“Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.”
It is, as my mother would have described it, a raw day, the sort where you feel chilled to the bone from the cold and damp. Right now there is a snow shower with small flakes being blown about by the wind. It won’t amount to anything, but its mere existence is beyond the pale. “Too much, too much,” I whine to no one but myself.
The weather in today’s Cape Times predicted the rest of the week much like today. Each day has the possibility of rain or snow showers. Saturday will be the first sunny day, if the paper’s prediction is correct. I went out earlier and filled the bird feeders. Gracie didn’t even bother to get off the couch until she heard me drop something. She then came to the deck, checked out what I was doing and then went right back inside the house, back to the couch.
Last night I was so tired I went to bed around 9:30, unheard for me, the night owl. I slept through until 8 and stayed in bed under the covers a little bit longer. I was too warm and cozy to face this day. I could see the sky through my window and nothing about it was inviting. When I came downstairs, Gracie went right outside. That surprised me as usually I have to open the door. Not this time: I never closed the back door last night. I guess I didn’t force Gracie out one more time but, instead, just shut off the light in the den and went upstairs to bed.
My legs are still wobbly from the vet bill yesterday. It was closer to $400 than $300, and this was a well dog visit, but the outcome couldn’t have been better. Gracie is healthy, and the vet said she is beautiful. If she didn’t have some grey on her muzzle, the vet said she’d think Gracie is still a puppy. She told me whatever I’m doing is working well as most boxers she sees tend to be overweight, but not Miss Gracie. She also got her nails done yesterday, like a sort of mini-spa.
When I was a kid, we had a boxer named Duke. He never had a well dog visit. He got rabies shots I think but nothing else. My father used to douse him in flea powder periodically. He ate canned dog food with horse meat. He was free to roam anywhere he wanted, and he did. He wasn’t supposed to get on the couch, but he always slept there when we weren’t around, and we could hear him get off the couch in the mornings when we’d go downstairs. Duke lived a long, long life for a boxer though he wasn’t pampered, didn’t eat all natural foods, ate Oreos my sisters fed him and anything else left on our plates. I don’t know if there is a lesson in that. I know we people are less immune to germs because our lives are so antiseptic. Maybe it’s the same with dogs.
I had an idea to do a couple of errands today but that thought disappeared with the first flake. I’m not even going to bother to get dressed. I will out-sloth a sloth today! Maybe I’ll pay some bills so I can claim a bit of industry.
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This entry was posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:24 am and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: bird feeders, Boxers, cold, laziness, raw, sloth, snow showers, staying cozy and warm, vet, well dog visit
Both comments and pings are currently closed.30 Comments on ““Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.””
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
March 5, 2013 at 12:08 pm
And across the world attention will soon focus on the activities at Old Trafford as Manchester United and Real Madrid conclude the second leg of their UEFA champions league series. Poised at 1-1 anything could happen. I would assume that Birgit and Christer will have finished dinner and will be settled in for a night of exciting viewing and perhaps an appropriate beer.
Meanwhile while the Bochum Fledermausmann has not be revealed, the same cannot be said for the Bradford Batman. Guess following a boozy day at Wembley with Bradford City in the League Cup Final our hero escorted his chum down the nick. Seems he is now a bit fed up that he looked fat in his outfit. The true story is totally cool.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9909664/Holy-beer-belly-Bradfords-real-life-Batman-in-battle-over-paunch-claims.html
March 5, 2013 at 1:27 pm
I sure would have if I had the channel that shows it and I would have had a Guinness by my side :-). I normally always hope that Man united will loose but not this time 🙂
March 5, 2013 at 1:33 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Not many on this side of the world I suspect.
I wonder if he really did have a track suit underneath. His picture was face only so that will be a mystery.
March 5, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Fox Soccer will go live. An awful lot of people that are on this side of the world will be looking
Christer, a Guiness would be very nice 🙂 Hope you find the game somewhere. Spurs go on Thursday against Inter Milan
March 5, 2013 at 2:25 pm
MDH,
I have never been a fan of football (notice football, not soccer) yet you had me watching the whole game the other day. I will check it pout for a bit on Fox.
March 5, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Now, Katmah, now – the game is rocking
March 5, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Hedley, enough appropriate Dortmund beer but no soccer on free TV today !!! Radio?
March 5, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Birgit and Christer……DANG ! I thought that you would both be able to settle in and watch the game tonight.
Dortmund Beer followed by a Guiness would be extremely nice.
March 5, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Birgit
I had forgotten that Dortmund is so close to Bochum and that Borussia Dortmund go tonight as well. Hopefully you get coverage of that match
March 5, 2013 at 4:50 pm
MDH,
I took a nap and missed all the excitement!
March 5, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Just the opposite weather over here and today the first Crane arrived to the lake. I thought I heard a crane before it went dark outside but thought it was way to early for that sound. It turns out that after a short visit to the lake the crane flew to my village 🙂 So I must have heard right 🙂
Yes most boxers tend to get fat when gettring old over here too and Labradors. Labradors usually looks like squares with four sticks going down to the ground 🙂 🙂 🙂 But I never take my dogs to a well dog visit, I’m there with them often enough as it is anyway 🙂 🙂 🙂 But I think that it would cost that much for all four dogs if I did take them to such a visit, I think our vet bills are cheaper than Yours are.
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 5, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Christer,
I am amazed the cranes have already started to return. Spring is in your air at least.
The most expensive parts were the heartworm bills and the flea and tick stuff. They were well over $100.00 combined. Two of the shots are good for 3 years so her well dog visits will be cheaper the next few years.
Luckily these are the only vet visits for Gracie so far!
Have a wonderful evening.
