We caught it in time...but it was a very scary period! Here she is after her blood tests:

It took us a few weeks to get all her health issues worked out. Her meds made her groggy and unhappy.

But soon, she was back on the trails with her two besties, Hank and Sue:

Her Life in Pictures: Two

Mabel Lou continued to have a lot of firsts in her 2nd year with me. I was starting to figure out what a drama queen she was...She would often get in her bed and do this and make these guttural vocal noises.  What a crack up!

We were both falling deeply in love with our creek. My feet were getting worse and I was headed for foot surgery. I was grateful that she would go and explore on her own and come back to whatever rock I was on. It was exasperating, hiking her all out for over an hour, she'd come back to the the car and dash off into a vacant field chasing bunnies for another hour! SO much energy!

She was so hard headed, wouldn't listen. But she would look at me out of the corner of her eyes as if to say, "Go to hell!" when I gave her a command!

Mabel and my bestie's lab, Sarah Jean, were constantly together. Sarah helped with Mabel's training and got as exasperated with Mabel as I did! Back then, you couldn't hike right by the water. There was a natural rock levy. Sarah Jean and I would hike along on the top of the rock levy. But we couldn't move fast enough for puppy Lou! And she just loved to splash and be in the river.  So as we moved forward down the stream, Mabel Lou would run up and down, up and down the face of the levy... about a 5 - 6 foot drop into the river. She just had boundless energy to spare. Several times a hike, Sarah and I would look at Mabel, look at each other and roll our eyes!

I'm including this pic for the Creekerati ( my pet name for the people and dogs in our pack). Many of them have heard me talk of "Volkswagon Rock," a HUGE boulder that was in the stream bed back then.  The perspective is off in this pic but that's the rock behind Sarah and Mabel! It really was the size of a car! And the one in the foreground is nearly as large. Both washed away in the '05 flood!

I took so many pics of Mabel in the stream that spring and summer! That's when I landed our first CreekHiker logo out of sheer luck in timing! Mabel was terrified of deep water...thanks to me. My pool is deep and I always feel the need to make it perfectly clear to any new dog how to get out of the pool. Which means getting them in the pool! I throw them in and show them the way out... very dramatic! Mabel actually cut a path behind some shrubs to avoid running near the pool!

  

Mabel made her first flight to Louisiana to visit family that summer. I didn't take many pics of her there but I do love this one. We put her in one of my brother in law's kennel runs for a family event. She was NOT happy! But she was trying so hard to be cute!

 

I had foot surgery that October and was in a wheelchair quite a while.  I took no photos of the girl between summer and Christmas! We spent Christmas here...just the two of us as I was still recuperating and trying to learn to walk again. Here's Miss M opening her gifts:

By Spring of '04, my sister's breast cancer had returned and she and my mom came to live with us for over three months! Mabel was the buffer between all of us. She kept the peace and loved us all through it! My sister and I would leave very early every morning for the 150 mile round trip to the proton radiation center. Many days we would return to find Mabel and Mom like this:

 

And I think that's when I officially gave up the "No Dogs on the Sofa" Rule! Thanks Mom! 

My sister would often sit by the pool and Mabel would lurk near by. I'm certain she knew how sick her auntie was.  Mabel would always watch over her outside.

The Darkest Day

I'm one of those weirdos that sees magic in what some would call coincidence. As Thursday came to a close, I thought about how odd it was that the Universe seemed to want to give me the day off that day.

A longer teaching gig was shortened on Wednesday. I was so stressed but ended up running errands with Mabel until 9:30. She did not like late cuddles...they were never long enough for her. I made her mad when I got home and realized the other school district had been calling and calling and knowing they must really need help, I logged on and took a job with them. I had two to choose from and quickly surmised that the one that started at 6:40 in the morning was a 20 minute shorter workday. I took the job, we cuddled and I was up at 5:30...Mabel Lou was grousing. She hated me working away from home and I've hated it too!

I drove to school and the secretary told me I wasn't on her roster. Huh??? I logged into the computer to find my job was actually Friday! Needing money and not wanting to drive home and make Mabel Lou upset if I had to leave again, I checked my messages...the better paying district had been calling all morning! I called into their system...over and over and over. It would not let me in for 20 minutes! Finally, I got in and... all assignments were booked. Feeling like such a loser, I went home.

