joysweeper

Last week the neighbors left and had us dogsit their remaining Rhodesian Ridgeback, Nina. They had another one, but he was old and cancerous, and they put him to sleep a few weeks ago. This was the first time since his death that Nina was without her owners for any length of time. She's a nice enough dog, always happy to see me. Couple years old. Fawns a lot. And after the first couple days, every time we put her in the crate for the night and let her out in the morning, she crapped it.

Yuck.

We ended up getting her antidiarrhea medicine, which seemed to work. But then one evening she went and encountered a skunk. Came back reeking and with a scratch on her muzzle. Getting all the ingredients for the shampoo together and then getting it on her wasn't fun. Oy. Oddly, skunk isn't quite as bad as it's hyped up to be. Nasty, yes, it smells partly like something burned. But not what I'd thought.

Their house still reeks of skunk, though the dog herself no longer does. The neighbors were extremely apologetic. We had to take Nina to the vet to get her another anti-rabies shot, but fortunately that went on the neighbors' account and not ours. They cut their vacation short and apologized some more. Sooner or later we'll get paid. Everything went wrong. *laughs*

The day before we left for Chicago - we just came back - I had my brother drive me to the nearest haircut place, two miles away, to get my hair cut. The line was long, so he went home. My cell phone decided to break. I walked back, and the experience has taught me that sandals are evil. Seriously! They are not designed for any amount of walking. I ended up with all these blisters.

I still dislike my Chicago cousins, but we didn't stay too long this time. Since I am apparently the only one in either family who wants to go, we did not see the Chicago Field Museum. Again. This also happened last year, when there was a temporary exhibit I really wanted to go to. That year they went to the Botanical Gardens. In what universe are gardens better than dinosaurs?!

This year we did at least go to this tiny reptile conservation place, which had some accomodating staff and a few reptiles that didn't mind being touched. It's odd how soft and slick they were. There was a rhinocerous iguana that apparently loved being petted. She'd stand up straighter and close her eyes. Her tail was a lot harder and rougher than the rest of her body, probably because of how iguanas use those tails as defensive weapons.

So that wasn't terrible.

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Dragons.