Tuesday, March 10

Soon-to-be fifteen-year-old Shih Tzu gave us a scare at 3:30 this morning, when she wailed in pain. Hubbie and I both leaped out of bed and ran into the bathroom, where she seemed soundly asleep in her favorite spot between the toilet and the wall.



Hubbie coaxed-pulled her out to the middle of the floor, and we tried to get her to stand up, but she just flopped down on her belly, as though she was unconscious. So I sat on the floor and petted and rubbed her until she roused. Then Hubbie brought her downstairs and I encouraged her to drink some water.



Soon she was standing there, wagging her tail. Hubbie took her outdoors for a few minutes, after which she sort of just wandered around, as if wondering what we were doing downstairs in the middle of the night. Finally, she sighed and laid down.



Hubbie and I stayed downstairs with her...he trying to nap in his recliner, and I dozing on the couch. At noon, she ate a normal lunch and has been her old self all day. So we don't know what her problem was. Maybe she caught a claw in her long hair and couldn't get it out. Maybe her arthritis flared when she tried to change positions. Whatever it was, she went so soundly back to sleep that she seemed unconscious.



We were a little bleary-eyed when it was time to get up this morning, of course. But Hubbie needed to get ready to go help the Master Gardeners clean a bed at the Extension Services office at 9 a.m., and Mother and I had haircut appointments at 10:30, so we forced ourselves to the breakfast table around 8 a.m. And then I headed to the treadmill, while Hubbie took care of Shih Tzu's usual morning routine.



Before Mother and I went to the beauty shop, I went outside to snap photos of the daffodils (shown in the previous blog). It was a nice, warm, overcast morning for doing that. Predictions, of course, are that it'll get sharply cooler and rainy for the rest of the week.



Three of the four ladies at the beauty shop are going to Weight Watchers now, and a couple of them are showing a loss. They've asked us to share favorite low-calorie recipes with them, which we will do.



After lunch, I took Mother to the WDCS to look for a hand vacuum. She used the gift card that Son and Daughter-in-Law gave her to buy it. Then we shopped for a few grocery items, including salad veggies for lunches. I need to make up for the not-so-diet-friendly meals I indulged in last week, like fried chicken, and a catfish dinner, plus cupcakes during Mother's birthday weekend.



Hubbie spent the afternoon working in the yard, but once we had shopped, Mother and I sort of loafed the rest of the afternoon.



At 5 p.m., I attended an arts council meeting. When I got home, we had beef hash with eggs fried in butter Pam and light margarine, and wheat toast. I usually eat egg substitute rather than regular eggs, but leftover hash just cries out for "real" eggs.


I went to a community theater board meeting at 7:30. I took along a couple of puzzles for the lady at whose home we meet, in exchange for two she sent home with me last month. We worked them this past weekend, so I took those back to her tonight, too. But she said she didn't want them back, so I kept them and chose a couple of more of hers to bring to Mother. We'll probably work them during Easter week.