World, Mostly Turning

When I decided that I was going to get a Toller, I joined the Raw-Toller Yahoo Group. A lot of Toller owners feed raw food to their dogs and request that their puppy buyers do too. I did some reading, thought "Why not?", and now trot down to a nearby pet store every other week to buy frozen, nutrionally balanced patties of raw food for both Bella and Lucy.

I occasionally give Bella raw chicken necks and other bits, too. (Chicken bones don't splinter until they're cooked, so raw chicken bones are safe for dogs.) They're slightly ickier than the anonymous meat patties, but I've been well trained by my father, the ultimate carnivore. He loves chicken and turkey necks, as well as all those other organ-y bits that are wrapped in paper inside whole chickens and turkeys. He boils them up and then takes great delight in grossing me and my sister out by sucking the spinal cord out of the vertebrae. If I can watch him eat a turkey neck--well, watching Bella eat one scarcely even registers on my radar screen.

However, there's a discussion going on at the group now about where to locate whole heads to feed their dogs. Yes, heads: chicken heads, lamb heads, and cow heads. Which they casually toss into the backyard and watch their dogs excavate and devour.

I like the raw diet. It's a little less convenient and a little more expensive than feeding tinned food and kibble, but I know that Bella's getting quality meat, not just processed bits that humans don't want. I've started feeding Lucy raw food, too--and her persistent case of dandruff has cleared up and her coat is much shinier. She's also not as neurotic as she was last winter. Raw food advocates say that dogs and cats weren't designed to eat large quantities of grains (i.e., carbohydrates), and eating processed carbs leads to higher and more variable blood sugar levels. So, who knows? Maybe the raw diet is responsible for the improvement in Lucy's behaviour, too.

But entire cow heads? In my backyard? ::shudders:: No, I'm just not going there. Sorry, Bella, that's just one "treat" you're going to have to do without.

The sale of Jim's old house (which, technically, is newer than the new house, but never mind) closed yesterday. Which meant that a goodly part of the weekend was spent moving two trailer-loads of odds and ends from the old to the new. We have an unusually large entranceway--the front door opens where two wide corridors meet, so the zillions of boxes were dumped there because that's what was easiest and it was starting to rain. There were so many boxes, however, that they were stacked up nearly to the height of my head, and we had just a narrow alleyway through which to walk.

Jim's kids are out of school and on their week-here, week-there summer schedule with us and their mother. Jim took this week off work to stay home with them (LittlestJim is only eight years old, so leaving him home alone with a pool isn't an option). I had hoped that he would spend at least part of the day carting boxes from the front hall into the basement. I got home last night to discover that he had indeed gotten sick of the mess and spent quite some time cleaning... the garage.

The garage. He even vacuumed it. Meanwhile, none of the boxes in the house had been touched. ::headdesk::

I think it's actually safer to leave LittlestJim unsupervised for a day than it is his father.

~*~
In other news, my father (also a man who is not entirely normal :-) got some fan mail yesterday. He's written two murder mysteries that are set in St. John's, Newfoundland, in the 1940s and is currently working on a third (which, yes, I'm supposed to be betaing, but I've been a bit distracted by writing fanfic lately, and I'm about to become a lot distracted by Harry Potter). His hero is Inspector Eric Stride. This was the email he received:

Hello Mr. Curran,

I absolutely love your Inspector Stride Novels. I have them both and when I first read them, I could not put them down. I think the fact that the mysteries are about Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders, allows me to relate to things like the language "Newfoundeese", etc! You are definitely by far my favorite author, and I know you may be busy, but I would love for you to write more Inspector Stride mysteries, like 100 more! I'd buy them all! I LOVE the stories! I simply cannot put into words how much I appreciate your work! Thank-you! Please write more! =)

[Dad's biggest fan],
Woody Point, Newfoundland

I suspect his feet have not yet touched the floor. :-)

My father's first novel, Undertow, has been translated into Spanish: http://www.agapea.com/Undertow-Resaca--n636733i.htm . That's just... neat. :-)

What are people using as their badge name on WriterCon badges? LJ usernames? Does your real name go on there too? I want to register, but I'm not sure what to put on my badge.

