Dog friends!

Well, I've been very satisfied with David as a remodeler around here, but as of today he gets 5 stars for something completely unrelated --- he's made Rocky and Boo friends!  Amazing. 

 

 

Well, maybe they aren't "pals" -- they seem to ignore each other, actually.  But at least there's no more growling and neck hair standing up.  That's VERY good.

 

Well, maybe it probably wasn't THAT hard for him, actually . . . particularly since I don't think he had the slightest idea what he was accomplishing!  (He apparently just forgot he was supposed to keep them separated.)  I'm thinking the way they went after each other when I first got Boo was probably my own fault.  After losing our Rottie when he and Ben, another of our dogs, fought, I was terrified that Rocky and Boo  wouldn't get along -- and they probably felt my fear and maybe each thought it was caused by the other.  I've seen that time and time again on Dog Whisperer, and I had a feeling I might have been responsible -- but I was still afraid to try putting them together.  So I'm grateful to David for having dealt with that TOO.

 

He has also put the porch roof, side and floor back together again.  Turns out the people we bought the house from - who also built it -- didn't do the siding on the end of the porch correctly.  And as a result, the water has been running off the roof and down between the siding and the wood for the last two decades!  David showed me pictures he took that showed that another year or two would have resulted in a collapsed porch!  So he has replaced the wood and put the siding back on -- correctly this time.  I'll tell you what - the guy really is good. 

 

And Bryan has been doing an excellent job on the barn, as well.  He has just about finished putting up the insulation and the interior walls, AND the ceilings.  After mark gets home tomorrow they'll be finishing up the electrical in there.  I am really looking forward to THAT -- it means heat, air conditioning, and a dehumidifier!  Yes!  Then we can move the horse feed out of the kitchen and back out to the barn.  It kept getting moldy because of the horrendous humidity over the last few months so we brought it all inside.  It's a bit of a pain to have to measure out three scoops and carry them out to the barn, along with the Aloe Vera, twice a day.  Can't wait to have the barn ready for the A/C and refrigerator and sink and . . . well, you get it. 

 

But since there's so much to do in the barn, I'm beginning to wonder if we'll have time to get those trees cut up and hauled out to the front in time for the parish to pick them up.  Well, at least the horses don't seem to be the least bit disturbed by them.  In fact, they've made it possible to feed everyone without locking each paddock because Duke no longer bothers to go around to Arthur and Lizzie's stalls to steal their feed -- it's just too darned far to bother now that he would have to go clear out around the trees!  You can't really see it in this picture, but there is a second tree on the ground just outside the bottom of the picture below, and that's what keeps them from going directly into their paddocks.

 

The horses don't seem to mind the fallen trees at all

 

Their vet will be back on Thursday to give them all their yearly vaccinations.  It will be a bit early -- I generally have that done nearer the end of the year -- but I don't know what shots Arthur has had (or not had), so I want to make sure he has his West Nile vaccination at the very least. 

 

I also found a way to keep Lizzie safe from any serious colic problem.  I signed her up for automatic delivery of SmartDigest Ultra, a digestive supplement with pre- and probiotics, digestive enzymes, glutamine, "hindgut acid protection" (not sure WHAT that is), and even some licorice -- who knows why THAT is!  But if you keep a horse on that supplement, you can get something called ColiCare that is essentially an insurance that will cover colic surgery up to $7500 if they need it.  It's been impossible for me to find insurance for Lizzie since she's more than 20 years old.  But for the ColiCare, they qualify if they are less than 25 years old!   Lizzie is only 21, and she can stay "insured" until she's 28 -- as long as she stays on the stuff.  I'm going to have to check with Anne Thursday to be sure it won't be a problem with her Cushings medication, but I'm pretty sure it isn't. 

 

But anyway - the requirements for that insurance include an annual physical exam, annual dental exam, care by a licensed vet, no previous colic surgery, annual vaccinations by the vet, 2 annual dewormings, AND an annual fecal exam.    Well, she already gets all of that stuff EXCEPT the fecal exam.  So we'll get that done on Thursday, too.  It's going to make me feel so much better to know that both Duke AND Lizzie will be insured now, in case colic surgery is necessary.  Well, Duke is actually insured for anything - up to $20,000.  But the one thing that worries me about Lizzie is colic, so this will definitely make me worry less.  And hey -- taking the stuff may make her feel better, too!  We'll have to see.