My girl was thrilled to see me. It was a dreary, damp and chilly morn. We curled up on the sofa and napped for hours! And that was the beginning of our end.

Mabel made a valiant effort to give Otto Rotto a good tussle a few days before she passed. 

Mabel's Acting Weird ... Again!

I got up and started cleaning the pool. Mabel was out in the yard with me, eating grass. Par for the course for her. She ate grass every day of her life. I always joked that grass was her favorite vegetable!  I noticed her coughing....not trying to throw up, just clearing her throat. I thought a piece of grass went the wrong way.

I came in to try and list some beads. Since I have a taller desk chair, Mabel can no longer spin me around when she thinks I've been working long enough. So she scooches closer and closer until I can no longer put my legs down! She did this over and over... and then she started trying to puke. I rushed her outside, thinking she just needs to puke and all will be fine. But nothing came up. I worked for about 30 minutes and went out to get her. I was surprised she wasn't on her bed. I thought she might be sunbaking on the side of studio.

But as I called her, I heard something by the pool. She had dug a hole under the prickly palm where Mallory hatches her ducklings! This is strange. And still, she was trying to heave.

As I'm am a neurotic pawrent, who thought nothing of going to the emergency vet in the middle of the night only to be told my dog has gas, I try to restrain myself from that these days. My finances won't allow it. I phoned Hank and Sue's mom and left her a message to "call me and assure me my dog is not dying." Little did I know...

Mabel and Otto at the pond almost two weeks ago

MABEL GET IN THE CAR NOW!!!

I kept puttering in the pool, decided to get lunch. As we waited outside the restaurant, I curled up on the floor of the jeep with the girl. She was not a happy camper. Still gagging! We get home and I had to beg her to get out of the car.  She pooped and I did a happy dance. "There! That's got to make you feel better!"

I situated my lunch on the floor so I could read my ipad... and then something my brother in law had said during Mabel's last weird stomach ailment popped into my head. Bloat. But he always told me I would know... they hurt; they complain a lot. I found myself on the ASPCA Bloat page. Symptoms were:

• Distended abdomen
• Unsuccessful attempts to belch or vomit
• Retching without producing anything
• Weakness
• Excessive salivation
• Shortness of breath
• Cold body temperature
• Pale gums
• Rapid heartbeat
• Collapse

I didn't know about her gums and she wasn't collapsing but... every thing else was there. I called our vet to be sure they weren't closed at lunch, threw my food on the kitchen counter and raced out the door screaming, "MABEL! GET IN CAR NOW!!! "

Waiting for her waitress to bring her an order of pancakes a few weeks ago

This Is Not Good

I rushed in the vet and they took her from me. No kisses like every other time she's had a procedure. Xrays confirmed bloat but didn't show the twist in the stomach. My vet told me we would know in five minutes if he could get a tube down her. Fifteen minutes passed. Half an hour.  Somewhere in there the date slapped my brain. May 8th. Maggie May died on May 8th. Oh no. They move me into a private room. If it were good news, they would have told me in the lobby. This is NOT good.

My regular vet, not the one doing the surgery, came in and told me there was too much dead tissue to tack her stomach up. This was something the surgeon likes to do so bloat never reoccurs. I sent a text the Rottrover's mom and asked her to join me. Minutes later, the surgeon comes in. "Is she still alive?" I blurt out.

"Yes, but her stomach is dead. It went too long without blood flow. I've taken a needle to it to try and find something to save...but there's nothing. She can't live without a stomach."  

"Okay," I said calmly, resigned to the inevitable.

"Do I have your permission to eu...."

"Yes, yes," I interrupted him. Shaking my head NO, I say, "Yes."

They brought me forms to sign my friend arrived I asked to see Mabel  down the long hallway through the hospital rooms and into the surgery suite we went all a blur. As the surgeon steps aside, my eyes lasered onto May. My sweet Baby May.  Her eyes were open, her tongue was ajar. I collapsed on her head wrapping her in my arms. I sobbed and whispered sweet nothings. I instructed her on how to behave around her sisters who passed before her. I reminded her that her sisters both came to visit me after they passed and that I expected the same of her.

