Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

dogs

The power went out, silently, without preamble

by

Just as I sat down to write this post, the power for our entire town went out. Usually, we hear the rollicking pop of a transformer or have a few preliminary brown outs.

Not this time.

A gentle outage, like a mouse tiptoed in and sat down. Lights out all over town.

That was also new. Usually, it’s just our block. The lights are normally, tantalizingly, on across the street and everywhere else.

My laptop’s battery has a very short life these days.

I immediately thought, “Guess I’ll just read.” But my conscience said, “Pull out the iPad and keyboard and get to writing.

So there I was, tapping away in the dark. The Christmas tree is a tall cone-shaped shadow across the room, a bit of silhouette in front of the dimly lit window behind it.

My husband sauntered in and took a seat.

Politely, and only with the slightest sigh, I set aside my iPad.

We talked of butcher-block counter tops and the new sink we purchased and won’t install until Christmas break.

Then there was our new plan for kitchen cabinets.

After all, we did just purchase a lovely new refrigerator. Now those vintage (kindly word for really old, crazy old, did I clearly put across that our cabinets are old, say 100 years old?) cabinets could use some replacing.

Funds are limited, and we’re only expecting to live here another two to three years. We’d located some new vintage looking cabinets which will fit the Adams style of our (100-year-old) two-story frame house. So, we re-discussed this choice.

The boat galley
The boat galley.

Talk wandered. The boat needs cabinets, too. My husband is using the pieces from the old ones as templates for cutting out new ones. Another project for Christmas break.

We decided on what to get our daughter for Christmas. But I’m not mentioning what we decided on here. My daughter reads my posts. (HaHa, sweet girl.)

We recalculated retirement plans.

There were a few minutes of contemplative silence. I typed a bit more on this post because I’d nothing to contemplate other than my To-do list which is frustratingly long.

Then my office in the new house was played. Lighting, of course. How would I like it lit?

I hadn’t given this any thought. Ho hum. Let me see. A desk lamp, some task lighting for my planning board. No, I don’t want an overhead fan.

Why is it my don’t-like-small-talk husband loves to talk to me?

I know, I shouldn’t complain. So I won’t.

We covered politics, Covid, education in general, teaching in specific, whether or not Cagney will stay free of fungus.

Cagney, fungus free

That last is an ongoing discussion. Cagney’s longest run this year has been four weeks. I’m hopeful. I have added “update my post on our fungus battle” to the To-do list.

Lights on.

My husband nods at me and wanders out of the room. Now he can get some work done.

What’s at the top of my To-do list now? Hmm. There’s a three-way tie for first position. I better get busy.

The Battle of the Fungus

by

Yes, I’ve been busy drafting the new Solstice Dragon book, redrafting said book, editing said book, approving covers for the new series, but my biggest endeavor for the last four months has involved FUNGUS. Yes, I know, all caps is screaming.

Cagney before the fungal attack.

Fungus, I say!

It has taken over my sweet companion Cagney since just before Christmas. I could mention how it has kept us from all family visits, but though terribly important and frustratingly heartbreaking, that is a separate issue. (We haven’t see our daughter in six months!)

This is about the Battle of the Fungus.

It started a week before Christmas. That is, we realized there was a problem about a week before Christmas. In retrospect, it had made its advance into our lives at least two weeks prior.

Feral kittens and a curious dog. Need I say more?

Cagney was following the kittens under the house (pier and beam foundation).

I couldn’t find her in the backyard, and she was in such a hurry to get out from under the house and out of trouble with me, that she banged her back against the foundation beam and left a couple scrapes.

I cleaned the cuts with soap and water and thought nothing more of it.

Jump ahead two weeks with a plan to head south to visit the family for Christmas only a couple days in the future. Cagney’s hair is falling out in clumps where the scrapes were.

What the heck!?

It’s Friday evening, of course. We plan to leave Sunday for the trip. The vet is not open until Monday. I leave a message.

We get a return call early Monday, and they squeeze us in for a quick examination.

“Fungus. Your dog has fungus.”

Instructions: shampoo at least twice to three times a week. Keep her area clean, use bleach if possible. Wrap her bed in a sheet and change the sheet regularly. Give her these pills twice a day for 23 days. She should be good in three weeks, though some cases take longer.

