Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Back again, with nothing of interest to say

Thanks so much to all of you for your kind notes and stories of your own pets that you’ve been willing to share. I’ve read them all, and I’ve smiled, and I’ve even welled up a time or two, and since I rarely cry, I don’t know whether to say “Well done!” or “Shame on you!”

Blaine and I have been watching Lager the Wonder Mutt a lot more closely, and I do think the time is coming. He’s had an accident in the house every day since Friday, and he’s having a hard time getting up off the floor and maneuvering the step outside the back door. When an energetic puppy goes skidding around the corner on a hard wood floor and his back legs go out from underneath him, it’s cute and funny. When it happens to a 16-yr old dog, it’s a little bit heartbreaking.

But, he’s also still eating well and interacting with us, so, I’m just not sure. I don’t think it will be in the next week, and maybe not even in the next month, but I appreciate sincerely those of you telling me that when it’s time, I’ll know. The simple fact that I don’t *think* it’s time yet lets me know it’s not, and gives me a little more confidence in my own decision-making.

In the meantime, I’m responding to the requests for more pictures of him. You’d think it would be easy to get good shots of a dog that rarely gets up off the floor, but surprisingly, it’s not. Yes, he just lies there ….. but it’s not exactly gripping and compelling photography, either.


Kristie: “Kendrie, give him a kiss so I can take a picture of how much you love him.”
Kendrie: “OK {pause, gives kiss} WHEW! His breath stinks!!!”



Lager: “Get off my head. Please.”



Lager: “For Pete’s sake, woman, aren’t you don’t yet? No more --- NO MORE!”




And this sort of thing is what happens when my children find him sleeping in the living room when they return home from school (pretty much a daily occurrence.) So he won’t feel “lonely” when he wakes up, they put all their stuffed dogs in the living room to keep him company. I’m a little worried he’ll wake up in his confused state, look around, think he’s being attacked by a roving band of fluff and have a heart attack.

In other news, I took my computer in on Monday to have the bigger hard drive installed. The tech told me he thought it would be done by Tuesday, but if not, definitely by Wednesday. Instead, they called three hours later to tell me it was finished. Now that’s pretty good customer service! So I drove back to the store before they closed to pick it up, doing a happy dance inside because I wasn’t going to be without a computer even a single night …. Only to discover a few hours later, when I tried to hook it back up, that I had left the power cord at the store, which naturally, was now closed for the night.

Deep down, I suspect that I am too big a moron to own a computer.

And in case you need proof of my moron-ness, let me tell you what else happened. When I dropped off the computer and was discussing my space needs with the tech, he told me the original hard drive came with 20 gig. They sell hard drives from 80 to 250 gig and would clone the old drive to the new drive, which, I don't really have any clue how that works, but once I heard "you'll never notice anything different ... as far as you're concerned, it will be like the exact same computer only with more space, and only $50 labor fee" I was all, "Sign me up for that!" {{snapz!}} During the conversation, trying to predict how much space I might need in the next few years, until such time as the computer most likely dies anyway, he sort of, gently, indicated that 20 gig was, well, pathetic. Not in a mean way, he was very polite, but he wasn’t surprised that once I discovered the beauty that is iTunes, I had filled up my measly 20 gig.

Fast forward to that afternoon when I picked up the computer. I walked in the store, and both him and another tech looked up at me and smiled when I sidled up to the counter. “Lady!” the first tech said, “No wonder you kept getting those space warnings on your screen --- you were down to 12 mg on the entire hard drive!!!” and they both kind of laughed, like how on earth could I have come that close, without going over the edge.

I said, slightly confused, “Well, I don’t understand. If I started with 20, and still had 12 left, that’s over half. {Yes, my math skills are outstanding, aren’t they?} So if I had over half left, why the warnings?”

And he looked at me like truly, I might be the stupidest person he’s ever encountered, and proceeded to explain the difference between gigs and megs. Or gegs and migs. Or whatever they are, I wasn’t really listening. All I know is I now have room for over 12,000 music downloads, so I’m happy. I’ll be spending the kids’ college education money at iTunes, but by golly, I’ll never run out of room for soundtracks or Meatloaf again.

And pictures of Lager, too, of course.

15 comments:

KirstyB said...

LOL...megs...gigs...who cares!?!?! Just as long as they upgraded fast enough so that you could come back to posting!! :) I know it was only a few short days, but you were missed!! :)

Leece said...

