About a month ago, I received an email that I wasn't expecting. (I actually almost deleted it as junk, since I didn't recognize the sender.) It was from a woman named Kim in Sydney, Australia who had come across my blog. The funny thing was " I stumbled across your blog when I was searching for an image....Had to make contact when I discovered that I am not the only tired Audiologist in the world who comes home to a dog named Bailey. Spooky!"

I'm sure this is a pretty regular occurrence for the folks out there who've been doing the website thing for a while, but it was kind of a revelation for me. It means 1) someone besides my mom and my Aunt Lee read this thing and 2) sometimes those someones are people I've never even met who are in different cities, and potentially even different countries!

Anyway, it was cool to be contacted by someone out there I didn't already know!

Well, we had a little more excitement than planned on. Last night, I got home shortly before Bryan was headed out to play hockey. I had the oven on, and was mildly annoyed to hear some small rustling sounds, which I assumed was tinfoil left in the oven by Bryan, who had used it the night before. It turned out there was no foil in there. Mystified, I kept checking during the evening, and periodically heard a rustling or scratching sound.

Bryan got home late last night, and when he got back, I told him "I think we've got some kind of creature in the air vent above the stove." It was too late to do anything about it last night, so this afternoon after I got home from work, we embarked on a fact-finding mission.

Bryan went up on the roof and tried to look down the vent with a flashlight.

Too dark to see anything.

He tried taking pictures with the digital camera, to see if we could determine what was in there. (You can see the results for yourself.)

He had to take the wood panel off the inside of the cabinet, and disassemble the vent inside. Bailey was barking madly, as the bird kept getting more and more agitated. Suddenly, the vent tube came free, Bryan dropped it, and a VERY large bird went flying out our back door.

We both burst into relieved laughter. I had been worried that the bird was 1) dying; 2) injured; 3) extremely pissed off and likely to peck our eyes out, a la Hitchcock's The Birds.

After that, of course, Bryan had to reassemble the vent and tubing (which was poorly assembled and approximately 20% duct tape to begin with).

We both agreed it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but I don't think either of us would like to go through that again. This weekend we'll definitely be heading to Home Depot to buy some mesh to put over the vent opening on the roof where the bird got in.

What I can't figure out is how the bird got in there. Through the hole up top, obviously, but this was a big bird, definitely a fully grown adult. I'm amazed it wasn't injured, and that we didn't end up cooking it accidentally last night when I was baking for about 40 minutes!

A bird out of my air vent is definitely worth two in the bush.

The conclusion of last night's Stanley Cup Final signaled the official End of the Hockey Season.

92 days until the '06-'07 Hockey (pre) Season starts for the Wild!

Not that I'm counting or anything...

Well, it's been two weeks since Bailey had the root of her right lower canine tooth removed, and we're relieved.

This was actually fairly major surgery - as large as the canine (the big, pointy tooth) is above the gumline, the root is actually longer! They actually had to go in and remove a piece of her jawbone to get to the root. The veterinary dentist told us the spot will fill in with bone over time.

The hardest part of all of this (besides the horrendous bill) has been complying with recommendations. Bailey hasn't been able to play with toys, especially her favorite ball. Because of the "no-toys" restriction, we've had to keep her home from dog daycare, since it would be impossible to keep her away from toys there. We've also had to soak her dry food in hot water to soften it up. Well, I caved on the "no toys" after a little over a week, and gave her a soft toy to play with. It's hard to convince your five year old retriever that she can't play!

But, as of today, she's off all restrictions and back to dry food and toys of her choice. She'll be back at dog daycare on Monday, not a minute too soon! When you're gone 11 hours of the day (work and commute) and whipped when you get home, the dog develops quite a bit of pent up energy!

Anyway, we're still waiting for the Tooth Fairy. We've got her tooth and the root, and we're hoping she'll leave us enough to help with the vet bill!

Bryan has been out of town this past week, on patrol. Just his luck, the one day they pulled in, he had duty and had to stay at the boat.

It was a moderately hectic week. After her surgery (more about that in another entry), Bailey's been on antibiotics and pain pills, which means coercing her into swallowing a total of 7 pills a day (plus some liquid "doggie tylenol"). Usually hiding it in some deli turkey works, but she's been getting craftier and craftier and managing to spit out the pills while eating the turkey. For her, this has the added benefit of more turkey, as my approach has been to re-wrap said pills in more turkey and convince her to swallow them.

An MRI for evaluation of my faulty parathyroid(s) has led me to the following observations on the sounds made by an MRI machine. This is by no means an exhaustive list:
1) bouncing ping pong ball
2) old Atari game (there are several versions of this sound)
3) machine gun
4) 80s style laser gun
5) washing machine
6) unbalanced washing machine

...and more, all enjoyed while crammed into a tube the size of a coffin. Not high on my list of fun things to do. The short version is that I'll need to get one or more of my parathyroids out (you have four) in the next couple of months. More on that as it develops.

This was also a week of difficult patients. Our new audiologist, Alec, is a CFY and sees things through unjaded eyes. My final patient on thursday? Alec's comment: "What a quirky sense of humor." My comment: "This is going to be a nightmare. He listened to nothing I said, chose a hearing aid other than the one I recommended and is going to be annoyed with me when it does exactly what I cautioned him it will do."

I need a vacation.

So, in keeping with that theme, I did nothing today. My AirTunes decided to be cooperative, so I've been streaming music from my iTunes library, finally downloaded some newer songs I've been thinking about and watched Game 3 of the Stanley Cup with the TV on mute while rocking out. I read Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" - an interesting take on the global warming hysteria (with legit footnotes to boot!) I looked at some old pictures, and found myself gratified by the old memories, but even more pleased that I'm where I am now (and with who I am now). I played computer games, baked a frozen pizza and chased Bailey around the yard, chanting "I'm gonna get you!" which is about as much excitement as she gets right now.

When iTunes next hits a song I'm only sorta fond of, I'm going to bed.

Tomorrow (hopefully) Bryan will be home, and there will be laundry to do, a house to clean and dinner to cook. I'm hoping to take Bailey on a field trip to Petco, since she's not exactly getting a lot of fun right now.

But at least after today, I don't feel like my head's going to explode anymore.