A Sarah Saga - Post-op TPLO - Entering the Eighth Week

Sarah is now entering her eighth week of post-op recovery from the TPLO procedure. Prior posts on her TPLO saga are here, here and here.

Her sixth week evaluation by the surgeon–keying on an x-ray of the leg–confirmed that the surgery has “taken” and she does not have to return to the surgeon unless “issues” develop.

As I reviewed the sixth-week x-ray with the surgeon, it was interesting that he noted the anterior space of her tibia below where he had cut the top of the tibia and repositioned it with a plate, screws and pins, would eventually see substantial bone growth, thus further strengthening the leg.

Prior to Sarah’s onset of debilitating lameness that eventually led to the TPLO procedure, Sarah would, as we called it, walk with a roly-poly movement. Just recently I’ve found an exact description of her pre-lame gait. It comes from a book entitled, “The Power of the Dog,” by Thomas Savage. Quoting:

When a horse trots, his legs move in diagonal pairs–the left front and right hind leg go forward at the same time, and so forth. It’s a rough gait, and you have to post, have to rise in your stirrups and take the jolt in the flex of your knees, and no matter how you do it, it’s bobbing up and down like a fool jack-in-the-box.

But when a horse paces, his legs move laterally in pairs–the right front and right hind legs move forward at once, an easy gait, a swift, rolling gait you can sit out in the saddle by letting your body twist easily with the movements of your horse. Any damned horse can trot: few can pace.

Sarah, prior to the lameness, paced. Now, within the last week or so, she is once again–as described above–pacing…what we called the roly-poly. I cannot tell you how pleasing it is to see this gait, easy and carefree, no limp, no reluctance to place weight on her right rear leg.

I have taken Sarah off Deramaxx. I do worry about the side-effects of this and other similar drugs, notably liver damage. I will see how she does without it. Knowing her as I do, I believe I will be able to see very quickly any change in her activity level, her passion to just get out there and be a dog.

Sarah has about four more weeks of “healing” before she can undertake any extreme activities. But, so far, all is well.

I will post more on this Sarah Saga if anything changes.

So, right now, the conclusion is thank God for the old surgeon and Doctor Slocum’s TPLO procedure.

Cop “Surge” for Democratic National Convention - Cost: $11,000,000

In case you missed it, Denver’s Department of Safety presented a request for an ordinance at the Mayor/Council meeting this week that details the cost for bringing in metro area cops (and maybe out of state cops, too), for the Democratic National Convention.

Here’s the breakdown:

Arapaho County: $949,851.42

Adams County: $693,894.77

Jefferson County: $1,037,677.28

Aurora: $2,865,280.83

Lakewood: $1,090,940.26

State of Colorado: $4,128,522.25

Yeah, that’s about $11Million. And, it will come out of the $50Million grant promised by the feds for Denver to assure the Democrats are safe and sound, property is not trashed and people are not harmed during the Donkey confab. Problem is, Denver does not have the funds from the feds yet and will not have the funds until about August 1, according to Mel Thompson, Deputy Manager of Safety. So, the ordinance process must be completed for this expenditure and there is certainly the hope that the feds come through as, um, promised. Did they promise? Anyway, during the discussion of this expenditure, Hizzoner, John Hickenlooper–once again exhibiting his penchant for foot in mouth disease!–noted that what the city is doing is “…actually kind of floating it…” It being the $50Million in promised federal grant money.

Now, Councilman Charlie Brown asked Mel Thompson during this meeting if they expected any out-of-state police officers would be needed because he had heard something about Wyoming contributing officers to the effort. Mister Thompson frowned (Mel frowns a lot) and advised that the discussion of out-of-state police support would be more appropriately discussed in another forum. Read: Out of the public eye.

My prior post of “known” security expenditures by Denver’s Department of Safety, “Donkey Dance Defense - Contingencies of War” is here.

Methinks this convention hoopla–which, in itself, is meaningless, except as very, very expensive coronation of presumptive nominees on both sides–is, at least, archaic and begging for some kind of reformation. Why should the taxpayer, you and me, pick up the enormous tab for this kind of nonsense? Sure, when the politicos head toward a presidential election and do not have a presumptive nominee, then, of course, there is a need for the proverbial “smoke-filled room” deal making, the give and take of big egos burning hot and heavy to come up with compromises (Okay, you can be Secretary of State if you deliver your delegation’s votes to my candidate and, by the way, your wife can be Secretary of Labor).

Just seems this massive waste of taxpayer dollars, political national conventions, are creatures of a bygone era, circa nineteenth-century maybe?