It's true - you're missed when you don't blog, really missed. Thank you so much for the pictures of Lager the WonderMutt, he is a beautiful creature...I was trying to figure out what breeds his parentage might have contained - I think I'll settle on 'Unique' Lovely to have you back. I don't ususally do this sort of thing but I know a lot of people follow certain caring bridge sites and there is a little girl called Sydney. She and her family could really use prayers right now. Love and prayers to you all.

kim-d said...

I was wondering how things were going with your new and improved computer whatzit. So glad you're back, and so glad to see the pix of Lager. Awww...such a handsome puppy! I love the one with the stuffed animals--it could just be my eyes, which are right on par with my menopausal mind--but I had to look close to find Lager. The kids are sweet to not want him to be lonely, but sometimes he's just gotta wake up, look around, and wonder "WTF????" Awww...

Anonymous said...

Welcome back - you were missed!

Have you ever read the book "Marley & Me" by John Grogan? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. It is a true story about life with "the world's worst dog".

By the way, due to reading comments about recommended books on your blog, I recently started reading the Diana Gabaldon series and am enjoying them very much.

Janet in Iowa

Anonymous said...

I was enjoying reading your post until it got really technical!!

One thing I would suggest is to start preparing the kids (if you haven't already) for Lager's passing...Also, there is a wonderful book called Dog Heaven. It is a children's book but beautifully written and illustrated..It is a very comforting way to deal with a hard subject.

I loved the photo of Lager and all of the stuffed animals..When he wakes up he must be thinking "WTF happened?"

Anonymous said...

When I was in college, we had to have my cat put to sleep. I had gotten her the summer before 1st grade. My mom did not know if she should do it while I was home for Christmas or after I returned to school. I remember finally telling her "I don't want to tell you to kill my cat." A few years ago the next cat in my life disappeared and was never seen again. Reading your stories of Lager reminds me to be thankful that we did not have to make that decision again. Hopefully it will be clear when the time is right and the kids will understand.
Sandy

kimi said...

Kristie;

A little comptuer geekiness here...1 gig is 1,000 mg - so being down to 12 mg and the thing still turned on is amazing!!

Congrats on the new hard drive - take it out for a spin and download all the new High Musical 2 music!

Hugs,

Kim

Cindi said...

I sympathize with you not completely understanding computer talk. Something was wrong with my laptop and I took it in to be fixed the other day. They called me back and said that I needed a new hard drive, okay, I can handle that. Then the guy started talking in numbers..."it's only an 80 [whatever], and it may take a couple days to get that small of a hard drive in." Yeah, whatever....just please get it FIXED! I guess we really should know all about these machines, shouldn't we? Nah, leave it to the professionals!

Anonymous said...

I love all the Lager pictures! Especially with the stuffed animals... so cute!

Anonymous said...

The pic of Lager and friends reminded me of ET in the closet scene.

And thanks to Kim, I understand your computer problem and I am no math whiz at all!

Dixie in CA

Eloise said...

Thanks for the updates.

My computer is giving me the same "you're running dangerously low on memory in the your c drive" messages, so you're inspiring me to take mine in and have a new hard drive added. Hope mine only takes three hours (thought I'm not holding my breath!).

Frapper said...

Your Lager is a lovely dog and it is very sad as we watch them age. You might try fish oil capsules for the hard to get up problems he's having. I never thought it would work, but we have a corgi who seems to have a touch of arthritis and it's hard for her sometimes to go from lying to standing. I tried Glucosamine pills with no difference really, but when I started giving her fish oil in her kibbles, it has really made a difference.

Haley said...

I'm sorry about Lager. Our family dog died on Saturday morning; she was 18. She simply walked outside to her favorite spot and went to sleep. The vet thinks that she had a stroke or something Friday night. I don't think I've ever grieved as much as I have for Marty. When an animal has been a member of your family for so long, they become just that, a family member.

Thanks for sharing the cute pictures...I loved the one with all the animals!

Leeann said...

Lager is beautiful. You'll treasure these last few weeks of pictures so take them freely.
Hugs,
Leeann

Dto3 said...

I have a 14-year old best friend and we recently took her to the vet to discover that steroid pills might work. They did. Unfortunately, they could shorten your dog's life (but as we said to the vet - she's already 14, is that a huge risk?) Hope Lager is doing great. Best of luck to you.