I pulled back, leaving snot on the side of her face and realizing I had a string of hers attached from her nose to my boob. I blew my nose and grabbed her feet to breathe them in, three long deep breaths of their precious earthy smell.

The Aftermath

The rest of the day was a blur. Calling friends, telling my mother her baby was gone. Blog announcement, prepping my daily blog to give me a few days off.  I forgot about blog feeds on facebook... the comments there overwhelmed... and I was worried about the less than 10 I would get here! OY!

Bart and his mom came walking in the back gate and amazed me. Bart is trained to not lick humans. But he knows I love kisses and will give me one...just one. He came over and licked and licked my face... he sniffed my t-shirt all over... Mabel's snot on my boob and her blood on my sleeve. Then, he made a bee line to the prickly palm that Mabel had tried to build a place for herself to die. He stayed there...sniffing, then scratching, then kicking and sniffing some more. Finally, he peed all over that spot! Then he made a beeline to the 2nd spot Mabel had tried to curl up and repeated it all. When he was done, he went to her bed and curled up with a deep sad look on his face. He didn't look for her...he just KNEW.

Watching him, I thought of all the events that conspired so that I had the day off. I'm horrified that Mabel could have been all alone....it was bad enough that I was here and could not even realize how sick she was. And the thought of finding her under one of those prickly palms is more than I could bear. I was supposed to spend that day with her and be with her until I had to let her go.

I've got so many pics of my girl I've never shared...this blog could go on about her for years. And it very well may. 

The Narrowing Path

Just as our hiking trail is being overrun and narrowed by mustard, I feel a narrowing of the path that Mabel and I share. Her age is most certainly slowing her down... and scaring this dog mom.

After bringing the coyote skull from my previous post - brain still inside - to me last week, two days later she had a really strange bout of "technicolor diarrhea" for a day and a half. This is after discovering her weight drop. I was working and not home with her and really scared. Once I finally figured out she really did not want the homemade chicken soup and did want some kibble, she was eating again.

Do you see the baby hawk?

But, the past few days, I started to feel she was looking even thinner. When a friend at the creek noticed, I decided to take her for pancakes at her favorite restaurant. And since we were driving by the vet's, I took her in for a weight check. She's dropped another 2.3 pounds in two weeks... all while eating MORE food.

Yet her appetite is excellent... she ate all but a few bites of the eggs I hate, more than half of my pancakes and most of my bacon. And, I fed her  some kibble and some high calorie supplement as "breakfast #2" yesterday... she ate every drop and supper too. And she still ADORES going to the creek. The walk that used to take us an hour now takes an hour and a half. I let her set the pace. If she wants to stay in one spot and hunt lizards, we do. And when we get to the 2nd swimmie  hole, she often takes the trail back toward the car.

So while I wait over this long weekend to see what the next steps are, I'm just beyond frightened. Unexplained weight loss is never good.... so if you would say a prayer for Mabel Lou, I would be most grateful.

Mabel - meditating on the sunset Saturday night.

Ho Hum Bit Tids

Sorry I haven't been around... Life has been busy and yet not, kinda down but mostly up and over all, overwhelming. Sigh... So here are the high (or low) lights:

• Ms. Mabel Lou is on the mend finally! The licking has subsided... Thank goodness! This is after I figured out I was under-dosing her! (I am so not good with pills!) She finishes her antibiotics tomorrow night and she's off all the other crap that was making her tummy hurt.

 Sizing up the best stick in town!

• For the first time in her life, she would not simply take the piece of cheese or hot dog that had her probiotics in it! Every single time she would find the offensive capsule and spit it at me!  But I quickly found she liked the taste of the insides of the capsule! I pour it on a saucer, dip the end of the hot dog or a piece of cheese in it and feed it to her!

• Ms. Lou has reluctantly started using a ramp to get in and out of the car.... She grouses but then uses it..unless Otto is around. Then she shows off her mad getting-in-the-car-with-a-ramp skills and shoots him a look that tells him he should be impressed!! I don't think he is...

