December 2012

I haven't written in a long while.  Shall I get you all caught up?

Bazal - That dog is still kicking butt.

My tree in the front yard - chopped down due to messing with the plumbing and foundation.

Travel - a few little roadtrips to keep me sane.  No big trips planned in the future.  This must be changed!

Match.com - the subscription comes to an end on December 31, 2012.  Overall, a very unsuccessful experiment.  I've been saying I should write a book about it, but I like happy endings!  hahaha

So what's next?  The apocalypse.  (speaking of happy endings...)  Ok, ok.. I don't believe the world will end on 12/21/12, but I am leary of those people who do.  So I'm trying to decide between holding an End of the World Party or barracading myself indoors and waiting for the craziness to be over.  decisions...decisions...

The Ballad of Bazal - a.k.a. This doggie proved me wrong.

So it was mid-January when my sister called in hysterics because her dog had been attacked.  She has a 10-year-old blue healer named Bazal.  I call him the ottomon, and my other sisters call him the giant tick.  Can you guess his shape?  Back to the story...


As I said, my sister called because Bazal was covered in mud and blood, and she didn't know what happened to him.  We needed to get him to the vet asap, but he's way too heavy for D to carry him alone.  So I raced to D's place. 

Oh, by the way... I was hosting a Keno party at my house.  Yep, I left a group of my friends to play without me.  Luckily, they are great friends and locked the door when they were through (not to mention cleaned up.  I still feel guilty about that!)

When I got to D's house, I assumed we'd take Bazal in my car because it's lower to the ground and easier to place him inside.  D assumed we'd taking her car.  Well, she didn't see my car behind hers in her driveway so backed up right into mine.  Her car was undamaged.  Mine needed the hood replaced.  Oh yeah, when it rains...

Okay, so we raced -- and I mean RACED to the 24-hour vet.  (I think she hit 100 mph.) The vet immediately took Bazal to the back and cleaned him up.  It was a long wait.

When he finally spoke with D and me, he said that Bazal has a severe laceration on his neck because the dog attacking him obviously went for the jugular!  The vet sewed him up as best he could but was afraid the stitches wouldn't hold because lacerations were so jagged.  D hands over her credit card.  They keep Bazal overnight.

Okay... long story short (too late), the stitches do not hold.  We make yet another emergency run to the vet and they say there's not enough skin to hold his wound closed.  From the way the vet spoke, I assumed we'd have to put him down.  Luckily, I was wrong!  

So here is what Bazal looked like (WARNING:  NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!)

Yes, his jugular was exposed.

D took Bazal to her vet of 25+ years and he kept him for a couple of weeks giving him hydrotherapy.  Essentially, they sprayed water on the injury twice a day.  That's it.  No salve, no "cone of shame" -- just antibiotics.

After those two weeks were up, D carried on the hydrotherapy at home.  It is now two months after this ordeal.  I never thought Bazal would heal, however, here's a photo of him now:

A-MAZ-ING! 

The original injury is about the size of a quarter.

There's much more to the story:  D having to drive to the vet's on a daily basis -- my car getting repaired incorrectly and then finally fixed --  a neighbor saying he knows what dog attacked hers, but having no proof, we can't do anything about it --  not to mention the vet bills.  Holy Guacamole Dip!  But it all turned out well in the end, because that booger Bazal is one tough cookie.

Away Game ~ 2012

Saturday, January 21, 2012 -  8 a.m.  Wake UP!

Leaving my beautiful 60 degree temperatures in Dallas, Texas, for the 4 degree (during the day!) temperature of Minneapolis, Minnesota isn’t my idea of a good time, but I have a bucket list to get through, dagnabbit!

I *will* visit every arena in hockey before the proverbial bucket has been kicked.

Dallas, New York City, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Calgary have all been checked off my list. 

This year I wanted to do a Minny/Winny trip during Spring Break.  However, getting to Winnipeg is pricey.  Getting a ticket to a game is even more difficult.  I like choosing my seat instead of having it chosen for me.  Needless to say, I dropped the Winny idea for this year.

