Bradica (the dog) is fourteen and is really showing her age. She no longer can do stairs and can only amble along at a very slow pace. She’s got something bad going in as well. She’s become quite bloated and is having trouble breathing. She sleeps a lot and works at getting into a position where her head is lower or higher than her body. She cannot sleep on her belly, either. She falls down quite often and sometimes when she collapses on the tile floor she can’t get back up without help. On Thursday evening we found her at the bottom of the stairs to the basement. We think that she probably fell down the stairs as she’s not gone down the stairs voluntarily for several months now. Getting old is a no fun!

We took her to the vet this morning because of her distended bowels — she’s put on more than six pounds in the past couple of months. There are several likely causes, none that can be treated. She’s for sure got congestive heart failure happening. The vet took some fluid samples that will be checked at the lab to see if anything else is going on, like cancer or liver problems. She is now taking a diuretic in hopes of giving her some relief. That means she will be going outside much more often.

Earlier this summer I built an insert to put in the sliding screen door going out to the deck. We had been leaving the door open with the screen partially open, but had a bird get in the house on two different occasions. The insert has a small opening for Bradica to go in and out and the rest is screened off to keep the birds and bugs out.

Now it’s turned cold and a new insert is needed in to go into the patio door. Rather than being a screen, this insert needs to be a window. So I picked up the material at Lowe’s today and started building the insert this afternoon. The basic construction is finished and the first coat of stain is on. Monday I’ll sand it down and put on the second coat of stain, cut the Plexiglas, and it’ll be done. Bradica will be able to go … and the heat will stay. I recorded a short Seesmic update….