• While the licking has stopped... I swear she's taken on an "old dog" smell! ICK! And my house reeks! I'm wondering if maybe all the wet beds soured??? Tomorrow is bed washing day...we'll see! 

• Work was amazing for a few weeks... shipping lots of beads and rubber stamps every single day until last week... and...nothing. This always sends me into a I'll-never-work-in-this-town-again tailspin.

• My classes are not booking in. I was most excited over a new teaching venue and when I drove up to sign my contracts (odd requirement for any business in Los Angeles), I was most pleased to find a brisk registration. But I logged on to check enrollment yesterday and... there are no new sign ups in over a month! Gee, I wonder if I go into a secondary tailspin, will I create my own tornado???

• My bestie has been out of town a lot and with her recent move down the mountain... I miss her laughter. I'm hoping we get to see more of each other come fall. 

• My brother-in-law...who is the only relative my 90 year old mother actually likes and relies on... had a health scare in the last few days that's had us all fraught with worry. The fact that the tests don't reveal anything scares me even more! 

• I finally got another of the pictures in my head... the beagle with the wheelchair guy. I walked down to Food Truck night last night and strolled the boulevard to check out the offerings. I saw them on the patio of a local restaurant... the dog was trying to get on the wheelchair and causing it to go off balance. The guy was saying to the dog, 'Wait! You're FAT! You're FAT!" and I wanted to say... "Make him walk!" Later they were in a parking lot and I snapped this from a distance:

•  I'm over the moon with our cooler weather! I've been enjoying coffee in the mornings on the "porch sofa." I try to get Mabel up on it too but, she prefers her dog bed.

• I've got a bunch of listings for household goods, collectibles, craft supplies and glass beads going up on ebay. Hoping to get rid of some stuff. Still feeling the need to get rid of anything stored in the guest room.

• I made a new friend hiking by the stream last week. Can you see him??? 

Hope you are having a wonderful fall!!!

Sick Puppies

Ms. Lou and I are not doing well. My sinuses have been acting up and I'm dizzy as a bee. The stamp shop has been super busy (work is good!) this week and the 103+ degree days and still 90 degrees at 11pm nights have Mabel and I working split shifts to be able to sleep in the hottest part of the day.

Then I started to notice Mabel was licking her rump... a lot. And even when she didn't lick it, a clear liquid was coming from her privates and it smelled horrible. I was washing bedding every day!  I assumed it was some old age thing until I noticed her fecals were... "different."

I took samples into my vet and they wanted to see the girl after the results came back with elevated white count in the urine and giardia in the fecal! No wonder my poor girl was licking!

Mabel managed to piss in front of the doc... my big bad rottenweiler is a really submissive girl! The doc declared it a bladder infection too!

 

Sorry for the 'devil dog eyes' but I had to show you proof that someone can get in bed with her steps all by herself!

And then my education began.  I was handed a bill for 240.32 (more than I made in my trunk show which I stupidly scheduled over a holiday weekend...sigh) and that was NOT including the $70 I had already paid for the fecal / urine analysis! I about fell out of my chair!

I told the vet of my financial situation and she said to go get the Amoxicillian at a local pharmacy. My vet charged 75.40 for the antibiotic but...it's on the $10 list of common drugs at most pharmacies! I paid 9.99 at RiteAid!

The vet went on to say that at a minimum, Mabel had to have the antibiotics but to get her the other stuff as soon as I could afford it. I knew I was going to go home and start researching costs. I informed the vet that Mabel will have all of it...just maybe not today!

I tried 800petmeds for the Metrnidazole and the dewormer meds and then went to Drs. Foster and Smith to double check. I have LOVED Drs. Foster and Smith for years and found their prices were around $10 bucks cheaper.  But wait... my baby is sick NOW and free shipping is lovely but... how long is that going to take to get here??? A week to 10 days! NO. FREAKING. WAY!

I checked the Drs. expedited shipping... $20 and up and it still took five days! WHAT??? I decided to pay a little more and get the two day FEDEX with 800petmeds. Only, I had issues checking out... the screen froze and I luckily ended up on the phone with them. I happened to mention that the Drs F&S website was cheaper on all my items but I needed better shipping.

The phone tech said, "Oh really? Give me their prices... we PRICE MATCH!" 

