Sittin On A Porch

Sittin On A Porch
Our little back porch

Saturday, August 6, 2011

A Doctor's Heart

So last night I got all dolled up and drove to the fund raiser that was tonight.  Last night I felt all dolled up and pretty and I looked good in my toy with the top down.  About midnight I started with the stomach issues gave up trying to sleep about 4 and around 8:30 thought I should take my walk in the morning because I would not have time tonight with a Doctor's Heart.  It was already moving past 80 degrees at that time and the humidity was morning coolness that would turn into the suffocating sweat of the planet in only a few hours.  


As I made the dog leg around at a less the brisk pace my neighbor who raises Jack Russell terriers asked me if I had a healer.  I new she meant dog, not spiritual adviser or medicine person.  I said, no my three labs were currently in the house laying on air conditioner vents.  She told me that her husband had seen a dog locked in the yard in between their yard and mine.  About that time here came the dog up to the gate.  She is a young hunting kind of cur dog at first glance.  White, brown and black , reminiscent of blood houndish sort of ears, maybe somewhere back is boxer, bulldog, hunting dog or pit bull.  She has either been abused or dropped.  Her tail fits neatly between her hind legs and she is bowed and set for a strike or a yell.  She was thin, but not starving see her ribs kind.  She has been in the yard for a few days and had some ticks, but not too many, and they were all small and looked fairly fresh to her.  She tried to get into the yard with the Jack Russell terriers, but their healer had other ideas about that.  So this sweet, poor lost hunting dog was smart enough to follow me home.  


Bob met us at the gate and went through his, I am so tough act.  It lasted for almost 2 minutes and then his curiosity over took his need to look tough and protect the house.  I opened the gate and our lost child ran right in and showed Bob interest and respect.  She saw three of the cats and acknowledged their presence and species but did not run at them.   I walked to the front porch where there is a bowl of water for the dogs and cats, she ran right past it, turned right into the guest bath and started drinking out of the toilet.  Hunting dogs don't know toilets.  Then she came right out and jumped on the couch and curled up as if she has done that a million times.  Hunting dogs don't sleep on couches.  I walked outside to take the laundry off the line.  I love the smell of laundry off the line.  When I brought the basket back in and set it on the couch this strange animal jumped right on the bed next to Bob and the two of the looked at me like they had slept next to each other on that bed their entire lives.  Hunting dogs do not know about beds.


So I have no idea where this sweet child is from.  She gets along beautifully with my dogs, but this is just too much.  She can't be a year old, and with the 8 week old razor teeth menace, and the ever enlarging Bob, not to mention the old man, Harry, this is just too much.  The cats looked at me like I had to have lost my mind.  Henry has staked out a position to torture the new child, but has not been given any reason by her so far.  He is loosing interest in her, but the twins, Stella and Luna, they are not happy one bit with someone else in the house to draw attention from them.

And that really is the biggest problem.  This is a lovely child, sweet, gentle, wants to be part of a big loving family.  But she is going to need a lot of attention.  She is terrified to leave the house.  She is willing to tolerate Ednarose's razor teeth in her tender ears.  Her ears have been repeatedly bitten by yellow flies.  She had a few ticks, but really not so bad for this time of year and having lived in that wooded yard that needs mowing.  She plays back with Ednarose and is like Bob and knows when to back off so as not to hurt or be hurt by the puppy.  But there is too much life, too much activity and Bob is starting to look at her as a girl, and even though he is fixed, I do not want to deal with that.  No, I will have to find her owners or a new home for her.  I couldn't bare taking her to the shelter today.  First of all we have a very small shelter and I am not even sure they have room to take her.  But secondly, I wanted her to have a few days around a big loving family to calm down the fearful creature I met this morning so when she does go up to the pound or the vet or whoever I can find that can get her into a good home, I want them to see the dog tonight playing joyfully with Bob and Endarose.  The three of them teeth and legs and tails rolling and frolicking around my feet.  



I am glad that she came into our lives for this short time, because I realized how heavy Bob is getting.  I have him on a diet, but I think he is getting the puppies food, and I have noticed af ew things disappear from the counter that I did not remembering throwing out before I answered the phone.  So I know he is counter surfing and who knows where else he is getting the food, but my sweet athletic boy who needs to take weight off of that back leg is bigger then ever.  So I need to  find this new dog a place to go so that she will be taken care of properly and then Bob and I are going to have to figure out a diet we can both live with.  He has got to get that weight off that hip.


By the time I had gotten the dogs settled and done a couple loads of laundry, it was simply to hot and thick to work outside.  Also I was still dealing with stomach issues and not feeling my top, so I spent the day reading and watching movies.  I need to vacuum but I will do that tomorrow now that I know that this dog knows of such machines.  I look over at her once in a while and she is always staring at me with those intelligent sad eyes.  She looks like she is trying to decide if she will stay here or go.  She is a good dog, but the verdict at this point is she must go.  


