Shades of Black (Cat)

The jumpy but brave black cat quietly sniffed the snoozing hound's extended paw.* I'm not entirely sure, but I think this was the closest that Hugo had ever been to Ray.

It has taken four long years, but the dynamic between the cat and the dog has recently been changing. Hugo now knows that if Ray enters a room by one door, Hugo can calmly exit by the other and the dog is no wiser. If Ray is at his dish eating, Hugo can creep out of the kitchen behind him and not be chased. If Ray blocks Hugo's exit from a room, the cat can stand his ground and hiss and the dog will respect the hiss. Ray's tail will wag and his ears will go into Ultra Dumbo Mode but he will not chase the cat up the stairs (most of the time).

When Hugo first started to come out of cat Siberia, to lure him farther into the living or family room, I would slide the window shade up enough so that the cat would be tempted by the windowsill or the back of the couch. While Ray slept at the opposite end of the couch, Hugo would sit on the back and look out of the window. This worked very well for a week or two until Ray caught on that every time the shade went up, the cat appeared. After that, no matter how soundly the blind dog was sleeping, the raising of the shade would get a Pavlovian reaction. Ray would instantly awaken and leap from the couch with his tail curled high over his back, ready for the hunt. The big cat would evaporate into thin air.

After this happened a time or two, Hugo could no longer be lured by the rising of the shade.

So, to try and get Hugo back among his peeps, I have been working on desensitizing Ray to the sound of the shade, keeping a hand on him while opening it and calmly telling him to stay. We've been through the stage of Ray staying, but raising his head, and quivering with alertness, "looking" around the room when the shade opened, and have graduated to the stage of Ray staying and remaining in a sleeping position. However, even though Ray is pretending to be asleep, his eyes are open and his eyebrows are doing the Flatley on his forehead. Along with the eyebrow action, Ray emits an otherworldly, high-pitched hhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmm.
Hugo, however, is not fooled. The big black cat remains elusive.

*You can use this sentence to practice your typing. It contains all letters of the alphabet.

Test Results and News from Murphy's Family

Well, the test results from the vet came back somewhat inconclusive. The nodule on Ray's leg could be a result of some trauma and will eventually go away, or it could be a cyst and should be monitored for any changes. So we will keep an eye on it.

In other news, Murphy, Ray's best friend, got a new brother over the weekend. Ray has mixed feelings about it. He is so happy that Rachel and Josh have adopted a new dog, but he feels as if his status as BFF is in jeopardy. Ray is also very worried about the future of his sleepover parties with Murphy. Older dogs don't adapt as well to Ray's yelling and his habit of canonballing into them unexpectedly; younger ones just accept it as part of the whole Ray package.
So here are a few photos of Murphy's new brother. He is currently named Coke and has had that name for four years.

Replaced?

Doctor Doctor

We were at the vet waiting for Ray's checkup and annual vaccinations when a vet tech called us in.
"Who are you?" I asked not recognizing the guy.
"I'm the vet tech," he replied with a pronounced East European accent.
"Uh, I know that," I said, "But who are you? What's your name?"
"Olek," he said.
"Olek?" I inquired.
"Yes," he said looking at Ray's file. "He's blind?"
"Umhmm," I nodded.
Olek ran through the shots that Ray needed and set the little vials out on the counter. Ray was nosing around next to him looking unconcerned, as usual.
"I'm going to take him out and draw some blood for his heartworm test," said Olek.
I handed over Ray's leash. Olek opened the door and let Ray walk out in front of him.
"Don't let him run into anything!" I called after them at the last minute.
I heard a faint OK in reply.
I waited patiently, reading the pamphlets and other extraneous things lying around the examination room.
The door opened. I heard a bonk.
"Did you just run Ray into the door?" I asked Olek in mock outrage as he followed Ray into the room, "You are a terrible seeing-eye human."
The vet tech smiled at my tone but looked a bit embarrassed.
"I'm sorry," he said abashedly.
"Well, it's not like it's never happened before," I said grinning, thinking of all the times I've accidentally run my blind dog into things.
"This is the sweetest dog," said Olek looking totally smitten, "I took his blood and he just stood there like nothing was happening."
The vet tech bent over to give Ray a pet; Ray moved away slightly.
"He thinks you're going to bonk him into something else," I ribbed the newbie.
Olek gave a smile at the wisecrack but didn't rise to the bait. He got down on Ray's level and gave him a good rub.
"Dr. Kim will be right in," he said as he left.
As always, Ray was happy to see the Doc. He immediately flopped for a bellyrub. Dr. Kim obliged then ran her hands over his bum back leg. Her hands stopped at the joint, manipulating something just above the hock.
"What's this?" she asked to no one in particular.
Her hands probed a malleable, fluidy nodule about the size of a peeled lychee.
She looked at me.
"Has this always been here?" she asked.

