boolie

Dark Chocolate

Ellie had a vet appointment this morning to get a booster shot. She got a good health report all around (apart from needing to lose a little weight, which we are working on). But late this afternoon I got a call from my wife saying she was heading back to the vet.

During the day, Ellie had somehow gotten a hold of some of my wife’s chocolate calcium chews. This is not the way to weight loss Ellie! Although at least we won’t have to worry about her suffering from osteoporosis. The vet didn’t think any harm was done but had us watch for vomiting and unusual stools just to be safe — any blood and it was off to the emergency vet. Thankfully she’s been fine, a little hyper but she got a lot of exercise this weekend and calmed down nicely by nightfall.

Ellie’s a black lab, at least we thought she was, but I’m thinking now she may be a chocolate lab. Dark chocolate.

Ellie & Smelly

The title for today’s post comes from little Sam, who is skating on thin ice I assure you.

He asked me today if I knew which part of Ellie I most smelled like. I said no but to consider his answer carefully and reminded him who plays countless hours of String with him. He deliberated far longer than I thought necessary, eyes darting between me and Ellie, before finally answering “Why the sweetest part of course!”

Hi-yo, Silver, Away!

When I got home from work this evening, little Sam started peppering me with questions about saddles. I know nothing of horses and knew neither the answers to his questions nor the reasons for them. Slowly I realized that he hoped to ride Ellie to glory in the great Emma hunts that rage through the midnight hours.

No Sammy, no. No no. No no no.

Strange Looking Trees

After a wonderful week of hiking in Wyoming in October 2005, in the last few hours of my last day I decided to take quick jaunts part way down three Yellowstone trails new to me, to get a taste for future visits. I planned an hour for each trail but when I reached the designated time on the the first trail, the Rescue Creek Trail, I wasn’t ready to turn back so I continued on at the cost of only having time to sample one more trail before sunset.

Having reached the new turnaround time, I stopped to drink in the dry landscape and some water. Strange looking trees down the hill caught my eye so I raised my camera for a closer look. The telephoto lens turned my strange trees into six bighorn rams of various ages.

I never made it to any other trails, I spent the remaining hours watching the rams until they wandered up the trail in the opposite direction and I headed back to the car to start the long journey home. One of my all time favorite hiking moments.

Say Hello to Ellie

“Let it be said that I am right rather than consistent.” Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan explaining his transformation from a vigorous defender of slavery to the lone supporter on the Court for the rights of former slaves

We reduced the candidates of names for Unnamed Dog (aka the dog formerly known as Sidka) from sixteen to two, Darcy and Zira, staying consistent with our scheme of choosing names from our favorite books. Today we settled on her name: Ellie.

When I first came up with a list of possible names for the dog, all sixteen names were from our favorite books or shows save two, Ellie and Libby, which made the cut simply because I liked them. Libby seemed like a good name for a lab but I ruled it out myself the very next day when on the train I couldn’t get the “Libby Libby Libby on the label label label” song out of my head and realized the horror the next seven years could bring.

My wife further whittled the list to a half dozen but even after a week none of the literary names felt right and we realized we were trying to force the wrong name onto our sweet-hearted girl. She feels like an Ellie, not a Darcy or Zira, so we’re breaking with tradition. We could cheat and say that she’s named for Elinor from Sense & Sensibility or Elessar, one of the 187 names for Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, but she’s not.

She’s Ellie because she’s Ellie.

A Quiet Day

It was sunny (and cold and windy) again today so I took Sidka out for more playtime in the backyard, this time she wanted to come in after half an hour. She was very active yesterday and seemed tired today, so while she got her usual walks and indoor play time as well, she was more in a mood to sleep. That worked out well as we curled up and watched the two NFL championship games on TV.

We left the door to the basement open all day long so the cats could come and go as they please. Scout didn’t come down at all, which is a change from the previous days, but that’s OK as we’re letting each of them adapt to the dog at their own pace. Emma’s fascination with Sidka continued as she hovered nearby much of the afternoon.

But it was little Sam who made the biggest stride forward, going from napping a few feet away from Sidka yesterday to just inches and even millimeters today. On two different occasions, he burrowed under the quilt and curled up in my lap while Sidka was nestled beside me. At one point Sidka even had her head resting on his body with only the blanket separating the two. He was purring so he couldn’t have been too unhappy with the arrangement.

On another occasion, he was sleeping on the other side of the couch when Sidka jumped up and filled the gap between the two of us. His eyes got really wide for a moment until he realized she too wanted a nap and soon he was sleeping peacefully. He’s still really nervous around her, don’t get me wrong, but I was surprised to see him get so close so soon.

Action Pose!

A week ago we went to the Humane Society and brought Sidka home. She has readily adapted to our household and all its denizens, she seems quite happy and healthy and loving and good-natured and smart and patient and playful and we keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far she’s just been a real sweetheart.

We’ve whittled our list of names down to two likely candidates, Darcy and Zira, which keep with our tradition of choosing names from literature. I read on the internet (so it must be true!) that Darcy comes from the Gaelic word for dark which goes well with her black fur, and of course Darcy is a character or two from a mutual favorite of ours, Pride & Prejudice. Zira comes from the chimp in Planet of the Apes (book and movie) that discovered our man hero could talk. Our dog can’t talk but she is an excellent typist.