Oh, don’t expose her to any animals or people until she is cured. Cured is when little hairs are growing where the skin is bare.

She’s highly contagious — To People and Pets!

No trip south.

Regimen #1

  • Pill morning and night
  • shampoo three times a week (approx. every third day)
  • change sheet same day shampoo
  • vacuum area every other day
  • wipe down area with borax same day as shampoo
  • no petting
  • She’s not allowed to leave her designated area except to go outside
  • escorted outside (no visits under the house allowed)
  • lots of hand washing up to the elbows and wearing gloves when I bathe her

3 weeks: This fails miserably. The fungus is moving from her spine to her shoulders and ribs. She has completed the pills and is nearly out of shampoo.

Back to the vet. They shave her thick coat to about a quarter inch length, which by the way was called “a grooming” and looked like it was done with a hatchet and cost more than any haircut my husband and I have had combined.

I purchased another bottle of vet-recommended shampoo.

Regimen #2 (after the second vet visit and some internet research)

  • shampoo three times a week (approx. every third day)
  • change sheet same day shampoo
  • vacuum area every other day
  • wipe down area with borax same day as shampoo
  • no petting
  • she’s moved to a back hall 5×9.
  • I wipe down walls, floors with borax
  • escort outside
  • I purchase more shampoo (brand I found at Walmart) along with a spray anticeptic/antifungal for between baths
  • Purchase and install child gate for hall
  • spray her spots with anticeptic/anti-fungal spray on days between shampoos
  • hand washing like a crazy woman

She gets worse. Shoulders, neck, flanks, rear, belly and armpits are now infected.

Colors here are slightly intensified so you can see where the fungus is. It isn’t black looking like it shows here.

I do further internet research, more thorough and highly motivated. We have now gone three months since the initial outbreak.

I learn the following:

  • This can take up to six months to eradicate
  • shampoos must contain Ketoconazole (1%) & Chlorhexidine (2%) (the brand we’re using has lower percentages of the medicine)
  • area must be cleaned daily (bleach recommended)
  • start with shampooing every day first week
  • medicine (pills) should be taken for at least six weeks (not 23 days!)
  • dogs with longer hair should be shaved at once
  • change bedding every day
  • fungus is carried in the fallen hair shaft
  • pets often reinfect by rubbing furniture, food bowls, etc.)

Regimen #3

  • shampoo every other day
  • change sheet every day (wash and dry on allergy mode)
  • vacuum every other day (she’s barely losing hair)
  • wipe down area (floor, walls and gate) with Clorox bleach wipes
  • spray with antiseptic/anti-fungal on day not shampooing
  • vacuum on bath day: walls, floor, and bed beneath sheet
  • purchase dog trimmer and shave her down to a quarter inch, maintain as needed. Clean shaver with soap and water (Can’t use stronger disinfectants on the working parts.)
  • disinfect bowl and cone of shame (she has other issues) with bleach wipes every other day
  • escort for outside breaks
  • I’m a hand-washing maniac

She’s no better, but she’s no worse after two weeks. Maybe I see improvement in some areas. But there’s two spots which just won’t improve.

What am I doing wrong?!

I have this friend at school with whom I chat once a week about our dogs. She’s been in on this debacle since the beginning. We rehash everything that has happened since day one. We’re both feeling a bit frosty about my vet.

I mention how we had to wait an extra hour to pick Cagney up after her shaving because she had to be blow dried.

We both scream at the same time. BLOW DRIED!

That night I blow dry Cagney after her Monday bath.

It takes an hour and a half! I have grading up the yin yang to do, and I’m about to cry. But I blow dry her with my pink Conair on warm, high speed. Neither of us are enjoying the process.

By the way, I can crouch now for at least an hour without my legs cramping. Just sayin’.

Add blow drying to regimen #3.

By Friday she looks less raw.

By the next week (last week) she has baby hairs growing.

I shave her again. So much easier to shampoo and blow dry.

This picture was taken today. The spots are visible, though blurred. That’s the hair that is coming in making them look less defined. This picture is an accurate match to her colors.

Pink skin is showing in most areas, though there is some dark pigmentation. It will hopefully fade. Her ears have always been that color. 🙂 The fungus never traveled beyond the bend in her neck.

Today is bath day. It will take about two hours from start to finish. Maybe three weeks from now she’ll get to roam the house again and wait at the sliding glass door to greet us when we come home.

