The "O" Word
Conservative by Nature, Christian by Choice
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Red Friday!

June 21st, 2013 . by Cary

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Beautiful day. Had my Red Friday polo on, and then the rabbit incident happened. Seems this morning when one of the rabbits was out in the backyard rabbit run, a certain pint-sized member of this family thought it would be interesting to let her out. The Mother of the family ended up giving chase. As I was headed out to Mesa to measure houses at the time, I missed all the fun, and no one wants to stage a reenactment. Anyway, the rabbit broke of a claw or three, so we needed to administer oral antibiotics (hey, we have animals, we have medicine). The first dose went the wrong way and ended up all over my shirt. It is a very sticky substance, and stains quickly. The shirt is resting comfortably with pre-treatment on it.

Speaking of animals – Smudge, the newest member, tried to jump over the controller cable attached to my venerable and trusty PS2 (I’ve had this machine since it was bleeding edge technology, and my favorite game was on the screen – Dirt to Daytona). Problem – Smudge has trouble hopping over the hose on the patio. The controller cable was about chest high on him.

Not sure which was the worst sound – the crash of the deck on the tiled floor, or the grinding sound emanating afterwards. No matter – it won’t read the disks anymore. Might be time to find another one, or even [shudder] upgrade to a newer system. Problem is, the new systems don’t play the old disks …

Chat ya later…

cary friday

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

Frustrating Red Friday

May 13th, 2011 . by Cary

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So many things, so little patience to actually write about any of them.

Chat ya later…

cary friday

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

214

Insomnia

December 6th, 2010 . by Cary

I’ve been having a recurring dream over the last several nights. In the middle of the night (in my dream, not necessarily by the clock) I am awakened by the scratching of a dog on the bed – their signal that they want to get up on the bed with us, but don’t want to upset anyone already on the bed. I can’t open my eyes, I can’t move, I can’t get up – but I can tell, I know, that it is Sara. And I can’t get up to get her on the bed. This alternates with a dream that Sara is scratching at the back door and I can’t get up to let her out.

And I physically wake up, and miss her, and can’t get back to sleep for a while.

Unexpected

May 27th, 2010 . by Cary

She came into our lives in an abrupt manner. We were leaving PetSmart with Sadie, who had just “graduated” from her training class. There was a couple outside the door who were trying to place some puppies – their black lab had gotten mixed up with a Welsh Corgi and – well, the only way to put this is these little black puppies were too cute to pass up. I told TMBWitW to go wait in the car – we didn’t need another puppy! I joined her shortly after in the car, with Sara in my arms.



She was a cutie – and Sadie got along with her very well. The two of them romped and played together, and as the puppy family grew, Sadie and Sara split the role of alpha dog – Sadie was alpha in name, Sara was the muscle.

Time passed, and Sara grew. She was a gangly little girl, all legs and a tank of a body, the result of the Welsh Corgi mixing.

Once she got past the initial growth stage, she filled out and even though her coat was not the sleek water dog coat, it was all black and very fuzzy. She delighted in being cuddled and hugged.


Sara was Logan’s bestest bud. She took him under her wing, and taught him the ropes of living in a house full of females. He learned quickly, and when we had to let him go, Sara was really lost.

Sara had a regal way of sitting. She would be in the “down” position, and her head would be up, her Corgi ears perked, and she would cross her right paw over her left. Of course, every time we tried to get a picture of it she thought we were going to give out treats, so we never were able to get a shot of her pose.

Until last Friday.

Last night, Sara stumbled a bit as she came down the hall to her blanket. She shook it off, gave me a big slobbery kiss, and laid down. This morning she scratched to be let out as usual; it was still a bit dark outside, and I stumbled my way to the door, let her out, and since it was cool I left the door open so she could let herself back in. When the alarm clock went off at six, I got up and Sara was still lying out on the patio. She looked at me and kind of half-rolled for a belly rub, which I gave with gusto.

TMBWitW got up and handed out the customary doggy treats for first thing in the morning. Sara didn’t want hers. TMBWitW was immediately concerned, since Sara has never turned down a dog treat. She called Acoma Animal Clinic and arranged for an exam at ten; I headed for work and TMBWitW started doing some work from home.

