So I admit that I'm starting to get pre-moving jitters.
I guess Melbourne has been my home away from home for 6 years now and on the eve of the move I realize that my decision to move to a country town may not have been the smartest idea.
I'm sure it's just the packing. Been up since 7.30am sorting out last minute things... and there seems to be millions of last minute things. However, I've come to realize that I can function and live quite happily with only about 7% of my worldly possessions (the other 93% already packed up in boxes, ready to go).
Milton has been blissfully unaware of the stress I'm going through and has been having a lot of fun chewing up moving boxes, my slippers and pretty much anything that he can lay his puppy teeth on. The only comfort is that he doesn't pee all over the house - although that's probably going to change in the new place where I have to toilet train him all over again.
Milton Watching - Milton having a look at what I'm doing while he sits up on the chair, happy in his idleness.
Can't wait for everything to be back to normal again.
In preparation for my upcoming move I have applied for a dialup account to tide me over before my broadband gets connected. Am using it now as we speak to test if it's working.
It is. Very. Very. Very. Ve. Ry. Slow. Ly.
With the accompanying buzzing and ding-ing that indicates that you're connecting up. Slightly nostalgic, but not enough to move me to tears. After all, it only takes like 3 minutes to load up one page.
My fridge's lightbulb blew about 3 months ago. Being the unmotivated people that we are we decided that our food could live in darkness - we didn't care.
Now that I'm finally going to be moving, I decided to go on a quest for a replacement and was duly informed that the lightbulb I had was 'special' and it would be hard to find.
Haven't tried Bunnings or a light speciality store yet, which will be my next goal.
Packing isn't really as hard as it may seem - it's more the idea of it that is depressing. I probably only pack about 2-3 hours a day and spend the rest of the time taking care of Milton, lying in bed watching re-runs of various TV series and sleeping.
Milton Chewing - Milton on his favourite chair, chewing his favourite chew toys. Has a habit of dropping them on the floor and looking at me sadly, expecting me to pick them up and return it to him. So spoiled!
Milton Wet - Milton after another bath. His ears are particularly difficult to dry.
Here's just a video of my routine with Milton before dinner.
I do not put the food down and let him eat immediately - he has to work for it first. I usually start with some simple exercises 'sit', 'shake hands' and then I"ll start mixing it up and making it a little harder for him.
Am currently trying to get him to 'paw up', which is to paw at whatever object I point to. He's getting the drift, as you can see from this video.
Quality of video not so good because I have to hold the camera in my left hand and the treat in the other. Also, was silly to hold it in portrait instead of landscape. Oh well, things to note for next time. Notice that he was confused with the handshake - that's because I usually offer my left hand rather than my right.
All I want to do is just lie in bed and eat chocolate for the rest of the day.
Like Milton:
It's the last day of the year and as I reflect on 2008 I realize that I don't really have much to say for myself. My agenda is organized trimester-ly so every trimester I will jot down what I have achieved.
First Quarter = nothing particularly extraordinary. Knitted a lot to the point I got an RSI injury.
Second Quarter = Ho Hum
Third Quarter = Got my car, went back to church. It was as if my life had just begun.
Fourth Quarter = What can I say? Probably the best quarter of the year, although also the most stressful in many ways.
Blog readers may think they read my blog and know what's going in my life but the truth is that what I write here is but a drop in a huge bucket of water of my life.
2009?
Apart from the usual wishes for good health and a good start to my stellar career as a dentist (me, a dentist! Sometimes I still find it hard to believe), I guess there are a lot of other things I would like to achieve.
Am currently packing up my life for the grand move on Monday morning.
It makes me wonder how I managed to drag everything into this house. There's just so many things!
It's times like this that I wish I had the sense to live a minimalist life. After all, do I really need 10 highlighters and 15 different colored pens? I think not.
Anyway, more Milton photos!
Milton in the wash basin - Was cleaning out his crate and decided to pop him into the wash basin for a nap while I slaved away.
Milton and Froggie - I'm tired of chewing Froggie, are there any new toys??
Milton Eating Breakfast - Is there mince meat today? There is! Yippeee!!
Went to Smith Street today with the intention of eating some truffles at Monsieur Truffe but when we arrived it was closed. Since we were already there, decided to explore a few dollar shops around that area and came back with these goodies:
1. Harness and Leash - Milton hate his collar and leash. I tried everything - telling him "NO", dipping the leash in Listerine to make it less tasty and trying to lure him away from it with treats. Nothing worked. However, this harness has worked like a charm. He now walks without chewing. Very worth the money.
2. Water Bowl - Sick and tired of pouring out more water into his water bowl 3 times a day, decided to invest in one of these self re-filling bowls. Milton loves it.
3. Nail Clippers
4. Hair brush - Breeder recommended that I buy a AUD60 brush. Refused to spend that kind of money - even I don't have a AUD60 hair brush!! Bought this instead - works beautifully.
I've had a pink Gucci wallet (leather lined canvas) for the past 3 years and when my father came to Australia for my graduation, he decided that spilling black tea on it would be an excellent idea.
As I sat there and mourned the loss of my wallet (yet at the same time secretly kinda happy that I could get a new one) my dad said all was not lost and perhaps when it dried the stains will be gone.
