Friday - I had what I thought was a black widow. She and her vertical web were in an odd place, and I didn't think I could catch or kill her. (I try not to kill spiders . . . even black widows.) I went to Walmart to buy a non-toxic bug killer, but they didn't have any. I ended up buying 409 cleaner, because I had read somewhere that it was good at killing bugs.
I brought it home and waited until "she" was in a good spot in her web. Then I sprayed unmercifully. Then, I let Moki out of his den, and fed him. We went outside for a quick walk. Back inside, I forgot about "her" until I saw Moki over there licking the 409! OMG! I think it must have been mostly dry after fifteen or twenty minutes, but I immediately scooped him up and rinsed his mouth with water. Then, I called the vet. I spoke to one of the assistants, and she told me that with his body weight, it shouldn't affect him. But, if he starts vomiting or getting diarrhea, to come in immediately.
I had read somewhere that if a dog is poisoned you should give them sauerkraut. I was planning to have fake hot dogs for lunch, and just happened to have a can of sauerkraut. I opened it up and put some in Moki's dish . . . not knowing whether he would eat it or not. He just kept eating! He got about three or four ounces of sauerkraut.
Then, I wanted to check my sources for sauerkraut to see if there was anything else I needed to know. I couldn't find any corroborative sources! I kept looking and found a couple mentions of sauerkraut to make a dog vomit! Bummer.
Moki ended up being fine all day long, and eliminated the sauerkraut at the end of the day! Which was great, because if I remember what I did read, the sauerkraut would have absorbed the poison so Moki did get rid of it.
For dinner, I also added a little bit of milk thistle to protect his liver. I'll continue doing that for a few days. All's well that ends well. I never keep anything toxic in the house, and this is a good reason why!
Saturday - Moki is fine. Update on the black widow . . . I now have a very clean black widow spider! She spun a new web! So much for 409! Today, I tried rubbing alcohol. I sprayed her good. I'll let you know tomorrow if she comes bouncing back again!
When Moki and I take our walks, to the right is the park . . . we don't go in, just walk on the outskirts. If we walk to the left, there is a big meadow where we saw the deer a few days ago. Today, we saw a big garter snake! It was about as thick as my thumb . . . fattest garter snake I've ever seen . . . and about twelve to eighteen inches long. It was peering out into the road like it wanted to cross. It was probably going after the chicken . . . Moki stepped over it without noticing, and when I bent down to take a closer look, it turned around and took off back into the meadow!
This evening, the fireworks were in the park next door. I could see about half of them perfectly from my window! The other half . . . I could see the left side of the display! But, in the comfort of my own home . . . can't beat that! Happy 4th!
Tuesday - Moki and I went to therapeutic riding again today. Before it started, Moki got to play with Ron's black lab, Chief. At first, Moki was afraid. But, Chief is a sweetheart, and after awhile, Moki was right into it. I led horses and helped with the exercises today. I'm giving the riders exercises from my seated yoga book. It's working great!
Thursday - A couple days ago I started doing a "really" long walk with Moki . . . one square block. I was afraid it was too much for him and I was pushing him too hard . . . until we got to the last quarter of the walk. That is the park where we usually walk around. He recognized it, and started running home! So much for it being too much for him! I'm thinking of doing another square block in the evening now. But, it's 5:30 now, and the weather channel says it's 89 degrees outside. It doesn't feel like that to me, though! So, we might give it a go.
Yesterday morning when I took Moki out for the first time, I saw that the trash can was knocked over. It is a big, heavy trash can. Someone has asked me several times if I've seen bears here . . . so, I thought maybe a bear had done it. This morning at 3:30 in the morning, I was awakened from a sound sleep by a big bang. I thought it was the trash can going over again . . . and I wanted to confirm my suspicions. Suspicions confirmed! A big ole bear was rooting around in the trash. How cool is that? Well, kind of cool and not cool. It's not good for bears to do that, because eventually they'll hurt someone and then they'll have to be shot or something. So, we're going to move our trash can back toward the houses, and hope he avoids it from now on. But, it was cool seeing him.
Moki has been doing this cute thing lately that I have inadvertently taught him. The book said when you're training the dog to come to you, start out when you feed them. Usually, though, Moki is right there wanting his food. So, what I used to do is go across the room, entice him over to me, and then hurry back to his dish and call him. But, he got wise. As soon as I set the bowl on top of the kitchen table and look at him, he voluntarily walks away. If he doesn't go far enough, I tell him to go farther, and he does! Then I call him to his food, and he comes a runnin'! It is so cute!
Later: We went on the second walk, and after we got home, Moki still ran around like crazy! I guess it wasn't too much for him!
I talked to Nanc, the lady who lives in the back house, about the bear. She doesn't like him. And she told me about a raccoon . . . she doesn't like him, either. Nanc is a city girl, and really doesn't like all these critters. Not me. I LOVE these critters!
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