Stitches and sledding

I got my first stitches yesterday! Four in the left knee, after wiping out in the parking lot. I'm ok, just can't bend my knee and have occassional twangs of pain. The day before KU was closed so I went sledding with Tall Flambouyance.

Scary Mega Dog Brawl.

This one isn't cute like the other. I thought I'd record it for posterity. I house sat for Jennifer D. out in the country, and when it was time for me to leave Sunday morning, I carried Rusty to the car thinking I could get there and get him in before Billie showed up. Billie is the alpha dog at Jennifer's and a stout female bully who once picked Rusty up by the abdomen and shook him. So they hate each other and I keep them apart. Unfortunately, Billie caught up with us, my overnight bag had slipped off my shoulder and was dangling from my elbow so I was awkwardly hurrying to the car, and I couldn't get the car door open b/c it was so cold. Rusty was snapping at Billie from my arms, and Billie tried to get him. So I got him on the roof and thought it would be all ok - just get him in the car and close the door. But then I needed to get Sally in and thought Rusty would just cower in the corner, but he came charging back to get at Billie who was halfway in the car by then, so I tried to shove my overnight bag between them, then got bit twice in the arm by Billie. I had a thick fleece coat on and a sweater and long shirt, but it still left huge bruises on my arm and abrasion sores. Then I got the door closed, but Sally was still outside, and the three dogs, Billie, Dusky, and Sally, were all in a fight - I thought Billie and Dusky were attacking Sally - but it was Sally and Billie against Dusky! Sally was charging in and biting her. So I pushed them around with my feet and somehow got Sally away and into the car. The last part I don't remember. So then I went back inside to recover and keep an eye on Jennifer's dogs to make sure they were ok. They were bleeding. Rusty had chomped down on Billie's upper jaw and wouldn't let go - so her nose was bleeding horribly. But after about 1/2 hour I went back out to check on them and they didn't seem as bad as they 1st appeared. And Billie tried to lick Dusky's wounds and she wouldn't let Billie near her at 1st. The darn dog had just been attacking her a short while ago. But eventually they started grooming each other, and I was more composed for driving, so we left. And this was after waking up to water POURING down from the ceiling in their mud porch and the new bathroom area. The pipes had been frozen, and then thawed over night. I had gotten the water to the house turned off, and was relaxing and planned on coming back up to stay last night. But then the dog fight happened and we didn't go back. Now Rusty's lower eyelid is swollen. He looks like he had been in a fight. Sally is unscathed. I'm sore and still physically and emotionally tired. This is why I didn't become a veterinarian - can't handle animal emergencies.

Rabid Skunk, Broken Toe, No Foolin'

Three very strange things have happened today:

1. first thing in the morning I tripped and fell most of the way down the stairs. Based on the amount my middle toe throbs every time I stand up and that all of the hideous purple is between the joints, it's a possibility (albeit slim) that I broke it. But it's a middle toe, what do you do?
2. the other bio prof (our age, my friend), who spent the whole long day at the WV Academy of Science meetings with me on Saturday, and, who would, one would hope, have noticed if I had been whisked to the emergency room in the middle of the meetings before driving home three hours in the rain, came in this morning to commiserate about rabies shots. Equally amusing is she knew exactly which students would have been stupid enough to feed rabid squirrels.
3. we have a weird-acting skunk on our property. Researching scientific names for my rodent blog (yes, I know they aren't rodents), the first thing I read about skunks is "Skunks behaving oddly may have rabies and should be avoided."

Are the fates commenting on my April Fool's jokes?