Agnes, feel better, sweetheart!!!
I am POOPED - spent aaaaalllllll day planting garlic for BF's mom. Garlic growing is her big hobby, so she has all these fancy types that she buys one year at $6/bulb, plants, and then keeps re-planting to have enough for next year. So, if we didn't plant them now, she wouldn't have any for next year and would have to buy them all. She typically plants about 1,000 garlic plants, so that would be serious $$! So anyway, a friend of hers and I spent the day planting garlic. It was not my favorite job in the world, but the friend really liked Rascal, so that was nice. Rascal had a great time having a "yard" (he was on a long tie-out) and investigating things like deer poop, delicious grass, and stone walls where chipmunks live. And I've been mooching off of all this delicious homegrown garlic for years, so it's time for me to do my share of the work.
While I've been helping BF's mom I've also been trying to work on training their boxer. That dog is SO obnoxious. He barks, barks, barks to get attention when he is confined. When he's loose, he's soooo rambunctious that he acts like a super-hyper puppy, only he's a huge, full-grown boxer and is leaping up in the air and body-slamming you. BF's mom is a wonderful person, but she's one of those who thinks that dogs should train themselves (not really willing to put in the repetition and consistency necessary for "real" training) so the dog has very very minimal basic obedience. They typically just yell commands over, and over, and over at increasing volume, and then occasionally reward good behavior with treats (always showing the dog the treat first). Most of the time they just yell a couple things and then give up. SO annoying. We've been practicing "stay" and "go lie down" and ignoring the crazy barking for attention. It's amazing how after only 2 days of consistency he's so much improved. I really hope BF's mom will keep at it. He's a super sweet dog but really a pain to be around most of the time. He just never had puppy training (they got him as a 3 year old rescue 2 years ago) and the family assumes that since he's a full-grown dog, he should magically be fully trained. Um, no, you have to put in the time to train him first! Sigh.
Liesje, bummer about the creepy computer stuff. You'd think people wuold have more sense!
Karen, lots of good thoughts for Bugsy. I do think the surgery sounds like your best bet. You poor things - I bet you are both way sick of this by now!!
Deb, how was your $$$$$$$ diamond whiskey? 