I really miss seeing her there perked up and pleased as all getout to have us home.

We threw out all her beds except the rectangular flat one because its easy to wrap in a sheet and was cleanable. I can’t wait to buy her a new comfy bed for the kitchen and another one for my office.

I’ll post an update when she’s cured. I hope this is useful for anyone else dealing with a pet with fungus.

UPDATE: She is still dealing with fungus. We did have one three-week period fungus free, but then her feet became infected. May 2020

UPDATE: Feet recovering, inner ears now involved. Aug. 2020

UPDATE: Feet had a relapse. Bleach water bathing of each foot, ear drops, pills, more baths, deep sanitation of the back hall, and…..drumroll……….She is fungus free! Sept. 2020.

Thousands of baths, clean sheets, and ten months.

UPDATE: Belly, right side of face and flanks now spotted with fungus. October 1, 2020. We went four weeks fungus free. That is our current record since December 2019.

Non-writing life: Includes dogs

by

Photo by Mitchell Orr on Unsplash

I mentioned in a previous post that my dogs have been keeping me rather busy. I thought I would post about that now because when I learn something new that brings about positive results in my life and those I care about I want to share it with others.

I have two Labradors, great girls who add joy to my life. One of my girls, Cagney has always suffered from skin allergies. We’ve managed to keep the allergies at a low itch and she’s been very positive about the whole experience. Each night I say, “Time for medicine,” and she trots over and sits down knowing I’m going to put a nasty tasting Claritin tablet in her mouth. Yuck! She takes it then runs for the water bowl to get the taste out of her mouth.

Some years ago (25+) I had another Labrador that used to suffer from colds on a regular basis. I started giving her a nightly chewable vitamin C. She thought it was a treat and loved them. But the best part was she stopped getting colds. Jump forward again and earlier this year I think, okay why not give Cagney Vitamin C as well. So I started that regimen (follows the Claritin tablet and much tastier). Result: less ear infections and less need to respond to indications of an ear infection starting. Allergies in low itch mode. (For those wondering about eliminating the allergy altogether: non-allergy food provided and out-door activity limited to no more than ten minutes as needed is already in the mix.)

Months pass, and suddenly Cagney is overwhelmed with allergies. She can’t walk two steps without one leg or the other trying to scratch and itch. Her belly is a mass of pink dots and redness. We can barely touch her without causing legs to go into itch mode. Her hair is falling out and she has black crusty stuff oozing out her flanks. I add Benadryl to the mix (used to work well as a morning allergy pill before the vitamin C was added). No results. She is miserable. We take both girls in to the vet for yearly shots and discuss this new development.

Result: allergy shot, allergy pills to control the issue until more long-term means take affect. Long-term means: a chewable gelcap of Omega-3 fatty acid, and apple cider vinegar. It’s been three weeks: hair is nearly all grown back, pink spots are gone, redness is gone, itching is gone, most of the crusty sebum (black ooze) is gone, and Cagney is comfortable again.

You might wonder what the apple cider vinegar was for. I put it in a spray bottle and I spray all the little skin irritations and such. This includes spaying her feet which have had a purple cast to them since she licks them due to the inching which causes a yeast infection which turns the fur around the feet purple. The color of her feet is now nearly normal, no more licking. The only downside to this is my house smells like I’m pickling something. I am. I pickle my dogs regularly.

Bonus: Lacey’s dandruff is nearly gone. She’s had dandruff all her life. Otherwise, she never has an issue, and both dogs are shedding far less.

Final allergy regimen for Cagney: one gel cap Omega-3 fatty acid, one Claritin, one chewable 500MG vitamin C, daily sprays of apple cider vinegar where needed and lots of love.

#dogs
#canineallergies

Writing metaphor: two dogs, shedding a little of the dark and the light

by

Two sides to writing

It is Wednesday evening and for two days running I have not been writing on my #wip. Arggg! I even am a bit late on my blog. Not good.

So what is the status on Book 4 of Students of Jump you ask. Well, so far it is the longest book I’ve written, coming in at just a bit under 100,000 words.  Besides watching out for typos and diction errors, I’ve been adding a scene here and a scene there. My fabulous beta readers, friends and fellow writers Marcy Peska and L. A. Hilden have pointed out some issues and areas for expansion and those have been keeping me quite busy this month. (By the way, all my books are available at Smashwords, Amazon, Kobo and other fine ebook retailers.)

