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On Monday night, we took Collen over to the Emergency Clinic for an unplanned visit to the vet. That morning he didn’t seem to be acting as he usually does, but I wrote that off to him being more tired than usual. When I came home from work, though, I knew right away that something was wrong. He wouldn’t play, jump on the couch, or anything else he normally does. He was very tentative going up stairs and would bunny-hop his back legs coming down.

Of course, by this time I’m a wreck with the thought that something serious was wrong with him. After calling the clinic, we decided to take him in. Collen seemed to perk up a bit when he realized he was going for a car ride.

After examining Collen, the vet determined the problem was in his back near his hindquarters, a slipped or otherwise injured disc probably. Since Collen’s long and low, it is something he is susceptible too, like dachshunds and beagles (even though they aren’t long and low, but go figure). The good news, is he isn’t overweight, he’s young, and he doesn’t show any outward signs of impact on his back legs. So medication should take care of the pain and give the injury a chance to heal.

By the next morning he seemed to be acting as normal as ever. We’re keeping him in the kitchen area for a few days to make sure he rest and doesn’t try to jump up on anything. We’ll probably let him back into the hours soon and see how he does. We’re looking at getting some steps for him to be able to get up on our bed without jumping which is what he normally does. He’s a bit of a daredevil, leaping from ottoman to couch and so on, so we’ll see what we can do to convince him it isn’t a good idea.

I’m trying to get him to promise me he’ll never scare and worry me like that again, but so far no luck.

After our day trip to Hermann, I spent most of the day in the backyard with Collen. I worked on gardening and he worked on… nothing. He spent all day outside at Happy Tails, but that didn’t seem to be enough for him. A few more hours rolling in the grass suited him just fine.

I planted about half of the garden today. Tomatoes and corn have to wait until next month, but I planted seeds for peas, lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots, and onions. I also planted several strawberry plants in a strawberry jar we picked up recently. We’ll have to wait a couple weeks before we see any progress in the garden, but the bulbs we planted last year are looking great. Here are some shots of a flower bed and daffodils!

A few months ago we picked up a brochure about a place called Swiss Meat & Sausage Company in Swiss, Missouri, out near Hermann. Having just read about this place in the paper, their huge selection of sausages was too much to pass up. So today we drove out to Hermann with my dad, took the tour at Stone Hill, sampled wine (nothing like wine at 10 AM), ate a hearty German lunch, and then drove down to Swiss to buy sausages. If you live in Missouri and like meat, you have to check this place out. We now have a freezer filled with various types of sausages… bratwurst, bockwurst, andouille, and so on. Mmmm good. We even picked up a special treat for Collen:

While we were out in Hermann, Collen was at day care. We dropped him off for the day at a place called Happy Tails which opened recently, just a few minutes from our house. It is a cageless facility which offers boarding as well as day care, training, and grooming services, among others. Dogs are segregated by size, and each group has their own indoor and outdoor play area. We visited during their Open House when they first opened and were very impressed by the people and the facility. For example, staff members are there with the dogs 24 hours every day, and you can drop off/pick up your petwhenever you like. Getting home at 3 Am from a trip? No need to wait for the next day to pick up your buddy as you would at most kennels.

We dropped Collen off around 7 AM this morning, and as we left he was watching us go from the “meet and greet” area where he and the other dogs get to know each other before the new dog is allowed into the main area. We picked him up ~8 hours later, and found out that he had a great time, getting along great with the other dogs. Apparently he spent much of the day playing with one dog in particular. We plan on taking him for day care now and then to give him a break from the normal routine and provide regular opportunities to socialize with other dogs.

Earlier this year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Trader Joe’s is looking to open locations in the St. Louis area. When I lived in Thousand Oaks, TJ’s was one of my favorite stores. I have yet to find a black bean dip as good as the one they carried. Hopefully they’ll make a decision and open for business soon.

With TJ’s arrival, my “Things I miss about California” list is getting shorter, specifically the retail and dining sections. Cheesecake Factory arrived last year. I’m still waiting for Baja Fresh (with a store in the Kansas City area, we have to get one soon), El Pollo Loco (closest location in Texas), and the retail equivalent of hitting the jackpot on progressive slots with a maximum bet… Ikea! I can spend hours and hours wandering through an Ikea and often do when I get a chance to visit one.

Over on Brandon Wirtz’s Digital Mix Archives, Brandon suggests that blog capabilities be added to the next version of Exchange. What a horrible idea! The reason why Exchange has millions of installed seats comes down to one thing… Exchange is a very good groupware product. E-mail, calendar, contact and task management, these are all things that Exchange does and does well. Primarily because that is all that it does. Exchange isn’t trying to be all things to all people.

If someone wants to create an add-on to bring this kind of capability to Exchange, that’s great. That is where this kind of “outside-the-scope” functionality belongs, not in the core system. I did a quick search and found one such add-on, OutBlog by Ingo Rammer Technology Consulting. So if you have to blog in Exchange instead of Movable Type or some other tool, try OutBlog and leave my Exchange system alone.