Quick Post: Norman had been missing since Saturday morning. We were not too concerned because he has ventured away before and we live in a fairly rural area. So it's Monday, April 27 and he has been out for 2 nights and 3 days and I'm getting worried. I came home for lunch at noon and he was at the garage door...limping...pitiful...whimpering. He could not put weight on his right paw paw. I got him in the house and on further inspection found his back left leg swollen, his left eyelid similar to Mike Tyson's after he fought Evander Holyfield...hamburgerish. I called Jim and we took the little feller to the vet in Grand Cane. They know Norman there very well (along with shots since birth he has endured being gored by a horned cow or bull), he is their sweet goofball, the chocolate lab who never met an enemy. However, I believe he has one or two enemies, especially whoever won the girlfriend fight on Saturday or Sunday. Doc said he probably got his injuries early on because his back left foot was pretty swollen and infected by the time we got him to Doc this afternoon.
I picked Norman up late this afternoon...he was drugged and out of it...he is Mr. Conehead (having the dreaded cone collar to keep him from scratching at his eye or licking his wounded paw paws.) His first venture around the house reminded me of my life in Colorado at the age of 26...he kept walking into furniture and catching the "cone" on every piece of furniture.
The gist of this post is the totally EMBARRASSING conversation I had with the vet once it was all over. Clif and I have been haranguing Jim to get Norman "fixed". And I asked Doc if that would keep Norman from wandering. And Doc replied, "Once a traveller, always a traveler." I'M TALKING TO MY VET ABOUT NORMAN, MY SWEET NORMAN, OUT LOOKING FOR A LOOSE BITCH!!! I'm sorry, Doc Reddick, MY NORMAN is chased by bitches.
My little feller in better times:
Ruffinism for the day: My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am. - Author Unknown
Well, I got the big virus going around and it has been days at work without my computer. I haven't gotten on at home or on my laptop because quite frankly I'm scared. I don't know how I picked up the virus at work, I'm pretty careful but my tech guy said the internet is viscious now and these things can slither through many ways. I had good virus software....and then
What was bad was I didn't even notice when I got into the office the next morning until I looked at my two printers and they had spit out every piece of paper in them. My good printer holds legal bond, letterhead and copy paper (1 ream each) and the output tray was almost piled to the ceiling. AND all the paper was curled.
Forget the terrorists at GITMO. I want all virus entrepreneurs hung and then guillotined AND THEN burned. What a useless waste of a life. Such destruction. Well even after my computer tech had it a couple of days and reloaded my major software, I got it back this morning and it took me all day to download drivers, software I need for plats, maps and state documents, picture editing software (Mr. G takes millions of pictures!) I have over 2,000 pictures on my computer. Not to mention downloading all the shortcuts on a lot of the software I use. GRRR!
Jim and I were going to the lake this afternoon for the weekend, but I'm so tired, we're not going. I may just get in the RV in the driveway this afternoon and watch the two movies I rented and pretend I'm at Sam Rayburn.
Our next door neighbors purchased a swimming pool (above ground) and I thought I might put my swimsuit on and go next door, but since I don't know them, they may think I'm crazy for showing up in their backyard with my float and my towel.
It's been a stressful week. Mr. G has been very cranky and I am apologizing every ten minutes. I need a funny. This is the funniest video on parenthood I have ever seen.
Ruffinism for the day: Hardware: the parts of a computer that can be kicked. ~Jeff Pesis
Of course He is everywhere, but he sure was with us on the way home from camping at Sam Rayburn this weekend. Clif left us at 8:00 this morning on the peninsula headed back to Baton Rouge after spring break. He and Megan went to Gulf Shores last weekend and Monday and Tuesday and then for the first time in a year, they went their separate ways to spend Easter with their respective parents. They tossed a coin and Clif got the "little girl", Belle (the beagle) and we were thrilled to have Clif and Belle with us this weekend.
Back to Jesus. Well we knew bad weather was coming so Jim and I started packing up the RV to head home. We got out about 10:30 just before the storms hit Rayburn. We were crossing the 1 mile bridge at Pendleton when Jim heard on the news that tornadoes were up ahead in Sabine Parish. Good thing he didn't call me and tell me because I would have freaked. He was towing our yacht (hahahahaha, 18 ft. runabout) and I was towing the fifth wheel (mainly because I cannot part with my XM radio). We get five miles outside of Zwolle, LA and neither one of us could see, the deluge of all deluges, flooded U.S. Highway roads included. It felt so surreal.
