Maddie and the Ceiling Monster

For a long time, we didn't have batteries in our smoke detector. (Yes, I know, I know. We're very, very bad. But we have batteries in there now, and have for a couple of months). When we did finally buy some batteries and stick them in there, we noticed a very annoying side effect. Whenever my husband would take a shower, he'd set off the smoke detector. To be more specific, it was not while he was in the shower, but afterwards.

You see, when I take a shower, I generally keep it pretty short and always leave the door open a bit, because foggy mirrors frustrate me when I'm trying to get ready. My husband, however, takes epically long, ridiculously hot showers with the door tightly closed because heaven forbid an ounce of heat escape. So, every time he opened the door to leave, a huge cloud of steam would exit with him and upset the smoke detector, causing it to go off.

This, on its own, was annoying enough. But Maddie, our darling dog, had lived her entire life in our house without the smoke detector ever going off and now it was going off randomly and without warning (according to her. Dogs don't make great detectives when it comes to cause and effect). She quickly came to the very logical conclusion that we must have a monster living in our hallway ceiling, and therefore she must bark and growl at the ceiling any time she, or one of us, entered the hallway.

I have since persuaded my husband to leave the bathroom door open a crack while showering, and the barking has abated a bit with the more infrequent upsets of the smoke detector. But she can't help but growl every time she passes under, just to let it know she's watching it.

On the plus side, I can rest easy knowing someone is always on the lookout for ceiling monsters.

The Case of the Missing Peach Pit

It began rather innocently, on a busy Wednesday morning. As usual I was running late, as is the habit of someone who loves sleeping in just a little too much, and therefore was sadly unobservant of the happenings around me. My husband had left for work before I did, and I was scrambling to get everything done and be out the door with a reasonable chance of getting to work on time.

My last task was feeding the bunnies in the office, and I was gone for only a few minutes. When I emerged, I saw with terrible fright, that the bathroom door was open. The bathroom door cannot be open. No, not the bathroom door, nor any door in our house can be left open and unsupervised, not with Maddie about.

Maddie is my Great Dane, and she has the most devious, mischievous streak when it comes to pinching things she shouldn't and gobbling them up to our great distress. This habit had already resulted in her very near death and a massive surgery that left us, for lack of a better word, broke. And as dogs are not especially astute at observing the rules of cause and effect, she never pieced together that eating a rag had resulted in her misery, and instead blamed it on the hero that saved her life, our vet.

So, when I saw the open bathroom door, my stomach plummeted down into my toes and I lurched forward around the corner to see a very apologetic and wide eyed dog, already aware that she'd been naughty and was in massive trouble. I looked down at the garbage and knew immediately something was missing. I just had no idea what it was. I'd been in such a hurry all morning, running about, I hadn't stopped and really looked at my surroundings. I knew that something was missing, and that it had been brownish, but I had no idea what she'd eaten.

I phoned my husband, already livid that he'd failed to close the door and demanded to know what he'd thrown in the garbage.

"I have no idea."

"Well, think! Because whatever it is, Maddie's eaten it!" My voice was shrill and full of accusation as I grilled him about everything he'd thrown away for the last thirty six hours. At last we came to the conclusion that it must have been a peach pit.

As Maddie seemed in good spirits and the vet's office didn't open until nine, I raced off to work. I would get all the mandatory, immediate work off my desk by the time the vet's office opened and then, if need be, rush home and deliver Maddie to the vet's waiting arms. Of course, I couldn't keep myself from googling about it once I was at my desk, and the results were terrifying. They spoke of bowel obstructions, cyanide poisoning, choking. My heart thumped in my chest as I thought about the possibilities.

At last, nine o'clock arrived and I called the office to beg their advice. They were surprisingly calm. Maddie had swallowed the peach pit whole, so cyanide poisoning was highly unlikely. She was a large dog, so bowel obstruction was highly unlikely. But as she'd had a previous bowel obstruction already, they told me to watch her closely and feed her canned pumpkin.

"It's full of fiber and will help her pass the pit more quickly." They instructed.

I finished what was necessary and begged off for the day. I picked up canned pumpkin on the way home and spent the rest of the day at Maddie's side, watching her, rubbing her tummy and feeding her pumpkin. It turned her bowel movements bright orange, and she was ecstatic that mom was home and feeding her a delicious treat all day, but alas, no pit. However, the bright orange bowel movements showed that she was having solid movements after the pit, so nothing was blocked, and she seemed in great spirits, so I cautiously returned to work the next day.

