WFUBCC #232 - The Falling Leaves

[BatterseaBrindl]

I have an Apple watch that has 'fall detection'. But you need an Apple phone to pair it to.

Edited Monday at 11:34 PM by BatterseaBrindl

[macoduck]

Howie was happy to be back home and find that Enzo wasn't there. Howie, NoAh, and Flashy are oh so calm and chill now after a very tense week. Enzo's owners are very nice people but I did give them subtle notice that while Enzo really is a sweetheart, he wasn't a good fit here for my crew. They surprised me by giving me a $100 gift card, even though I'd had told them when we first met that no payment was needed. that helped to knock down today's vet bill.

Carolyn, I'll make a note of how you dispensed the Yunnan Bao stuff for future reference. Howie might still need it if his platelet numbers improvement enough for the needed dental.

I've written up his pill giving chart since I'll be juggling when to give the sucralfate before a meal or meds (doxy and his usual amitriptyline and gabapentin. After one week I add in the steroid. Fun times for the next 2 weeks.

Nancy, that is both interesting and scary that Widget's anaplasmoa returned. Knowing that potential I foresee more frequent parasite testing.

Chris, I'm sorry you are having to deal with hubby issues. 

[Potomacpupsmom]

Miss Cindy, Momma wuz gonna suggest an Apple Watch too.   Miss Mam already did!

[sabrina]

Wow we have been hit by so many hard,difficult, sad events . I hope this is the end& our supply of good news will show up. As for me I am stiff these days.  Mom is on the fence about  Liberal. Also at night I wont come up the stairs from the  yard.I(there is a light, the porch is lite, the kitchen door is open & that has a bright light)  Mom cant pick me up. I stand there, walk away , wont let mom help.  She is wondering if I am losing my sight like Daphne did. Daphne would let her place her leg on the step & then step up. I wont let her do that. We have indoor side steps & I hate them even more. Mom & Lisa tried to get me to use them , 5 small steps, a landing & a turn to go down to the basement.I jumped them if I had missed I would have fallen down the stairs to the basement. What to do, what to do

OK enough I wish  you all a good night, stay warm & sweet dreams

Bitzi 

[mychip1]

Hi Ebbery wun.  We are catching up.  Mama had a meeting on Friday morning - and den she went to da NOO Jersey and den tooday she spent all day on da farm working eggsept wen she went to visit grandad who habz juss come home from da horsepiddle.  He is dowing better.  He had a weird fecshun around huimz harts!

 

We are broke ub da hart fur Miss Nancy an Misser Doug. Run Free, Ahgie.

We hopes dey get to da bottom ub wat iz gowing on Wif Howie!

OH, Bitzi - we hopes yur eyes are OK.  Mama iz wart weed abowt dat Pannus dat sammy habz.  He habz anudder pointment in a few weeks.

Miss Ducky - is deer any update on miss NOO Carol?

[palmettobug]

Caroline, I would consult with your vet about the Librela and Bitzi's eyesight. It may be something as simple as she needs a nightlight, or a different non-slip surface. The results I've seen with G on Librela have been great, your vet may say do a trial run for a few months, if Bitzi is like G, you'll see results within that short time.

His current med/treatment regimen is Carprofen 50 mg 2x day, Gabapentin 2x a day, Prozac 1x, Glucosamine supplements; monthly cold laser & monthly Librela. 

[greysmom]

Miss Caroline, the Librela is sposed to be very safe with fewer side effects, and you don't have to keep doing it if Miss Bitzi has a ishoo.  Plus also, you should have your vetamarian look at herown eyeballs to see if there's anything to see, like mine did.  Now Momma news what's happening and can watch me.

Miss Ducky we hope the medicaments can help Mister Howie riteawaykwik!!!

Miss Cindy, the onliest watch type thing we know of is that Apple watch, but you gotta have a Apple fone too.  

That's all from here for today my Friendlies!!

Kibble kisses and Buddy Bisket dreams!!

NITEY NITE!!

   Andipants 

[Potomacpupsmom]

 Good morning!