I have been busily writing and content editing. Until yesterday. Family stuff, a bit of Trivia Crack and dog maintenance. Let’s deviate off the path of wherever I was going and focus on dog maintenance a moment. I have two Labradors, lovely ladies. We call them the bookends because they tend to take positions right next to each other and either mirror each other or lay identically. Of course, one is a chocolate and the other a yellow so they are always opposites in one way. The yellow sheds year round, while the chocolate sheds twice a year.

Consider this: they are both Labrador retrievers, not quite a year apart in age and they live in the same air conditioned residence. Yet, when I brush Cagney, the yellow, I am left with enough hair to cover a whole other dog. Lacey, however, produces about half a tennis ball size of hair fluff, unless it is the start of spring or early fall when she drops considerably more. After an hour of brushing Cagney, I simply give out. If I keep brushing, she just keeps letting go of hair. I look her over, and other than looking sleeker, she’s still well favored in soft yellow hair.  Do you remember those dolls that had hair that you could pull out of the top of their heads or roll it back in by pressing a button at the center of her back? I had one of those, still do in a cedar trunk. Cagney is like that. No, no buttons, but it sure seems like there is an unlimited supply sprouting from her skin, perhaps brush activated.

Where am I going with this? Well, I will admit, I had no idea at first. But something came to mind, just now as a matter of fact. Here it is. Sometimes writing is like this. There are days when I am a Cagney and the keys just keep activating my word production and other days I wonder if I am trying to write in the wrong season. See Cagney is the lots of words day and Lacey is the drought day. And if you think about it, they are the same but opposite too. At the end of the day, something was written. Good/bad, a lot/a little, brutal/effortless, willingly/forced, ears back/ears forward, mouth open and panting/mouth clamped shut.  Writing is like having two dogs, same breed, but different.

It was a struggle, I know, but I found a connection. I challenge you to write about something that enters your mind and show how it is an metaphor for an activity you love. It need not be writing. But if you got to the bottom of this twisted doggy run, you are probably a writer, or at least a reader. Thank heaven you exist.

