School shopping...done. That's right, only August 5th and we're all set for school to start on...well I don't know what day. I can't find a calendar for this school year on the districts website. That's a little ridiculous. I think it's September 3rd, but that is just a total guess. Anyway here's a summary of the day.

I woke up at 9 on my own and therefore had the first night of sleep and waking up when I wanted to since the weekend before some time. It was long overdue. I was able to enjoy a bowl of cereal and cup of coffee while I read. Avery came home from Tim's and she had an hour long bath before we took Geronimo to his agility testing. He is now a green band bunny. We have to work on me not touching him so much to get him to move. I have a video of the last session and its kind of cool to watch. We stayed for hoppy hour and then headed home.

My mom had picked Riley up to bring to Petsmart for grooming. It's been awhile because I've had to buy Frontline, food, etc and the pet fund keeps getting used up before I've had the $60 to get him groomed. Anyway he was really hairy. I picked him up and Jane (the groomer) showed me how about half of his back and left shoulder is a giant hot spot that is scabbed up and gross. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed, even with all the fur and now I feel like a big idiot. Poor man. Jane also said he was very growly, snappy with her for everything from bathing, to drying, and cutting. He even bit her today for the first time. So now she might not be able to groom him anymore. I asked if I could just get him some ace to sedate him, and they said they can't groom sedated dogs. I'd have to bring him to the vet. Now I worked at a clinic and I had to groom some cats under sedation. We basically shaved them down. I have no experience as a groomer and there's a reason we've paid so much money for Jane to groom him for all these years. I don't know what to do about that.

So I called Hillcrest Animal Hospital right down the road here and left a message for them to call me back about getting in first thing tomorrow morning. It's $50 just for the office visit there, so I know it's going to be an expensive venture. I hope they don't have to shave him, but I'm thinking they probably will. I used to bring him to Century Animal Clinic in Oakdale, but I don't feel as confident about their skill when it comes to creative problem solving. They're low priced and good for vaccines and routine things like dentals, spays and neuters but...yeah.