I'm dying aren't I? You can tell me. I can take it.

"I've never noticed it," I answered, "That leg is always slightly swollen because of the lymph node thing."
Dr. Kim put his leg back on the ground, when she did, the lump disappeared into Ray's anatomy. She felt around, found the lump again and manipulated it some more. Ray, who had been stressing out in a total flop, raised himself a bit and tried to lick her face. Dr. Kim grinned and told him what a good dog he was. Finding the half-upright position difficult to maintain, Ray flopped back down.
"I'm going to draw some fluid from it and send it in to see what it is," she said.
"OK," I accepted.
After giving Ray his vaccines, Dr. Kim drew a vial of clear fluid from Ray's leg. His royal prone-ness never moved.
"Do you think it could be lymph?" I asked.
"Could be," she replied, "I'll call you next week and let you know the results. Has he ever seen anyone for this?"
"He saw the Internist once when we first brought him home, just to see what was what. She said to keep an eye on the leg and if anything changed to bring him back," I told Dr. Kim, "But it always looks the same, so we've never been back."
"Well, we'll see what the tests say. You can take Ray to her if he needs to go," said the vet matter-of-factly.
I got Ray to his feet. We paid our bill and left.

A Good Trip

Ray had a very good time while visiting his family.

He helped Grandpa in the garden.

He slept on Nannie's couch.

 He went running with Aunt Yuko.

He gave a foot massage to his favorite cousin, Hannah.

He helped his Uncle John cook shrimp.

He got kisses...

...hugs...

...and a head massage from Hannah...

He got bellyrubs from Grandpa.

 He enjoyed dinner with the family...

...spent some quality time with his mom...

...and had a little alone time in the back of the car.

He was fussed-over by two of his favorite people.

All in all, Ray had a wonderful trip.

And after we left, he was missed very much by Grandpa and Nannie.

Bedtime Story

It was bedtime. Learning from my previous visits to the folks, and in anticipation of a rough night of trying to get comfortable with a large dog in my bed, I had already pushed the twin beds together. Because, Ray doesn't want his own twin bed, he wants mine. It doesn't matter if I get up in the middle of the night and move to the other bed on the other side of the room to avoid the dog, he will follow. And sleeping with a 70-pound dog in a twin bed is not something that is actually accomplishable. So this time, I was ready for him. The beds were together and I had a plan.
Oddly, Ray is afraid of twin beds. I would say it was from his previous experience of falling into the crack and being trapped between two beds, but really, his fear predates that. While Ray will launch himself onto any other bed with abandon, when he wants to get into a twin bed, I actually have to get out of bed and lift him into it.
"Jean, why would you do that when you know you won't be able to sleep with a gigantic dog in your bed?" I can hear you asking.
Because if I don't, (I reply) Ray stands at the side of the bed and whines. Then he paces back and forth along the side of the bed, whining and trying to figure out how to get onto the twin bed (I don't know why this is different than any other bed, but it obviously is). Then he jumps his front feet up on the twin bed and snuffles the covers and whines some more. Then he jumps his front feet down, sticks his face in my face and whines louder. Then he repeats the process over and over until I get out of bed, haul his ass up onto the bed, and watch as he curls into my already-warmed spot.
But this time I was ready for him. I lifted Ray onto the bed and dragged his protesting carcass across it to the bed that was against the wall. I then quickly jumped into the other bed and moved as far across it as I could so that I was spanning the crack between the two beds, blocking his access to my bed. Ray doesn't like to stand up on the twin beds, it scares him, so I was pretty sure that I could keep the bed to myself if I could get him onto his own side.
The tactic worked well. For two nights.
On the third night, just as I was congratulating myself on being brilliant, Ray had figured out the plan and was on to me. When I tried to drag him onto the bed against the wall, he resisted. With legs splayed out, Ray had become the immovable object.
I sighed.
I crawled into the bed against the wall, curled up and went to sleep. When I awoke at one in the a.m., my fears were realized. I was jammed up against the wall, a hot dog laying alongside me.
It had happened. I was once again stuck between a dog and a hard place.

