Springtime duos; or how the heck did that happen?

It is amazing outside. The sun is warm and bright. The sky is blue. The temperatures are in the 60s. That is the good.

Both of my dogs are limping on the left front leg. BOTH! Henry is getting better. He limps very little now, but just when I think all is well I catch him holding up the leg. This morning my Katelan is holding up the same leg. Well, not the exact same; she is holding up HER left front leg. Corgis are incredibly stoic. I haven't a clue where either one of them is hurting. It could be anywhere from shoulder to paw. Now, granted, that is not a long distance on a corgi, but does leave me feeling like there are endless possibilities of problems. I'm thinking that Kate tweaked something getting off the bed. I have a big hassock where that she uses to get up and down, but I have caught her taking shortcuts at times. I love sleeping with my dogs so am now trying to find a way to fence off the bed so she has no choice but to use the "step." However, I keep seeing visions of southern grave sites with their white picket fences when I try to imagine a barrier around the mattress. I may have to suck it up and crate her for a few days. The problem with that is that she gets crazy when locked in her crate. Frantically twisting and turning and peeing and pooping. She lived in a crate before I got her, so one would think she would be quite fine, but she is definitely NOT. So I am sticking close to home or closing her in the kitchen. She seems fine in there.

Of course, that is where the chicken is. Right now I have a sink overflowing in chicken parts. Yep, I said chicken parts. Frozen solid. A mass of wings, backs, necks, thighs. All frozen into a gigantic brick. Such a deal, thought I, a few days back. I went to the meat market in search of necks and backs...those glorious doggy toothbrushes. What I found was that they don't sell them except as a big box of chicken "parts." It was wonderful. A monstrous box for super cheap. I have been buying wings for $1.99 a pound. The Scot in me just could pass this by. So today I thought I would chisel a piece of meat from the chunk to placate the pups. I think this is about 30 pounds of tangled chicken parts. It is not so easy to pull out a piece for each dog. In fact it is next to impossible. I can't stop thinking about the band saw that I left behind when I vacated the place my children were born. (Wait; that sounds bad. The bandsaw had nothing to do with the birth of my children!) Again my generosity toward the "ex" has bitten me in the bum. sigh. So, as soon as I am done here, I will get a hack saw and saw the brick into smaller pieces that I can thaw a bit at a time. Meanwhile the dogs are pacing back and forth from the kitchen to my computer. Kate pitifully limping. And sighing. Deeply.

I had to get out of here this morning. My distress over the lame dogs was going to give me an ulcer. I needed to birthday shop any way, so to the city I went. After picking up a pet hamster, robotic of course, I headed back home via my favorite nursery. Normally the dogs would be with me, as it is very dog friendly. Today they were home, but I wandered happily soaking up the spring blossoms along with the warm sunshine. I needed to pick up a couple of gifts anyway, so just spent a couple of hours wandering. I found what I wanted, gift-wise, and headed home. My truck needs to be washed, and the dogs observed for the miraculous recovery...which wasn't there. Right now Kate is laying on the couch. She is propped on the arm of the couch by her left elbow, which leads me to believe that it is not an elbow or shoulder issue. I'm now thinking foot or ankle. Arghh!

So, I look outside and think I should go do some work before the rains return. Perhaps setting up an X-pen so the doggies can enjoy some sun without too much stress on the joints. Then I will put the two gifts into a bucket for safe keeping until delivery. Spring time; synonymous with two. Some good, some not so. Whatever...it sure is pretty out there.

G2