Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Bubba Gets a Haircut

Skruffy (left) Bubba (Right)

With the ‘elephant’ out of the room, it was time to get down to business and bring Bubba over for another discreet visit to get a hair cut.  On Sunday when it got dark I went over to get him, and he stayed until it started to get dark on Monday night.  It is so terrible that the HOA won’t allow dogs, even for a visit.  Skruffy is the only dog that lives here, and to our knowledge, the only dog that has ever lived here.  Thank goodness for ADA laws that force entities to allow service dogs.  Again, if you are new to the blog, just look for the search bar on the right side of the website and do a search on ‘service dog’. 

Bubba before grooming    Bubba before grooming

When Bubba arrives, he has to check the place out.  We ‘have’ to put his food dish on the carpet as you can see above – left.  Then he just kicks out on the chair and makes himself comfortable.

Bubba before grooming

With all that black hair, it is hard to know if he is asleep or awake…but as you can see here, he has one eye on me.  It wasn’t long before he was snoring away…this boy can really snore!

Bubba before grooming

After awhile Bubba got up to get some water…and he lost his place.  Skruffy just “HAS” so show her spoiled attitude by taking over Bubba’s favorite spot.  But it is not long before they are both asleep, as you can see in the first picture where Skruffy is in the chair and Bubba on the couch. 

Bubba after grooming

Unlike Skruffy, Bubba just does not like his hair cut…but he does tolerate it.  Above you can see the nicely trimmed bubba.  What he does like is the coolness after the haircut and the shower to get cleaned up. 

Bubba after grooming

The sore he had under his chin is totally gone.  I trimmed his chin real close, and that will help keep the sore from coming back.  It took 2 1/2 hours to cut him, clean him, and dry him…and he was ready to get out of here!  One last thing that I did was give him and Skruffy their flea and heartworm medication.  It is a liquid that you put under and along the collar…when we gave him oral medications he would have seizures.  Well, shortly after I got home, Uncle Mike called and said that Bubba had a slight seizure.  It lasted less than a minute, and was the biggest seizure he has had in a few years now.  Probably should give to him a few days before a haircut and bath, or give him a smaller dose…something we will talk to the vet about when we take him for his annual visit.

Friday, December 2, 2016

How to Move an Elephant

Elephant

How does one move an elephant that wants to be stationary?  It is not a one person job, that is for sure…and then when you move it, where do you take it so that you don’t get in trouble?  After all, you just can’t drop an elephant off anywhere.

Where is this Elephant?

This is the real elephant…it is hiding in this picture.  No, it is not the TV which has a western playing.  Nor is it the hutch that the TV is on, although it is bigger than the elephant.   The elephant I am talking about is the large TV behind the flat screen TV That is on…that thing is a Sony TRINITRON 32" 165 pound television, probably bought by Marcia around 1999, perhaps as late as 2001.  We bought the flat screen TV in December of last year.  I would be embarrassed if we still had it sitting on this open drawer in front of the old TV a year later...so just a couple weeks before that year is up, it needed to go.

Sony Trinitron 32"

This is another angle of a similar Sony Elephant as the one we needed to get rid of.  We asked numerous people, and no one wanted it even though it works and has a good picture...it just in not digital.  So it needs to be properly disposed of.  The problem is, at 165 pounds, how does one pick it up and get move it to the car?  Well, there are two maintenance workers here at the condo complex, so I asked them.  Reluctantly, probably because one of them has moved a few of these large TVs before, they said they would help me out on Friday.  So I move the scooter out of the HHR, and I make sure everything is measured, and that the old TV is unplugged from everything.  Then around 1 pm, I get a call from the head maintenance guy…he is sick and wants to wait until next week.

Pasco County Hazardous Waste Collection

The problem is that tomorrow there is a special Pasco County Hazardous Waste Collection which is only a few miles from where we live…if I need to wait, I have to drive four or five times the distance one way…which I don’t want to do.  Called and asked if there would be someone to help get the TV out of the HHR on Saturday, and I was assured there would be.  It will also cost $5 to dispose of it…heck, I’d be willing to pay much more than $5!

Flat Screen in TV Hutch

As you can see…the elephant TV is gone, thank goodness.  There just happened to be a few construction guys working on a neighboring condo.  I asked the General Contractor if it would possible for a couple of guys to help me out…he called on of them and the two of them loaded up the TV into the HHR lickity split.  I offered them some money, and he said “no thank you.”  I asked him if there was anything I could do and he says, “You can get that Condo Association President off my butt!”

Skruffy

I laughed, and told him about how we nearly had to sue the Association to get Skruffy as a Service Dog, and that HUD finally convinced them that due to Marcia’s disability, there was nothing they could do about it.  (Read about Skruffy being a Service Dog here)   Told him that the Condo President does not want to hear from me…heck, he hardly looks at us when we drive by.  Some people will die old and grumpy…he is probably one of them.

Skruffy    Skruffy

One of Skruffy's favorite positions watching me on the computer.  Sometimes she will fall asleep in this position, and a few times I have been able to get up and walk away without her knowing I was gone.  If I hide, she will look and look for me until she finds me…much more fun in the Library when I did this because there were more places to hide (when the library was closed, of course).

Skruffy

Until next time….