Miss Caroline, like other s said, you should have the vet check Bitzi’s eyes plusalso you culd just do a trial ob Librela - it has helped me a lot!

Habs a gud day eberywon!

Ivy 

[Mercsmom]

Poor liddle Howie.   Feel better low-slung guy.

I spent yesterday morning cleaning storm debris (about 85% done) and the afternoon at Carm's house packing dishes.

Chris, it seems it's Difficult Husband Week.  I had two neighbors whose husbands refused to evacuate even when they were leaving theirownselves.  One finally did go.  And mine ... mine is catastrophizing everything!

[BatterseaBrindl]

Ccchilly  2C          Likely going to rain later today. 

Hope Howie had a good night

Safe travels to Nancy

I have my indoor cycling class at 9 then off to the Inn.  Along with piles of laundry, there’s a lot of stuff that has to be moved over to the Inn. They hope to start renovations next week and get it done before the really cold weather arrives. 

Hope to go ride Patty with the kidlets early evening.

[palmettobug]

Gud seasonal Toesday! Mom iz nawt feelin like werk tuday, but she will log in at da usual time and sort thru the thousands ob needless emails.

[cello]

Cindy what we have done for Dan's elderly Mom is install Amazon Alexa devices in her house so if she falls she can just talk to Alexa and have her call for help. There is one in each room and so far it has probably saved her life twice. Once when she fell and shattered her hip and then again when she tripped over the wheel of her walker. Both times luckily she did not lose consciousness and was able to tell Alexa to call her family who live nearby. She loves having them, and asks Alexa questions all the time just for fun - the weather in every place any of her kids are that morning for example! About 18 months ago Dan and I got her the giant Amazon Echo 15 that allows her to video chat with us every day - twice a day actually! She is legally blind and this is large enough for her see us with the vision she has left. I don't know if these devices would give you the level of security for your Dad that he needs, but other than an Apple Watch  or one of those "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" pendants I can't think of other suggestions.

Carol Ann.

[LBass]

Cindy, the only experience I've had with fall detection watches is my Apple Watch + iPhone.  I turned of the fall detection feature after a few weeks because even shaking my hands over the sink caused the watch to ask if I'd fallen.  Your Dad may be more patient than I am.  Mama wore a pendant so that won't help you for the father.

Oh boy, Charlie broke the Club Rules.  I bet Miss Cynthia was kind and forgiving.   And I see that there was precedent!   That's as good as a get out ob jail free card for sure.
Miss Cynthia has an avocado tree? Has she harvested an avocado from it?  Impressive!

Miz Ducky's house is back to normal wif Enzo's departure.    Plus also, the gift card was a thoughtful gesture.  Perhaps they kinda know what a pill their dear Enzo can be.   Howie, take care ob yourself and heal and get well soonest.

Bitzi, Ma says MoMo was like that about knot allowing MA to help her when she had her osteo foot and Ma as worried about a break.  MoMo did accept the somehow more subtle help Ma could give when Mo wore that nice fabric "vest" harness 24-7.  Would you maybe consider wearing one ob those?  GodsGreyts Greyhound Assistance Harness.

FancyToo, I'm glad Miss Robin's Daddy is home and doing better.    She is one busy lady.

Miss Elizabeth, what is it wif these mens?  Making it harder than necessary for those around them.
It seems that Miss Carms house got enough damage that she has to be out ob it for a while.  You are a great friend to help her wif the packing.  I hope she's gonna be OK.

Miss Banessa, Ma commiserates wif remembories ob the huge volume ob emails that had to be dealt wif when she got back to werk from a holiday or vacation.

Today is owr first really chilly day so I'm currently snuggled under my blanket in bed after a nice breakfast and potty trip.

Nate

Nate seems OK today but I'm on high alert for him right now.  Yesterday he had 2 (or maybe one long) period of having "lost his mental map".  He typically does that a couple of times a year, but never before for such a long period of time. Usually I can just take him to a familiar spot (bed, water bowl, deck door) and he gets his bearings and is OK. Twice yesterday he wandered around the house, carefully stepping and sniffing, clearly disoriented.  He seemed OK after being taken to his bed but then had a 2nd episode later (or never really got his bearing the first time). I'm not sure whether this was a period of mental confusion (new for him) or the more usual "I lost my bearings for a minute" experience.  Predictably, I worried for him.  Lucy

[Jerilyn]

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who had trubbles wiff Greytalk yessirday!  It seems all bedder today.

