Jaci Dawn

Politics aside. Real life begins. What I am up to. PANIC.

No, I kid you not. My mentor is turning me loose with my own art booth this summer and I am in Full.Panic.Mode. She probably guessed that because I was really, really, really quiet at her house yesterday. Or maybe not, because I am always really quiet.

I have 88 pieces of art. I need 100 by June. I need quality photos so I can apply for my first solo art show in June (first weekend). I need display boards. business cards, postcards, a pop-up (I can borrow one), a banner (I have a friend…), and all the muster I can come up with. And a boothie, possibly (I have an idea or two). I need to breathe.

I need to get juried.

That’s just one thing.

Mr. Harvey has been coughing.

I searched his cough on line and I came up with really dire information: he has heartworm, it’s going to cost me thousands of dollars just to get him diagnosed, and I have to keep him *absolutely still* during treatment. He’s a freaking BIRD DOG and you do NOT keep them still.

Called the vet today and confessed that I am an old-school owner who only visits the vet when the pet is actually sick or needs to be licensed. And admitted that the Harvemeister is overweight sue to my breaking my foot last summer and the lack of regular exercise for the past 8 months. And asked how much this was going to cost us, because – you know – money vs. pet. It’s the saddest of all debates.

1. It’s probably *not* heartworms, because we don’t have that in our area, and Harvey hasn’t been out of state since 2011.
2. Exam is around $48. If they think it is heartworms, two tests are around $58. However, it is most likely a heart problem and they’ll want to x-ray the heart for $88. Seriously, nowhere near the thousands of dollars the Internet promised me. I can afford this.
3. He already has a spinal column issue and he’s 8 years old and not crippled. He’s a charmed dog. He still climbs stairs and descends them with no issue (just a little pain, but we can manage that).
4. He is obese, but I can walk again. And if he doesn’t have heartworms, WE can exercise again.
5. This guy is my world. He’s not a cat or a horse, but he’s my dog. He slept with me on my dad’s floor when Dad died in 2011. He’s my Best Bud. I am so relieved the Vet Tech told me all of this in advance. I love Vet Techs!!
6. I love our vet. He’s old school, like me. He’s not quite on the level of the vet I grew up with (who was quite terse), but he understands those of us from a different generation who relegate pets to a different status than humans. And she sat with us when we had to euthanize Sadie, and cried with us. You don’t get vets any better than that. (And he sewed Sadie up on a major holiday, when she sliced herself open on barbed wire and we had to drive 1.5 hours back to Oregon City to save her. Sadie is another story – she lived another 7 years after that.)

Mostly, I am up to the art show panic. Once I get past Harvey’crisis, and I can concentrate on applying for the art show… I will be in total INFJ panic.

I will survive.

Deep breaths.

And, if you follow my blog, good thoughts/prayers for the Harvemeister. Harvey Albert. My purebred rescue English Setter. Love my Harvey, my Pooka.