Ms Moon said that there was nothing saying that I had to take care of every dog that happened my way.  I agreed and I am not a collector of lost or stray dogs.  I have for the last 30 years owned labs.  The only other dog that I have had was my dead ex-husband's dog that was left here until his best friend agreed to take her.  So, I agree, I do not need to take in every dog.  Now we do have a friend, J who does seem to have this ability to draw every stray dog and takes in most of them.  I wish he were in town, I would take her by his house and see if I could get his assistance in finding this sweetheart a good and loving home.

Harry has gone to bed sleeping on the air vent in the bathroom.  Bob is in bed, Endarose in her dog bed.  The new child, asleep at my feet.  sigh, I have to find her a new spot.



So most of the day was involved in dog watching and relaxing and being kind to my stomach and digestive track.  This evening I did not feel good, or pretty or attractive in anyway.  I put on a dress, half heartedly through on some makeup and showed up half an hour late to the fund raiser.  Most people were happily sitting with plates of cheesecakes and cookies, strawberries dipped in chocolate, filled with whipped cream and another million other ways that I had never imagined to do with a strawberry for dessert, and other trays and plates filled with every delicious goody imaginable.  I tried a little real type food first, it was a no to, so I tried a few sweet things, again my stomach was not interested.   We all moved in a mass up the grand staircase and into the theater on the second floor of the Grand ole Opera House.  First was Dr. Mike Purvis and one of his brothers and a friend of theirs who plays drums.  They played a wide variety of songs sure to have played at least one that would make everyone there happy.  Dr. Purvis, who was my pet's vet before he retired, will always be Dr. Purvis to me.  I just can't call him Mike.  Anyone he sounds like Willie Nelson and I wished he had sung more.  Not just because he sounds like Willie, but because I love to listen to he and his brother's harmony.  

After Dr. Purvis's set of music interspersed with jokes, Robert Olin Butler read from his newest book and then from his postcard book.  He is a very entertaining reader and I always enjoy coming to this event each year knowing that it helps to raise money for the doctor group going to the Amazon, but also to hear Dr. Purvis and Bob Butler.  I sat with Carolyn again.  She also comes every year and we always have a nice time.  So many of the people we know in the community come to this event and so many people came up to compliment the radio show and how wondrous thing it is.  Many of these people have distant memories of listening to radio shows when they were small.  


I drove back home through the thick summer night, so humid that the quarter moon floats on a cloud of moisture sucked out of the planet it circles.  No stars were visible through the cloud of sweat holding up that moon.  But the temperature felt comfortable in the toy.  Christopher said he liked riding in the convertible better at night then during the day.  It was not as hot and he loved having the stars above his head.  I sure miss that little guy.  


But it is late, and I am having trouble sleeping.  Partly is having to get up around 4 each morning to turn off the air conditioning and leave the door open so that the dogs can go in and out of the house.  Part is just the cycle of the meds;  moody/weepy day, stomach issues 2 days and sleeplessness at least every other week.  How much of this is meds I can not say with certainty, and how much is just being tired, or post menopausal, or maybe this is my new personality.  I don't know, but I am tired, and my eyelids thick and heavy, but my mind says that it is not ready to sleep.   In the morning sometimes when I get up I am still so tired that I can not open my eyes.  They hurt from the side effect of the chemo which causes sty like pain around the new eyelashes.  But honestly, I used to get a very similar thing before the chemo when I would wear myself out.  I am just ready to get back to who I think of as me, the happy one.  It is not that I am not happy.  But it is days that I am dealing with side effects, although minor ones, they do have a regularity that helps reinforce the chemo side effect thoughts, but not with enough regularity to be able to do something about it.  I am not sure there is anything to do about it.


Well, I will go lay down and hope that Ednarose sleeps quietly in her bed and that Bob and the new dog do not crowd me.  I hope that I sleep tonight.  I would like to wake up happy and ready to get out into the garden early enough to finish planting the mums before it is too hot.  And of course, tomorrow is Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.  


For a stomach issue, not sleeping, eyes aching, nose running hot planet sweating day, it really wasn't that bad.  I got a few things accomplished.  Tomorrow I hope to take a full walk and get out and stretch my long legs and feel the August oppression around me.  I love the summer.  It is hot, it is oppressive, it is North Florida.  


But the air conditioner is on and the air in the house is much thinner, the dogs are all sleeping and I shall hopefully join them soon.

3 comments:

  1. It sounds to me as if you are living a very, very full life. And since I know you, I know you are.
    I hope your tummy is better today. I hope it is a day of good peace and sweet joys.

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  2. To have a sweet being come into your life even for just a day is momentous. Of course you invited him in with your spirit. A good day. I hope you slept well.

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  3. I hope that the new dog will be loved by someone. Maybe she walked into your life for a reason. What is one more?

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