derp

Lola's derp face.

I always laugh when I see this picture.  Poor Lola, this is her first time in NY and therefore right after our very LONG flight across the country back to NY.  She'd never flown before (and it was my first time traveling with a dog, she went as cargo because she was too big to be in cabin).  So she looks really stressed out since this was just after we got to the house and she met my sister's dog Abby for the first time.

Abby

Lola was still suffering from a fungal infection at the time, so she had some fur loss on her face around her eyes (they were constantly tearing up and her ears were getting a lot of wax build up really quickly).  Luckily, the vet my parents use actually prescribed something which cleared it up (unlike my own vet, who thought mange, and then ring worm - although the 2 weeks of anti-fungal pills for the ring-worm did clear up the problem temporarily).

Lola does much better traveling by plane now, not that I do it too often, but I think she's figured out I'll always be on the other end anxiously waiting to get her back and free her from the crate.  I'm always a nervous wreck, I love when I can watch them put her on the plane, that way I know she didn't get left behind or get on the wrong plane.  Never had a problem, but I've heard horror stories from other dog owners.

On a rather different note, I've been working on my family tree (mostly focusing on my dad's side, since Mom's side actually is fairly well documented - they liked joining things like Daughters of the Revolution and the Mayflower, etc).  So I've been talking to semi-distant relatives for the 1st time ever - people I didn't even know existed!  I've also decided I want to learn some rudimentary Polish.  I'll have to struggle on my own for a while, but maybe once I build up some vocab and some basic grammatical knowledge I'll take a class or hire a tutor or something.  Not sure.  For now I got these books: Spoken Word: Polish and Barron's 301 Polish Verbs (I wonder why not 501 like most of their other verb books?  I have their French and German, I've found them useful, so I figure this would be too).  I know how much Lola enjoys listening to foreign or semi-foreign (after all, Old English eventually became Modern English even if it sounds and looks very different) languages.  I did get her a new toy though: Hide-a-Squirrel, she's liked the bird and bee versions, figured I'd get the squirrels.  Abby really liked hers.  I'm hoping the toy will occupy her while I job hunt and work on my Polish.  Hopefully I'll eventually get good enough to be able to browse through birth records back in Poland to further research my dad's side of the family.

Flowers

Lola always stops to smell the flowers, and sometimes she lays in them.  She was always interested in my potted plants, but she's also interested in the neighbors' gardens.

 Luckily, this morning's walk seems to have pooped her out completely, so I might give her the day off tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm trying to get Lola excited about moving, even though I don't know where we're moving to right now (depends on if and where I get a job).

Bath Time!

So I've had to put off bathing Lola for a week longer than I wanted, mostly because I wanted her puncture wound to heal up a bit more before I soaped her up.  I tried pretty hard to avoid getting shampoo in it, although I definitely got some water over the area.  She really hates being in the tub, no grip... I usually wind up getting in with her, so my legs always get really clawed up.  Not so bad today, but my favorite part is AFTER the bath.  I love watching her run around like a crazy dog.  I also love how soft she feels after.

Unemployment

I think even Lola is annoyed I'm home all day every day.  I must be interrupting her normal routine (which I imagine is just moving around the apartment and napping in different places).  We watched Insidious last night.  Not going to lie, I was sort of freaked out once I got in bed and there were all sorts of weird noises (granted, I stayed up a little later than normal - so I'm sure the noises are normal and that I'm just usually asleep when they happen).  Lola seemed pretty spooked too, didn't want to go out to pee before bed or anything.  And despite the fact we didn't see anyone while we took our normal bathroom walk, she kept looking over her shoulder and was certainly very alert.  Weird puppy.

Dog Days of Summer

It's finally gotten into the 90s here in LA.  Unfortunately, I don't have any A/C, so I have to keep on top of making ice to feed Lola.  I do make sure the fan is on and pointed at the bed (or couch) so that Lola can lounge in front of it.  Her favorite is to sprawl out on her back and let it waft over her.  At least today is the last day for antibiotics, although now Lola seems more interested in licking her wound.  It's still red looking, but the skin around it looks fine and it doesn't smell, so I'm not too worried about an infection.  Although I'm definitely keeping a close eye on it.

Lola taking one of her many toilet naps.