March 5, 2013 at 1:48 pm
I assume I shouldn’t write that we had a warm sunny afternoon with tea, cake and ice cream on the terrace and that I started to trim the appletrees …
March 5, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Birgit,
No, you shouldn’t!!!
March 5, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Kat:
Imagine what it would cost if Gracie were actually sick…
Flowers already?? We still have 3 feet of snow around the house, and more expected Thursday-Friday from that storm in the midwest. You’ll get rain.
Re the Amazing Race: I’m sure they ask the contestants about knowing how to swim, drive a stick, fear of heights, etc.,knowing that if they choose those contestants, their demise will be more dramatic. Makes for “good” tv.
March 5, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Bill,
So the team member who says no I can’t swim and decided to go anyway is an idiot as so many times swimming is involved and most times it is both teammates. I would think liability would give the producers second thoughts about placing someone in possible harm’s way because of their fears.
Most times it is totally undramatic as the teams decide not to do the task.
I have flowers, small white snowdrops which have bloomed. I don’t know what the yellow buds are but they might be crocus. There are only small patches of snow here and there from large piles the plows left. All the rain we had got rid of the snow.
I saw the weather and the snow on its way. In all the possibilities, we didn’t get any. I was happy!
Sorry you’re getting more!!
March 5, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Hi Kat,
That bill would have made my legs wobbly, too. Rocky’s things seem to be spaced out over time so I’m not hit with everything at once. Even so, it can get expensive.
The dog Duke that I had as a kid never went for vet visits unless he was sick. He wandered around wherever he liked, too. In fact he somehow managed to get the neighbors two streets up to feed him hamburger on a regular basis. He got sick from it but he didn’t get fat. My father was not pleased when he found out.
It’s dreary up here again. Somewhere in The Lord of the Rings there’s an appendix giving the names of the months in one of the Middle Earth languages. The name for October was Winterfilth. I was thinking today that if Tolkien had been American from the northeast, Winterfilth would have been the name for March. 🙂
I think I need to force some maple branches or find some pussy willows. 🙂
Enjoy the day.
March 5, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Hi Caryn,
Everything is a week or two apart so the vet decided to do it all at once. The two weeks wouldn’t have mattered; the cost would still have come out of this month. I have decided to start feeding her every other day to save money!
That is absolutely the perfect name for March.
I have some pussy willows, and they are lovely!
Stay warm!
March 5, 2013 at 7:03 pm
Every dog we have had lived a very healthy and long life eating grocery store dry food. We buy what is on sale and they seem to flourish regardless of the TV commercials for the expensive stuff. When we bring our dog to the vet we ask them to give them their shots and we ask them to not draw their blood, or investigate their stool since they live indoors and only play in our yard. This saves a lot of money. The largest expense is the monthly pill that prevents heart worms and also prevents flea infestations.
There was a story on the local new last night about people who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their pet’s care when they get some kind of catastrophic illness or injury. I love all the dogs that I have owned but when the medical bill exceeds a couple of hundred dollars its time to euthanize the animal so that they don’t suffer.
March 5, 2013 at 8:17 pm
Bob,
I had to buy one pill for heartwood and the gel you put on the neck to prevent fleas. I didn’t know there was one pill which would do both.
One of my friend’s dogs died of lyme disease so Gracie gets a shot against that. The deer ticks are all around here. My last two dogs were 8 when they died: both Boxers who died of diseases common to Boxers, but I am hoping Gracie will live longer.
Every year the well dog visit exceeds $200.00, but I expect that. Gracie plays with other dogs and she needs to be protected.
March 5, 2013 at 9:58 pm
I think the name of the pill is called Sentinel. The flea control part works when a flea bites the dog the flea takes some of the blood. The Doug’s blood has the stuff in it that acts like birth control for the flea and it can’t reproduce. Presto no fleas. We have been using it for years on greyhounds, greyhounds are susceptible to allergic reactions to chemical insecticides, without any problems with the dogs and no fleas and no messy gunk on their necks.
March 6, 2013 at 10:31 am
Bob,
Does it also prevent heart worm? I have heard of Sentinel but didn’t know how it works.
Gracie has had fleas only once and that was a couple of years ago. My other two Boxers never had fleas, and I never gave them anything against fleas. Their fur is so short you could see a flea if she had any. I use the stuff in case of ticks.
March 6, 2013 at 8:15 am
Phil Hughes of the Yankees meets the KTCC Team
Really Phil ?????/
March 6, 2013 at 10:25 am
My Dear Hedley,
The man is a Philistine!
March 6, 2013 at 11:00 am
Following the Yankees screams front runner ! I do like the idea that he was in with the Y** Army at City. I am sure that he heard a whole bunch of stuff.
First time I took Mrs MDH to White Hart Lane , she kept asking what the Park Lane End were chanting, when I finally told her, she sat down and didnt say anything for the rest of the game !!
March 6, 2013 at 11:18 am
MDH,
I tried to hear what they were saying then just gave up. By the sound of your comment, I’m glad I did!
March 7, 2013 at 5:42 am
On Monday, my daughter spent $325.00 at the vet on her dog, a Boston Terror named Baxter. After X-rays it was discovered he ate something not edible. Luckily he has begun to pass this mixture of children’s toys, hair elastics, and hunks of wood. She has a two year old and a teething baby. I keep telling here life is not always like this.
March 7, 2013 at 10:44 am
Cuidado,
Oh my, I haven’t ever had a puppy who ate stuff indiscriminately. How do you know what the dog will eat? It’s easier to child proof a house.
My $365.00 still makes me wobbly!
March 8, 2013 at 6:18 am
The dog is six and was not known for eating things previously though he has chewed things. He was still vomiting yesterday.
March 8, 2013 at 10:05 am
Cuidado,
I wonder what sparked that.
I hope he rcovers completely.