Monday, May 26, 2014

Pool Peace

2014 turned out to be the best and easiest pool opening that I can remember in the 10 years that we have had this pool.  Maybe it was because this was the first time in 10 years that Elliott helped me...!  Ha!  Usually the pool is a green, slimey, stinky mess because the safety cover I have on there is porous and allows decaying leaves, bugs, etc. through.  They in turn decompose into the pool all fall, winter and spring.  This year we had a solid ice/snow cover all year so that kept a lot of the debris out resulting in pretty clear water at the opening.  I will have to think about putting some sort of solid cover down before the safety cover maybe this fall.  Anyway, I had to replace the salt chlorinator this spring and I poured about a dozen gallons of bleach in to shock it.  Whatever the formula, it all came together with no issues, leaks or fights.  Even the new (replacement) deck cleaner attachment for the power washer worked great.  I am pretty happy with that.  And so is Mocha as you can see in the video below:


Friday, May 16, 2014

Don't Call That Dog Britni, Call Her "Lifesaver"

A couple of weeks ago, 12 year old Britni the beagle became very lethargic.  Wouldn't eat, barely moved all day - just seemed like she was on her last legs.  She would go out to do her business but couldn't handle the stairs or anything.  I just figured it was old age and we didn't want to spend a fortune on testing.  She didn't seem to be in any pain - just unmotivated, maybe even confused - sometimes she would just wander around aimlessly.  I consulted Google and it was possible she had CCD (Canine Cognitive Dysfunction) or a stroke or other things.  Then at times she would perk right up and almost seem normal.  Those wild swings made me keep thinking and researching.  I thought perhaps she was diabetic so our nurse friend procured some test strips and Lucie managed to capture some of Britni's pee and test it.  Negative.  More research.  Perhaps she is hypoglycemic.  The "cure" for that is to give the dog honey.  So I did and it was like a miracle.  She bounced back in a couple of hours and was pretty much her old self.  So I started drizzling honey on her food (which she now ate right down) and in a few days, she was charging up and down the stairs again, full of energy, barking and howling and just being annoying like she always is.  That doesn't answer the underlying cause which we may eventually get checked out but for about 2 weeks now, the honey is all the fix we need.

But how does that make her a lifesaver?  Well, during the diabetes testing, that same nurse friend's husband began complaining of excessive thirst and other issues.  So on a whim she did a test on him and found his blood sugar was off the charts high!  Off to the doc they went and he is now on meds and a modified diet.  I don't know if Britni's episode occurred directly to discover our friend's condition but I will give her credit.