Cotton Balls

Actually, that would have been more fun.

Today I got to experience nerve conduction testing. While not as bad as I was expecting, it still wasn’t much fun. Basically they stick needles into your muscles (while insisting that you remain completely relaxed as they do!) then ask you to flex so that they can check how your nerves and muscles are working. Some times they shock you with electricity (probably mostly for amusement). Where they stabbed me in the back, I developed some colorful goose eggs. I take turmeric, which acts as a blood thinner, so I ended up with cotton ball band-aids all over.

The take away? I can add Lou Gehrig’s Disease to my list of things I don’t have.

Another “you” post? This is getting boring.

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Another Encounter

Hey, what happened to you? I had a run in with a yellow jacket. How does it feel.

Ba-dum-dum!

I saw a movie recently where Mila Kunis’ character knew she was royalty because bees never stung her. I must be the opposite of royalty.

Up in heaven, Geordie is saying, “It’s not so funny when it happens to you, is it?!?”

This was Toby on the day he got his nose stung.

He didn’t know me well enough to trust me to take the stinger out.

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What would two puppies do if left on their own in an art museum? Find out in Dream Our World! Inside the boys discover the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.

Dream Our World is available form my shop.

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Fresh Hell

This doesn't help at all! Yeah, tell me about it.

That's not psoriasis. Those are ant bites on your butt. Hmm, now that you mention it, I might have sat on an ant hill when I was working in the garden.

Sheesh. Humans. They'll complain about anything. Yeah, I agree. By the way, do your paws itch?

When I was diagnosed with psoriasis, I never thought of all the places it could show up. Finding out psoriasis can hide where no one can see seemed like a particularly awful fate. Thank heavens this was only a run in with some angry ants.

If you wanted someone to bite your butt, you should have let me know.

I already bite your underwear.

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A variety of hand painted hankies are available from my shop at L Bowman Studios.

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Asleep At His Post

Yesterday was too hot for Toby, so I left him inside while I went out to work. When I was done, I found Toby asleep inside of the glass door. Usually dogs can hear you coming from far away, but Toby was lying on his side in such a deep slumber that he didn’t know I was there. I decided that I was going to watch him for a bit as his little paws twitched. Suddenly he rolled over onto his stomach and looked up at my face…then down at my feet…then up at my face…then down at my feet. This went on over and over and over. He didn’t stand, and his tail didn’t wag. He was still asleep! I was planning to move just to see how he would react with the glass between us, but before I could I saw his brain wake up and his eyes come alive. He smiled, and his tail started wagging. My boy was back.

I’m a little bit sorry I didn’t get a chance to see how he would react through the glass, but I’m glad I looked first before opening the door. 😆

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Now is a great time to introduce your kids to the world of art. With Dream Our World, you can do so through a canine perspective! Have all the fun of a museum experience without the expensive gas to get there.

Inside, Bitey and Toby visit the museum of their dreams and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.

Dream Our World is available from my shop.

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Sinister Owl

Uh huh! Uh uh! Eeee!! Noooooo! Help! Aaagh! Nope nope nope! Arf! Aiiii! Arf! Yipe! Yipe!

Geordie was always hyper aware of birds of prey. He could spot a hawk in a tree from a quarter mile away. Toby never seemed to pay much attention to them until my folks brought this owl decoy for the garden. When he saw it he let out such a blood curdling scream that you would have thought he was being murdered. If the little guy weren’t so afraid, it would have been funny.

I am curious if the owl will discourage Toby from trying to steal beans from the garden. So far the bunnies and the beetles don’t care. (Stupid bunnies.)

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Garden Orphans

Oh come on. It was only a few days. That's six months in Dog Time!

It may have only been a few days I spent working in the garden, but Toby makes me feel as guilty as if I’d left him for a year.

Don’t talk to me until there’s food in that garden.

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Trade

At first there were two socks.

Then this….

Toby didn’t think I would notice that he traded his tiger for my sock.

(He stole the underwear to instigate a game of chase, though.)

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Mommy’s Tick

Help, I have a tick! It's the worst pain in the entire world! She's doomed!

That's not what happened. Who is the world going to believe? You or me?

Well, it was my turn to get a tick this week. I foolishly laid down in the grass to stretch my back, and one of those blood-thirsty little suckers got me. Toby said he was glad I finally knew what it felt like to be snacked on by a bug and that I should have much more sympathy for him and that I should give him more Milk Bones to make up for all the suffering he has gone through and the Milk Bone compensation is retroactive to Geordie’s lifetime and it extends to other animals that have ticks too. In other words, many more Milk Bones.

Many, many more Milk Bone

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Not a Cat, Not a Brain…

Not a cat. Not a brain. Nothing.

I got all of my test results back and found out that I have…absolutely nothing. This is the way it’s been for the past 30+ years. Nothing shows up in blood work or X rays, so technically I am healthy.

My veins object to people trying to take what is theirs.

The reason I went to a doctor was to get a prescription for eye drops so that hopefully I could go back to doing computer work and painting. The insurance company, however, determined that the eye drops are “medically unnecessary”, so here I sit with no computer or paints, trying to figure out a future with limited eye usage.

Did you know there is such a thing as ocular rosacea? I didn’t.

A friend sent me a few articles on supplements that seem to help people like me who are having odd, random symptoms. Perhaps one or a combination of them might get me to a point where I can at least draw some Bitey Dogs again.

Toby seems to have an opinion on all that is going on, but he only knows how to express himself as a growling, tantrum-throwing fiend. He has attacked me three times in the past two weeks. They say God sends you the family you are supposed to have. I must have really ticked Him off at some point.

What are you looking at? Grrrr….

On an unrelated note, if you haven’t seen the movie The Miracle at Cokeville, it is a particularly uplifting story given recent events.

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Cake

Monday brought the most incredible news. Toby’s groomer said he was a good boy! He was such a good boy that she didn’t even charge me a “Dangerous Animal” fee. Everyone decided that with Toby’s weight loss, his calming medicine worked more effectively.

To be honest, I would rather be fat and feisty.

(Yes Toby did get a treat for being a good boy, but only a small one.)