P.S. If Denver calls in cops from Wyoming, we’re gonna have issues. I mean, those guys don’t mess around. See, that red splotch on Wyoming cop’s necks ain’t sunburn, y’all.

Tent State Kids - Don’t Be Skinny Dipping in the Partially Treated Sewage Sludge

Okay, let me be more precise with regard to what is being infused into our park’s lakes and irrigation systems. For lack of a better word, let me just use “greywater.”

Thanks to DenverDirect for posting to YouTube the below video. Toward the end of the video you’ll see a representative from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center who articulates what I’ve been thinking about since hearing 20,000 to 50,000 young folk will be utilizing a large portion of City Park for their “teach in” during the Democratic National Convention.

See, Denver’s Department of Parks and Recreation–during the tenure of Kim Bailey as Manager of that department–made the decision to infuse the lakes and fountains with, as noted in the video, partially treated sewage sludge. (Greywater) Parks is also irrigating the grounds of City Park with the same, um, stinky flotsam. (Greywater)

Now, we do know that this decision by the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation has resulted in the horrible deaths of ducks and other critters who come in contact with the nefarious effects of this tainted greywater. The question, then, is what will the kids who hang out in City Park during the DNC go home with? How will the close proximity and even contact with this tainted greywater affect the Tent State kids? I don’t know. But, I do wonder… This link, once again from DenverDirect, provides the evidence of what partially treated sewage sludge–greywater– (much of it purported to come from the Lowry Landfill Superfund site) will do to bodies of water. Or, indeed, the bodies of the young’uns participating in the Tent State experience?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Is there liability for the City here? If the kid’s start losing their toes and hair when they head back to wherever they came from, what will the consequences of that be?

Don’t know. But, it is something to think about.

Tent State at SCPNA Meeting

The Eloquence of Denver’s Parks and Recreation Management

Daniel Chacon, reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, cracks me up. In a story entitled, “‘Problem’ cited at Parks and Rec; bosses puzzled,” he provides, verbatim, Recreation Director Dolores Moreno’s, um, understanding of what “prioritization of deliverables,” meant in the context of meting out discipline for employees under her supervision.

In the most recent case, longtime recreation coordinator Ronalda Mounjim was fired, in part, because the department said she failed to meet goals in a performance improvement plan.

But even the head of recreation couldn’t define one of the goals.

When the Career Service hearing officer asked Recreation Director Dolores Moreno to define “prioritization of deliverables,” she offered this explanation according to a transcript of the hearing:

“Um, basically what you’re, what you’re going to do if, um, if you have, um, a timeline of objectives and delivery dates, and so, um, for us, and I’ll give you an example.

“For us, we have, um, a citywide brochure that comes out, um, four times a year, and so, um, so I’m going back to the session calendar is, ah, you know, why we have those registration dates when, when content is due, what posting is due etcetera, etcetera, and so, so if, um, so if our, um delivery date of the, um, brochure is . . . you know, um . . . February second, that, um, the kind of our targeted places in our neighborhoods, whether it’s schools, whether it’s churches, businesses, etcetera etcetera, that, um, that part of the prioritization is, one, you know, who’s going to be responsible for that.”

Moreno continued the explanation before ending it with: “So it’s pretty basic.”

Hearing officer Bruce Plotkin said of the testimony offered by Moreno and other managers: “It was clear (that they) struggled to present a coherent definition.”

Uh-huh… Okay, then.

But, then, could we really expect more from the present management crew over at Parks and Rec? Probably not.

Thanks, Daniel for starting my day off with a smile.

Same-Sex Marriage - “‘Separate but equal’ sometines isn’t as equal as you might think.”

Charlie Martin provides over at “PajamasMedia” an intriguing study of what same-sex couples might encounter with and without the protection of a legally sanctioned marriage.

Charlie provides, in part:

Sometimes you hardly notice how much things have changed. Thirty-nine years and a couple of weeks ago, a series of violent confrontations between the New York City Police Department and a motley bunch of drag queens and cruising homosexual men became the first really public event in which homosexuals demanded the right to be homosexual. These confrontations became known as the Stonewall Riots after the bar on Christopher Street that had been the focus of the confrontation. Forty years ago, gay men couldn’t legally be served alcohol in New York City because they were, by definition, “disorderly”; now, in recognition of its place in the fight for equal rights for homosexuals, the Stonewall is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Of course, what does “equal rights” mean in this context? Gays can buy liquor openly now, and not just in Greenwich Village. But there are still controversies, the most significant recent one being the question of “gay marriage,” precipitated by controversial court decisions in Massachusetts and California. I don’t propose to try to go through the whole history of the question or the decisions — that could fill a hundred articles — but because of some recent blog publications, I became interested in one of the arguments against establishing a legal recognition of marriage between people of the same sex: the argument that there really is no “equal protection” issue about forbidding gay marriage, because same-sex couples can get nearly the same legal protections through existing contract law.

