A Tale (Tail?) of Two Dogs - the MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Well, it’s been a couple of busy weeks, inside and outside of the home for us.

First, we took a loooong Christmas Weekend Getaway to London… The view of Kensington Park from our hotel room.
We spent one day in Winchester - here are a couple of pictures from the Great Hall; that thing on the wall is supposedly King Arthur’s Round Table…:dubious:. The Cathedral was preparing for Christmas Eve prayer when we arrived, so no pics…

It was, indeed the “Big Freeze” – the Serpentine in Hyde Park was mostly frozen!

The only thing open on Christmas Day was (and this gave me the title) – the Charles Dickens Museum. Nice, and we would probably never had gotten there in any other circumstances

The girls had a couple of lovely days trudging up and down Oxford Street for the Boxing Day sales.

And that was last week.

This weekend… and getting to the subject line.

Well, we live in an apartment, but we do like animals. So, as of last week, the array of animals was: 1 male dog, about 16(!) years old. 1 bitch, about 13. And a young-ish (1.5?) cat.

NYE, after we finish celebrating quietely with a pair of friends, I take the dogs down for the nightly stroll. Usually I do this around 22:30 – tonight I took them out briefly at 21:00 and then again around 00:30 in 2011. Anyway, the old dog acted funny – lay down on his side, walked in circles. After a few minutes though, it seems he got over it, and I thought his leg had just “gone to sleep” and he walked it off. Seemed OK when we got home as well – scarfed down the remainders of the cake the guests had brought…

FF to 10 in the morning when we finally crawl out of bed, to find him lying on the floor, in a pool of his own vomit, in a posture that says “bad news” :frowning: He was still alive when I took him to the car to rush him to a nearby Vet Clinic that actually works Saturdays.

DOA 15 minutes later :frowning:

Now in the interim, we had called our regular vet at home (he gave us the address of the clinic.) So, about an hour or two later, when he calls us with condolences (the Vet Clinic staff informed him) he also mentions that he is, like right now, at an “SOS Pets” fostering event - and while he’ll understand if we want to wait, there’s a really cute dog who needs to be rescued right now and do we want to come out and take a look…?

Long OP short… Goodbye Terry. You had a good run.
Welcome Ginny to the **Special **household.

Oh – and I forgot to mention. Amid all this, I had to pick both daughters up (separately…) from friends’ places where they went for NYE parties (thankfully the boy grabbed a taxi around 1:30 AM!); and pick up a baby bed and deliver it to my sister’s (who has a new baby)

Like I said, it was quite an opening day to the new year!

TL;DR version – here’s the MMP - go! :smiley:

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As of today I wish to pass a new bill among the great halls of SDMB.

There should be a minimal resolution for all puppy (and kitten) photos. It’s a sin to tempt people with photos of cute animals, only to click on it and find that it is just a little tiny…thumbnail.

Anyway, Noone Special, all the best for your new family member! :stuck_out_tongue:

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Second! Woot!

Lunch, I’m sorry that your new year had such an eventful start with the loss of a pet though, it’s never a good way to begin but here’s hoping that Ginny is a suitable replacement! You can’t have a quiet break, can you?

Today I am contemplating going into town to mooch round the shops since 'im indoors wants to go. We are also trying to book a night’s stay in London on Saturday but of course he knows best when it comes to choosing the hotel…le sigh

Aside from that, there’s not much else happening around here today so hurrah for peace and quiet!

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WTF…? I swear those were full-size when I loaded them!

Let’s try this again. In order:

The view of Kensington Park: DSCN0989 | no_special11 | Flickr
couple of pictures from the Great Hall (Winchester): DSCN0950 | no_special11 | Flickr + DSCN0947 | no_special11 | Flickr
the Serpentine in Hyde Park was mostly frozen!: DSCN1006 | no_special11 | Flickr
Welcome Ginny: 20110101007 | no_special11 | Flickr + 20110101002 | no_special11 | Flickr

Note to self: in flickr, always use “Copy link location”; never "Copy image location…! :smack:

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Blurf.

Lunch, did you know your posted pics are all thumbnails? My eyes ain’t that good…

I have to take VWife to her Physical Terrorist appointment, then afterwards take The Family Truckster to JD The Wrench for $700 of brakes, EGR valve, and sundry other work. Oh, joy. The Foomobile will follow immediately thereafter for a new exhaust pipe.

Sometime in the next day or two, I also have to go to my old office to do the HR paperwork to transfer my massive ass to the new office. The fun never stops…

In other news, my sister is filing for divorce. I heard the full story last night, so the grounds are adulterous dumbassery as I suspected.

I can haz lottery?

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Somebody didn’t preview before hitting submit… :stuck_out_tongue: :slight_smile:

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I haven’t had any WTHU yet.

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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ and readyin’ myself for a hopefully calmer day at irk. Like that ever happens, right?

