Please say a little prayer

The youngest member of our "chain gang," our beloved Hammy, passed away today. Madelynne was devastated. She cried uncontrollably for about 2 hours, and is now worried about the little grave we made for him outside. She is worried the cats outside will dig it up. She is somewhat better tonight, but blames herself, saying she didn't take good enough care of him. I reminded her that he was 3 years old, which is a good average life for a dwarf hamster. It's hard to understand that 3 is an old age for a hamster. Even harder when the hamster is so sweet and sociable. We knew he wasn't doing well, though. His breathing changed over the last couple of months. I've been trying to prepare her for the inevitable.

Of course, she wants another hamster immediately, but I told her with the baby, that now is not the right time for one. We have too many irons in the fire right now. So, we'll be waiting for a while. Especially until she can completely take care of it (cleaning the cage out from start to finish without help). The cat's litter box would be manageable for her if it weren't for the weight of the box when it is time to dump out the litter.

Anyway, we are a two-pet family now, but for now, that will have to suffice. (I am having a flash into the future of our little boy wanting a snake as a pet . . . that will have to be a big NO.) Sorry, the best snakes are the dead ones, in my opinion. Okay, animal rights activists, please don't come after me on that one. I don't deal well with pets with no fur (and tarantulas aren't on my list). Well, we did have a hermit crab that was pretty cool. Fish are okay, but they aren't too interactive.

So, in memory of sweet little Hammy, here he is again.

How our pets make life not-so-boring

Well, I am well into my second trimester now with the pregnancy. We don't yet know what we are having, but I just had blood work/tests done last week to make sure everything is normal. For anyone who prays that may read this, please say a prayer for us that all is normal.

Being in the second trimester, you would think the nausea should pretty much be gone. However, it has gotten worse for me. I have thrown up so many prenatal vitamins that I could have bought an extra bottle. I try to take them as I am going to bed, but many times I am back up in the bathroom 5 minutes after I lie down. Sometimes it's a smell, sometimes the thought/fear of throwing up seems to help trigger it. I know, a lot of it is in my head.

The animals aren't helping me, either. Last week, our 12-year-old Golden Retriever decided that he must protect our house (where our yard backs up to a large hay field) from a curious skunk who wandered into the yard. Well, not only did the dog get sprayed, but he managed to chase the skunk under my van just before the spraying occurred. If you've never smelled anything freshly sprayed by a skunk, you may not recognize the smell upon the initial moments. In fact, I was not sure the skunk was the culprit of his stink at first.

So, I angrily (I have to be angry because he won't go into the bathroom unless I threaten him) get him to the tub and shut the door. Why not bathe outside, you may ask? Well, it was after 8 p.m., and I didn't want to hold him by his collar the entire time. So, as I shut the bathroom door, I am overwhelmed by the smell and begin my now-seemingly-nightly routine of throwing up. We were out of the tea tree oil shampoo I usually use on him (great for ticks and fleas in the summer months, and good for sensitive skin). So, I proceed to use whatever I can get my hands on. First, it was the kids' Vanilla Scream shampoo. It didn't touch it. Then, I got my Suave White Lily and Aloe shampoo. Again, nothing, but the skunk smell was more prevalent now. At least it was not how he smelled before (so strong you couldn't even tell that it was a skunk). After the Suave shampoo, I tried some orange and ginger body wash I had on hand.

Now, many of you are saying, "tomato juice," but, I didn't have any on hand, and where I live, you don't make a trip to town for a can of tomato juice. So, I managed to give him the bath, and then set him out on the back porch. This all occurred last week on Wednesday night. It has been 4 days now, and the smell is still there. Thank goodness it has diminished quite a bit. I haven't bought tomato juice. All the guides I have read online give a peroxide + baking soda + liquid dish soap recipe that is supposed to be more effective. I did this yesterday, and it has helped quite a bit. I had gone to the pet store on Thursday for some skunk odor removal solution. I discovered later it is mostly citronella oil. It helped a little, but the peroxide recipe has been the most effective. I have also periodically treated him with the Gold Bond powder (I'd rather smell the menthol than skunk). It is much more tolerable. Luckily, the smell in my car only lasted about 3 days.

The cat has managed to throw up on the linoleum a couple of times, which has helped my daily appointment with the porcelain throne (at least it was on the linoleum). I can smell his litter box as soon as he uses it, so my oldest has been on litter box detail for a while. I have to admit, I have been a dog person all my life, but even with the litter box, the cat is so much cleaner than any dog I've ever had. He sleeps with me every night, which will probably have to change when the baby arrives. Here's his favorite place to sleep (besides across my big belly). . . under the Christmas tree.

