Hank Kalet

The snarker in chief

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It is difficult to believe that this snarky, snotty underachiever actually served as president of the United States for the last eight years.

Runner’s diary, Monday

We have another one of those weeks ahead, a week during which my running schedule is likely to be off-kilter. Today, however, I managed a three-mile run in 25:48 with splits of 8:54, 8:15 and 8:39. Tomorrow, I have some errands that have to be run and Wednesday we have to get the pups to the vet.

iPod: no iPod today, because my headphones died. And I was hoping to listen to Rafael Saadiq.

Doggie diary: The story of Rosie and Sophie The illness chapter

Sophie and Rosie have kennel cough, but Sophie’s been having a more difficult time of it, at least today. She’s been lethargic and hasn’t eaten, a bit of diarrhea and she’s hacked up some phlegm.

I think she’ll be OK, but I can’t help but worry.

We knew very little about kennel cough until yesterday, when we picked up the pups. So we hit the trust internets (or is that the interwebs?) and found this:

‘Kennel Cough’ is the term that was commonly applied to the most prevalent upper respiratory problem in dogs in the United States. Recently, the condition has become known as tracheobronchitis, canine infectious tracheobronchitis, Bordetellosis, or Bordetella. It is highly contagious in dogs. The disease is found worldwide and will infect a very high percentage of dogs in their lifetime.

The symptoms include

a dry hacking cough sometimes followed by retching. Many owners describe the cough as having a ‘honking sound.’ A watery nasal discharge may also be present. With mild cases, dogs continue to eat and be alert and active. Many times, there is a recent history of boarding or coming in contact with other dogs. In more severe cases, the symptoms may progress and include lethargy, fever, inappetence, pneumonia, and in very severe cases, even death. The majority of severe cases occur in immunocompromised animals, or young unvaccinated puppies.

Part of me wishes I hadn’t read this — the worst-case scenario is difficult to get out of my head. But it is best to know what we are dealing with.

She’s on antibiotics — both of them are — and we’ve boiled up some chicken and rice to see if she starts eating tomorrow. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Doggie diary: The Rosie and Sophie story Another chapter

Day two with the pups is winding down. They went for a walk out in our backyard and played in the snow. But Sophie's not feeling well and not eating. Rosie's just bushed.

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That new car smell

I hate car shopping. Every three years, because we've been leasing, we've been forced to deal with the discomfort of showrooms and salesmen.

Our lease is up next month on our Nissan Murano — a car that gets terrible gas mileage and was costing us too much in monthly payments. My Nissan experience has been OK, but not great, due mostly to several annoying issues with the automatic windows, the CD player and some other minor things.

In fact, we only went with the Nissan after we wrecked our three-month-old Toyota Highlander and couldn't arrange an affordable replacement.

So today, we bought a Toyotaa RAV4, figuring that Toyotas have good repair ratings and we didn't have to negotiate much — Toyota rarely plays numbers games. It wasn't perfect, but we were out in 90 minutes.

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