I dismissed that suggestion as wishful thinking but the next morning - my wallet was as good as new.
Not. Kidding.
All my dad did was to swab it with with some water and left it to dry. Pretty amazing.
After the Boxing Day fiasco he was very quiet at home but seeing that it was after such a scare I decided it was normal.
Then I noticed he was pawing at his right ear a lot. Didn't think much of it until his right eye started having some greenish discharge and upon inspection I saw it - what looked like a scratch in his eye.
Panicked and called the breeder, who told me that it could wait until today.
Went to the vet bright and early this morning (with a Sunday surcharge, no less!) and was told he had a cornea ulcer.
How did he get it? Must have banged into something/got scratched by a plant/scratched himself when he was pawing.
So now he has to get some eye ointment put in for the next 3 days. The good news is that it should heal quite easily.
Feeling poor. However, he's finally housetrained!! Very happy about that. Took 19 days of sleepless nights.
Milton - Lying on my lap. He's very smart - he'll choose the most comfortable spot in the room that's available, be it my lap, a cushion, the sheepskin rug or the sofa.
Milton the Boss - I'll just sit here on this nice comfortable chair and tell you what to do.
Milton was chasing after a pair of shoes when the catastrophe happened - the 24kg luggage my mom was weighing in the kitchen toppled over and fell on him.
As I frantically extracted him he squealed like he never squealed before and lay still in a really odd position. He then managed to get up but had a limp on his left leg.
Panicked, I quickly bundled him into the crate and drove to the vet. For one heart stopping moment I thought he had died.
Anyway, being Boxing Day and all the regular vet was closed and so I had to make the journey to Animal Emergency in Airport West.
Turns out he's fine - although my bank account would beg to differ. No broken legs or anything - just shock. He lay shivering and salivating for the rest of the day. Mince meat perked him up though and this morning he ate his favourite frozen chicken neck with gusto.
I guess i didn't realize how much emotion I had invested in him until then.
Milton after bath - Wet and miserable, waiting for his ears to dry.
Milton and Forceps - Yes, Dr Isabella Edwards gave me a lucky squeaky forceps that would help me extract teeth for the rest of my life. Milton's favourite chew toy.
Milton Down - Milton has successfully "downed". Can I have my treat now?
Milton Bored - Mommy, you wash my feet every time after I pee. I don't wanna!
Milton Right after he'd had his paws rinsed and pat dry.
Milton isn't fully immunized yet but he was so miserable at home I decided to bring him to the Botanical Gardens - except I carried him all the way so he didn't get a chance to actually sniff anything on the ground. He was reasonably satisfied with that compromise.
Usually nobody speaks to me at the park but today almost every person who passed by stopped to fuss over him.
On the park bench
Milton's Tongue - First shot of his tongue out.
Toilet training is going semi-successfully. Sometimes he's really good but sometimes he has his tantrums. I left him at home a couple of nights ago and visited a family friend with a dog. The moment I came home he sniffed me suspiciously and threw a tanty at me!
Milton: How dare you go out and play with another dog! I'm going to pee in the house!
Milton was restless and irritable after for the 5th meal in a row I did not hand the food immediately. No no - Dental Girl had other plans.
Every time it's time to eat, I'll hold his dog bowl and pick out his dry dog food piece by piece and say...
Me: Milton, sit. Milton: *sit* Me: Good sit! *hands over one piece* Milton, down. Milton: *down* Me: Good down! *hands over another piece* Milton, shake hands.
It goes on and on and on and on...I think I probably make him repeat and learn new things for at least 50-75 pieces of kibble before I finally settle the bowl down (left with almost nothing after his intensive training) and let him eat his dinner in peace.
However, he can now sit, down, shake hands, roll over, turn around and stay. Not bad for a 12 week old puppy. Admittedly, he had no choice but to learn.
Anyway, as I said - he was a little sulky.
Decided to cheer him up. Brought him to the courtyard downstairs. Here's a few photos of him:
What is this place and how do I get home?? - Milton is scared of the outdoors. He follows me everywhere I go outside, probably fearing that I would abandon him.
Flowers? - Milton investigates. I think I'll try to pluck some.
Me: Milton, wake up! Milton: Do I have to? :(
Yes, I'm putting words into my dog's mouth now. So sue me.
My friend has a grown Cavalier and yesterday night he brought him over to meet Milton.
It soon became obvious that Milton was so deliriously happy to have a doggy playmate that he decided that the only right thing to do was to follow Micah around the house and attempt to hump him.
Yes.
Surprisingly Micah just let this tiny little 3 month old pipsqueek have his way. However, he drew the line when it came to pork bits.
He stood there jealously guarding the piece of pork and growling whenever Milton came near. Hilarious.
As a result of all the excitement last night today Milton is quiet like a lamb and just snoozing on my lap as we speak. I love him heaps when he's this way. Not so much when he goes crazy.
Leash Chewing - Milton chewing his leash. Absolutely hates it. Haven't found a solution to this attitude problem yet.
I'm a dentist in a little town in Northern Victoria, enjoying life in the country. This blog chronicles my life as dentist, a Cavalier owner and mostly, as a person in her mid-20s, on a journey of self-discovery.