#writing
#creativity
#dogs

There are advantages to being a 50something writer

by

50+ years of experience

I’ve been gathering experience for 50+ years

  1. I have already been told numerous times I was wrong and proved that I was right.
  2. I have been wrong before and survived and I will again
  3. I have paid my bills, and when I didn’t, I learned to pay them the next time.
  4. I found out I don’t have to answer any questions I don’t want to.
  5. I have learned how to ask questions so people want to answer them (they don’t always, but they want to).
  6. I refuse to sit in the corner and cry about it.  But I know some times a good cry works wonders.
  7. I know what my body does when it is terrified.
  8. I know what my body does when it is tired.
  9. I know what my body does when it hasn’t slept for three days. (My husband and I laughed our heads off about nothing funny, but it was a blast) Not recommended more than once a year.
  10. I know that how I react is not necessarily how another person will act.
  11. Now I decide what I am going to do about it and do it.
  12. I wrote a book.
  13. And then I wrote three more.
  14. I published a book, and then I published three more.
  15. So I am writing another book.
  16. I plan to publish it.
  17. Creativity is in the mind, of the mind, doesn’t always mind, but mind you, it never really leaves.
  18. There are days I don’t want to write.
  19. There are not many days I don’t want to write.
  20. I love my parents despite and in spite of all they did, tried to do and never got around to doing.
  21. I am a parent, and I think she’s going to love me in spite of and despite of all of it.
  22. I married the right man, and he agrees.
  23. What I really know, really experienced and really care about can be a great help with writing about the things I didn’t know until I looked it up, didn’t experience but have an idea about, and don’t care much about but can see how someone would.
  24. I know that crying is not proof that someone is hurt 
  25. I know that not crying is not proof that someone does not care.
  26. I know that silence is not agreement, and taking a stand is far more reliable.
  27. I know my opinion needs to matter to me more than it matters to anyone else.
  28. I have learned that opinion is not fact.
  29. I know that some believe opinion is enough to hang a hat on.
  30. I rarely wear a hat.  Don’t have the head for it.
  31. I can wait a long time, I already have.
  32. I will not wait long for things not worth waiting for or things that should not be allowed to wait.
  33. I have learned that criticism can hurt, but even that sort can be learned from.
  34. I have learned to give criticism that teaches.
  35. Nothing is forever except ideas.
  36. Escapism is not a bad thing.  Writers depend on it. Readers need it well done.
  37. Every day I need to seek out knowledge.
  38. As often as possible I need to share knowledge.
  39. I know how to say I am sorry and mean it. 
  40. I have learned that some of the closest friends a person can have shed, and their only flaw is the amount of hair that can accumulated in the corners.  Dogs, kindness in the warm, occasionally wet-nosed package, that renews itself every morning and sometimes numerous times in the course of the day if you step outside enough times and make a big deal every time you come back in.
  41. I have been an infant, a toddler, a pre-teen, a teenager, a lover, a newlywed, a pregnant woman, a new mother.  I remind my daughter I am old enough to be a grandmother, but I am not ready, nor is she ready to make me one.
  42. I have struggled with self-consciousness and reached a point of mostly not caring what people think about me.
  43. I have found meditation has numerous benefits
  44. I have struggled with achieving a pregnancy, giving up, gone a decade believing and accepting that it was not possible.
  45. I have lost a pregnancy, and helped a friend deal with losing her own pregnancy.
  46. I went preterm and held out for a full term delivery.
  47. I have had a child remind me to pay attention. And I listened. I held her sitting in the crook of my arm.  She placed two chubby hands on either side of my face, turned me to share an eye-to-eye look, and she said, “Momma?” with the firmness of a drill sergeant. 
  48. I know how to hide the fact that I am a shy person. (Head up, chin up, eye steady)
  49. I know how to say no and mean it.
  50. I found out why mothers are never shy when a child is involved.
  51. I learned how to give orders so students do what I say (but don’t ask me to explain how it works).
  52. I have made friends and lost friends and will forget neither.
  53. I have been lied to and lied, and carried the burden of both.
  54. I have fallen in love and worked hard not to climb out because holding onto love is not an easy thing.
  55. I know how it is to lose a parent to cancer.
  56. I know how it is to lose a parent to unexpected death.
  57. I know how it is to lose a parent to dementia.
  58. I have petted the family dog and felt her life flow out and cried for the loss. And I have explained to my daughter why she will not be coming back.
  59. I know how it is to watch my sister lose a child to a brain tumor.
  60. I know how it is to witness a miracle of survival.
  61. I have lived on the East Coast, the West Coast, the Northwest and South Coast.
  62. I have hiked the beginning of the Narragansett Trail and the end of Oregon Trail.  Missed the middle.
  63. I know the reality of not doing something now.  Do it now or it will never happen.
  64. I have graduated high school.
  65. I have graduated college, three times, different degrees.

I figure I still have plenty to learn, and all of it will be useful to me as a writer and a person.

When dogs make us look good, it’s because they are great

by

Cagney looking good at making us look good.

There are days when my students make me look good.  They don’t know they are being observed or that I would love it if they were interested, busy on their assignments, immersed in learning and my principal is watching.  But there are days when all of them seem to be in sync with me and each other.  When that happens, they make me look, they make themselves look good.  But this post is actually not about my students. It is about my dogs.

My husband, daughter and I went to visit my in-laws for Thanksgiving, and we took the girls (our Labradors) with us.  And they made us look really good.  Put two big dogs with one little dog (the resident canine) in a small house with five people, two who are not too steady on their feet.  Just imagine it a minute, and you’ll understand why we always put the girls in the enclosed porch area.  My husband’s parents feel bad that the girls are out of the family society for the few days we are there. But we always fear that unexpected movement and an elderly person falling. However, this time, we let them talk us into allowing the girls to stay in the house just for the first few hours of our visit.

Cagney and Lacey never ended up in the enclosed porch.  They were tranquil (probably hoping we would not notice we forgot to put them out of the house.)  They moved slowly when slow people came near.  They sat along side a slender leg, looked up and backwards at the sitting senior and then lay their heads gently, still and calm to received kind pats.  They wagged considerately (only took out two leaves from the ivy by the door).

They made us look good.  They made themselves look good.  I don’t think they’ll be spending any time in the enclosed porch ever again.

#dogs #family