It’s been an interesting Thanksgiving week thus far.
Our bout with what I call “Covid-21” took some interesting turns this week.
We had an appliance tech come out yesterday to address problems we’ve been having with our 3-year-old Whirlpool washer and dryer combo. After inspection, the tech told us that both suffered from fine dog hair clogging up the washer drain and the dryer vent. We had no idea. It appears that we will need to service them once a year to keep this problem at bay.
Who knew?
This prompted me to think about our HVAC filters, the nasty “allergic rhinitis” issue that we’ve been dealing with since we came back to Mesquite in October. I realized that I hadn’t changed those filters in a long time…shame on me! So, I got my ladder out and checked out the filters…which were filthy, to say the least. All of that crap in the atmosphere from the fires and blowing desert winds. I replaced them with the most expensive filters that Walmart sells, the $25 ones that can screen out allergens.
Probably overkill but, dammit, we’re tired of coughing and hacking up gobs of green goo.
Later in the day, I went to our doctor to discuss the hacking and wheezing that we’ve suffered from for six weeks. The first thing the nursing aide asked me was, “Have you checked your HVAC filters?” What a dope I am!!!
Anyway, our malady has now progressed into bronchitis, according to the physician’s assistant. She put us on a 10-day regime of antibiotics to stop this thing from evolving into something worse. Thank you, Jesus, maybe I can now get some sleep!
Speaking of medical issues, yesterday was also the day that the pooches needed to see the vet for their periodic anal gland expressions. Lo and behold, BonBon once again was loaded with a thick goop, the kind that progressed into impacted hard stones in September when we were in So Calif. That time, the gland had to be lanced and it was a shitty mess, to say the least.
So it seems that we are either going to have to repeat this expression exercise each month ($20) or have those pesky glands removed surgically.
Speaking of dog things, when I was sitting in the vet’s waiting room, I met a gal (actually a neighbor that I didn’t know) who works for an animal rescue agency here in Mesquite. She happened to mention that the rescue group is taking in a 1-year-old French Bulldog this week. I said, “Wow, they’re almost as cool as Boston Terriers!” Anyway we got to talking about the dog and I said that I was intrigued, that maybe Charlie and would be interested. So, the lady hooked up with the rescue coordinator over the phone, handed it to me, and we talked. It turned out to be that the dog is actually a brown and white Boston Terrier, not a Frenchie. “Ooooooh”, I said.
Not that we need more dogs in our home, but we do love our Bostons. So, I came home and talked to Charlie about it. She is apprehensive, as I am, because our two dogs are a perfect match, get along so well together, and are trained to travel in the RV and stay alone for up to 5 hours by themselves if we have to run extended errands. The potential addition would have to be a good fit in our “pack”: no aggression; no barking; no chewing on our stuff; no digging; no running off; and, no bullying of the other two.
The dog, named “Vinnie”, is an unneutered male. We have two females. So, we would not even foster him until he was fixed, which is supposed to occur in the next few weeks before the agency finds him a home.
Anyway, call us idiots, but we are going to interview Vinnie on Friday and make cursory assessment. We might introduce him to our girls and see if any fireworks fly. It’s probably a 90/10 probability that we’ll pass on him. However, you never know with dogs: sometimes they have your heart at “Hello”. If we were to take a chance on him, it would be in a “fostering” mode for a while, like a new employee on probation: “You crap your pants, there’s the door!”
We took a chance on another dog many years ago. He was a 3-year-old Boston named “JayJay”. He’d had a shitty life up to that point. We agreed with Boston Buddies to baby sit him for a weekend. He almost immediately bonded with our 1-year-old Boston “Booger”, and there was no way that we weren’t going to keep him. He turned out to be an outstanding dog, a real charmer, and Booger’s BFF for ten years. Maybe we’ll get lucky with Vinnie?
Speaking of good fortune, my sister Claudia met her squeeze Ted Brenner many years ago when she was purchasing a home in Temecula and, as luck would have it, was introduced to the homeowners’ son (Ted). They hit it off immediately and have been together ever since. What lucky people: they seem to be a perfect match, like to do the same quirky things, and are enjoying everything that life has to offer while holding hands and laughing. I am so happy for the both of them.
They visited us this week and we caught up on things. Claudia and Ted have developed a passion for going to estate sales and finding bargains and treasures. Claudia typically looks for home design items and Ted is on the lookout for mechanical stuff. They’ve flipped one house already and have remodeled their current home into a showplace. What fun they’re having!
Charlie and I are planning some fun of our own in the next month or so. We will be RV’ing down to Yuma to visit our friends, Peggy and Dan Quinn, at Christmastime. Then, in January, we will fly down to the Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico to visit our good friend Lloyd Chartrand and see his new home in Progreso. That is…if we don’t expire from “Covid-21”.
UPDATE: On the day after Thanksgiving, we all met “Vinnie”. Slam dunk, we’re taking him!! Charlie liked him at “Hello”, and our two mutts played with him like they’d known each other for years.
He’s about BonBon’s size, he’s friendly, and he’s playful. He also has some acorn-sized testicles which will be removed before we take possession of him in a few weeks.
Three young Boston Terriers raising havoc in our home: Katie, bar the door!