FitzpatrickLand!

About a year ago, I hijacked my own blog to share the adventures of my trip to Ethiopia with a friend who was adopting. As I am constantly reminded, I never finished blogging about the trip.

Looking at it now, I wonder how I managed to take over 10 days off work during budget season. I can see how once I was back home and back to work I didn’t manage to find time to write about our trip.

The anniversary of this trip is a great excuse to finally finish my online travel journal. A year ago today, I set off on the first leg of the trip. Here is the first part of our adventure.

I haven’t fully decided how to share the information about my trip. In the two posts I wrote last year, I combined the notes from my journal with other memories and my pictures. This time around I may just transcribe my journal since I’m not sure how much to trust my memory to fill in the gaps. Or I could just post pictures from each day and add captions. Another option suggested was to take pictures of all the random stuff I taped in my journal and add captions to tell the story.

My plan was to have all (or at least most) of my travel posts drafted and ready to post on the appropriate day this year. But again, it’s budget season and I am the world’s worst procrastinator. So how I post each day may depend on how close to bedtime it is.

The stunning fact remains: a year ago today I left for an amazing trip I’ll never forget.

A few weeks before traveling, I stocked up on vaccinations. (There were actually six - one was on the back of my arm.)

A week ago we headed to the coast to enjoy a rare sunny day. Romeo had chemo on Wednesday, felt a bit crummy on Thursday and was perking up by Friday. We hadn’t taken the dogs to the beach in ages and the news that Romeo still had no visible metastases in his lungs seemed like a good reason to celebrate with an outing.

Oregon’s beaches are rarely warm but if the sun is out it can at least be pretty and pleasant as long as you’re bundled up. So we packed up the hats and scarves and loaded up Romeo and Julio for the drive.

Once we got there, the dogs loitered around the picnic table while Trent and I ate lunch. Then we headed down the steep path the the beach. Romeo managed quite well. But after all the standing while we ate lunch and the walk down hill he was pretty tired.

We didn’t walk far before we found a spot to sit and soak up the sun. As expected, the wind was blowing a fair amount.

Julio's hair is especially fun in the breeze

Watching the beach happenings together

He looked like he was having fun

Really, I didn't leave my dog with a homeless guy. I happen to know this bum.

See, Trent actually does like Julio

It's exhausting being out and about

Yep. Exhausting.

I like how Julio barely looks like a dog here. You can also see how much Romeo's hair has grown back since his surgery.

Tomorrow is Romeo’s third round of chemo. Along with the usual treatment, he is scheduled to get a chest xray for a status check on his lungs. We’re hoping these xrays look like his last ones, with no visible metastases.

This evening Romeo seemed extra frisky so we had a frolic in the backyard.

This bout of chemo has been much nicer to Romeo. He is nowhere near as pathetic as he was after his last treatment. Last time he was only sick for about 24 hours, but he was pretty miserable.

This time his energy has stayed up and he seems pretty happy. While he hasn’t had diarrhea, he has had the world’s worst gas. He is generally a fairly gassy dog anyway, but now he can clear a room with the greatest of ease.

Today I was able to get a lot of work done in my office since no one dared bother me for fear of the odor.

Here’s Mr Stinky trying to fit on a normal sized dog bed.

It’s been three weeks, which means that it was time for another trip to OSU for Romeo’s second chemo treatment.

Apparently he was a good patient again. He has a newly shaved leg to show for his outing today.

We’re loading him up on meds starting tomorrow to hopefully avoid the 24 hours of diarrhea and crumminess. Crossing our fingers. So far he’s just his normal, sleepy self.

One of the organizations I love is BAD RAP, Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls. They are an amazing group of owners, trainers, rescuers, and educators in Oakland, CA, working to secure the future of the American Pit Bull Terrier as a cherished family companion.

After borrowing a video they posted on facebook yesterday, I spent some time on their website to see what’s new. They have great info about pitbulls and their history and lots of resources for owners. Of course I ended up on their adoptable dog page.

Their pictures, videos and descriptions were so engaging that I read the entire page this morning. As intended, they made me want to bring another dog home.

Here’s one of their adoption candidates, Bouncer: (on the bench)

A little closer to home, Willamette Humane Society has some great pibbles up for adoption. I am in love with Barkley’s face.

Apparently he’s also a silly boy.

Our house is full, but as usual, these pics and videos made me think the “just one more” thoughts. I’ll just have to wait until my parents go on vacation and we pit-sit their girls to get my house full of pibbles.

Here’s another fun trick. Found this on Bad Rap’s facebook page today:

Not something we’ll be teaching Romeo.

If you hadn’t guessed from the title of this post, we are gathered here today to talk about incisions. Not just any incisions, but Romeo’s amputation incision. Since he’s such a large dog, the incision from his amputation was massive – 83 staples worth of hugeness.

It has been amazing to watch his healing process. His amputation was on February 3rd, so is has just been a little over four weeks since surgery. I am so impressed at how good he has looked through the whole process.

Here’s a pictorial record of Romeo’s progress. I’m starting with the pictures from right after surgery, so

if

you

don’t

want

to

see,

stop

scrolling

down

:)

February 5th - 2 days post op

February 6th - 3 days post op

February 7th - 4 days post op

February 8th - 5 days post op

February 11th - 8 days post op

February 15th - 12 days post op

February 18th - 15 days post op

February 20th - 17 days post op

February 23rd - 20 days post op

February 25th - 22 days post op

March 3rd - 28 days post op

Today I learned about a new dog sport – Treibball.

From the American Treibball Association’s facebook page:

Treibball, or driving ball, is a new, competitive sport for dogs of all ages, and sizes, who love to play chase games or who just love to herd. Invented in Germany a few years ago by Dutchman Jan Nijboer, the first competitive match was held in 2007. It’s great fun for any energetic dog who works well off-leash and needs a job, or one who doesn’t have sheep!

The game consists of the dog working off-leash and obeying the handler’s commands (verbal cues, whistles or hand signals) to use his nose or shoulders to drive eight balls into a net within 15 minutes. Eight fitness/gymnastic-type balls are arranged in a triangle, 20 feet out from the goal, with the point of the triangle towards the net (like in billiards).

The handler stands to the right of the goal/net, and does not step into the field. At the sound of a whistle to start timing, the owner/handler directs the dog to the farthermost ball on the right, and the dog drives that ball into the net first. Then the handler chooses which balls to bring in, in what order. The game stops when all eight balls are in the net/goal and the dog lies down in front of the goal (like penning sheep!)

Have a look…

Thinking of Julio learning this game, I imagine a smaller, bouncier version of this dog…

Maybe we have a new hobby.