Why is my white dog now grey?

This is kind of like a 'Dear Abby' column but instead I'm calling it: 'Dear Tessie'.

Q.
Dear Tessie.
I took my white maltese shih-tzu to the dog grooming place shop thing because she was, ah, in need of grooming. She had been neglected since we have a new child in the family and we could no longer pay attention to her 23 hours a day.
I went to pick her up when she was finished and instead of a white dog there was a grey dog wagging her tail at me. I've had her genetically tested and she's the same dog. Why is she now grey?
From Worried and Confused Dog Owner 135445


A.
Dear Worried and Confused Dog Owner 135445.
This is not a common problem. Dog grooming place shop things, as you call them, do not normally cause your pet (now politically called animal companion) to change colour. I've taken time this week to spend some time talking to your animal companion and she's given me a full update on the happenings on that day. Did you know she could talk? We rarely come across as intelligent animal companions as this. Although I must warn you - she told me she is her losing her ability to speak because of the neglect received by her in recent months.

Apparently after she had been groomed by Groomer #1 she was placed in a cage to await your arrival. She was somewhat embarrassed to talk about this part of the experience as the groomer has made her feel quite ashamed by her new haircut. Her ears are bare and as these aren't her best feature she would like in future for a slighter longer cut in the area.
Whilst in the cage, a second animal companion was placed in a cage and the Groomer #1 left the room and closed the door. The other animal companion was apparently quite troublesome and a bad influence on your dog. Apparently, he talked her into using teamwork to move their cages across the floor to reach some tasty treats. She was unsure of the following details but in their haste to feast on the treats, they knocked over a large bucket which fell on a device she described to me and I've understood to be a hyrobath. This caused a fire to break out and as I mentioned, she is unsure of the following details. It wasn't until Dog Groomer #3 (Dog Groomer #2 was on a lunch break) smelt smoke that the door was opened and the dogs saved. She is also aware that she could be charged for the ensuing destruction of the hydrobath and wishes for this information to remain confidential. The fire caused both dogs to suffer severe smoke inhalation and the ash caused your dog's coat to turn from white to grey.

I've spoken with the Dog Grooming shop (CLEAN-DOGS-R-US) and they've offered to pay for a full day-spa-visit with your local vet where your animal companion will be observed for a full day to check for concerning signs of smoke inhalation (sever coughing, asthma etc), and also assured us that Dog Groomer #1 has been replaced. You may also be interested to know that dogs with upper jaw which jut out higher than the lower jaw are three times as likely to be led astray by fast-talking troublesome animal companions. This statistic will certainly help her should the case be taken any further by CLEAN-DOGS-R-US.

I wish you all the best with your future endeavours and your talking now-grey animal companion. She should return to full colour in 4-6 years.

Kindly,
Abby.

If your animal companion is grey after a visit from a Dog-Grooming salon, they may have also suffered smoke inhalation.

This is the only time that this blog will switch to a Dear Abby-style post. If you didn't understand what this post was about, it probably wasn't meant for you.

The Line that I was born above

Live Below The Line - An Interesting Little Journey - Part 2

Day 3 is over and I have survived 3 days of living on $2 a day. Well, foodwise anyway.

In the last 3 days, I think I've been more aware of all the things I use/do that cost a lot. Well, a lot in comparison to $2 for all food all day. Everything from fuel to my facewash to the coffee that I can't have this week from the uni cafes. My coffees at uni cost $4.30 - and that's not even a large cup! That's twice what I'm living on for food! Twice what 1.4 billion people in the world survive on for their every need every day. And not just as an experiment for a week- that's their life!

It's hard to get my head around...it's not just about the lack of choice for food or the lack of the tastes that I really enjoy. It's also appreciating and understanding that it's hard to concentrate when you're hungry. It's much harder to function at basic life tasks when you're thinking about your next meal and it just affects a large part of life. So if that is your life, then life if harder and affects more than just meal times.

It's good to be reminded of a much bigger picture and a much bigger world. That I was born above a line that 1.4 billion people today were born under. Even if I'm not *enjoying* this experience, I'm grateful for the reminder. Also grateful for .39c jelly I got stuck into tonight.

An interesting little journey

Over 1.4 billion people in the world live below the poverty line in the world.

1.4 billion. I can't even get my head around such a number.

So this week I've signed up to Live Below The Line - spending $2 a day on food from today (Monday) til Friday - I went shopping yesterday and bought as much rice and lentils and veggies as my allowance would buy me.

Made it through Day 1. Very much missed a coffee this morning and I've been trying to think about things that are the opposite of sugar.

So what's the point? Why miss the sugar and the caffeine and have to face lentils again tomorrow? I think it's got something to do with me gaining a better understanding of how much I have and how much others don't. Of being thankful...

Here's a pic of the food supplies for the week. I had a couple extra dollars to spend because one night I'm sharing dinner with some friends. (A 66cent per person dinner part-ay!)

I've been...

"How do you encapsulate a trip of a lifetime without lapsing into ecstatic cliches on the beauty of the landscapes or the splendour of their cultures? I don't want to retread that well-worn trail of self-discovery and growing up and heart-warming messages of the week, that's boring and we all know it. You meet a couple of soul mates. You meet a billion traveller douchebags. And all the while, goats are pissing in the aisle of your bus, small sturdy indigenour women are kicking the back of your seat and you're contemplating peeing in a Pringles can as you rattle through some desolately beautiful mountainous landscapes and you admit that you wouldn't want to be doing anything else."
-Neda Vanovac

I've been reading a few interesting thoughts and opinions from Rob Bell in "Love Wins: Heaven, Hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived" (Who doesn't love a super fast international shipping when Australia is the last place on the planet to have books released?). But my copy is currently being read by someone else so I'll share some quotes later...maybe.

I've been thinking a lot about Negligence. And Law. And Immigration. And Karl Marx. And Fair Trade Coffee. And Free Trade Zones in Sri Lanka. And I should be thinking about Economics and whether or not the fiscal stimulus averted Australia's recession. Instead, I'm thinking that I've only got 6 weeks left of the semester and then it's time for more holidays.

I should be planning those holidays. Flights booked. Check. Every other details. No check.
Ah well. I borrowed a book out of the library today about Thailand. At least I'm passively proactive.

I've been working on Soul Surfer, a movie coming out in cinemas this month...26th May...the story of surfer Bethany Hamilton...starring AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt...tickets, reviews, advertisements...can you tell it's all I've been thinking about at work?

I've been watching Glee:Season 2. TV series should be banned during semesters.

I've been holidaying down with my family in Dubbo/Bourke and also catching up with lovely friends in Melbourne. And yes, in case you were wondering, Melbourne is all about the coffee.

Now, where's that Economics paper...