black lab – Page 15

Does This Count as a White Christmas?

I don’t think so pup, but it’s OK, after the past year I’ve had enough of white.

(We did get more snow before Christmas morning and had a rare white Christmas in Portland).

The Pup Pythagoras

The past couple of days Ellie has only wanted to go on 45 minute walks, still amazing for her age, but not quite the adventurous 60 to 90 minute walks of previous days. One thing I’ve noticed as she’s aged, in addition to the stiff legs and shortness of breath, is that at an intersection she tries to take the diagonal across instead of crossing each street in turn. She I suppose intrinsically understands the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and at her age wants and needs to minimize effort, but it always makes me think of the famous theorem that bears Pythagoras’ name. It made a big impression on my young self when I first learned of it and I realized the world of mathematics, and our world it describes, is both profound and beautiful.

Despite this I make Ellie take the long way round, crossing each street one at a time instead of taking the diagonal, as we live in the world of the automobile and it is their rules that govern our walks. She doesn’t understand, but then neither do I.

Double Dragon

These pictures may look the same but the top one is from Saturday, the bottom Sunday. We’ve had a spate of sunny and cold weather and Ellie was up for unusually long walks both days, slightly over an hour and a half on Saturday and slightly under on Sunday. She wanted to go past Irvington School on the way home, normally we don’t go that far south and east, she likes it because people walk their dogs in the grass field and I like it because I can photograph her beside the dragon statue. She wanted to go Friday as well, trying several times to get me to go past, but school was in session.

This pup is the best.

One Year Ago Today

Exactly one year ago we were supposed to get a little bit of snow, a rarity for us, so I stayed home from work so I could take the pup out in whatever we got. We’d get quite a bit of snow a month later, not like the dusting here, but of course I had no way of knowing that. A biting wind made our outing less enjoyable than it might have been but I was still thankful for the chance to take Ellie out in the snow. Today was also a bit of a rarity weather-wise, cold but sunny, as it has been all week. No pictures from today, I had a meet-and-greet with a potential employer and was tied up all morning so we had to forego the long walks that have been a staple of our mornings since I got laid off a month ago.

January to December

I took the top picture of Ellie by the dragon statue at Irvington School this January after an unusually heavy snow, the bottom picture this morning in a more typical gentle rain shower. I’m deeply thankful for the year we’ve spent together and that she has been in good health (for her age). Longer walks have returned with cooler weather and new medicines, even if not quite as long as before. She walks more slowly and stiffly, gets out-of-breath much faster too, but still charms everyone she meets. You are my heart and my joy, pup, my heart and my joy.

Two Good Pups

With the cooler weather of fall, Ellie doesn’t tire so easily and has been up for longer walks. Anti-inflammatory medicine and pain pills help with her advancing arthritis too. Since I’ve been home most mornings after getting laid off a few weeks ago, I’ve been able to take her on lots of long walks, a real treat since who knows how many more we’ll get together. She still enjoys going to see if her buddy Steve is out on his porch, as he gives her treats, but he’s only been out once. He mentioned that he was the caretaker of a man who just died and they weren’t sure if they were going to move someone else in for him to look after, or move him somewhere else and do some renovations on the house. Fortunately Ellie can’t hear well and thus is unaware her buddy might be moving.

Not far from Steve’s house is this mural on the side of a dialysis center that I frequently walked past on the way home from the train, so I was pleased to be able to get a picture of Ellie next to the perpetually smiling Pepper. I wasn’t sure if I’d get the picture even though she wanted to come down this way on multiple days (mostly I think to double back to give him Steve a second chance to be on his porch), as the blinds in the window above Pepper were open and I didn’t want the people inside getting treatment to worry about why someone outside was taking pictures. On this day though the blinds were drawn and I got my picture of the two good pups.

Dragon Sitting

Long known as a dragon-friend, Ellie helps out by looking after one of the babies while the mother was away.

The Happy Pup

A happy Ellie on the day after I got back from a long trip in August. Her blood pressure is up again as is the protein in her urine so we’re upping her blood pressure meds and switching her to a kidney-friendly dog food. We’ve also added some pills to help with her arthritis as that’s been getting worse, they seem to be helping and with the aid of the cooler (and much, much wetter) weather she even made it all the way to Steve’s on our walk this morning, a rarity these days. He wasn’t out but she pooped in his yard to say hello, despite my telling her that’s not how people communicate. Age is taking its toll on her body but not her joyful spirit.

A couple of the new pills she only gets for a few weeks, and thank goodness, because they aren’t coated and she hates the taste. She even spits out the hotdogs we normally put her pills in, and even when I hid them in her beloved cat food, well, the sweetest dog you ever met can be surprisingly stubborn. She doesn’t hold a grudge after the battle is over, however, because she’s Ellie.

The Aging Pup

When I got back from a two day trip to the coast you would have thought I had been gone two months by the warm welcome I got from our aging pup. Ellie shadowed me everywhere I went, brushing up against me, even following me up and down the stairs on her arthritic legs. I took some time to shower her with affection to let her know I was happy to be reunited too. Time continues to take its toll on her, her blood pressure is up again and so is the protein in her urine, so she’s getting more medicine and a kidney-friendly dog food. She’s also getting anti-inflammatory pills since the arthritis is getting worse, so there’s now a whole army of pills she gets each morning and evening. She gets tired easily and takes a lot longer to recover after a walk, but she still gave me a 45-minute walk today on a sunny but cool fall morning.

She’s probably about fourteen years old, so all things considered she’s doing rather well, and I’m thankful for every day we get with her.

Tag: black lab