best before

so it turns out that both dogs have kennel cough. kara took dags to the vet on wednesday, because he was coughing and spitting up. steve started coughing that day too. kara came back with cough suppressant and antibiotics for them both. and that very evening steve got something in her ear; she was holding her head at quite a tilt, the affected ear downward, and she was clearly uncomfortable. it seemed obvious that our warranty on the dogs had just expired.

the word planton wasn't even in my vocabulary before moving to this side of the country. a planton is a devilish thing, a thorn off this grassy weed. it has multiple tiny barbs and they burrow into fur quite effectively. the dogs are always covered with the bastards when they come inside from the backyard. and one got deep into steve's ear. and i mean deep. she was taken to the vet on thursday and was so jumpy that she had to be given anesthesia before the foreign body could be removed. so each dog got a vet trip this week. fair's fair.

needless to say, yesterday i went out bought a weed-killer product and this morning kara and i embarked on a herbicidal spree in the backyard. we don't want the animals victimized by this insidious plant. we will not stand.

in happier news, last weekend i went to goodwill and for 99 cents i bought this big green bear. dagmar loves it. since this photo was taken he has chewed out the bear's eyes, but has done little other damage. he likes to carry it around, suck on it, rest his head on it. it's a big pacifier for him.

dagmar's still coughing a little bit, and steve even less. it looks like we cought the kennel cough pretty early; that's lucky. but the dogs will have to stay away from daycare and the dog park for a couple of weeks, and that's a little sad. they like the dog park, at least, and when they come home from daycare they're nice and pooped. alas.

incidentally: dagmar = 74 pounds, steve = 52 pounds.