Housedate

We got solar panels installed last week. They're not quite up and running yet (installation of new electric meters by El Paso Electric still needs to be done) but they should put a heavy dent into the electric bill for the new house. That has proven, what with summer and all, to be expensive.

The new house is still coming together. Carrie and I have been trying to knock out several things every weekend, but the list of things to do (of varying immediacy) grows every week. The next big thing is getting the support posts on the back patio replaced. We knew this was going to have to happen when we moved in, but there has been some troubling compression of a decorative wall above the south corner post. We've got a quote though and should hopefully have it taken care of soon-ish.

Having an above-ground pool has proven to be less vexing than I thought it would be. Part of that was coming to the understanding that chemical balance on it is a broad, moving target and as long as we get somewhere in there the pool will mostly be fine.

Mixed Emotions

Piper's death went as well as can be expected. I fed her ribs before the vet showed up and she ate both the meat and the bones. We lay Piper down in the grass out in the yard, and it was over a lot faster than I expected. Gato was the same. There was so much anticipation that it felt like the process should have been more drawn out. We buried her out in the back yard, in an area near where we'll likely want to plant a tree this fall. Until then I plan on mounting a lantern over her grave, and lighting it once a month.

 

There's an absence, for sure, but in a weird way. Piper had been so intrinsically wrapped in our lives, I kind of feel like I'm not grieving enough. But then Carrie and I have both been in some level of mourning since she was diagnosed with diabetes. The initial grief then was pretty intense. We moved past it, but there was never really a moment in the past seven years that we didn't feel she was likely to pass away at any time. There were a few times in those years that she took a temporary turn, or we had trouble regulating her insulin, that it came back on me. But for the most part, beyond the tedium of regularity in feeding, she went pretty easy on us. Or at least that's how I prefer to remember it.

 

When we made the call that it was time to put her to sleep, that level of sadness was crushing. For the days leading up to it I managed to hold it together for the most part. There were moments, though, when I crumbled. So, yeah, her actual death came with a level of relief commensurate with having grieved, on and off, for almost seven years.

 

Maybe that why, less than a week after the feact, I still think about Piper, and think I see or hear her, but not as much as I expect I should. And that makes me feel guilty. But still relieved. And also glad that we could do as well as we did for her.

 

 

Piper

We weren't too sure what to expect with moving Piper to the new house. She lost most of her sight and hearing at the old place, but could still rely on muscle memory or something to navigate the place without too much trouble. There was some stiffness there too, but pretty minor. Since we've moved the stiffness has gotten worse and she spends almost all of her days sleeping. Her sight and hearing are bad enough that she bumps into things a lot, and even at the whistle pitches she can hear, she often misinterprets where it's coming from. We've been pretty lucky that she's only had two accidents in the house. On top of that her joints have been giving her enough trouble that we recently had to elevate her food bowl, since she was having trouble with what appeared to be her front legs and bending over to it. This weekend I opened a can of food, Piper sniffed at it, and then wandered off and went to sleep. She eventually came back around and nibbled a little bit, but left it alone for the most part. Since then she's been erratic with how much and when she eats. Today we stopped giving her the canned food and switched over to tasty things like eggs and pork chops and steak. Her current condition, coupled with diabetes, this is not sustainable. The last time I took her to the vet was over two years ago, when she had started losing weight. At that time the vet suggested we keep an eye on her, and that when her quality of life started to decline, then we could make a decision. We've decided to get ahead of impending, potentially painful, health issues and have scheduled a vet to come out to the house on Thursday evening. Carrie got Piper in October of 2001. She went through obedience training and came out the other end one super well-behaved. She was my companion on more desert walks than I can count. When she was diagnosed at 7 with diabetes in 2008 we were told the average lifespan after that was 3-5 years. She's beat that handily. We even credit that diagnosis and the proceeding management with (in a small way) preparing us for kids. She would have turned 14 sometime in August. Piper's been the best dog I've ever known and I'm going to miss her a ton.

Again...