I have not found the pit. I'm beginning to think there never was one. She might have eaten something else entirely, something more digestible, I'm not sure. Perhaps she ate nothing and was merely guilty of being about to eat something, although I doubt that. But whatever the case, so far she seems completely fine, which is a relief.

Although I realize my panic is often an over reaction, and my attachment to my dog is a little over much, I can't help it. I almost lost her once, I wasn't going to underestimate a problem ever again. And at the very least, I now know how to turn her shit orange. So, there's that.

The Way We Feel About Our Pets

A woman at work came into the office today, face streaked with tears, to ask for an advance. Her dog was sick and she had no way to pay the vet bills.

"Stupid men," she stuttered, "they all just keep telling me to put him down! But I can't do that. I love him."

"Men just don't get it," I nodded in agreement, looking over the quote the vet had printed off for her. I knew exactly how she felt. It was only a couple of years ago that I was faced with the same situation; one very sick puppy and some frighteningly high vet bills. I didn't have the money back then either, and my husband and I had paid for the bills with credit cards, an amount we're still paying off today. But I can honestly say I'd do it again in a second.

We don't realize just how much our pets mean to us until it comes down to that horrible moment when they're sick, and we realize we'd pay any price to make them well again. I did just that, and although the price was high, it was worth it. Today, my Great Dane, Maddie, flourishes. And the adventures she's given me have mad me laugh, scream in frustration, and cry with joy. I wouldn't trade a single moment with her, not even the ones where I've found myself lying on top of her kicking, squirming, biting form while she was in the midst of a full-scale toddler-style tantrum. And she's thrown plenty of those. I've never met a dog so sensitive and loving, mischievious and naughty. I remember the time I found an entire avocado hidden in her mouth, the time I came into the kitchen and found her standing on the dining room table with her head stuck in a box of cereal, and the time I discovered her decimating a pineapple all over the couch. If I hadn't saved her life I wouldn't have as much debt, and I'd probably have nicer furniture, but it wouldn't be worth it. Despite it all, she is my pet. She is my family. And I just don't get people who feel differently about their animals.

If you'd like to read more about Maddie's adventures, just click the links below! And as always, if you like anything you read please feel free to share it with friends! Don't forget to follow me on twitter @MelanieKCole.

Maddie the Unsung Hero
The Great and Nurturing Maddie
How I Found Out My Dog is Better Looking Than I Am

Too Busy!

Today was a crazy busy day. Normally, my job is very relaxed and orderly, but today everything just seemed to go haywire. Simple tasks that normally took no time at all took up most of my day. Of course it had to be on a Monday when I hadn't had very much sleep the night before. When I got home from work I had to clean the house and run to the grocery store, as my parents were coming over to meet my two new baby bunnies. We had a really great visit, and afterward as I was hoping to crawl into bed I remembered that I needed to wash my husband's work pants for tomorrow, as well as write a blog post.

So, I ran downstairs, threw in a load of wash and plopped down on the couch to hammer out a quick post, only to get hung up in the world of editing for another project. It's now an hour past my planned bedtime and here I am, finally getting to my blog post. You'll have to forgive me if it feels a little thrown together, because it is. I had no idea what I would write about until I started.

Honestly, I don't mind the business. It's exhilarating to run around and get things done, just so long as it isn't on a constant basis. I've also started a month long platform building challenge (which you can read about here), so that's fun and exciting. I love opportunities to learn more about writing and all that goes into it. To top it all off, I heard back from an editor about a pitch from a few months ago, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

That pretty much sums up my life at the moment. I still haven't named the bunnies (still waiting on suggestions for that!), who are doing great and really starting to get comfortable in their new environment. It's fun to watch them flourish, to watch as their curiousity takes over and they begin to explore and introduce themselves. I'm loving every minute it of it. Maddie's had a few more encounters with them and so far she's doing marvelously. I'm so proud of my baby girl!

Stay tuned for news on the baby bunnies future monikers, as well as the Before and After pictures of my office. (That's right, I haven't forgotten. I was just sidetracked by bunnies). In the meantime, I'm rewarding myself with some much needed sleep.