If it’s Not One Thing, It’s Three Things

#1: Poor Levi almost got a ride to Animal ER and any dog person knows that’s a stressful decision, not to mention it costs mega bucks just to walk in the door. No Checks, thank you very much. They take and hold your credit card before you even get into an exam room in case you’re tempted to run out on the bill. I hate animal emergency. There are more crying people and kids in their waiting room than I’ve ever seen in a regular ER. 

Anyway, Friday night Levi was acting squirrely, racing around the house like he was on fire. Every few minutes he’d want to go outside where he’d roll in the snow. The wind chill was 7 below zero, and it so cold I was having trouble just waiting at the door for him to come inside! He alternated racing around and going out to roll for well over an hour. Finally, I started gathering up everything I’d need for a trip to the doggie hospital when I remembered that I’d given Levi a flea and tick treatment Friday afternoon---a different brand than I usually use. So I got out the Dawn liquid dishwashing soap---if it’s safe for ducks it should be safe for dogs---and I washed the area where the medication was applied. And I gave Levi a baby Benadryl which I know is safe because the vet prescribes them to Levi before and after he gets vaccinations. That did the trick and within a half hour he settled down. Saturday morning I had to pick up an order for Levi’s heart worm pills so I took the box of flea and tick medication with me. The technician said that’s Levi's behavior was a common reaction to the over-the-counter meds and that I did all the right things. “Keep him on the Benadryl the rest of the weekend,” I was told, “and bring him in on Monday if he doesn’t seem himself.” Frontline Plus is the only OTC my vet recommends. So the brand I bought for $10 less than Frontline Plus turned out to be more expensive because I’ve got two dosages left over I can’t use. 

#2: Between the holidays we had a day when the temperatures were above freezing and I took some Christmas stuff down to the basement only to find some water on the floor. Long story short I found a crack under my daylight window were the water was trickling in. I called a basement water proofing company, got the estimate and the crew was out on Monday. $480 to drill holes along two cracks (one not leaking but could down the road) then fill the holes with epoxy and cover the cracks with a membrane. It could have been far worse if it had been determined the fix had to be done on the outside of the wall. I was also advised to get longer downspout for one of my rain gutters. There’s always something that comes with home ownership. Still, I am not ready for group living in a condo or apartment. They don’t come with red roses and dark chocolate every day, either. 

#3: I was able to get a new Fitbit at the grocery store. I love that place! For decades they called themselves ‘Thrifty Acres’ because of its size and the good deals they offered, then they changed their name but not their business ethics and policies. It’s such a busy place you never have to worry about expiration dates and when you live alone, that’s important. Online the Fitbit cost $149.00, at my grocery store I paid the same $149.00 but I got a coupon for $15.00 off on my next shopping trip. It’s a typical ploy they use to keep you coming back. Well, heck, I don’t know which direction to take this paragraph now. Do I go on singing the praises of a store I’ve been loyal to for my entire adult life or do I go on to express how happy I am to be able to track my sleep pattern and my calories burned again? Five hours and ten minutes last night and 801 calories so far this morning, in case you’re remotely interested. It took me about an hour to get my new Fitbit up and working and most of that time involved reading posts in the Fitbit community boards. It’s always a comfort when you find others having the same issues setting up or syncing a device. That old-but-simple-and-often-overlooked trick about restarting your computer was all it took. Bingo, I’m a happy camper! 

The Charge 2 Fitbit has features I didn’t have on the Charge HR, like guided breathing. The first time I did it, I thought I’d pass out from all the oxygen going to my brain. Ten minutes to the hour, it also vibrates and flashes messages like, “Get up and move!” "35 steps to goal" “Want to stroll?” but only if you haven’t done at least 250 steps in the past fifty minutes. Levi was greatly entertained by seeing me jump up from my knitting and speed-walk around the house. He took a break from his rabbit patrolling to follow at my heels. As gadgets go, I never lost interest my Fitbit and I had the old one for a year and a half before I broke it. With the new features---including aftermarket interchangeable, fashion bands---I’m glad I was forced to buy a newer model. And I’m guessing Levi feels the same way. ©