Norman (our lab) was with me and I was trying to reassure him the whole way because don't you know he was scared shitless. I kept having to say in calm, soothing words that we were going to make it (he was sleeping.) Or maybe that was me I was talking to...Finally Jim pulled over in the Big Star grocery store parking lot in Zwolle and I pulled up next to him. The rain was so hard I could not see him and I had to call him from OnStar to his cell phone to talk to him. WILL WE BE ALIVE TONIGHT?! Do I need to write my will on a gas receipt?! And then Mr. Calm in a Crisis - he learned it overseas as a camp manager on seismic crews (although he screams on an everyday basis at the little bumps in life of his job), velvet voiced me through my anxiety attack and led our little convoy safely home. Mr. Ruffin, the Mr. Ruffin that had been obsessing all weekend over what Clif and I perceived as a minor mess at work, appears as Jesus Christ in the middle of Big Star's parking lot in Zwolle, LA as the calm water in the storm. God works in mysterious ways.
Wonderful weekend full of "tent camping past" in Arkansas. Full of hugs for Clif, full of Jim and Clif bonding again. We haven't had him to ourselves in a year and look forward to it again in another year or maybe two. Thank you Megan for loaning him to us this weekend. Happy Easter. Happy one year anniversary.
Mr. G's been out for the past two days having a medical procedure. I'd tell you about it but then I'd have to kill you... Why are men so private about their illnesses? Lord when I'm in the hospital, I want the world to come take my mind off of my ailment. AND NO ONE CAN PRAY FOR YOU IF THEY DO NOT KNOW YOU NEED PRAYER! Most people are usually pretty brief in their visits, so I say hey, let everyone know you're in hospital and need some powerful help from Him. Give them blow by blow descriptions of what you need specifically. "Please pray for Susan, she has gremlins, tiny ones beating on her colon walls from the inside, chasing each other, chopping and mixing substances that should not ever combine with one another. And please banish the Big Bopper from her stomach who's wielding that maul at the lining. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen."
And as if on cue, because I had the office to myself today and wasn't planning on working real hard because as they say, anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work she is supposed to be doing, God said, "Excuse me Susan but I think you need to visit the restroom forty times today."
Unlock door, turn on lights, listen to messages, make coffee. Restroom break. Return calls, pay bills. Restroom break. Take two phone calls, prepare Act of Donation. Restroom break. Work on succession, get mail. Restroom break. Answer correspondence, prepare Division Order. Restroom break.
I'm exhausted by lunch. Took me twice as long to accomplish today what I normally get accomplished by midmorning! Jeez!
Speaking of praying, please visit Stellan's mom's website and pray for him and their family. Neila posted them on her blog and I started following it a week or so ago. His story is heartbreaking and I have been praying hard for them. His mom is a super photographer (peruse her photography site).
I finally finished Wally Lamb's new book. It is quite long but an excellent novel. Good story line, diverse, kept my interest the whole way but boy, 752 pages is quite a long read.
And finally this evening, a little humor, a different kind of office humor (the volume gets louder):
Normally, I'm ironing my clothes about right now, watching Morning Joe on MSNBC and either laughing or cussing out some politico. Norman, at my feet, making growling noises with his stomach, waiting for breakfast...Jim already off to the maintenace barn to get the guys rolling. But today I'm at the table in the RV at Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas thanking God for my blessings at watching the morning sun rise over the lake. Beautiful. The only reason I'm not outside doing this is because it's freezing. Must be at least 39 degrees outside. Speaking of outside, Norman is out there tethered to the picnic table enjoying it all. Jim is up in the bedroom enjoying a much needed break.
We brought the boat this weekend so we can give it a trial run. Probably need to take it to
Campbell Marine in downtown Shreveport for a checkup next week. I'll need my parka and snow boots to go for a spin in it this afternoon so all of you that were hoping to get a peek at my new bathing suit will just have to wait. But I can't complain. It's fabulous that we're here on a Thursday and there aren't a lot of people here.