TMBWitW called me a little after ten, Sara had a blood test and xrays. The blood test showed decreased platelet counts, the general exam revealed an elevated heart rate and shallow breathing, the xray showed strange wispy growths around her lungs and a spot near her heart. All of her organs were OK otherwise. Dr. Burnham said it could be either pneumonia (but Sara wasn’t coughing, so that kind of got ruled out right away), valley fever, or cancer. He wanted to keep her for observation, so TMBWitW and MEG headed home.

I left work early (thanks, boss. i owe you one.) and headed home, after a bit we headed up to Acoma to pick up Sara and get an update from the doc. The results from the valley fever test wouldn’t be in for a few days. He went over the diagnosis with me, since I missed the first go-around, and showed the areas of concern on her xrays. We then headed back out front to get Sara and head home.

Sara came out on her leash, ready to go. TMBWitW knelt down to give her a hug, and I came around behind TMBWitW to kneel down next to Sara also. As I came down to one knee, Sara stumbled and went down, in another seizure. Dr. Burnham and Jessica were right there – they picked her up and got her onto an exam table faster than it took me to type this. Dr. Burnham inserted a trach tube.

We stood there, flabbergasted. A few minutes later, Jess showed us into a front exam room. Dr. Burnham came in and told us what had happened – Sara had suffered a seizure leading to cardiac arrest, and that he was basically performing first stage CPR for her. He asked the toughest question I’ve ever had to answer – “How far do you want me to go?”

Naturally, thoughts of Logan’s trials flashed through my mind, and TMBWitW was just devastated – I couldn’t make Sara go through a long period of pain and suffering. Dr. Burnham said that any time an event of this magnitude occurred, the chances of a full recovery were very slim.

I told him to let her go.

And, as unexpectedly as she entered our lives, she had left.

We gathered ourselves as best we could, and went in to say our goodbyes.

You are a good girl, Sara Bear. We love you and will always miss you.

SARA

July 2001 – May 2010

Gentle Giant, rest easy now.

You are sorely missed.

House Meeting

September 23rd, 2008 . by Cary

The meeting of the Cats will now come to order. Sit down, Captain.

The meeting of the Cats will now come to ord – no, Captain, we will NOT hold the meeting outside. Yes, I know it’s very nice out this morning. You would just jump the fence and be gone…

The meeting of the Cats will now – Captain, you are about this close to finding a new home.

Fine – Roll call, in order of seniority – Vashka – Sarabi – Captain – Jewel – and Phantom. Good. Now, first item is the use of the litter box. First, I would like to say that I do appreciate everyone now using the litter boxes, instead of random spots on the floor. Not mentioning any names, Captain, but I think you all know who the culprit was on that subject.

However, in spite of the use of the litter box, I think the next area to be addressed would have to be covering up what is done in the litter box, for the olfactory consideration of the others in the household. The natural scent of the litter will only go so far.

The next item is the treatment of the older cats by the younger cats. Again, I will not mention any names, Phantom, but there have been inquiries as to the necessity of having more than two cats in the house in the first place, and a certain senior cat has specifically requested the removal of the most junior cat. At this time, we are not looking at a reduction in Cat Force, however, economic and personnel considerations may necessitate a future revision of this position. Particularly if any further complaints are received. Again, not pointing any fingers, Phantom, but if the shoe fits …

With that, do I have a motion to adjourn? Thank you Vashka – second? Thank you, Jewel. Adjourned.

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The meeting of the Dogs will now come to order. Sit! Stay!

Roll call by seniority: Sadie – Sara – Cinnamon – Mackenzie. Good. A moment of silence to remember Logan.

Thank you.

First item – the management wishes to assure all personnel holding the position of Dog in the household that not all car trips are one way. If you will all recall, there has only been one trip that was not there and back, and it was due to medical reasons. Until and unless medical issues arise, all car trips are for fun!

Second item – please remember the big bed is primarily for the humans. Any dogs on the big bed are there at the discretion of one or both of the humans, and that privilege can and will be revoked for either hogging space or passing gas.

Third item – random barking in the middle of the night is not nearly as amusing as you might think. Please keep any middle-of-the-night barking to truly emergency reasons. This means if there is a fire or break in, you may bark; but if there is a car driving down the street you may not.

Do I have a motion to adjourn? Thank you, Sara – second? Thank you, Sadie. Adjourned.

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