Tornados and Scary-Cat Dogs

Saturday was heart-pounding scary. Early afternoon the emergency sirens started ringing and they didn’t quit for nearly two hours. We were under a tornado warning---the get-down-in-your-basement kind of warning. I can see the siren for most of the township from my front yard so you can imagine how loud it gets. The dog is used to the five minute monthly testings of the siren but the longer it went on the more freaked out Levi got and it didn't help that I was running around gathering up emergency supplies. I wish I had thought about stuffing a pair of foam ear plugs in his ears. I have some left over from when my husband’s bi-pap machine kept me awake. I keep a duffle bag in the basement of basic emergency stuff, plus the dog’s travel cage from the days when I actually traveled is down there but the emergency weather band radio, a Colman lamp and a flasher for the dog’s collar I keep upstairs for power outages. I also threw in a bag my purse, cell phone, hearing aids, shoes (I was wearing Crocs), water bottles, a computer password list, essential medications and my car keys. All the time I was gathering up stuff I had the TV on in the kitchen at full volume so I could follow the heavy rainstorm and tornado sightings as they made their way up from the southeast part of the county. I was in a direct path and it was due to hit my neighborhood at 2:45. 

At 2:30 I tried to get the dog to go down the fifteen steps to the basement but he wouldn’t do it! He’d never been down more than three steps in his entire life and he picked that time to show me his stubborn schnauzer genes. I put the leash on Levi and it’s a wonder he was still breathing or didn’t have a few broken bones after I dragged him to the basement. Once down, Levi liked it better because the siren wasn’t so loud. My little nest of supplies was in the corner of the basement but I sat on the bottom steps where I could still hear the TV and follow the tornado sightings as they tracked near-by before leaving the county. But the weather people stressed that everyone should stay in our safe places because conditions were right for other, rain-wrapped tornadoes to form within the storm still going on and you can't see those kinds of tornadoes coming at you. 

When the all clear came and the sirens stopped, Levi didn’t want to come upstairs. I pulled and pushed until I thought I’d either hang him or he’d topple me over backward. I’d get him up two steps and he’d manage to get back down one. It took forever to get him upstairs and we were both stressed out when we finally made it. He weighs 29 pounds and I can’t carry him under normal circumstances and on steps I have to hold onto the rail for dear life for me to feel safe. The next time we have to do the tornado thing, I’ve got to remember to get his seatbelt harness out of the car so I can drag him by the middle of his body rather than a leash attached to his collar. 

We were lucky in my county. No one died. There was lots of damage caused by trees getting uprooted or snapped off taking power lines down---27,000 were left without electricity, 40,000 if we include all six counties where rain, high winds and tornadoes tore through. Of the six confirmed tornadoes that struck statewide, two of them hit the metro area where I live. The closest one was only on the ground for ¾ of mile and 150 yards wide before it pull up a couple of miles short of my neighborhood---a small EF0 but still destructive. Years ago, my husband’s family farm got hit by two tornadoes ten years apart. With the last, only one wall of the house was left standing and when they cut a clothesline between a tree and what was left of the house, that wall fell in. A birthday cake sat on the kitchen table untouched by the devastation around it. 

This is the first time since my husband died that we’ve had a tornado warning so it was the first time I’ve gone to the basement in this house. We’d huddle in our hallway with quilts over our heads because I wasn’t about to leave a wheelchair bound guy all alone upstairs while I saved myself in the basement. Honestly, it unnerved me to be downstairs thinking that the rest of the house could come crashing down on top of me. And if I got trapped down there with no power causing the sump pump to stop working, I’d probably drown. Okay, the power would have to be off for a long time for that to happen but if I was writing a script for a disaster movie that’s the way it would go down. Or I’d come up from the basement to find a horse standing in the living room and no roof overhead. Remember the 1996 Helen Hunt movie, Twister, where the cow got sucked up by a tornado? That actually happened on my husband’s farm with one of their horses. They watched it go over the tree line and a few days later the local police brought it back home in a trailer. He was found a couple of miles away…dazed but otherwise unharmed.

My brush with Mother Nature was nothing compared to what’s going on with the flooding down south or the fires out west but I have a healthy respect for the power of tornadoes, so I was scared right alongside of my scary-cat dog. Next time, though, if I can’t get Levi to go downstairs when the sirens goes off I may go back to nesting in the hallway. ©

Thankfully, my neighborhood did not have any damage what so ever. But these photos were all taken in the metro area where I live. The two tornadoes that touched down were rated EF1 and EF0. The stronger one was on the other end of town.

Edited to add: I just saw a news story about 17 baby squirrels that are being cared for by a wildlife rehab place. They were all found on the ground in the tornado hit areas and are being fed dog milk formula every four hours. Most were really tiny and would not survive without their mom's.