So, I wondered, how much would it cost to make a “marriage” using contract law instead of family law?

This is a good read. Thanks Charlie.

TPLO - A Sarah Saga - Part III

It is now five weeks into Sarah’s TPLO (Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy) saga. The first two entries on this subject are here and here. As she lolls on our living room floor, you can still see her incision on her right rear leg. Her cone came off two weeks ago, once the incision healed. But, we still catch her licking it. She’s gently scolded. But, so far, she hasn’t done any real damage with the licking.

Sarah’s gait is now about 90% normal, normal being that which we observed prior to the gradual to severe limp she developed over a period of several weeks. At its severest, the limp and the avoidance of placing any weight on her right rear leg was, for us, frightening and, for Sarah, very, very painful. At the time we first took Sarah to the vet for the limp, she could walk only about a half-block.

One reminder that I’ve mentioned in prior posts: The word “limp” is probably not the best word to use when describing your dog’s behavior to a vet. The word “lame” seems to grab a vet’s attention more readily.

Sarah continues to take Duramaxx, 100 milligrams twice a day. Her walkies–as suggested by the physical therapist–are now up to twenty minutes, three times a day. Sarah has taken on the physical therapist’s suggested exercises…stretching the leg fully, bending it back to the hip and then slightly rotating the entire leg up and back. It is interesting that, apparently by instinct, she knows what the healing process requires with regard to manipulation of the leg. We do occasionally manipulate her leg ourselves. But, it’s obvious Sarah knows what she’s doing.

Up until about four days ago, Sarah would give a little scream when she found herself moving backwards or sideways. Up until about two weeks ago, she would also give a little scream when she stood-up after being prone for awhile. She no longer screams. (Malamutes are very “expressive,” as the old vet/surgeon described her vocalizations.)

Next Friday, Sarah will have her sixth-week x-ray to determine if the surgery “took.” Prayers here. If we have to go through this again we will, of course, do it. But, believe me, it has not been easy; it has not been a cakewalk.

So far, though, seeing Sarah once again able to use that leg as she had before the onset of the lameness, is something of a miracle…a miracle of science that, in spite of what some believe, appears to be the “Gold Standard” for treating a CCL (Cranial Cruciate Ligament rupture).

I’ll let you know how the “final” visit to the old doc goes.

Dallying With the First Amendment - Carol Krecks’ Incredible Odyssey

Update from a posting on “Westword:”

Michael Roberts says:

Good question. Here’s the response from Carol Kreck herself, who responded via e-mail:

“The July 23 date was reset for July 30. But yesterday, the lawyer who’s handling the criminal part said the city attorney called with an offer of fee or diversion. Of course, there’s no way we’d go that route. So on July 30, they set a date for a trial. After that is resolved, then we’ll proceed civilly.”

Posted at: July 25, 2008 1:36 PM

A couple years ago, I hiked to downtown Denver from my West Highlands home with the intent of taking a few pictures of buildings, the Sixteenth Street Mall, sculptures, people. Pausing at the Colorado Convention Center to take a few pics, I felt the calling of nature…I had to pee. I stepped into the Convention Center where I was met by a rather officious older woman who inquired, “May I help you?” I told I just needed to use the facilities, and she asked if I was officially registered as a participant in the convention being held inside. I, of course, wasn’t and told her so. “Well, I’m sorry,” she said, “but unless you’re officially participating in the current event, I can’t allow you to enter the premises.” I went through a litany of objections and informed the old bat that I believed the restriction was absurd. Thinking about it later, if she had let me in to use the facilities that had been leased by the conventioneers, then she would have let in anybody…even the homeless unwashed who, on that day, were sleeping off the night before right across the street from the entrance to the Center.

But, now comes the case of Carol Kreck who, as the video provides, was ousted from a public area, the atrium of the Denver Performing Arts Center for holding a sign that read: “McCain=Bush.” McCain folks had leased a portion of the INTERIOR of the DPAC for one of his ho-hum “straight talk” bullshit sessions. But, whoa, FREE SPEECH in a public area outside the leased space was seen by the Secret Service and the Denver Police Department as fundamentally wrong, unacceptable, damn the FIRST AMENDMENT, and, therefore, Carol Kreck was cited by the Denver Police Department for “trespassing.”

Oooolala… I can’t wait for this one to be litigated. And, of course, methinks there is a presage here of what to expect when the donkeys come to town.

