Ugh… what a day. Two days ago, our kitty Janie got attacked by a neighborhood cat that jumped our fence into our backyard. We didn’t realize that she was injured until last night, when we found her hiding in a closet and nearly lethargic. We found bad wounds on her hind paws and called the emergency vet. They said she was infected and sick and needed to come in to the ER immediately.
At 11pm, we arrived at the all-night vet.
At 2am, we left the vet with a morphined, bandaged kitty and 300 fewer dollars.
At 2:30am, I went to sleep. I was sick and restless all night, still miserable from my congestion.
At 6:45am, I woke up, feeling miserable still.
At 8:00am, I got together with a bride and groom to take their wedding portraits at the Broadmoor resort. It was already about 80 degrees and very sunny. I was not feeling mentally or physically alert.
At 8:15am, I realized I had forgotten to put on deodorant. Let’s just say I wasn’t giving off my most professional image.
At 9:30am, I got home and went back to bed.
At 12:30pm, I woke up to the sounds of our regular vet calling. Bring Janie in right away, they said. We got her report from the emergency room, and we don’t agree with her prescription.
At 1:00, I got dressed and ready to go to the vet. In my sleepy and sick state, I packed up my camera instead of my cat.
At 1:05, I went back for the cat.
At 1:30, I find out that our regular vet disagrees with just about everything we paid $300 for last night. He gave us new prescriptions, took off her bandages, and told us never to go back to that ER.
At 6:30 tonight I have a meeting with a prospective bride. I am not feeling at all capable of being interviewed, but I’ll bring some Puffs Plus and put on a happy face. It’s the best I can do. I’d better run out now so I can get there in time.
UPDATE:
The meeting was a mess tonight. I was so disorganized. I chose to meet at a coffee shop that was closed! I brought an album that was empty! I dropped all my loose prints on the street! I had a coughing fit in the middle of the meeting! This has not been my day at all. The good news is that the bride really seemed to like me and my work, so I might get the job anyway. She was a lot of fun, and I think I’d really enjoy her wedding. She is meeting with another photographer next week, and she says she’ll get back to me after that. Sigh. I am going to force myself to go to bed now instead of work on the computer all night. I think I’ll feel much better tomorrow after some sound sleep tonight. The sun’ll come out tomorrow.
Ally loves the snow! She is going to be so sad when it all melts away.
The weather here is really bizarre, but I love it. Over the weekend, it was 60 degrees in the city, but there was still over a foot of snow in the mountains. We drove up to the Crags, near Divide, CO, and went for a beautiful hike in the snow. You can see from this picture that despite the snow around my ankles, the sunshine made it warm enough for me not to need a coat. People had told me that Colorado’s arid and sunny climate would feel like this, but I had to see it to believe it.
This is one happy doggie.
Our little weirdo loves to bury her head in the snow, like an ostrich.
Ally exhibits some of her endless grace.
When I lived in Arlington, Virginia, my favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon was stroll around Clarendon, and then sit and read a book in my favorite coffee shop. Now that I live in Colorado, I get to stroll around the mountains, and then sit in my new favorite coffee shop and look out on Pikes Peak.
Our neighborhood is full of deer. They just wander around and hang out in our front yards. At first I was surprised every time I saw them, but now I just say hello to them and carry on. They are just a part of our neighborhood, and I’d miss them if they ever left.
Most days when I go walking I pass two herds of female deer. One herd has eight deer, and one has four. On rare occasions, we’ll see one of the big male deer walking around solo. The deer are very used to people and not shy around us, but they get a little nervous around our dog.
I just thought you guys had to see this for yourself.
Someday I’ll get a picture of all eight of the deer in that big herd. It’s quite a sight to have a yard with eight deer in it!
Ally! She is such a mountain dog. I love that she inspires us to spend more time hiking!
