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It’s been a while…
Jul. 20th, 2021 08:13 am It’s been two solid months.
Life has been busy. My goddaughter graduated from high school and two weeks ago entered the Army. For her, it’s an end to a means. She’s doing this with the intent it will eventually pay for school. Not thrilled with her decision, but I understand it.
I lit Yahrtzeit & said Kaddish twice this past week. Tuesday, someone I’ve known for 35 years died after just 3 weeks on hospice. I’m grateful her suffering is at an end, but this was just too early. I’m a couple of years her senior. The second was Rep. John Lewis. Saturday marked one year since his passing.
Fire season has begun. So far it’s nowhere near here, but there are at least another 4 months before the rains will come again. To date, my neck of the woods has been spared the heat that went to our north. We’re actually still needing heat some nights, which is good news. We‘re not as dry as we would be if the heat was higher, and that cuts back on fire risk. Meanwhile, we’re busy cutting back brush and felling, dead trees and getting everything mulched. We just dropped $1800 on a higher end wood chipper the replace the one we had that rattled it self to death 2 weeks ago. The more we tend this forest around us, the more fire fuel we get rid of, the safer we’ll be. At least, we hope.
Arjuna is hanging in there. He’ll be 13 in 6-7 weeks, & very much showing his age. He’s made it clear he ain’t eating dog food anymore. He’d rather starve. He had two bouts of vertigo a week apart in early June & since then won’t touch kibble or even the fresh stuff we got to supplement. The girls will eat anything, though they too make it clear they’d rather have what we’re having. After Arjuna’s last attack, he pushed away food for three days. One the third day, his bowl full and rejected, he started begging for LJ’s pizza crusts. After downing them, it was clear he WAS willing to eat, just not what we’d been giving him. I made another take and bake pizza, just for him. He destroyed it. The following morning I hit the market got 10# of ground beef and started cooking for Arjuna twice daily. He’s eating, usually everything I make for him, if there’s stuff left over, we stick it in the fridge and offer it again a few hours later. That strategy is working. It looks like he’s regaining the weight he’s lost and has become somewhat more stable on his feet. Aging is a nasty bitch.
The girls are the lights of our lives during this pandemic. They’re almost 27 months old. Littermates, but so different personality wise. Wolves & wolf hybrids are affectionate, but on their terms. They don’t spend as much time on top of you as dogs do. That said, the girls clearly see us as their pack and spend a lot of time making sure we know it. Eve often sleeps with us. Generally, she doesn’t want to be cuddled; she just wants to be next to you. Get too assertive petting her and she growls. She does not however get up. “I just want to be next to you. You don’t mind if my leg is across your foot, right?”
Lilith on the other hand, is a cuddle slut, with me in particular. if she wants my attention, she gets her nose under my arm, usually the one I’m actively using & flips it up. Pet me!! Pet me now!!!. She often crawls on top of me- a 75 pound lap dog. She has no compunction about waking me. Eve gently lays he head on my shoulder or licks my hand. Lilith stands on my chest to lick my face. She’s nudged my CPAP mask off my nose to get at my face. Unlike Eve, she wants tons of aggressive petting and cuddle. If I’m lying down when it starts, it’s like getting tackled, & she expects you to be just as tactile. Hug Eve & she may well growl; Lilith however, is in hog heaven. But, unlike dogs, after 20 minutes of active petting, Lilith had had her fill and is done for the moment & off to explore her terrain. It may be an hour before she’s back in my face.
I gotta go. Lilith just flicked my arm up.
Life has been busy. My goddaughter graduated from high school and two weeks ago entered the Army. For her, it’s an end to a means. She’s doing this with the intent it will eventually pay for school. Not thrilled with her decision, but I understand it.
I lit Yahrtzeit & said Kaddish twice this past week. Tuesday, someone I’ve known for 35 years died after just 3 weeks on hospice. I’m grateful her suffering is at an end, but this was just too early. I’m a couple of years her senior. The second was Rep. John Lewis. Saturday marked one year since his passing.
Fire season has begun. So far it’s nowhere near here, but there are at least another 4 months before the rains will come again. To date, my neck of the woods has been spared the heat that went to our north. We’re actually still needing heat some nights, which is good news. We‘re not as dry as we would be if the heat was higher, and that cuts back on fire risk. Meanwhile, we’re busy cutting back brush and felling, dead trees and getting everything mulched. We just dropped $1800 on a higher end wood chipper the replace the one we had that rattled it self to death 2 weeks ago. The more we tend this forest around us, the more fire fuel we get rid of, the safer we’ll be. At least, we hope.
Arjuna is hanging in there. He’ll be 13 in 6-7 weeks, & very much showing his age. He’s made it clear he ain’t eating dog food anymore. He’d rather starve. He had two bouts of vertigo a week apart in early June & since then won’t touch kibble or even the fresh stuff we got to supplement. The girls will eat anything, though they too make it clear they’d rather have what we’re having. After Arjuna’s last attack, he pushed away food for three days. One the third day, his bowl full and rejected, he started begging for LJ’s pizza crusts. After downing them, it was clear he WAS willing to eat, just not what we’d been giving him. I made another take and bake pizza, just for him. He destroyed it. The following morning I hit the market got 10# of ground beef and started cooking for Arjuna twice daily. He’s eating, usually everything I make for him, if there’s stuff left over, we stick it in the fridge and offer it again a few hours later. That strategy is working. It looks like he’s regaining the weight he’s lost and has become somewhat more stable on his feet. Aging is a nasty bitch.
The girls are the lights of our lives during this pandemic. They’re almost 27 months old. Littermates, but so different personality wise. Wolves & wolf hybrids are affectionate, but on their terms. They don’t spend as much time on top of you as dogs do. That said, the girls clearly see us as their pack and spend a lot of time making sure we know it. Eve often sleeps with us. Generally, she doesn’t want to be cuddled; she just wants to be next to you. Get too assertive petting her and she growls. She does not however get up. “I just want to be next to you. You don’t mind if my leg is across your foot, right?”
Lilith on the other hand, is a cuddle slut, with me in particular. if she wants my attention, she gets her nose under my arm, usually the one I’m actively using & flips it up. Pet me!! Pet me now!!!. She often crawls on top of me- a 75 pound lap dog. She has no compunction about waking me. Eve gently lays he head on my shoulder or licks my hand. Lilith stands on my chest to lick my face. She’s nudged my CPAP mask off my nose to get at my face. Unlike Eve, she wants tons of aggressive petting and cuddle. If I’m lying down when it starts, it’s like getting tackled, & she expects you to be just as tactile. Hug Eve & she may well growl; Lilith however, is in hog heaven. But, unlike dogs, after 20 minutes of active petting, Lilith had had her fill and is done for the moment & off to explore her terrain. It may be an hour before she’s back in my face.
I gotta go. Lilith just flicked my arm up.