I basically spent $3 more for the same order on 800 Petmeds and got the medicine my baby needs in two days! My vet wanted $185 for all Mabel's meds and by shopping around... and waiting two days, I got them for 76.43!!!

And while I'm happy for my savings... I feel bad! I feel bad I can't support my local vet. Just like I feel awful when I order Mabel's liquid glucosamine from Liquid Health instead of buying it at my local, community owned pet shop. But they charge $34 for one bottle and I can have two bottles shipped to my door for $39!  I told my vet that if I still had a decent income, I would be happy to take the pills from her shop. But I don't and that's a lot of money to waste!

But as long as my finances are this bad... I will be using 800petmeds again!

I was not given anything for this review...it's just what happened!

Designing for the Handicapped

Allow me a few moments on the soapbox, will you? As someone who has been mobility challenged, spending a chunk of time in a wheelchair, followed by a walker and cane, I know a thing or two about trying to get around in the world.  Never mind the fact that people don't even SEE you sitting in a wheelchair, struggling to open a door. No the thing that pisses me off the most is architects and designers who have no clue how to design for the mobility challenged.

For designers, people seem to fall into two categories: the able bodied and those they must make accommodations for by law. There is no in between. And they never seem to take into consideration those that have some mobility but need the shortest distance between two points to keep from hurting so much!

It was during my recovery that I noticed women's bathrooms were always at the end of the hall, with men's rooms in front. The the safety issue puzzled me - a further distance from public areas makes it harder for the public to hear you screaming in the event of an emergency. As most women I know are on their feet more, having to work outside the home, take care of the house and kids, etc and the fact that every step I took felt like nails exploding into my feet, I grew angry with every trip to a public restroom. One day, I was muttering about this on the way to a Macy's bathroom when the building designer heard me. He explained that "Men are dumb and will wander into the first door they see." They often put the women's room last because they feel it's no big deal if a woman wanders into the men's room but it gives the men two chances to figure out the lay of the land.

So that solved one mystery but bad design seemed to pop out at me from everywhere. I was taking some college courses because of my disability. They first sent me to a college near my home...built into the side of a mountain! I took one look at all those stairs and told them, "No, thank you!"

They sent me next to Los Angeles Valley College, a flatter campus but, I almost quit while dealing with registration!

Check out this map of the campus:

They have torn a building down since I was there but you'll get the drift. The arrow on the left is visitor and handicapped parking. The middle arrow is a steep flight of about 10 stairs. And the arrow on the right was the registrar's office. Never mind that the distance was about 2 blocks I had to go on my walker but just look at how far I had to "walk!" The red lines depict the path of the handicapped ramp!

I've never been one to turn left when I need to go right! As I stood there at the top of the stairs, I started crying. In frustration, I shoved my walker down that flight of stairs, dropped to my bottom and "scooched" my way down the stairs to my walker. A young man realized what was happening, picked up my walker and helped me up. For my return, I stood at the bottom of the stairs until I saw a group of boys and asked them to take my walker up and escort me up the stairs. But that is huge for someone longing for independence. I HATE to ask for help! And with a better design, I wouldn't have to.

I wish designers would realize what it's like for people who simply can't take the long way home. Don't assume every handicapped person is in a motorized wheelchair - something my Blue Crappy insurance would never pay for!

I wish every would-be designer and architect had to spend 24 hours in a non-motorized wheelchair and 24 on a walker or crutches, imagining that every push of the wheel, every aided step sent explosions of pain through their bodies. Maybe then they would get it.

Do You Ever?

This photo of Mabel Lou slinking out of the shrubbery after checking on a buried bone has nothing to do with this post other than it makes me happy... and I need happy!

Have you ever had a day where so many little things go wrong that you need to hit the reset button??? OY! Did I ever have one like that yesterday!

All was relatively calm until I decided I was hungry. I got Mabel in the car to head to the grocery as my cupboards were bare after being away at the CHA craft show for four days. Only, the car wouldn't start.

I called my mechanic up the street. He will usually send someone to jump me off and take the car in... A lovely side effect of living in a small town! Only, he couldn't... too many guys out with the flu! I was on my own.