 Mistress hadda wear level 1 winter jakkit and gloves on Wiki walkie this mornink!  Felt like 30 fartingheit. I lubs it! I’m hound of the north! It makes me invigorated and I trot so fast Mistress can barely keep up. Oh, Andi axed bout the Death Trumpet. It’s not lookin good.  Nothing’s bin kilt from frost yet but obviously it’s cold out, and it’s a tropical plant. It’s still got flower buds on it tho. There is a freeze warnink for tonite (Mistress is pist at her fone for loudly announcin that at 1 of the am  ) so she’ll put that plant in the garaj. But it’s gonna be 70 again so she’s gonna delay bringin it in the house. We reelly don’t know how that’s gonna go.

 I’m shore glad they figgered out what’s going on wiff Howie. Hopefully sum medisin will fix him all up riteawaykwik. Stoopid ticks!

 Sutch other trubbles too! I hope Miss Fran is feelin bedder. And we are sorry that so many of the menfolk are strugglin.

 Bitzi, I bet you’re juss feelin a bit owchie bout them stairs. It seems like your mom is wortweed bout sum possible bad effects of the Librela? We don’t know anythin bout it cept that it has helped many of our friendlies. I suppose there are always some people or houndies who bad effects to any medisin but it’s only a small percentage.

 Nate, what happened to you? Big confuzzlemint? Don’t scare your Ma like that!

 I gave Mistress a leddle scare yessirday. It looked like one of my toofers was all brown and rotten. Turns out it was juss sum of my brekkie stuck there. 

 Speekin of brekkie, time for sekund brekkie/brunch/lunchey!

 Wiki 

[greysmom]

Hello my Friendlies!!

On an off showerings all day today, tho the teevee mens are saying there *mite* be some clearing later on.  Then some more rainings tamarrow and Thirdsday.

Miss Jerilyn, Momma says the garage should be OK for the Deff Plant.  Just cut off the stalk before it gets all gross and slimy and put it someplace close to the inside wall where it won't freeze.  I am SO JELUSS of all my Friendlies that get sekind brekkie or luntsch or just more foods!!!   

Miss Loosy, do you use, like, speshul smells around the house for Mister Nate to find his way around??  Plus also, Momma says, if one of us is gonna act weerd or get sikk, it's gonna be in the spring or the fall when the weathers and the lite is all changing.     

Miss Lizabeth, Momma says she just hasta keep saying to herownseff that it's the onliest way Daddy can reashur hisownseff that he still has some control over his life.    I am kinda confused about your friendlie, but hope she has a nice soft place to land and live.    

Oooo!!!  Miss Cindy, Miss Carol Ann gots a good idea!!!  Momma has akchooally been considering putting in a video/security camra in the living room (we gots those Blink camras outside) so she can watch what Daddy is doing during the nite, since she is upstairs in the bedroom with a big box fan AND the AyCee running.    He "says" he carries hisown fone with him alla the time, but Momma knows he does NOT (and she's not even sure he rememmers how to use it if he did have it).  But sometimes she hears big thumps or banging or other weerd sounds and she'd like to just be able to pick up herown fone and make sure it wasn't Daddy falling on the floor.   

Good lucks with alla the emailings Miss Vanessa!!

Mam it will be really nice if you get that lawndry place all fixed up and comfurble for wurking in!!   

Momma is feeling alla the outside chorings she ended up doing yesserday, so I seereeyussly dowt anything else will get done today, even if we don't get more rainings!!  She ended up doing a buncha pruning of booshes and other plantings before the winter.  And she digged up a buncha other things that were d-e-d or dying or that she didn't want anymore.  And there were a couppla the trees and huge booshes that needed some clearing out and chopping off of ded branches and stuff.  So her hands and her showlders and her back are all sore.  Plus also, she somehow gots one of those tiny slivers of wood in the bottom of herown foot, so that's sore too!!    

