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.