Special1 I’m so sorry for you losin’ Terry but yay for Ginny! I’m sure she’ll take over in no time. :smiley:

BBBobbio do we get the lurid details? Seriously though, sorry your sis is goin’ through this. It’s never a good thing.

Ok, I need more caffiene and rumbly tummy demands to be fed. Then it’s purtification for irk. Woo and Hoo.

Happy Monday Y’all!

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Sorry about the loss of Terry. 16 years is a long, happy life.

Congrats on Ginny! She’s a lucky dog!

Happy New Year y’all!

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He took up with a rather skeevy ex-GF who has a history of trouble keeping her pants on. If you look up ‘trailer trash’ in your Funk and Wagnall’s, you’ll see her picture.

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Sorry about Terry, Lunch. I’m glad Ginny chose you, though.

I’m caffeinating and off to irk. Hockey tonight.

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Lunch, consider that somewhere out there in the after-dog-life that Terry tapped Ginny on the shoulder and pointed your way…

Blech. Monday. First day at work since 12/17. Yuck. People get up this early?

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Morning all, up and caffeinated and at work. Sending get-well wishes and thoughts out to all the Mumpers who are sick - get better! :slight_smile:

SpecialOne, so sorry about Terry, who had a good, long life and was well cared for and loved by the SO family - what a gift, though, for Ginny to come into such a loving house! Best wishes to all. :slight_smile:

Sorry to hear about that ham, BBBBBobbio - ftr, it wasn’t your fault at all. (For those who don’t know the backstory, check out last week’s MMP - his version of the Bumpus hounds ate the ham!)

Time to get down to work!

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Blurf! I’m changing my work hours to 6-4:30, instead of 6:30-4:30, so I can have a 1-1/2 hour lunch in order to get in my workout.

Sorry about Terry, SO. But yay for rescues! The view of Kensington Park is magnificent. It looks coollllddddd, though…

I’m gonna go reread the ham story now.

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I am torn between sleeping early and playing SimCity 4 tonight.

Darn. I wish I can have a dog. Ginny is sure cute.

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Ah, good, I was going to ask for a magnifying glass but I see the problem was already brought to the attention of the OP and solved. Very well, very well! Ginny is cute :slight_smile:

On “vacation” at the family’s, considering murdering Marriedbro but will instead see about having a talk with him instead, prayers and good wishes welcome, I don’t want to talk about it but it’s serious.

Grandma is feeling a lot better, she’s dressing herself and showering by herself, and makes up her own bed (she’s been staying at Mom’s for several weeks, about three more to go). Had a couple “armchair shrink” sessions with Mom already (she talks, I nod). Had a nice chat with Littlebro, who had fun in Madriz. Had a nice conversation with the Sister in Law too, and a couple of parcheesi games with the Kidlet, Grandma and Mom (Grandma won the first one, she may not hear any more but she sure remembers how to count).

Mom and Grandma are back from their walk, staying as Grandmasitter while Mom goes off to a friend’s.

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Howdy!
(pause)
Bye!

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Do you ever have calm times, Lunch?

I’m so sorry about your** Terry**, but am glad you took in Ginny. She looks very cute.

I stayed home today; but I do have things must get done. For instance, I really need to go to the grocery store. I never made it over the weekend, and we’re out of staples and fruit. Not to mention things to cook for dinner. Oh, I have some meat in the freezer, but not a lot.

I need to get the tree down too. I quit watering it on Christmas. Don’t worry, I have a huge tree stand well, and I haven’t been turning the lights on for the last several days. It’s time for it to come down though, and get my house back to normal.

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Ginny is very cute and very lucky.

I just went and got bra fitted. For bras. I bought two.

Do you know how much that cost?

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA?

$300! Aaaaaagh! AAAAGH!

They fit and don’t hurt, which has it all over most of my bras ever, but… $300?!

(Goes and has a nice lie-down)

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Nooner, you’re a better man than I. When our nearly 16-y/o pup went to her reward, we had already decided there would not be another. Maybe after we retire we can think about another dog, but for now, Scruffy will live out her days in comfort, then that’s it.

But your new girl looks like a real sweetie, and I’m sure she’s grateful for her new family!

Daughter’s dog is on THE LIST and I have a new pug rule. He’s not coming upstairs unless he’s under her direct supervision. I’m tired of cleaning up pee and poo and things he destroys, I’m tired of chasing him down to get back things he steals, I’m tired of tripping over his toys. When and if she trains him, he may be permitted to return, but for now, he’s banished. Let him trash her place. grrrrrrr

I mostly survived going back to work - minimal coughing fits, thankfully. Now I feel more than anything like I need a good sleep. It’s been 2 weeks at least since I had an uninterrupted night. I’m sure that’s mostly why I feel so raggedy.

Daughter just called - she’s on her way. No word from **FCD **yet. I’ve got a hunk of chuck simmering on the stove, and as soon as I feed Scruffy, I’ll add the N.O.T. and carrots to the pot. We’ll be eating late today, thanks to me having to clean up after certain canines.

One down, 4 to go… blech