Puppy Sitting

About a month ago, I spent a weekend puppy-sitting for one of the animal caretakers here. I had been contemplating fostering a puppy for the sake of my geriatric Bichon who is developing cognitive dysfunction syndrome and needs an "interactive toy." He has always loved puppies so I thought it might be a good idea although I was far from ready to commit to a puppy given that I'm not that fond of the little ones and prefer to adopt troubled adults or even geriatrics with multiple health problems.

Daphne is a 4 week old Bassett Hound / Rat Terrier mix who was orphaned and bottle raised from about 2 weeks of age. She is eating on her own and already learning the house-training skills. In short, she was really adorable and fun. She reminded me very quickly, however, why I don't like puppies. The quote from Shrek about babies pooping and crying, etc. then comparing to an ogre baby is very appropriate.

I took her to the apartment with me on Friday evening. My dogs loved her (except one who wanted nothing to do with her) and she was doing well. The cats mostly ignored her except Pistol who thought she was really cool. On Saturday, the entire outlook changed. My Bichon, the primary reason for her being there, decided he wanted no part of her and got angry every time she came near or dared to touch him at all. On Sunday, the wind had shifted again and he liked her again. Go figure - I have no rational explanation.

This experience made me appreciate the grandparents' house idea; it was a lot of fun to spoil the puppy then send it back home and shuck the responsibility entirely. The pictures show Daphne napping then, on Sunday, napping with the boys. Too bad the interactive toy idea was a little bit of a bust. I tried to include a video of Pistol playing with Daphne but couldn't get it to work right. At least he enjoyed her visit!

Addendum

I forgot to mention the other highlights of the drive. Speeding. Those of you who do not listen to classical music probably will not completely appreciate the mesmerizing affect it has on one and how quickly one discovers that the car is now moving at 90mph (just an example...)! Then one sees the pretty blue lights in the rearview mirror and thinks, "Oh, how pretty, flashing lights..."

I get too distracted way too easily! No, the flashing lights were not for me even though I was speeding. When I quit being distracted, I finally pulled to the right lane and slowed down just in time for the pretty flashing lights to pass.

Just thought I'd add those things for your entertainment.

We are now playing the theme from Twilight Zone...

Well all, I've done it. I've finally gone over the deep end, joined the loony bin, and gone over to the dark side. What I've done is analogous to Benedict Arnold (BTW, that was a special reference for M.B. Insane...), that spy plane pilot in the 50's, and Brutus all rolled into one big hairy ball...

I've decided to stop working full time in private practice and start practicing regulatory medicine... I have decided to start working for the USDA.

There, I've said it. I've left my job in private practice and tomorrow I report for orientation with the USDA. I've always said I wouldn't do it. The reasons were manifold- boring, routine, too much paperwork, not practicing medicine... Sadly, in the last year or so, the stresses not of practicing medicine but working for my boss have forced me to admit to myself that I'm burned out.

I was reaching the point where the intricacies of a nice complicated medicine case were more annoying than interesting. A lot of this was due to the fact that my boss wouldn't order me the drugs I needed to treat it... But, I digress.

I will still be keeping my license current, and still practice occasional relief work on the weekends to keep my skill set current. But I will no longer be doing the private practice thing day-to-day. I'll let you all know in the next few weeks whether this is a good thing or not...

Insanity

I get very scary, even to myself, when I'm really tired; I've always wondered what other people, even people who know me really well, would think if they had the experience of being around when I'm that loopy. I hope I can blame all of my recent behavior on exhaustion - otherwise, I'm really worried about what is happening to my brain!

I've also determined that I am psychic in some way, shape, or form. I have known this for quite some time but unfortunately, the ability is not reliable at best. (And, no, for those of you who know me, I did not mean to say "psycho;" I know that I am both but in this case I'm talking about the ability to sense things before they happen.)

Those comments are intended to act as a segue into my story. I received a telephone call from my mother last Wednesday night after I got off work with some bad news that necessitated my leaving and going home immediately. Home is a 13-14 hour drive from where I'm at right now and I had been up since 5 that morning then worked all day. Since I'm almost done here, I opted to catch the herd of cats and take them home to leave with my mother for the remaining few weeks prior to my move. By the time I had hurriedly packed, caught cats, loaded all the critters and all the necessities, and actually hit the road it was 11:30. I drove...and drove...and drove. Around 3:30a.m. I pulled off for a quick nap in the truck then was on the road again at 4.

By the time I was within 2-3 hours of home, I was way out there. I decided that I didn't like anyone except my mother and that I would divorce all of my friends since I don't want to have anyone that I need to care about. I was talking to myself (not that this is completely abnormal for me but the conversations were frightening, even to me!) and answering, of course, singing, having discussions with nearby drivers (they were too rude to answer), reviewing bug anatomy (exoskeleton, hemolymph, etc.) as they hit my windshield, talking to roadsigns and billboards, and...I think you should get the picture from that.

The next thing that happened was that I missed my final exit. Things like this do NOT usually happen to me. The road was under construction at that area and I should like to blame that but if I were to be honest with myself and y'all, I would confess that I just missed it. The north bound lane was rerouted alongside the south bound therefore the next exit was closed from the north bound side. I drove 24 miles to reach the next available exit then had to turn around and drive back 24 miles in order to get off the stupid interstate and make it home. One hour later than I should have been, I arrived home at last!

It is now 2:30p.m. CST and I have to face the reasons why I went home. Finally, around 7p.m. I was allowed to fall asleep but only after having an apparently nonsensical conversation with my mother in my sleep of which I remember nothing other than her saying, "What are you talking about?" and my responding, "I don't know, what were we talking about?" to which she answered, "Nothing."

My visit was soon over and I found myself back on the road for this place late Sunday morning. Guess what? I did it again! I missed an exit and went 10 miles (one way) out of the way because I was looking for the wrong road name in association with the highway. Found myself driving along thinking that nothing looked familiar then realizing I should have taken exit 123 but was all the way to 113. More time lost. One would think that might be the end but no, it happened one last time when I hit the next junction and took the east bound highway rather than the west bound... Once again, about 10 miles one way down the drain before I think, "Wow, this doesn't look familiar either..." followed by looking at my compass and seeing that I was heading back east.

Due to extreme forced concentration, I managed not to miss the remaining junctions and exits but it took A LOT of effort - much more effort than it should have required. I found myself looking longingly at motel signs somewhere around 6p.m. but forced myself to finish the trip and arrived back around midnight just to get the critters that returned with me in order, wash clothes for the workday ahead, and fall into bed. I allowed myself to sleep in until 6 instead of rising at 5 as per usual. It didn't help much since I've spent the entire day garbling my words and not feeling that I can truly trust anything that exits my mouth. Even simple facts should be questioned; I stated the concentration of meloxicam, which I've known simply for ages, then second-guessed my accuracy. I told the kids (read students) that they should not take anything I say today at face value but double check it first.

I've managed to explain the scariness of myself but forgot about the psychic thing. That was really brought to mind because over the past 2-3 weeks I have been exceptionally sad and found myself getting a knot in my stomach any time my mother phoned that was an unusual time of day. Receiving the call was unexpectedly expected somehow.

Which brings to mind a totally unrelated comment that I cannot stop (see how frightening the workings of my mind can be?). We use the term "regularly irregular" in an attempt to describe what is heard with atrial fibrillation. One of my friends has dubbed me "predictably unpredictable" for my typical behavior - I like it!

I think that is all I have to say at the moment. Just thought y'all might enjoy the stories of my insanity at least a little bit. Oh, and I have changed my mind for now about divorcing my friends since I am in a slightly more stable frame of mind...