We also have a dwarf hamster that luckily is not responsible for any of my nausea. He only uses one place to go to the bathroom, and his cage does not get too messy. He's also very tame. The girls enjoy holding him, and the cat likes to stare into his cage. He's close to three-years-old now, so I don't know how much longer to expect him to live. It will be a chore keeping the baby away from his cage if he's with us for another year. I don't see another hamster in our near future after this one because of the baby.

So, there you have it, our official food chain. It is as complete as it will ever be. After the skunk fiasco, I have sworn off having another large dog in the house. Especially one that sheds like our Golden. Our next dog will be a non-shedding breed. And that may not be for another 4-5 years. I'll just be glad when I can normally clean up after them all again. I despise the nausea, but at least my 8-year-old does not complain when I ask her for help. She's seen me gag enough lately (tonight I threw up because I had a hair in my mouth... my own hair).

The next post will be much more pleasant. We find out the baby's gender on the 27th (hopefully, unless legs are crossed or something like that).

Frugal tip: Gold Bond = SUCCESS!

I had to take this opportunity to report that the Gold Bond powder I mentioned for my Golden Retriever's hot spot really worked! I checked the spot tonight, and I could tell that the "sore" is now drying out. A scab has formed, which is a sign that the wound is healing underneath, and the spot will soon be gone.

My husband had his doubts about it working, because the dog has still been panting a bit. I didn't tell hubby that I had raised the thermostat in the house to 75 degrees, hee hee. I am trying to save some electricity in this 100+ degree weather. When the outdoor temperature gets back to a more tolerable range, I'll set the thermostat back to our normal 70-72 degree range.

I have one more great site I found the other day. It is CouponMom.com. If you've heard of the Grocery Game website, it is similar to it, but it is FREE. She also has some great free e-books to download. I tried the Grocery Game trial period ($1 for 4 weeks), but after finding many inconsistencies with the actual prices in the stores I was paying for, I decided to end before I was billed the full amount ($25 every 4 weeks, based on the number of stores for which I had signed up). The Coupon Mom doesn't list the deals from the drug stores, but the grocery stores are there (did I mention that it is FREE?). You'd pay $10 for one grocery store on the other site.

As for our school today, dd did one half of her lessons the night before, and will be doing the remaining half during the weekend. We had our neighbor's daughter for the day (she had teacher in-service at a public school, but the daughter didn't have classes today). I took the girls swimming at my mom's neighbor's pool today. It was so hot that we only stayed about 1-1/2 hours. My eyelids were burning. I'd have worn sunglasses in the pool, but I was going under the water too much. I see us going at least one afternoon next week to the pool as well. The forecast says it is going to be 100+ degrees all of next week. My yard needs mowing, but it's just like hay out there. It would be miserable for me to get out and mow right now with my allergies. It will have to wait for now. We're praying for rain.

Frugal tip for hot spots

And no, I'm not talking Wi-Fi here. Our poor Golden Retriever has always suffered from the occasional hot spot. Usually 2 per year, which usually results in an expensive trip to the vet. The vet administers a shot, and we have to give oral meds to him for usually 5 days. It ends up being at least $100 by the time it is all done.

If you are wondering, "Just what is a hot spot?" it is a skin irritation, where the dog licks the place until hair is inadvertently removed and a sore ensues. (By the way, horses also suffer from these.) The irritation usually turns red and becomes a painful sore to the dog, who further licks and makes the irritation only worse. A hot spot could be caused by a food allergy or an external allergy (such as weeds, grass, or fleas). If I knew what exactly was causing this, I'd certainly get rid of the cause if at all possible!

I was telling my neighbor about it last fall, after we had just gotten over one hot spot. She gave me a great tip! Gold Bond Medicated Powder (in the yellow bottle) is an effective treatment for hot spots. It also keeps it dry, which helps speed healing. Well, I just discovered a new hot spot on our Golden this morning, and have been treating it through the day with Gold Bond powder. His panting has subsided somewhat (which is a sign of fever, another symptom that told me a couple of days ago that a hot spot was about to appear, along with the persistent licking). We will see over the next few days if this is all that we will need. So far, I've not noticed any increased redness, and it seems he is not licking there so much (I guess he is not finding an appetite for the menthol in the powder). It sure is cheaper than a $100 vet bill. We've already spent our fair share there this year, with the neutering of our new kitty (to prevent spraying), and since our Golden had to be neutered at 12 years old because he had cancer earlier this summer.

I'll explain how that Gold Bond Powder was an even sweeter deal later.