John McCain Kicks Librarian Out of Town Hall Event

For Rene Marie — Take Notes, Honey

Whitney Houston - Star Spangled Banner

Hickenlooper Hoodwinked… Stammers into a pique

Nothing new here, of course. Even Drudge picked up the so-called “Black national anthem,” being sung by jazz vocalist Rene Marie at the Hick’s State of the City address.

I guess if I’d been there I would have expected the Hick, or more likely ol’ Charlie Brown, to grab the mike from the gal and lead the folks gathered in the atrium of the Webb Building in a resounding rendition of what most of us believe our national anthem is. You know, the “O, say can you see…” version. But, nope, didn’t happen.

Just a thought here. Wouldn’t one think a strong leader who fashions himself to be the best thing to plop his fanny into the mayor’s chair since Quigg Newton, would quickly understand that the proper response to Ms. Marie’s gaff would be to take charge of the situation and, yes, belt out what Francis Scott Key wrote. Maybe he doesn’t know the words. But, if he had shown that kind of leadership, why I bet his minions would have carried him on their shoulders in a victory lap around the atrium.

But, again, it didn’t happen. What did happen is that the Hick stammered, “You know I was more confused and I think I was more… What I was, was disappointed and confused and that’s why I wanted to talk to her.”

Okay. “…confused…disappointed…” Sounds like the foot-in-mouth stammering we’ve come to expect from the Hick. But wait! After huddling with his minions–who surely provided him with a more articulate, if not more please-the-masses response, he said, “The city asked Rene Marie to sing the national anthem at the State of the City event. She agreed to do so. We expected her to sing the national anthem, and she deceived us.

“Her actions show a certain lack of understanding for how strongly our community feels about patriotic symbols and traditions, and certainly overshadowed a day of great importance to our city.”

Um, the Hick’s State of the City is of “…great importance…” to whom? You can answer that one for yourselves. And, certainly, his pique had not so much to do with Ms. Marie’s deception but, rather, that it overshadowed him on that special day each year when a mayor gets to pat himself on the back whether he deserves it or not.

Not that the Hick isn’t deserving in some areas. He is. Just give me a minute to think about it and I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Wonder what the Democratic National Committee is thinking about all this to-do. Maybe they’re wondering just exactly what kind of hick, um, yokel they entrusted their convention to. Then again, maybe the DNC will welcome Ms. Marie to repeat her performance in the Pepsi Center…a kind of PC thing to do, don’t you think.

Oh well…

(George did get a chuckle out of the whole damned thing.)

Don’t Broil Me, Bro… Ray Guns for the Democratic National Convention

It’s probably academic, at this point, to speculate on whether or not the Denver Police Department has purchased and will make use of Raytheon’s Silent Guardian, a moniker given to what is surely the most egregious supposedly “non-lethal” tool made available to police departments for the purpose of, um, yes, crowd control.

Raytheon touts the Silent Guardian as, “…revolutionary less-than-lethal directed energy application that employs millimeter wave technology to repel individuals or crowds without causing injury. The system provides a zone of protection that saves lives, protects assets and minimizes collateral damage. …Various commercial and military applications include law enforcement, checkpoint security, facility protection, force protection and peacekeeping missions.”

According to Raytheon, “The system’s antenna directs a focused beam of millimeter wave energy. The beam travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch, producing an intolerable heating sensation that causes targeted individuals to instinctively flee or take cover. …Thorough government testing was conducted to characterize the effects of millimeter waves on the human body. These tests confirmed the technology’s safety and determined there is a significant margin between safe and harmful exposure levels.”

So, the “government” determined the effects of this weapon are “safe.” Oh my…

Leave it to Fox news to reflect on the Silent Guardian as “…really cool.” Sixty Minutes provided this report on the “really cool” weapon.

A thought here that the use of the Silent Guardian would be something the Hick (Mayor John Hickenlooper) and surely Barak Obama would nix as something quite inappropriate to the PC mantra; as something not quite Democratic. But, then, who knows?

The windfall ($18 to $25 million) that has accrued to the Denver Police Department to enhance their arsenal of crowd control toys, um, tools as a consequence of Denver’s hosting of the Democratic National Convention sits uncomfortably alongside the promise, the intent of the First Amendment.

But, hey, Democrats as well as Republicans have shown themselves to be ready, able and willing to devalue the Constitution to the requisites engendered by the aura of fear that Dubya has so ably instilled in the collective psyche.

So, do not fear the specter of wild-eyed, loud-mouthed CITIZENS, practicing their First Amendment Rights during the Democratic National Convention. Nope. Just broil them, bro.

Caution here: If I got broiled it would piss me off. I mean REALLY piss me off.