Brisket

I know, I know.  I haven't been online and writing for TWO weeks.  There's SO MUCH to tell, but right now, I am completely riveted to something really important....

Mom and Dad made 45 pounds of brisket yesterday and today for Mom's last Fall fundraiser - the Beef and Beer.  It has been TWO DAYS of torture for Shadow and Me.  Really...the smell of braising the meat, the odor of slow roasting, waiting while they pulled it all apart and collected the juices, and then, they have the audacity to leave it in PLAIN SIGHT and SMELL.

Isn't there some kind of law against this?

I mean really, this is torture!

But...check me out here...

I snuck a piece anyway.

Like the invitation says...eat more beef.

Operation Save Hepsi's Garage Sale

I like garage sales.  I'll bet you like them to for the same reason...they're FULL of all kinds of new smells.  What?  You don't go there for the smells?  Hmmmm....humans are odd.  You like STUFF...and there's plenty of stuff here.  


****Before I go on, the garage sale, Part 2 is Saturday, October 15, from 8-? at Lynn's.  Check the website for address.  Last week was so successful that we needed to have a Part 2!****

I'm NOT, I repeat, NOT for sale.  I'm just posing as any good spokesdog should.

So, stuff and stuff and stuff...

Colin and his amazing Tie-Dye shirts.  Come and get one.  (No canine styles...yet.)


And no sale is complete without bling.  

And the Bling's creator - Debra (and ME.  No photo is complete without ME).

The bottom line?            $1850 !!!!  Holy Mackeral!

So the saying is true:  One man's junk is really Hepsi's treasure.

If I had any energy, I'd wonder if we'll do as well this weekend.  Why worry when you can sleep in the sunshine?

Happy Birthday....

..to ME!  Yesterday was my birthday!  (Actually, by the time I get this posted it will be way past my birthday, but Hey! I do a a problem with the whole time concept.)  So, I just had my birthday, and I had a really special and busy birthday!  First thing in the morning,while the grass was all dewy and cool, Mom and I went to an agility competition.  It was Day 2 of Lums Pond and it could only be better than Day 1.  I had fun, but I DID NOT LISTEN WELL to instructions on the course, so we had three NQ's (did not qualify).  Mom blamed herself (like all good handlers) and hoped to go better on Sunday.  (actually, she was so frustrated by our performance on Saturday that she thought about skipping Sunday altogether.  That's VERY UNLIKE HER...but truth to tell, she got overly tired and it wasn't fun competing later in the day.  I cold see she was hurting badly, and I think she paid more attention to her body's aches and ills than to me.  Consequently, I lived up to my Moussechief nickname).


I'm so glad Mom opted to go Sunday morning.  She told me all the way out to the pond that we were just going to concentrate on having fun and more fun...no matter what the course presented us with.  Just fun...And fun it was.  A fast course that showed off all the distance training we've been doing.  There was no way for mom to keep up me after the tunnel, but she hit all the verbal commands perfectly, and I listened perfectly.  Here's what it looked like:

Lauri and Gusto were at the end to say congratulations to us.  Lauri also let mom cry and cry cry and cry and cry.  This was her last competition with me as my handler.  She decided that no matter what the happened today, it would be the last until she's better.

Friends that hold you when you cry are The Best!

How did we do?  What was the result???? Check this out.

TaDa!  First Place and a Clean Run!  Mom couldn't be happier.  What a way to go out!

It was a Blue Ribbon Day for us both!

Steroid Bully (or I'm sorry Mom Z)

Mom is on a tear...really.  I don't want to get off on a rant and you know I don't bark trash about her, but she is Out of Control.  Since the only way to resolve the muscle weakness is to cut back on the steroids, that's what she's done.  You'd think that cutting back one little, bitty milligram wouldn't be a BIG DEAL, right?  What's the hassle with going from 10 mg/day to 9mg/day?   


It's the difference between being kind of normal and wanting to rip everyone's head off.
Kinda like when I'm roughing housing with Shadow.

Grrrrrr...I ain't playin' with you, Shadow.  I'm trying to rip your lips off.

Remember, steroids can cause mood swings (see previous post on the joys of steroids).  If you take a lot of steroids, you can turn into a BULLY.  And when you cut back, you can turn into a BULLY.  Throw in a full moon, and you'll have a howling good time  (sorry, that's a little dog/werewolf joke).


 Here's the problem; once you've taken steroids for a long time, your body gets habituated to them.  Your adrenal glands don't produce as much natural steroid while taking steroid pills, and your body gets used to this state of affairs.  Withdrawing from steroids slowly is a way to "trick" the adrenal glands into doing their job again.  The trick's really on the body: while waiting for the adrenal glands to wake up and go back to work, mom feels very bad...crummy, poorly, rotten, like she has the flu all the time... and that's just the physical part.


The emotional and mental part is harder.  She's prone to crying for no reason and seems to have very little control of her emotions.  She's also temperamental and is easily overwhelmed by the littlest thing.  I mean little...like picking up a pillow to make the bed this morning, hurt.  So she cried...not so much from pain, but from frustration and steroid withdrawal.  Her printer stopped working, so she yelled at it, uttered a few curse words (unfortunately not under her breath) and burst into tears.  


And worst of all, when her mom came in, (that's Mom Z), little mom went nuts...crying and babbling incoherently about "How overwhelming it all is".  There's too much to do...and not enough people to do it all.  The campaign is working flat out and still, it seems like it's not enough.  It's too hard and everyone just has to stop...how long will it all take?  And let's not even start on Workman's Comp.  


Boy, she said some harsh things and was aghast to hear those things come out of her mouth - she's usually optimistic and pretty cheerful, but poor Mom Z really took some abuse from her today.  Not all of it can be related to steroid withdrawal - there's a lot of stress in a campaign to raise funds, but it seems that the lack of that one little bitty mg does make a BIG difference.  It removes the ability to control your emotions and stop yourself from saying some very hurtful things.

I'd offer to share my bone with her, but in her current mood, I'm afraid she'd rip off my lips, and I need my lips.

I wouldn't be nearly as cute in this photo if I had no lips.

I think I'll just curl up in her pillows and wait for her to come and cuddle up with me.  Tomorrow will be better.  It certainly couldn't be worse.