Pets – Page 36

My Porch Buddy

We developed a ritual, the pup and I, during our year in Arizona. I’d go hiking in the morning on my days off and when I got back I’d heat up a breakfast sandwich, grab my laptop bag, and we’d go out onto the porch for a little rest & relaxation as I wrote in my hiking journal about my experiences that morning. Ellie would eagerly watch me eat as I always gave her a little bit of cheese and egg and bacon/sausage at the end. Only a sliver as her kidneys couldn’t take too much protein but she always appreciated the gesture. After she died it became hard to continue the ritual, I forced myself out onto the porch at first but it took longer before I could eat a breakfast sandwich, even now it is a little difficult sometimes. Because she was deaf in her senior years I could sometimes sneak past her when I got home from the hike so I could wake her when my hands were free and I could help her up, for I knew as soon as I started heating the sandwich she’d wake as nothing got past that nose.

Also, as you can see from this picture and the previous one, though we got her these shoes to help her get up and move about the house, the pup was pretty good about getting out of them so you’d find them scattered about the house once she woke up.

Semi-Retired

I took this picture a week after we moved to the new house with the intention of it being a light-hearted post about how, like many in Arizona, my laptop bag was living a semi-retired life. I drive to work now and don’t need my laptop there so I no longer sling the bag over my shoulder each day as I used to in Portland when I walked to the train. Instead it keeps my stuff organized beside my couch during the week and on the weekends joined Ellie and I as we went out on the porch after my morning hike. The bag holds my 15″ MacBook Pro, my iPad, my hiking journal, my pens, my headphones, and some field guides as I learn about Arizona’s plants & animals. I held off on posting it, partially because I was so busy and partially because Ellie’s health was declining. Now though it’s a nice reminder of our good times together even as her time was running out.

Yellow

Emma and Sam in the guest room of our house in Portland on a sunny fall afternoon in the fall of 2013.

I Loved Her Eyes

I loved her eyes.

I loved the way they lit up when she stuck her head around the door when I arrived home from work. I loved how much more expressive they became when the gray spread to her eyebrows. I loved the way she looked at me on our walks. Multiple people over the years stopped us to tell me how they loved the way she looked at me, how could I express how much I loved it too?

I loved how they showed the character of the dog beneath.

I loved how she’d look at me, then shift her eyes towards the closet where her treats were, then back to me. I’ve often wondered when she started doing it, how long it was before I realized she was doing it and how much longer before I understood what she wanted. She did it until the very end when I was a little more generous with the charcoal treats she wanted, as she could eat them even when her appetite for regular food was waning. She couldn’t move her legs very well but those eyes never had any trouble darting towards the treats.

Here she’s curled up beside me on the couch in the fall of 2013 as I watched football on a Sunday afternoon, the gray spreading across her face. How old she looked to me then, how young she looks to me now!

The High Heat of Summer

As hot as it’s been in Scottsdale, it gets hotter when two furry furnaces are sleeping on your legs. I wouldn’t have it any other way. A quick snap with my iPhone a couple of nights ago, I was going hiking in 5 hours and struggling to join Sam and Trixie in slumber. My two sleep advisors suggested taking a nap in the afternoon and I’ve done that the past three days, an early hike then a swim then a nap. It’s worked out wonderfully but not tomorrow, don’t think they’d appreciate that at work.

Ellie on the Hardwood

Since she always wanted to be near us, we kept a dog bed in most rooms of the house so Ellie would have a comfortable spot to sleep no matter where we were. Sometimes though she preferred either the tile or the hardwood floor, perhaps because it was cooler. This was taken on a July evening 6 years ago at our house in Portland, long before we added air conditioning, so the cooler floor probably was an attraction.

What’s Up Boo?

Boo had a difficult time in the transition to the new house and more so I think with Ellie’s failing health and her death. At times he went to the bathroom elsewhere in the house, at first in my wife’s closet but things got more serious when he switched to my closet. After Ellie died my wife bought a couple of new cat beds and he peed on both of those, and occasionally pooped around the house, but that cleared up in time. He’s still a bit unsure of himself but he’s been on the straight and narrow as far as bathroom duties are concerned for a while now. I was nervous when we got my new couch and kept the doors to my office closed when I wasn’t in it but it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution, he’s enjoyed being able to curl up beside me or on my legs. Here he’s on the cat tree where he can watch the birds in the backyard.

Running in the Dog Park

Ellie and I playing catch with a tennis ball at the dog park at Irving Park in the fall of 2011. She couldn’t go off-leash when we adopted her in 2009 but with a desire to please and a desire for treats she was pretty easy to train and soon enough was able to zoom around the park.

The Thoughtful Scout

From 2010, resting in her cat bed on my desk. She was were she always wanted to be, beside me.

Sam Approved

In Portland I had a cheap love seat with a large matching ottoman that all the pets could join me on, but since it wasn’t in great shape we didn’t bring it to Arizona. However we also didn’t want to replace it until we were in our permanent home and knew the size and shape of my office, so in the rental house I used my wife’s old futon. It was comfortable to sit on, and inadvertently sleep on, but there was less room for cats. When they did sleep on my legs outstretched on a coffee table even little Trixie, 8 pounds soaking wet, was putting too much pressure on my knees. We found a nice used sofa with an attached chaise lounge at a secondhand store that was a good size for my office and the cats have enjoyed having room to snuggle up again, no one more so than Sam.