I called AAA and since we have so many auto repair shops in the hood, they were here in five minutes and... the same guy had been here before! He jumped me off but the car wouldn't hold an idle... so he followed me to the mechanic! And then all those little silly things started.

Since I was starving, I stopped by a local burger joint on the walk home for a grilled cheese. I knew my hiking buddy was working - her house is between mine and the mechanic - and since I had food, I decided to walk home on "my" side of the street. Mabel will drag me down their driveway otherwise.

A few houses into our walk, this massive shepherd charges his gate and I stepped weird and twisted my ankle.  Along the way, I realized I had dressed for our 40 degree days we'd been having... and it was 75! I'm so pleasant when I'm over-heating...NOT! 

So I was practically dragging Mabel, not wanting to stop anywhere. Because the tow guy was following me, I didn't clean out my car beforehand and I'm carrying an armload of crap (I don't carry a purse...so imagine carrying your valuables by hand!).

We crossed a side street and Mabel took a dump right in the middle of the street. She only started pooping on concrete this past year. I don't know if it's an old lady dog thing but suddenly she doesn't prefer grass! I get my baggie untied... put my lunch and belongings down and by the time I've scooped... she's pooped two more places and I have ONE baggie.

By now, I'm screaming at her and the neighbor comes out of his house. He brought me two more baggies. I started scooping the other piles and suddenly some short bus is honking at my upturned behind! It was the neighbor's mother coming home from her day care facility and Mabel and I were in the way.

I finally make it home and I'm so overwhelmed... worried about the cost of the car (new alternator...ugh) and feeling beat up by the world, I tossed my lunch on the counter and went to bed! I kept waking in waves of nausea but was too dizzy to get up so I kept going back to sleep. I finally woke after dark and couldn't get warm. Mabel always has a sense of me when I'm cold and she draped her body over mine...not fun but always warm!

When I was fully awake, I realized I had left the back door wide open and clothes on the line! Now, I'm thinking I must have also been having a severe allergy attack on top of the little frustrations!

But I'm wondering... am I the only one? Have you ever had to reboot in the middle of the day???

Hard Working Woman

My mother has never been called lazy. She has a hard time sitting still even now at 89 with severe hip pain. When she visits me, if I don't give her something to do, she will make work for herself. Once while I was away at work, I came home to find she had cleaned all the cracks in my sidewalks surrounding and on my property... with a knife!

I don't remember what project my mother had busied herself with that caused her to wear the soles clean off her work shoes. I hung the worst one on a plant hanger where it's been for a few years.

With my sister's illness, we all seem to be re-evaluating the things we hang on to. I was ready to finally throw these away and remember with a photo.

Laundry Day

After I finally stopped hacking up my lungs, I wanted some clean bedding.  I have so many comforter covers to prevent dog hair on the actual pricy part of the bedding and it can take the better part of a day to do all that laundry.

As I was going back and forth from the laundry room to the bedroom with my many loads of wash, I was kinda surprised at what who I tripped over...

 It seems Sweet Baby May thought that nice duvet was curled up just so she would have a thirteenth another softie bed for a nap. It was a rather chilly day and she napped there all morning. It took a late breakfast of bacon to make her rise!

Duckpdate - The Hunters!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I took a nasty fall in my own backyard coming home from Costco Monday night. I'm really banged up. Mabel did come over and kiss me and curl up next to me while I was writing in pain!

This Duckpdate is brought to you because Sarge is hosting a Give Us the Bird posting contest this week.

A few months back, I was hiking in the Tujunga River... one of those quiet, lazy, summer evenings. I heard a strange noise and the ducks nearby startled and moved up stream just a bit. I looked up on the levee and noticed two brats with pellet guns aiming at the ducks... but Bart and Mabel right behind them!

And even though those probably weren't MY ducks...Once you are a duck mom... they are ALL MY DUCKS! (Not sure I will ever be able to eat a Turducken again!) I promptly told those little criminals that they shouldn't be shooting at hand raised ducks and certainly not firing so close to dogs and a human. That didn't work! So I called the cops and the little creeps ran...

Just one more battle that the ducks have to face...


If you would like to join Sarge's contest, be sure to check out his blog!