Hiding fandom in the underwear drawer since 1977

So with all the news from D23 (the Marvel What If with Hayley Atwell voicing "Captain Britain), the return of Kat Dennings, Ming Na Wen being in the Mandalorian? And directing, Dave Filoni doing his first live action, plus Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard and Taika Waititi?? And Ewan McGregor back as Obi-Wan.
What do you all think? Is Disney+ worth my money? And of course, with all these streaming services, eventually we will be offered bundles, which means we are back to... cable.

And the new sizzle reel is up and I pretty much sobbed through the first full minute of it. I didn't like Attack of the Clones, but apart from such a loving look at Han, Luke, and Leia, I really enjoyed the glimpse of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and Maul but damn, why Boba Fett and not more Padme? WHY WHY WHY. And yeah, Rey's double bladed red light saber and costume are super cool. And with those ISDs? Is that a Katana-like fleet?





Also, my spawn leaves at the end of the week to return to college and so I'm very sad. Spawn is moving into a campus apartment so we had to buy things this weekend, including the nightmare scape that is Bed Bath and Beyond and then Ikea. But it was so much better than the first we tried to do this. I am always reminded of this piece from the Onion,Mom’s Fears About Daughter Leaving For College Channeled Into Fight About Storage Bins. Spawn had opinions and sort of had a list and roommates had a googledoc.

And today is international dog day! So we're taking Thorin Corgishield and Komo to Pups on the Patio at one of our favorite local places, which the spawn really wanted to do.





And, actually, not so fine. I'm at that point where I hate every word of my NFE and think I'm terrible and it's terrible. I don't like to post this because I think it makes others feel badly -- I'm not hosting this or asking for or accepting a gift in exchange that makes you miserable! Which I totally get and that's not it but the self hate is real.

( blather about extreme fear and loathing )

So on Sunday we visited a kennel and on Wednesday we brought home Komo, a 5 year old male yellow labrador retriever. He's an enormous 90 pounds/41 kg. (By comparison, McKinley was 45 to 50). He originally had the dumb name of Chase, which is not a thing to be yelling at a dog that decides to run after a squirrel.  We need to get him neutered and he and the Thorin Corgishield are not yet best buddies.  But I think he'd be a great dog for me to work on getting a therapy certification.  If he's going to sleep in our bed, we're going to need a bigger bed.  We named him Komo because he has a "Lizard factor" and will slurp up soft squishy things -- he's already had two surgeries.  But we've been down that road before, so hopefully he'll grow out of it in a year or three.

We returned from the not all frozen North where I managed to squeeze in lovely visits with syrena_of_the_lake and psyche29 . I just adore meeting imaginary friends in Real Life and we've known each other through fic for a very, very long time.

If you did Yuletide, I hope you loved your gift and that your gracious recipient loved yours. It did seem there was more than the usual pinch hit scrambling.  What those admins can pull together every year is astounding. If you see a good story, rec me, OK?

We picked up McKinley at the hospital yesterday. I'm glad she can be at home for whatever time is left to her. Thanks so much to all of you for the kind thoughts.  This is a better, though very, very costly, outcome than I'd expected a few days ago.  She was thrilled to be home after over a week in the hospital.



She has lots of pills -- for pain, nausea, and high blood pressure and has become very resistant to pilling. Anyone have any ideas? I'm used to a dog taking your fingers off so this is a new problem.  I think we might need to go the meat route -- I remember liverwurst growing up?  Maybe there's something at PetSmart?

Also, SEE WHAT I GOT!! My spousal unit managed to track it down and I'm pretty excited.



Have you been to see any movies?  What's your favorite?  Mary Poppins?  Bumblebee?  Aquaman?  Spiderverse?

Also, wow the government shutdown sucks.  Although, the pre-published Federal Register just came out and a few folks are in if funded by non-appropriated money -- and others are supposed to trundle in for an orderly shutdown.  Ugh.  I'm sorry if it's you.  I  know this is super stressful.

It's not secret to those who have followed me that dogs are a big part of my life. Dogs are prominent in my fic and Jina is probably best represented in my first labrador, Ghitsa, crossed over the rainbow bridge after an amazing and long life 15 years ago.
There is Thorin Corgishield, who is, at the moment, alive and well.  (The introduction of worrying fretting shepherds in H&M was due to the introduction of a worrying, fretting herding breed in a house previously occupied by labradors)


McKinley, however, has always been another story. There was the ACL surgery in 2014, the time she ate the retrieving bumper, and the neverending cycle of pain meds and infections, ears, feet, lumps, warts, growths. We got McKinley, like all of our dogs, from breeding/show kennels at 1 year of age, or a little older, when the breeders decide to not show them, don't want to breed them, and are looking to rehome them. McKinley was supposed to be a breeding bitch for an assistance dog program but they sent her back realizing that she had personality traits (in particular no desire to please her owner/handler) that they did not want handed down to generations of assistance dogs. She's dumb as a stump, in her own Labrador world of food and smells and oddly poorly socialized despite years of obedience classes -- she will still bark at people and dogs she has known her whole life. She's 12 going on 13 and the size of her file at the vet is a source of consternation and horror.

And she's been hospitalized since Tuesday (3 separate hospitals) with possible kidney and liver failure, or maybe lepto not covered by the vaccine, or maybe it's the infection that's caused the vomiting even of white rice since last week. Maybe the NSAID we tried for her severe leg pain that was supposed to pose lower risk of stomach upset and liver compromise (and did give her great mobility) has triggered a cascade. We don't know. Care is currently, conservatively going to run to 5 figures.

This is incredibly difficult. With other dogs, they have told us and we knew. They spent their last nights at home with us and we took them to the vet and were with them. With McKinley, I don't know what the right decision is and when we will know. 

So here she is in her finer moments.









 
I'm not really going to respond to comments, OK? I'm not as on top of things as I normally am (I tried making biscotti yesterday and forgot to add the butter).   I've been down this road before, there aren't any good answers, I know all about care of aged and ailing dogs, and we have truly the best vet care money can buy.