Emma has suggested another name — since she has black fur like her, she wants to call her Emma II. I pointed out that since the dog was born long before her that really the dog should be Emma I and she should be Emma II, but she thinks it ought to go by the order of the arrival into our home. My wife agrees with her but I think it’s just the womenfolk sticking together, it may have been a mistake to adopt another girl as now Sam and I are outnumbered 4 to 2. They’ve got veto power! My wife was quick to point out that they’ve always had it.

It was sunny if cold and windy today, so after a much-needed haircut I walked home and took Sidka into the backyard for an hour’s worth of fetch. What a wonder it is to have a pet actually bring her toys back when you throw them! Playing with the tennis ball seems to be her favorite game followed by the rope toy. We then came inside for even more playing and then it was time for more cat bonding time.

All three cats were anxious to get down to the basement today, every time I’d go up I’d have to fend them off as I opened the door, no besieged city has ever been so well-defended. When it was time I opened the door and all three came down. Sidka was being good so as I test I took off her leash and let her go. She didn’t chase anyone, at first the cats kept their distance so Sidka and I played some more as they watched and got a feel for her movements.

Everybody got a nose touch in today with Scout again setting the record for the longest nose touch, she holds both first and second place by a wide margin. Emma wins the award for most time spent near Sidka, she’s rather fascinated with her, while Sam wins the award for actually falling asleep with her just a few feet away. Also for eating the closest to her, as if we had any doubt who would win that contest.

Sidka is definitely interested in the cats but has clearly been around cats before as she doesn’t move and scare them when they come in for their nose touches, and when she once got too close for comfort for Sam he swatted her on the nose and she immediately backed off and came over by me. The cats aren’t comfortable with her yet but today was excellent progress.

Sidka Meets the Queen

Not too much to report on the dog front, I called my wife when I got off the train last night so they walked down to meet me halfway. What a happy girl she was to meet me — she being the dog 😉

Sidka met the cats again last night while I held her and they mostly milled about at close and not-so-close range. The big difference from the night before is that the Queen came down to greet her new subject, I told Sidka that if she won Scout over the others would soon follow. All three are still in the curious-but-cautious stage, when treats were brought out all three came up pretty close to the dog.

Sidka is still in her curious-and-let’s-go-meet-them stage so I’ve been keeping her close at hand on her leash. No one is showing any signs of aggression, not even a hiss from the cats, so things are looking good on that front. Even the introduction of Sam and Emma to Scout brought some hisses. Not to mention the how-could-you-betray-me-like-this withering looks from Scout that make me shudder to this day.

I fell asleep early last night and then woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I turned on the light to read. I was shocked to see Scout separated from Sam by a few inches, she remedied this immediately by snuggling up to him, he draped one arm across her face and another around her body and soon they were asleep again. It took me a lot longer to follow them this time.

Oh To Be a Cat

So how traumatized are the cats by meeting the dog for the first time?

Scout is sleeping upstairs on my side of the bed, one of her favorite spots. Sam is sleeping in the heated bed next to me, one of his favorite spots. Emma is sleeping on my feet like she has been all week.

Oh to be a cat!

Since my wife has been sleeping with the dog in the basement this week, I’ve been reading in bed to help myself fall asleep. Last night while I was reading, Sam jumped into my lap and then Scout followed and curled up tight against him. She lay across him and put her head under his so that he would lick her head and clean her ears.

I don’t think he knows how much it means to her, Templeton started doing this for her when we first brought her home as a little kitten. In the early days she’d look like a drowned rat after he worked her over, less so as she grew older, the ritual continuing up until he died. But maybe Sam does have a sense of it, he started purring in full voice and that started Scout’s motor so I put down my book and listened to the harmony.

Sam wasn’t sleepy and eventually got up and Scout moved down to my feet. Emma then came up and curled up beside her, Scout fell asleep almost instantly and her loud snoring didn’t keep Emma from following her into slumber.

I turned off the light and joined them.

First Contact

Sidka has mostly black fur save for a tiny white stripe on her chest and white around her mouth, I suspect when she was born she must have wiped her mouth on the ground before the paint was dry. Speaking of paint, she also has some white fur that is only temporary thanks to some paint splotches on her head and tail. The reason her previous owners listed for giving her up was “Moving” so they were probably painting the house to get ready to move and a certain someone got a little too close …

We are going to change her name from Sidka but haven’t finalized the name from our pool of candidates. We’ve crossed a few off the list, I had originally suggested Willow but little Sam was horrified and pointed out that Old Man Willow in The Lord of the Rings eats hobbits. I didn’t quite see the problem until he reminded me that he was named after a hobbit. Good point little one!

Today was the first introduction of Sidka to the cats. After taking her for a long walk and run and playing ball with her, I put her leash on and held her close while my wife opened the door to the basement. Scout wanted no part of the proceedings but Sam and Emma did eventually creep down, moving in super-slo-mo as they crept down from the top of the steps to the landing to the bottom of the steps and finally into the den. Sam was first to approach with the fur on his tail spread wide, he rubbed noses with Sidka before backing off again. First contact! He and Emma later approached but were intrigued by Sidka’s bushy tail, when Sam went in for a sniff Sidka turned towards him and both cats bolted under the couch at full speed. They watched from a safe distance until we decided to call it a night.

Not bad for a first introduction!