Truth

This has been changed, but one hopes.

Oh, and Mayor Daley? Suck it.

Sometimes I Hate Learning More About Veterinary Medicine

One of our dogs was off her feed the weekend before last so we took her to the vet. Tests were run and the conclusion arrived at that she had a kidney infection. Antibiotics were started.

Fast forward 9 days and I get to learn about “canine glomerulonephritis”. She has a kidney condition that is slowly causing her kidneys to stop working, which was heading her towards renal failure.

The vet worked out what we believe is the proper treatment to stabilize her (it’s the wrong one if the underlying cause is an infection that didn’t get cleared up by the antibiotics, such as a variety of tick fever or Valley fever but they are taking precautions). She’s at the vet at least overnight, IV fluids and glucose, sub-q fluids (she hasn’t eaten anything since Tuesday evening), steroids and a couple of other things.

Now I get to learn about all the possible underlying conditions that can cause glomerulonephritis – several cancers (been that route once, at least we know a good veterinary oncology unit nearby), autoimmune disorders, various viral infections. None of these are particularly good though some offer better long-term prognoses than others. At least now we have a plan and I’ll know more tomorrow.

Mind you, I have nursed Hannah through 2 knee reconstructions with multiple attendant recurring infections;this ran about a year and some in total; and the aftermath of a nasty fight with our other dog (long story) plus the usual issues you run into with a big pure-breed. And Zoe had her own problems after that fight plus putting a paw through a window and cutting a tendon which had to be surgically rebuilt (43 vet trips in 11 weeks, that one – good times).

So we’re not unfamiliar with much of how to deal with this sort of thing. It has made it easier to get through a lot of it. When you know that your dog *will* suffer loss of appetite after the first antibiotic dose, or that she can blow through the maximum dose of acepromazin for her weight like she never took it, or that she need to be muzzled to get a temperature, and you don’t need the “Rymadil can cause liver damage with long-term use”, and you can understand what they are saying without too much detailed explanation it streamlines things somewhat.

Still, sometimes I hate learning more about veterinary medicine.

Update: So, evidently she is feeling better but her test results aren’t improving yet – another day of hospitalization and treatment. We’re going to go see her a little later. Poor puppy…

A Cunning Organization…

I have no doubt.

H/T to Tam for this one.

Help Me Win Free Stuff

M.D. Creekmore at the The Survivalist Blog – a survival blogdedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents, survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated byLuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.

Cuz I’ll happily post up a link to what I feel is a blog with some good prepper info, especially if I get a chance at a case of 9mm.

This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.

Quality Ingredients+Liquid Nitrogen=ICE CREAM!!!!

I’d forgotten about this, but we made ice cream using liquid nitrogen a while back. It was cool.

I LOL’d

So I’m watching “Zombie Strippers” – a C movie if ever there was one. And then there’s a scene where porn star Jenna Jameson (who once hit on my high school friend Randy in a bowling alley) is a….wait for it…zombie stripper who takes Jeremy into the Champagne Room and then proceeds to feast on his junk. Exhibiting gustatory enthusiasm, no less.

Strip club owner Robert Englund, et alia, rush in where a gore-splattered Jenna offers them a severed limb by way of an olive branch. They decline so she totters off as only a zombie wearing stripper heels can do.

Meanwhile, bouncer Tito Ortiz has slunk out the door – no doubt opining that discretion is the better part of valor or something to that effect.

Did I mention that I have the 2009 remake of Friday the 13th playing on the television as background noise? I’ve camped in the park where they filmed the original Part II, but nobody attacked me with a machete.

Zombie Jenna cackling while reading Nietzsche and saying “This makes so much more sense now” is priceless.

Blackwater Kitty!

There may need to be a T-shirt.

Black Holes are Racist

NAACP calls Hallmark graduation card racist

Quote:

CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) — A graduation card sold at local stores has been pulled from shelves after a civil rights group raised concerns about the content. The group claims the card’s micro-speaker plays a greeting that’s racist. It is a graduation greeting from Hallmark that says, “Hey world, we are officially putting you on notice.” Members of the Los Angeles NAACP did take notice. As characters known as “Hoops” and “Yoyo” banter on, African American leaders hear offensive language. “And you black holes, you are so ominous. Watch your back,” the card vocalizes. “That was very demeaning to African American women. When it made reference to African American women as whores and at the end, it says ‘watch your back,'” said Leon Jenkins of the Los Angeles NAACP. When Hallmark was reached by phone, they said the card is all a misunderstanding. The card’s theme is the solar system and emphasizes the power of the grad to take over the universe, even energy-absorbing black holes. The card company says the card speaks about the power the grad will wield. “The intent here is to say that this graduate is not afraid of anything,” explained Hallmark spokesman Steve Doyal. But that’s not what some people heard. “You hear the ‘r’ in there. ‘Whores,’ not, ‘holes.’ The ‘r’ is in there,” said Minnie Hatley of the Los Angeles NAACP. Hallmark sent Eyewitness News a transcript of what the card says, but Hatley says that the actual audio raises questions. “It sounds like a group of children laughing and joking about blackness, again,” said another NAACP member. Hallmark is now notifying all of its stores to pull the card. Walgreens and CVS are doing the same. “In any situation where there is a circumstance that we need to be sensitive to, we try to learn from that experience,” said Doyal. However, NAACP members say they do not want to see the card on store shelves ever again.

Idiots. Idiots and fools. On both sides, since Hallmark pulled the card (I understand their action fits with their profit motive, but I don’t have to agree or like it).

Link to video on Youtube.

H/T to Shoothouse Barbie for this little nugget of PC bull&*^&

New Refrigerator Day!

So, we bought ourselves a nice side-by-side counter-depth refrigerator a couple of years ago, to go with the new kitchen.

2 years and 6 service calls later (3 within the past 10 months), we get the warranty company (thank goodness we bought that extended warranty) to agree it’s got a non-reparable freon leak somewhere inside the body, and to get us a replacement unit.

On their behalf, once the determination was made and I was finally able to reach someone at the manufacturer it was a relatively painless process. Manufacturer issued the store we bought it from a credit for a new unit, store called to set up delivery appointment, very professional fellows showed up this morning to install it. I do have to pull it out and futz with the water line, somehow they got it so if the refrigerator is pushed all the way back it pinches the line. No big deal.

Now, to head over to the store on Monday and ‘convince’ them to switch the warranty over to the new unit – we still have 4 years left on a 6-year warranty and they WILL be making that happen.