The fun never ends around here!!!     

Wishings for a tantalizing Toozday for all my Friendlies!!

BYE-EEE!!!

   Andipants 

 

OH WAIT!!  I furgot!!  Momma chopped open those little mellins she got out of our garden!!!  I will remind you what they looked like before:
20241008_181752 by Greysmom6, on Flickr

And then here's what they look like inside after she chopped em:
20241014_134610 by Greysmom6, on Flickr

The wadermellin tasted pretty good, she said.  Tho it was only, like 3 bites.  The other mellins, which should be like, honeydew sort of mellins - were all three of them really yukky and sour!!    I am glad I do NOT like to eat mellins!!!   

AP - not a mellin eater

[sabrina]

IT got cold last night , mom put the heat on but I had my house coat on  & I was nice & warm.  Thanks for your inputs about Librela.  About my eyes when I had my yearly checkup mom ask the vet about them. The vet didnt see any problems but thangs can change.

Cindy your poor dad, he has had a rough couple of years.  It sounds like you have a few good suggestions to keep him safe. Do you think if the suggestion of what he can do to be safe came from his doctor & not you or your brother he would accept it better. 

It has warmed up & I had a sunbath . Got get those sunbaths when you can.

Bitzi 

[dante2zoe]

Carol Ann, I think your suggestion is brilliant!  He already has an Alexa in his breakfast room.  I spoke with my brother about it, as he has one in his house and we do not, and he is on-board, too, and can help my dad get things situated.  We already discussed the best locations.  I just talked to my dad about it and he had no idea that Alexa was capable of that and is cautiously optimistic.  It will not help if he has a heart attack or is unable to speak, but I doubt that he would be able to really push a panic button at that time, either.  Maybe we could go in both directions and have a panic button by his bedside (I forced my mom to get one after her stroke so he still has it and can just reactivate the account) and Alexa everywhere else.  Baby steps lol. 

Caroline, my dad is the one who asked me to figure out what would be best.  I have been asking him to consider safety devices in his home and he has been blowing me off.  However, he has a 93 YO neighbor who lives alone and she has a panic button to push every time she falls so the EMTs come by and pick her back up and make sure she is okay.  She was astounded that my dad does not have anything like that and that prompted him to call me.  Kind of sad that peer pressure is still a thing when you are in your 90s!  I did add to the pressure by telling him that he could be my guinea pig so we could know what works and does not for when we get in the same situation. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!      

[locket]

Hello me freends!

Oh boy Misser Nate, how awr yoo feeling now? Did yoo git yoor surroundings bakk? It must be reel hard to remember ware ebberything is. Especially ifn yoor momma washes yoor bed and stuff.

Miss Nancy, will da renobashun take a long time? What exactly needs to be done? Will da inn continue to be open?

How's Misser Howie today?

Miss Chris, dose awr small melons dat's for sure! We awr glad one obs dem wuz gud! Isn't it fun to grow yoor own fud? I wish momma-bear planted kibbul and a kibbul tree culd grow. OH or a libber-treat tree. Dat's wuld be neato! Will yoo grow more melons next year?

Fur us, momma-bear wentid on a walkie in da forest alone (we can knot and do knot want to go, dis a hooman only forest) and den she took us for a walkie. Boy oh boy we ware reel happy. Ebberyfing wuz wet, butt we did some good sniffing!

Momma-bear's avocado tree is maybe 5 yeers old. She grew it frum a seed atta store. It will knot bear any fruit however. Apparently Canada iz KNOT a gud climate fur avocado. Butt dis still apretty tree wiff big leaves. Although it got cold a bit now and da leaves awr kinda browning a liddle bit.

It wuzn't us who defaced da carpet furst! It wuz Nikita da Akita when she wuz a baby! Momma-bear washed it again, it smells lyke spring roses in da house now.

