The Reading Journal of RMS

My goodness, there's a lot going on here! Let me sum up:

1. I finished The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and really enjoyed it. Well, enjoyed might not be quite the right word. It was pretty depressing (tied with Sweetness in the Belly for most depressing read ever). But very engrossing. Now I need to figure out what books to bring to Ann Arbor!
   
   
2. My defense is a week from today, and yes, I've actually started writing the talk.
   
   
3. I've also started seriously job-hunting. Blah.
   
   
4. On the plus side, I've been able to play with my new camera. Yay!
   
   
5. Doc has been having weird stomach problems -- refusing to eat sometimes, even -- and we tried re-jiggering his meal schedule. Finally, we took the next step recommended by the vet: Pepcid AC. Yes, people medicine. And one dose has already made a huge difference. He wolfed down his dinner and is peppier than he's been all week. Hooray!
   
   
6. ( Pregnancy rambling )
   
   

Now, to watch LOST, whee!

Doc is fine, but taking him for a walk is frustrating, because I spend the entire time yanking his schnozz out of bushes and tall grass. I retraced my steps from yesterday morning twice, and I didn't really see anything. It doesn't help that I don't know what I'm looking for -- I spent about forty minutes googling, hoping to find pictures of snail bait, and all I learned is that it's a blue or green pellet. Or sometimes a powder. I have no clue what size the pellets could be, or the color of the powder, or what the pellets might look like if they've been smashed -- nothing.

Eli's suggestion (did I mention that he's in Germany this week? missing out on all this life-threatening action?) was:

We should make a sign thing and post it on the telephone poles with "Somebody in this neighborhood poisoned our dog" with a cute picture of Doc.

And a statement "stop toxic snail bait". Or something.

I was going to take a less insane approach -- put together a packet explaining what happened, and what non-toxic (to non-snails) alternatives there are to snail bait, and take it to any houses along the route that looked like they may have had snail bait out. (And maybe imply that while I'm not a litigious individual, other dog owners might be . . . ) But I can't identify the fucking snail bait, so I don't know where it could have possibly happened, and I don't know what to avoid, and aaaaaah.

Anyway. I'm going to go hug Doc again. And I'll stop rambling about this, I promise.

If you must use snail bait, for the love of christ, please do not use acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or metaldehyde.

My dog -- who is spending the night at the animal clinic -- and I thank you.

(He should be fine. Based on how long it took him to react, he probably didn't get that much of it, and they're giving him muscle relaxers and the antidote.)