This is our neighborhood. No, I’m serious. This hiking trail is right near our house, and I get to see this kind of scenery every day. You see those houses on the cliff on the left? That’s our subdivision. Fantastic, isn’t it! Unfortunately we don’t have a cliffside view, but we’re just a couple blocks from several beautiful trails. And yes, that’s a fabulous view of Garden of the Gods in the background. Living in Colorado is even more fabulous than I ever expected. 
Ally is quite the whirling dervish. I get tired just looking at this picture.
Here’s another view of the houses in our neighborhood. What a great place to live, especially if you’re a dog.
February 23, 2005 15:28
Ten Things I’ve Done
I’ve enjoyed reading people’s lists of ten strange things they’ve done! Here’s mine, but with pictures, of course!
Ten things I’ve done:
1. Dressed as the mascot of the New England Revolution (a fox) in front of tens of thousands of people, during the opening ceremonies of the Major League Soccer Cup. I shook my fluffy tail to “Rockin in the USA.”
2. Spoke in American Sign Language with chimpanzees, as a volunteer at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Washington state. It changed my view of the world.
3. Taught an English class to Slovak teenagers in rural, eastern Slovakia.
4. Served roadkill wallaby and goanna to unwitting campers in Kakadu National Park in northwest Australia.
(sorry no pic)
5. Competed in a televised academic quiz show at the age of 9. I said that 13 plus 3 divided by 2 times 4 equals 24. I was a real genius in the making.
7. Volunteered as the surgical assistant in a feline spay/neuter clinic.
8. Went on a first date to watch the chicken-impersonation contest at the Roosevelt County Fair in eastern Montana. One of the better first dates I’ve had, to be honest.
9. Took trapeze lessons.
10. Swam in the world’s brightest bioluminscent bay, in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
We took our new dog, Ally, home from the animal shelter this afternoon!
She sat so patiently and happily in the backseat.
Here they are in the car on the way home from the shelter! I took these first two pics with my cell phone, because I forgot my camera. d’oh. The rest of the pictures were taken with my pocket camera, because I didn’t want our whirling dervish to get near my equipment, at least not yet!
This is probably the best photo to give you an idea of what Ally looks like. Her coloring is so pretty!
But this is what she actually looks like most of the time.
We took her into our backyard and waited for our cats inside to start to notice her out the window.
Ally was so happy to be there with us!
She was a bit energetic, to say the least.
And the cats definitely noticed. 
We continued to play with Ally outside the patio door.
The cats promptly fled to the basement.
I lured the cats out with treats. The sound of the treats rattling in their container
worked temporarily and brought them out of hiding.
But this was just not acceptable behavior for their backyard. They fled back into the
basement, calling us bitches under their breath.
It was time for the big guns. I bribed them out of the basement with salmon.
After the cats watched the dog out the window for a while, we decided to let them
outside, too. Fortunately we have a separate area of the backyard that is fenced
in for a dog. We put Ally in there to keep her separated from the cats.
Of course the cats weren’t going anywhere without a bribe. A request like this
required both salmon AND treats.
My little trooper, Janie, came out and ignored the bribes.
Janie made herself as big and scary as possible. ROWR! My brave little girlie.
Roger hid.
Allycutie was behaving herself, but really wanted to return to her game of frisbee
on the other side of the fence.
Janie started to feel a little more comfortable, but remained alert.
Roger continued to hide. Pansy boy.
Finally we brought Ally inside and sequestered her to the basement. Our makeshift
babygate kept her away from the cats. Not that it mattered much, because they
promptly hid under the bed for a few hours.
Eventually I decided some tuna would get them out from under the bed. I put the
tuna at the top of the stairs, to get them a little closer to the dog in the basement.
Of course Ally smelled the tuna, too, and she ran up and scared the crap out of the cats.
We gave her treats in the basement and let the cats eat their bribe in peace.
Now Roger and Janie are nestled safely under the bed again, and Ally is finally
getting tired. Thank god, because we never thought this dog would ever tire out!