Yoor freend,

Charlie

If I can have your input on something. this week started a new daily ritual at breakfast (NOT dinner, never dinner) where Charlie eats, and Zorro waits and then Charlie goes to bed and growls at Zorro who is now scared to eat. Usually Zorro is the growly one. The food is the same, same quantity as always, they eat each facing their own walls at a 90 degrees angle, about 12-15 ft apart, when Charlie growls at Zorro, he is lying down about 20 ft away and Zorro is trying to eat (more like standing up unsure). When Charlie finishes his bowl, he usually walk past Zorro's full bowl without a glance and goes to bed. Zorro will eventually eat everything as I am standing beside him. I am at a lost to figure out what is wrong or how to break that aggression. They do growl at each other from time to time, but usually all they need is a side-eye to understand each other. But now things have escalated to a big BORK from Charlie, and I usually never hear from him.

[greysmom]

IMO.

This will escalate gradually now that Charlie has changed Zorro's behavior.  I would move Charlie's bowl to a place he doesn't have to walk by Zorro at all - preferably in another room or in his crate (?).  Or shove Charlie outside as soon as he's done (if he doesn't have to walk by Zorro to do so).  Or you can feed Zorro in another room/crate if he's more comfortable that way.  Either way, isolate one or both out of line of sight, and keep them separated until both are done.

I wouldn't just switch bowl location, either, since Charlie could start guarding the location that was formerly his.

Even when I was feeding 6 dogs in my tiny kitchen, the hard and fast rule is that no dog gets to bother another dog when they're eating by word or deed!  Even if I had to stand right in the middle and supervise them from start to finish.

[cello]

Cindy if you get him the Alexa with the screen, you can have video conferences with him instead of telephone calls. You can also set it up to allow you and your brother to ‘drop in’ on him and check out his house. We have also set up predictable call times that we talk with Mom. We call her around lunch and again just before dinner. She knows we will be calling and it gives her something to help anchor her day time wise. We video calls only usually take five minutes and it gives all of us comfort knowing that we made that connection. 

[locket]

Thanks Chris, I will try to isolate Charlie. Zorro used to bother Charlie in 2017, we are WAY past that and I never had an issue since then. This is new territory. I am always there and never had to intervene much but for some reason, Charlie seems to be wanting something, which is weird.

He does get a bit more exercise, but hasn't lost any weight (if anything he gained some muscles) so maybe I need to up his food a bit too.

[macoduck]

Cindy, if you opt for the additional Alexa camera, when you use it be sure that you are fully clothed, and David, and your dad too. 

[cello]

Cindy you can also install the Alexa app on your phone and connect through that.

[palmettobug]

Charlie may be feeling a little stressed from all the life changes, along with normal age-related issues (arthritis, loss of vision/hearing, etc.) Perhaps some doggy pheromones could help?

I have to put Roman in a different room when they eat, he's really food-aggressive and wolfs his food.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Rainy rains have arrived.  It's plus 6C so knot too cold and the wind has gone ded.

This 'Alexis' seems to be a solution for all involved 

I think that little watermelon is so cute 

Sorry to hear that Charlie & Zorro are having some sibling spats.  Hopefully it will phase out quickly with Chris wise advice.     We feed 2 far apart in our mud room and one in the kitchen.  It was Kibo in the kitchen as he is slower.  Sid & Joshi were fine in the mud room as she would never dare to go near his food.  When Dory arrived we moved Kibo to the mud room with Joshu and Dory gets the kitchen, baby-gated away from the others.  

Joshi has always been a bit of a bully to Kibo, barking and occasionally trying to nip at his heels when he'd go up the stairs.  He is just such a weeny here at home.  Dory is really figuring her place out...today is the 3 week mark...and she now loves the stuffies. They have always been Joshis stuffies, as the boys never bothered much with them.  But to day  this happened. Twice. And I managed to get this crappy shot... Dory stealing it right out of Joshi's mouth.  Thee was a bit of a tug game but Joshi just gave in.  Seems she has met her match.  And we'll keep a very close eye on this development so nothing aggressive occurs.

The other photo I will share is PattyKake and her sister-from-another-mother, Tiana.  And the girls riding them are also sisters.  Sisters, riding sisters