Owen came down with strep again. Second time in as many months. Going to consult with a specialist, see if tonsillectomy is needed.

Had Larry over for board games Wednesday night. The garage was cold but the games were fun. One game each of Pandemic and Lord of the Rings. Pandemic, on easy, was a breeze. Lord of the Rings, we made it to Shelob's Lair before Sauron consumed us.

Abby has been sleeping a bit better, waking up only three times a night, instead of every hour or two. Hopefully the trend continues.

Later today Carrie and I are headed to El Paso for Alex's dad's funeral. His pops passed away Saturday after a month or so of home hospice. Sad times, but glad we can be there for him.

Of Tooth and Flame

Abigail cut her first tooth. Also, she's five months old. Crazy. Could be that teething is why she's been waking up about every hour or so through the night. But that tooth is out, and from what I remember once it breaks through the discomfort is over. Sleep issues continue. Speaking of, sitting up with Abby late on Saturday night, I decided to put on the second of the new Hobbit movie. I figured some hobbit and wizards and swords and orcs would be nice. About 15 minutes in I turned it off and bought a digital copy of the Rankin/Bass animated Hobbit. I love it. And it's less than 90 minutes long.

Last Thursday Alex, Ben, and Tony came over for Fire Night, the annual burning of the xmas tree. I had put it off since early in the month and I'm glad we finally got around to it. Was a lovely relaxing evening spent having beers and bourbon and bullshitting on the patio.

The weekend was primarily composed of cleaning out the garage, which seems to be a semi-annual event. We cleared out boxes of stuff to the storage unit, Goodwill, and the dump. Just in time to start up Wednesday garage gaming again!

Last night I made chicken bacon fried rice. It was amazing and delicious, both for dinner and lunch today. Full marks to Carrie for having the idea in the first place.

Sleeplessness

Abigail, since getting sick (at least, it seems to correlate) has been waking up a lot more through the night. Carrie reports that she's been waking up about every hour or two for a week or so. You might be asking why I'm relying on her reporting to know this. This is because my wife is self-sacrificing and a bit too worried about how much sleep I'm getting. Of late I've been actively trying to usurp this behavior. This generally manifests as me taking Abigail out of the bedroom and letting her sleep in my lap while I watch tv. Last Thursday and Friday I sat with her from 10pm -1:30am and 10pm-2am, respectively, finishing off the 5th season of Downton Abbey. Saturday night the twins went over to Mom's for a sleepover, and while that cut out us having to run through the bedtime routine for them, Abigail decided she would fight going to sleep. We eventually let her cry herself to sleep after trying for about 2 hours. She still woke up often, but with the twins out of the house we got to sleep much later Sunday morning.  Last night I went to bed early and got up around 4am and let Abby sleep on my lap till about 6am while I caught up on Last Week, Tonight. I'm really hoping this regression is just her still getting over her cold and not a more permanent behavior change.

Reader

I finished The Martian. Not great. It's a real easy read, but it felt like the main character was Science. The logs of the astronaut read like bad LiveJournals, and the third-person scenes back on Earth may have been worse. As riddled with clichés as the Martian surface is with craters. After that I read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Reviews of the book seem split, but veering toward the positive. I'll add mine to that side too. I enjoyed its Lovecraftian bent, with layer upon layer of spreading infection. Also, pretty short. Now I'm on to Silver Screen Fiend by Patton Oswalt. So far, immensely engaging and fun to read.

I watched Chef. I thought it was ok. It's gotten good reviews, and I'd heard a lot of hype, but it didn't hit that high of a mark for me. Too rosy, maybe.

There's a new sickness assailing the house. Owen had a fever and coudg/sinus issues most of the weekend and stayed home two days from daycare this week. Then all three kids went in for vaccinations. Last night Abigail got feverish and it's carried over into today. Might be a side effect of the shots, but she's also got a cough. Add to that both Carrie and myself are feeling (sleep-deprivation notwithstanding) a bit lousy and I think maybe whatever Owen had is finally spreading.