A day at the vet's and there was a strange man at my front door!

I have certain blogs that I read every day (or whenever folks post...) and one of them is Nuzzling Muzzles at:

http://nuzzlingmuzzles.blogspot.com/

I also read Travels of the Bayfield Bunch:  http://thebayfieldbunch.com/ and, of course, The 7 MSN:  http://www.the7msnranch.com/.  I do visit and check out other blogs, but those are my "morning reads".  I'll catch other ones after school.  I usually try to do my blogging in the morning, but sometimes I'll post something the night before.  I do have 3 blogs which I'm trying to keep going, so that's quite a bit.  HOWEVER, now that my computer has crashed, my blogging will slow down as I have NO new photos to post (unless I go through my archives and I've already posted most of what I want...), so I'll have to bore you with my daily adventures, I guess.

We have a similar problem to Nuzzling Muzzles~~ALL the vets here in the Coachella Valley belong to that dang VCA.  I used to go to a vet's office down in Indio, but their PRICES are OUTRAGEOUS.  Finally, in desperation, I took our dogs a couple of years ago to one of the animal rescue places in Thousand Palms:  Animal Samaritans.  Their prices are quite reasonable and they do offer vet services, although, until yesterday, I was never able to get in for an appointment.  I took Ripley in on Thursday for her booster shots and made an appointment for Lady yesterday for shots and a thorough exam (she is the German Shepherd that a colleage gave me last October...FREE!).  And, believe me, this nice lady vet was THOROUGH!  Lady has been itching a lot, her ears are CONSTANTLY full of goop (even when I flush them...) and her eyes were all red and looked horrible...The vet checked her heart, her lungs,her teeth,  her legs, her eyes, ears, and even checked her hips.  Other than the allergies and side effects of those, Lady, who is about 7 years old, is in EXCELLENT health.  She was amazed by Lady's lack of tartar on her teeth, but I do feed our dogs raw chicken when I can, so maybe that helps clean them?  Anyway, her exam was only $57.00.  I got eyedrops, ear drops, ear cleaning stuff, and 10 days of antibiotics for Lady and this morning, she already looks better!

So, after that 2 hour vet visit (YES, it was 2 HOURS!), I dropped off the antibiotic RX at WalMart (they wanted $34.00 for it at the clinic, but it was only $6.00 at WalMart), I was finally home.  Lady was pretty exhausted from all the poking, proding, and ear flushes, so we both took a nap on the bed.  Ripley, our black lab, sleeps in our closet and Abby, my black cat, sleeps on top of me!  So, our bed is always quite crowded!   Anyway, I'd texted our son and asked him to stop by and take a look at my computer and when I heard the doorbell ring, I thought it was him.  Nope.  Some STRANGE MAN was at our front door!  Now, remember, we have a 6 foot wooden fence all around our front yard with a gate.  I hadn't locked the gate from the inside because our son said he'd stop by...Turns out, he was the guy who trimmed our trees a couple of years ago.  He wanted to speak to my husband (EXCUSE ME, what am I, chopped liver?), so I told him to leave his card and I would let my husband know he had stopped by.  I was a little puzzled...WHY would someone come through a gate when they obviously see that it is shut?  Especially since we have two big dogs?  Hmmm....I'm going to have to think this over...I'm NOT liking that...

Anyway, our son FINALLY stopped by, took a look at my computer and said, "You know this thing is 8 years old...why don't you just buy a new one?"  Uh...because I have 5 horses to feed and I don't have $300 for a new one?  Duh...  He just shook his head and mumbled something about it being too old to even repair.  So, I'm in limbo land right now.  I can use hubby's laptop until he gets up in the morning, which is one reason I like to post in the a.m., but once he's up, it is HIS!  I HATE my iPad...I really can't do that much with it and it isn't the same as having a real computer.  It's okay for reading, but I haven't figured out how to blog and post photos from it...sigh...I may just have to do that...

I'll keep you updated on the computer.  He also said he would take it apart and blow out the dust.  It's on my desk, right next to the front door and you cannot BELIEVE the amount of dust that blows in and how much the dogs drag into the house!!!

Photo courtesy of hubby...This is the road from Anza-Borrego up to Julian, in March last year after a snow storm.