The flight up began with the woman sitting next to me clipping her fingernails into a hat – yes, I said a hat.  I thought this was really gross.  But she was really nice; so we chatted a bit.

As we descended into Minnesota, I saw vast areas of white.  What is this stuff??  Why is it all over the ground?  ;)

Going outside for the first time was a treat.  Seeing my breath freeze before my eyes was quite a shock.  But it really didn’t “feel” that cold.  Then again, I wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

I was worried about driving on snow, but it turned out not to be a big deal.  Keep in mind, I’ve only ever driven on Texas ice.  (We don't get much snow 'round these parts.) No worries.  They keep the roadways clear up there.

My first stop was the Mall of America.  It was quite a zoo!  Every store that’s ever been in a mall…ever… was there.  I hadn’t seen a GlamourShots or Fredricks of Hollywood since the mid 80’s, but they were here. 

There’s also a chapel, LegoLand, an amusement park in the middle with rollercoasters, full-sized restaurants, and the food court takes up a quarter or more of the entire third floor. 

I walked around for several hours, ate at Johnny Rockets (excellent onion rings) and just enjoyed a leisurely Saturday with about 10 million others.  (The place was packed!) 

Finally I called it quits because I was afraid I’d fall asleep from exhaustion during the game . 

Getting to the Xcel Energy Center is easy.  Parking is also easy.  But getting into the parking lot takes FOR-EV-UH!  I was late for warm-ups which ticked me off, but I was able to get a few shots.

The game started off okay.  Dallas scored first.  I’m in that photo on the Dallas Stars website where I look like a total goofball.  Lemme ‘splain:  I was yelling for the goal and digging in my purse at the same time.  So I look like I’m yelling “ooooooh” with my arms flailing like a T-Rex.  Ugh. 

I'm not able to post the photo, but you can see it here:  http://stars.nhl.com/club/gallery.htm?id=27141&location=/photos&pg=1  (photo #18)

As I said, Dallas was doing well, but within a two period minute of time they totally lost it.  It happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!  The gentleman next to me said, “You didn’t fly up here for this, did you?”  I said yes and added, “We’re from Texas.  We do things big.  If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose big!”

There were no Stars' fans in my area; however, the folks that were near me were really nice.  They certainly know their hockey.  There was a teen next to me that kept sharing the stats of various players all over the league. 

There were no Ice Girls, but Ice Kids!  Loved that!

And, the Wild have a mascot.  I’m so jealous.  I want a mascot, too!

And, and... the arena’s food selection was better than the AAC.  THEY HAD MINI-DONUTS!!!!  (what we call Arkansas, down here)  So delish!

So my team lost.  So what!  It was the second game in a back-to-back.  I hoped for a better outcome, but was prepared for the worst.  I had a great time!

So let’s talk about the flight home.  We pulled through a mass of white, fluffy clouds that looked like the undulating ocean.  It was gorgeous. 

Unfortunately, I was blessed with a woman standing in front of me for the entire two hours talking nonstop about her job to another woman who she just met.  Her voice was like a shard of glass slicing into my ear canal everytime she uttered anything in her annoying heavily-Northern-accented voice.  I was just kicking myself for not bringing my iPod! 

I glared at her.  I pleaded (with my eyes) to the flight attendants.  I did everything except ask her to sit down and shut up.  LOL  Maybe I should’ve asked her to just sit down and shut up.  Meh.  This, too, passed.  Finally, we began descending in the choppy, mountaineous clouds of Dallas, Texas.

By 1 p.m. Sunday, I was on the sofa relaxing.

 

(me before the game)

Even though my team lost, I was able to experience 4 degree temperature, see the largest mall in the USA, and had a great time talking hockey with very knowledgeable folks up in Minny.  I can’t wait for next season’s arena!!

It's officially been a week!

Here's your update from my new Match.com subscription:

My profile has been viewed 25 times since the beginning of 2012.  (hehe - seems like a long time, huh?) with no responses.

I have looked at countless profiles and "winked" or "favorited" or "sent smiles" or WHATEVER they call it to three of them. 

We'll see what happens.  :)