Brief update on bunnies, dogs, and stuff
First, Izzy is adjusting well, although poop training isn't the best. Not his fault...it's mine...I haven't been watching him every second, and so a couple of times he went in the living room on the (thankfully old, very dirty) carpet. Leash training is improving, slowly. Crate training - which is what I had worried about the most - went best of all.
Bunnies are both fine, but probably going a bit stir-crazy. I'd kept them confined to their room for the past while since Izzy was diagnosed with a parasite and I didn't want them exposed. However, this afternoon it's supposed to be beautiful outside, so they will be able to go out and run around in the garden area. Although *running around* for both Yofi and Anna seems to be more of a *sit and soak up the sun* adventure. This morning I did let Izzy go and see the bunnies, and of course he was wary at first. He almost pooped his little puppy pants the first time he saw Yofi, and would run and hide in another room. Now though, confidence is building; yesterday when I let him see them he semi-approached the rabbits, gave two or three big puppy woofs and then ran. This morning though, Izzy gathered up all the bravery that his little border collie body could muster, and when he saw Yofi he walked tentatively up to him, then smelled, poked, pawed, and woofed a tiny bit. I thought, 'Oh, this is good'; but that was a short-lived pondering, as Izzy approached Yofi once more, this time with added bravado. He spotted one big dangling Yofster ear, grabbed it, and yanked. Hard. Guess he'd wanted to steal it from The Boy and didn't realize it came with a whole humongous rabbit attached. Oddly, Yofi didn't even really notice; just turned and started to hop the other way. And that's when Izzy noticed something almost as fun as an oversized earflap: there was a huge, inviting ball of fluff on the other side of this weird creature. And so earflap forgotten, he made a lunge for the tail-end of Yofi...however, I intervened and grabbed the silly pup before he could make contact. So now the process begins: training a dog who was bred to herd everything that moves that bunnies, especially resident house bunnies, are not giant stuffed toys designed to be tugged at, nipped at, barked at, or played with. And even though it might be hard for Izzy to realize, they do NOT come equipped with squeekers inside.
Thursday was a very strange day here. The weather, which began mildly enough, did a huge 180deg turn by mid-morning. It must have been tail-end effects of the devastating storms in the southern U.S. (what people have been going through in tornado-stricken areas is just so beyond even realization...
). But the day here, in itself, was just strange.
It began while I was getting ready for work. I had let the dogs out, fed the bunnies, fed Izzy, fed myself, got dressed, etc., then walked both dogs for about half an hour. Returned to the house and was just about ready to leave when I saw the first sign of the day to come: Izzypoop all over the living room floor. Of course had I been paying attention, I would have realized that he'd held it all in during the walk, saving his little canine surprise as a special treat for inside the house, no doubt. Cursing under my breath (at myself, not him), I cleaned up the mess and then left.
At work my computer was acting up. When I logged on I got some sort of weird message about some program not working. However, I got past that (ignore when not sure what it means
) and did some work stuff. I had problems off and on after that, but with me and computers, that's not unusual. In fact, they had rebuilt my computer for me just a few weeks ago as the old one was doing some very odd things and no one could figure out what was causing it...then when I got the rebuild, again, things would act strange. However, I've sort of learned to live with electronic nightmares, and have been classified by some of my co-workers as *one of those people*...you know, someone who just can't function around electronics without somehow having them go all wonky.
Anyway, at lunchtime I left to catch the bus and go home to let the dogs out and feed Izzy. Since it takes the bus forever sometimes to travel the short route, I didn't want to miss it, so ran, despite wearing (low) heels on my shoes. The wind had picked up by this time and was getting wicked-wild (I later learned that a wind advisory had been issued by Environment Canada for our area, but didn't know it then). So I ran, fighting the wind and my footwear in an effort to get to the bus stop. Unfortunately (and sort of like one of Izzy and Yofi's previous unplanned meetings) my left heel zigged when it should have zagged, and my ankle decided to follow suit...and I went sprawling onto the concrete. Took me a few seconds to recover myself...I remember lying there for a moment wondering if I'd hurt anything, and waiting to see if there was pain...but everything felt okay and so I stood up. (That, btw, is when the bus passed. I totally missed it as it sped along, rushing past the stop and on its way down the road.) Anyway, I hobbled up the hill to the stop, realizing that - ow - my leg kinda hurt, in a couple of spots. But I sat and waited for the next bus to pass, at least thankful that I hadn't torn my pants.
So the next bus came along about 15 minutes later. I got on, sat there - now hurting a bit more than I first was - and hoped I'd still have time to take the dogs out for a walk before heading back. Just as the bus pulled up to my exit, a couple of big, juicy raindrops plopped down and hit the window...and as I stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk, the heavens opened up. It poured...wicked, cold, huge, wet rain, and it hit like small stones, driven by the incredible wind. I tried running home but couldn't because of my now throbbing leg, so by the time I reached my street I was absolutely, completely soaked to the skin. Walking up to my front door I put the key in the lock and, yes...the rain stopped as suddenly as it began, and the sun came out. :grumpy:
So I did a quick change, checked out my owwies, took care of the dogs and then returned to work. By this time my leg - ankle and knee - was throbbing painfully, but thankfully I had some painkillers left over from a recent oral surgery, and they got me through the afternoon. Then at 1:30 we had to attend a meeting, so about 25 of us crammed into a small, windowless room to learn all about our company's new website (and ongoing glitches). Then, about an hour into the meeting, the power went off. Everyone was in the dark, literally...so someone managed to find their way to the door and we herded out, like sheep, to one of the windows, and sunlight. Apparently the wind had gotten so bad that several transformers had been knocked out of commission, and a good portion of the city lost power. So once we were given the okay, we all headed home for the day. Trees had been uprooted all over the place, power was off, and there were reports of a couple of people who'd been seriously hurt when wind gusts literally lifted them into the air and threw them. Very strange weather indeed, for Ottawa.
Anyway, at the end of the day I made it home and finally took a good look at my own injuries. Turns out I wrenched my knee in the fall and suffered a sprained ankle as well. Both are quite swollen and very tender. I can still walk - well, hobble - but can't go up and down steps very well, and definitely can't run. As long as I don't move either joint to one side, it seems I'm okay...and as long as I don't stay on my feet for any length of time. But it definitely was a strange day! And what's funny is, when I woke up that morning and when the Izzy-deposit happened on the floor, I suddenly had this weird feeling, like a premonition, that the day was not going to be a good one.
Oh, and on a related note...you know you're getting old when a quick tumble to the ground almost winds up sidelining you! I remember that as a kid I suffered multiple falls, many on concrete whilst wearing shorts, and even though I may have cried and all, I'd still get up, tenderly pick out the rocks and other assorted debris that had become embedded in my bloody knees, and off I'd go again. The next day I'd have scabbing and soreness around that, but it certainly didn't stop me...I'd be flying down the sidewalk again at full throttle, looking for the next adventure. Now it feels like I'm tempting fate in even just a short sprint to the bus. :rollseyes
