Song of the day: “The Pessimist is never disappointed” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Strangely enough it stuck in my head this afternoon. But considering the events of the day, that’s no big surprise, I guess.
Let me just start by saying that I had a crappy night, mostly due to the fact that it was friggin’ cold and thus the dogs kept squeezing up against me with Knight II actually squeezing in-between until I almost toppled out of bed (being even colder). It was my own fault, really, since I should have gotten my lazy bones out of bed and closed the door. Of course I didn’t. I would just grumble at the dogs, slap at some butts and snooze on until I was completely sore from curving into all sorts of angles.
Woke up with a massive headache, and being chilled to the point of needing a really, really hot shower. Since Amri (brown colored crossbreed, and I can't find a friggin' picture at the moment) was feeling poorly last night I decided to take him to the vet tonight. He’s not been himself for a while now, losing weight, while his tummy stays swollen, so after doing the morning chores we left for the vet and had him checked out because what with him drinking a lot as well, it could be a tumor, or his liver, or his kidneys.
It wasn’t good. The vet touched his stomach and didn’t like the feel of it. She tested his urine, which indicated that his kidneys weren’t working properly, at which point she made an ultrasound where it became very clear what was wrong. Apparantly the majority of his swelling was a tumor attached to his spleen, and what with the values of his pee, his kidney’s were most likely affected as well.
Amri went through the procedure with his usual aplomb. The shaving, the catheter, the prodding, the cold gel, but it was all for nothing. Sure, the doc could operate extending his life (not at all pleasantly) for another six to twelve months at the most under the best of circumstances, but all in all it was a bleak view of his future. I looked at him, the way he was lying in my arms looking rather vague about it all, and decided that I couldn’t do that to him.
He went gracefully, without a fuss, his head in the crook of my arm while I petted his neck and held him close until it was over. Crap!
Amri always was a proud dog, an alpha and for him to be reduced to that, it just wouldn’t be right. Gawd, I still remember getting him. It was in 2001 and we were visiting friends who ran an animal shelter. Sometimes, when Friday approached they would call us telling us of some splendid dog who had been placed on the terminate list, and we would be over there, walking amidst the cages and taking dogs week after week.
This was one of those days. We had come to rescue a young female German shepherd when I passed a cage and saw him sitting there. A small bundle of brown with a black snout. His fat little tummy bulging as he sat in the cage and then trundled over to get to bounce against the gate to draw me nearer. I was hooked. On him and his brothers, who were following right behind. Amri, Tayana and Asam. They were all gorgeous, some sort of boxer mastiff mix, undoubtedly, and maybe some Rhodesian Ridgeback thrown in to keep it interesting.
Amri wasn’t a dog prone to showing affection. But he was always there at a distance, coming over for only a daily petting and then just going his own way until it was time to go to bed. Always very composed, serious to the point of being grumpy in fact. He couldn’t stand puppies, but Gada was definitely the one he could stand best. Wherever he went she would bug him. And if I held her back, he would run ahead and bark in anticipation, waiting for her to catch up.
Gosh I hate it when this happens…and so unexpected. Seriously, I was still preparing for Gada, who won’t last much longer (or at least, I think so) if her hips are any indication, and then this. It really felt like a punch in the gut. Don’t you just hate cause and effect? Starting out (taking in dogs) you really don’t think about it. I mean for more than a year we blithely took in dogs, and now, as the years pass and the end of decade has come and gone, the consequence is digging in deep. Yes, lots of love and pleasure, and frustration, and aggravation, and more love, but also this: the losing bit. Not nice. Not nice at all, but a fact of life.
But enough about this. Spending the majority of the afternoon in the yard helped me numb things out for a bit (that works best in this situation, if you must know) and we planted more than fifty plants, which had to be done after all. Since we were busy anyway, we also sowed several rows of beets, which made up for the big field.
Afterwards we reconstructed the fences around the fields, because let’s face it, the dogs really like going through the freshly turned earth. Oh, before I forget, the first three cauliflowers are almost done. Yay. Looking forward to eating those.
There was the tent-flap door to repair in the carport. What with the storm of the past couple of days, it really wasn’t something we could postpone much longer. This followed a hauling session of dogfood. The delivery truck arrived in the late afternoon and the forty pound bags had to be hauled down to the storage where we had taken out the last few to check for mice again. Somehow the little buggers keep coming back, while we keep closing smaller and smaller holes. I really wonder where they’ll enter through now.
As for yesterday…not much of interest except for the fact that big brother and I almost got in a car crash. Yep. A car crash! It’d been raining most of the morning (started right after workout) and we’d been forced to head for the phone shop where our router was waiting.
Oh, in regard to big brother’s computer, the computer doctor says it will be several days before we can come pick it up. And we had so wanted to connect those two trips. But anyway, we were on our way home, actually not speeding for a change and went slip sliding into the railing on the passenger side of the car (my side, in this case). I remember saying, “Dude!” grappling for the door handle, as we bounced off and found grip again, and rolled down my window to see how bad it was.
Couldn’t actually see anything, so big brother kept going (4 mins away from home after all) until we got home and out to see.
Not too bad, all in all. Just a small dent in the front right panel, which we could (or so we saw after a short investigation) remove relatively easy to bend out again. All we needed to get was a new flashing light and some car paint…the latter will be tough, but the first should be here tomorrow or so.
But gawd, it was cold while I was working on the car outside. I’d put on several layers, a wool/alpaca sweater, turtlenecked T, fake fur bodywarmer and a leather jacket. I had gloves on, a baseball cap, hoody, gloves, and still almost froze my butt off. Got most of the bolts loose in the first three hours, at which point big brother was smart enough to suggest to put the car in the sun, which we did prior to getting those last pesky bolts that allowed us to take the panel off. Yay. Unbending it took a relatively short amount of time compared to the taking apart bit. Jeez. I was frozen solid all the way through.
The three dogs that we agreed to board for the next week or two arrived yesterday as well, by the way. A big golden mastiff/shepherd mix, and two crossbreed sisters will be spending the nights in my office, giving them some peace and quiet away from the pack. Their owner had to travel for work, and since she had no place to take them, mom offered to take them instead. Luckily the dogs don’t seem to mind so much. I for one know that mine would go absolutely bonkers if I left them somewhere for longer than a couple of hours.
As to the evening…the temperatures were low (low 40s), the winds high and the stove could barely keep up. Did a good edit, though, and actually got some writing done. We decided that I needed to add some extra background information to the story, meaning that I’ll be writing a prologue with a “what happened before” scene.
And now I’ve spent way too much time on this blog. I better get some more writing done before this day is fully over and I pass out in bed…looking forward to that, by the way.
Okay, I’m outta here.
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