Getting the Kinks Out

Sunday's mayhem ended up being the worst of it for the week, though Monday put in a good effort at driving me insane. After all the craziness of Sunday afternoon, I had all but forgotten about the flooding situation in Lodge 12 by the time I got to work on Monday morning. I was still very concerned about what we were going to do about Lodge 10, but that was resolved by late morning. It wasn't until I went up in the afternoon to change out the water buckets that I realized we hadn't taken care of the growing puddle that was flooding into the building. They stop growing overnight when everything freezes and it isn't until after lunch usually that there is enough melting going on to start up the flow again. I spent the next half hour squeegeeing and digging and squeegeeing some more, I was able to dig a couple of holes and create a small barrier wall to stop the water from pooling outside the door and instead drain into the holes.

For the Lodge 10 flooding, one of our maintenance guys came up and buried a piece of plastic, bendy drain pipe that would carry the water from its puddle in the run out to the corner of the building and where it would collect in a deep hole he dug outside the fence. The fly in the ointment here is that Kasey, one of the residents of this particular run is the ultimate digger - the entire run looks like it is filled with ski moguls from all of his excavating.In less than 24 hours, Kasey had discovered the pipe and dug most of it up, however, Jorge, something of a genius, dug a deeper trench for the pipe and used a four foot piece of railroad tie to cover it. This job really builds your creative thinking skills.

Elsewhere in the Lodges, Gramps, who isn't technically in my area anymore (he's in Lodges B), bloated on Monday afternoon and had to go through emergency surgery. He has a weak heart so everyone was very worried about whether he could make it through the surgery, but he is a feisty little curmudgeon and was up and walking the next morning. He will probably be in the clinic for a couple of weeks to make sure he doesn't have any complications. It turns out that he had swallowed a foot from a stuffed toy, this thing that they pulled out of him, which had played an important role in his bloat, was about one inch square and probably less than half an inch thick. I had noticed the footless toy in his run on Saturday and made mention of it to Megan, because, while Gramps loves his stuffed toys, he is not a toy destroyer like most of our dogs. In the three and a half months that I have known him, it was the first time that I have ever seen even the slightest rip in one of his toys. But after all this, rumor has it that he will be in an upcoming issue of the BF magazine, which will do wonders for his chances of adoption.

And speaking of adoption, our lovely little Ophelia left on a transport this morning headed for her new family in Maryland where she will be the only pet in the house. I am so very happy for her and, while it would have been nice to meet the family that is adopting her (they spotted that photo on the Web site and fell in love), I have yet to see anyone meet the little black bean and not fall in love with her instantly. She is a great dog and she will love being the center of attention with her new forever family.

While the week was full of hiccups and snags, I really think this new separation of the Lodges will be a great thing for the caregivers and dogs. While the Lodges Awesome and Lodges Boring continues to come up occasionally, it looks like our areas will be now referred to as Angel's and Deja's, after two very beloved Lodge dogs that have passed away.

I hope everyone has a great week and I will do my very best to get some more posts up next week. Happy Birthday Mom!!

(All photos copyright Best Friends Animal Society.)