She's Home

The tricolor female English Setter puppy has arrived. She's settling in as well as can be expected for being in her first new home in 8 weeks. Eventually, we'll start working on scent detection for low blood sugar, in the mean time, she gets to be a little puppy in a big world. No name settled on just yet. Photos after jump.

How do I DO these things?

So, after a week of house sitting, and holding down the fort, I walked across the room, stepped funky (like, didn't lift my toes and tried to walk on the top of my foot funky) and I now have an impressive goose egg, a very painful sprain, and 3 new x-rays. Nothing appears to be broken or dislocated, but it's PAIN when I try to put weight on it.

Fun times.

My parents were almost home from their trip to Texas when I called to see where they were (grocery store), so it was "Hi, glad you're home. Drive me to the ER?" I've got a few photos of it, so as it changes colors, I'll have a series. Not sure if I want it all kinds of colors, or just the yellow and fade out sort of bruising. 

Hopping along with a walking stick (it's easier than the cane) and I have a script for a walker. But it was 8:30 pm when we got there, so no pharmacies open when we left. They again tried to send me out with crutches, but there's no way. Tomorrow, we'll go pick up the walker. Yay.

Also, it's my right foot, so there's minimal likelihood I'm driving to work tomorrow.


I was a bit out of it, grabbed a bag of peas, set it on the back of a chair, went and got an ace wrap to hold the peas on, went and sat on the couch, and then looked over at the chair. Muttered things you can't repeat in mixed company, and was about to crawl back over when I remembered I have a fetch trained service dog. Sent him to the chair, had him get on the chair and grab the ice peas. He was not sure what to make of it because it was so cold, but he brought it to me. I love this dog so much.

Puppy incoming

Duncan is retired from public work. I hate to write that, though he's been home-only for health reasons for months. He's still a wondermutt, and still learning new ways to be helpful. We're currently laying the foundation for automatic retrieval of a landline phone if he finds someone on the ground, or if I ask for the phone. There will be two new puppies in the household this summer. My dad is getting an English Setter from field champion lines (Tomoka and High Mark, so she'll be deeply into the Smith Kennel bloodlines.) I'm hoping to cross train her as a low blood sugar alert dog (Dad is diabetic, Mom's hypoglycemic). She'll be coming home some time after the 21st. I've got a deposit down on a German Shepherd litter. Hoping for a large male with moderate drives and a laid back attitude (which is very hard to find in the imported working bloodlines I've been looking at to get the body type I think is best for mobility work). They'll be three weeks old this Saturday. Had talked to the breeder before Duncan had issues with his health and needed to retire, but my plan to have a working public SD and a backup SDIT fell apart on me. I was in a wreck in September. My broken arm has healed, but I've still got after effects from a concussion. The new disabilities will likely shape the tasks the GSD will be taught.