Week 5, I'm Alive

Hokay. So. I have been really busy and when I haven't been busy, the internet has been funky, and this is the first chance I have gotten to do a blog in a little while.

This weekend, Triple Crown held its annual Pet Fest, an event held for people and their dogs to raise money for the Austin Humane Society. There were more events than I think I can even name off. There was a whole canine carnival with paw painting, agility, a kissing booth (dogs kissing people, people), bobbing for balls, a Weiner dog race, a frisbee toss, an ice cream eating contest, a live band...and then in the expo center, they had demos and contests going on all day long. Police dogs, the fastest dog in Hutto, freestyling, a costume contest, talent contest, and I don't even know what else. There was also a dock dive and hay rides, a dog wash, food, beer, wine...it was a huge event! This all happened after I had my second Sunday in a row of kennel duty, so needless to say it was a long day. But it was really enjoyable, and for a great cause. Gabe loved bobbing for balls and won a prize that he quickly destroyed in about 5-8 minutes. He also got to try doggy ice cream and pretty much ate the bowl in one big gulp once I dumped it into a dish for him. I decided to taste the ice cream just for the heck of it, thinking it surely was vanilla or something...and it was definitely liver flavored. Dang. I'll post some pictures sometime soon...

After the Fest, we had a bbq and hung out at the school a while longer. I was stoked to eat a big burger all Texas style and drink a beer with it. But, to my dismay they only had sausages. No, not hot dogs...sausages. I don't like sausage. Not at all. But I was just hungry enough and it was free, so I decided to try one. The weird thing is that in Texas, they eat their sausages in tortillas! Is that weird to anyone else? I thought it was. Anyway, it's not like the tortilla made much of a difference since I hated the inside. I also glanced at the box in the garbage can a while later, and those sausages definitely had bits of 'cow tongue parcels' in them. It was written in bold right across the front. Between the dog ice cream and Texas sausages, I think I am a little more homesick than when I got here...

There has been an outbreak of kennel cough here at the school, and so far 4 of the rescue dogs have been pulled for isolation. They were all vaccinated for it before coming here, but there are 13 strains of it and only 4 or 5 are covered in the vaccination. It's not life threatening typically or anything like that, but it takes 3-7 days to incubate and is extremely contagious. It's airborne too, so it's very very difficult to contain. So far neither of my dogs have shown any signs but needless to say, I am not thrilled with the outbreak. I have been keeping Gabe out of the kennel ever since the first dog was diagnosed, using Lysol like it's my favorite perfume and drowning my hands in antibacterial gel. I wish there was more I could do for Diamond but she has to stay in the kennel. If a dog is pulled for isolation, they cannot have any contact with others for 10 days. It puts us very behind with our dogs that we have worked so much with every day.

I am too hungry to write any more right now. That's what's been going on for the past few days and there will definitely be a lot more to come in the next few days. AND Dad is coming, so that will be a high point of the week!