ETA: I followed poshcat's advice and went with my username. Look for the short redhead with the chest that reads DeSoto_HIA873. :-)

My father came through his surgery fine. He was in recovery for a long time as they gave him a spinal and it took several hours for him to regain feeling below his waist. The surgeon said it all went very well and he'll likely be released from hospital later today or tomorrow. My sister and I will be on babysitting duty after he gets home until we figure out how much mobility he has.

Next up: My poor uncle, who is having one of his kidneys removed next week (gulp).

Today is election day here in Canada. I have voted in every federal election since I became old enough to do so. I'm now 42. And I have never voted for a candidate who's actually won. I always get phone calls from the various candidates (which I find annoying in the extreme - if I wanted to talk to them, I'd have called them myself) saying they hope they can count on my support. What they should be doing is telling me to vote for the other guy, 'cause whoever I vote for is doomed.

Won't be any different this year, because I voted Liberal and live in a staunchly Conservative riding. Usually I go for the protest vote (which explains my perfect record), but I just can't get behind Stephen Harper's social policies, so voting Liberal this time around is my protest vote.

In other news, my father called a few minutes ago to tell me that his long-awaited surgery has suddenly been scheduled for tomorrow. It's not life-threatening or anything, but he's kind of flipping out because, really, who wants to go under the knife? I'm glad it's finally being done so that he can get it over with, but I was rather hoping this would be a quiet week. But life is what happens when you're making other plans.

Dad finally made it to the end of BtVS S5. He's not buying the whole "Buffy is dead" thing. But, then, who would? There are two seasons more to go.

In the words of one of his ex-girlfriends, I'm not feeling very gruntled today. It's August, it's sunny, SFX is in a few days, and it's the weekend. And still - blah. I seem to be trapped in one of those moods where I mostly just want to hide under the bed.

Can someone please send me a new brain?

Have made it to p. 304 of Harry Potter. I think I can say, with conviction, that I've never seen so many semi-colons used in one book before.

( Teeny spoiler for HBP )

In other news, Dad has made it to Blood Ties in BtVS S5 and called me tonight to ask where Glory had gone. He thought maybe he'd seen the last of her - I don't think he's quite grasped the idea of the seasonal Big Bad yet. He hated the episode Triangle (I rather agree with him on this one - it was a weak episode), but liked Lydia from the Watcher's Council in Checkpoint. I told him that Lydia's thesis is available online (http://www.channelingboards.com/SpikeThesis/) and have just discovered that an updated bound version is available for purchase (http://www.cafepress.com/teaattheford.12070289). Hee - I might have to get a copy of that.

Oh, and his theory for what happens to Buffy at the end of the season? She becomes a vampire. Heh.

I just got home from my weekend in Peterborough. Waiting for me was a voicemail from my father saying "WHO THE HELL IS DAWN?!?"

Apparently, he's started watching the BtVS S5 DVDs I lent him last week. :-)

Haven't been on LJ much for days and days, so am desperately out of the loop and have much catching up to do.

Sister got out of the hospital on Sunday and is now at home. She's weak but otherwise recovering well. She's bored and getting cranky about it - a sure sign that she's on the mend. :-)

In other random news:

Dad is well into BtVS S4 (plus the AtS S1 crossover episodes, though I don't think he's watching the other ones). He thought the season got off to a slow start, but he always says that. Surprisingly, he quite liked Beer Bad - he thought it was a funny take on Quest For Fire. I watched The Initiative and Pangs with him over the weekend, and heard him laugh out loud several times. He gets more of a kick out of BtVS than he'd be willing to admit in public.

The World Figure Skating Championships started yesterday, which means I'll be trading one obsession for another for the rest of the week. Though they can be a little mixy - romanyg has pointed out that Johnny Weir looks rather like Connor and so he does. Hee.

My car had a flat tire this morning. Again. Which is how I finally noticed that there's a garage across the street from where I work. Convenient!

And apparently I am carbon. ( Clicky )

My cousin Stephanie took great pains a few years ago to convert me into being a Buffy fan. (Obviously, she did a good job.) Now, I'm passing it on - I've got my father watching it. He worked his way through Season 1 last fall - he called me one evening just to say "They ate him!" after watching The Pack.

Now he's going through Season 2 - I just had another phone call from him wanting to know if Ted was going to come back Terminator-style from the piece that Willow saved. He knows nothing about what's ahead - I've been quite careful not to give anything away re: Angel/Angelus. He's sooo close! I can't wait. This is almost as much fun as when I watched it all for the first time. :-)