A Quick Bite

It was hour seven of the eight hour trip to South Carolina. Ray, who had been sleeping peacefully in the reconfigured back seat with his head on a pillow that was resting atop a plastic bag containing two boxed pies and two pink sugar cookies, stood up and blocked my vision in the rear-view mirror. I waited patiently for him to do as he had been doing every couple of hours, turn a few circles and then lie back down in a more comfortable position. Instead, my vision remained blocked.
"What's Ray doing?" I asked my sister.
Kathy turned to look over her shoulder.
"I don't know," she replied, and then "Ray! Ray!
In my rear view I could see that Ray was intent on something in front of him.
"He's in the pie" said Kathy rather calmly for someone that had paid a large amount of money for them.
"What?!" I cried, "Get him out of there!"
Kathy tried grabbing Ray's collar and pulling him away from the bag but couldn't get a good grip on him. I could hear the bag rustling as Ray continued to forage.
I reached my hand back and poked the dog.
"Leave it!" I commanded the hound in my best stern, dog-commanding voice.
As always, Ray ignored me.
Kathy unbuckled her seat belt, turned in her seat, and pulled Ray away from the bag long enough to grab it by the handles and haul it over the seat-back and onto her lap.
"Did he get the pies?" I asked anxiously as Kathy examined the contents of the bag.
"No,"she replied holding up one of the pink-sprinkled cookies, "He just chewed on one of Hannah's cookies."
There was a definite nibble gone from the edge of the pink butterfly cookie that we had bought for my eight-year-old niece. Teeth marks edged the half moon shape and a bit of dog-spit glistened in the sunlight.
"What time is it?" I asked my sister.
"Four" she replied.
"Well, it is his dinner time," I said as explanation for my dog's bad behavior, "He always eats at four."
Kathy broke off a small piece of the cookie and gave it to Ray.
"That's all you get," she said, then asked "What should we do with the rest of it?"
"Give it to Hannah," I replied, "Just tell her that Ray was hungry and needed a bit."
"Ok," said Kathy, "There's nothing wrong with a bit of dog slobber on your food anyways."
She replaced the cookie in the bag with the pies and held it on her lap for the remainder of the trip. Thwarted, Ray turned a circle, got comfortable, and went back to sleep.

Oops

I was on my way to pick up my sister, Kathy, at the hotel. Since the guest room is full of cats, cat boxes,  cat beds, cat food, and Moonie's medical supplies, I figured it was easier to just put my sister up  at a hotel than try to figure out what to do with the senile old cat and all her accoutrement.
So I was on my way to the hotel. Kathy and I, as usual, were headed down to South Carolina to visit the folks; a very last minute trip. I had called her Sunday.
"Hey Kath, I'm thinking of going to visit mom and dad this week, wanna go?" I asked her.
"I'll check and see if I can get off of work and send you an email tomorrow." she replied.
The email came the next day with instructions to get her a plane ticket. I had managed to find her a flight for the next day, Tuesday. Since the trip from Colorado took the entire day, we were driving down on Wednesday, hence the hotel.
As I drove to the hotel, I was running through my mind the things I had packed. I had a niggling feeling that I had forgotten something and I was hoping it wasn't anything crucial. I knew I had Ray's eyedrops, dry food, canned food, toys, treats, treat ball, rawhide, bed, water and a dish to put it in. I even congratulated myself on remembering his heartworm medicine, which I needed to give him while we were away. But still, I had the feeling there was something...
It didn't hit me until we were half way through North Carolina. It wasn't anything for Ray that I had forgotten to pack. It was my underwear.