Ray the Blind Dog

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Hibernating

Jenny o commented on the photos in the last posting that "Ray looks like he is certainly keeping warm and cozy in the snowy weather". So I thought I'd share this photo which should be in Webster's next to the definition of "warm and cozy."

Is it over yet?

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Rest in Peace, Hal

Last night, Ray's beautiful, elegant, leggy girlfriend passed away.

The romance between the two had started out white-hot even though Halle's supermodel sang-froid didn't allow her to show that she was smitten with the rambunctious blind boy from The South. But Ray could tell. He was devoted to her from the first.

Ray was heartbroken when Halle moved to the west coast. So last year when she returned, the cooled romance settled into an old-couple best-friendness. Like every old couple, they liked to walk together, sniff the same things, and pee on them. And they liked to visit each other, eat snacks, then lay around the house. Being together was enough.

Halle's family is devastated.
Ray and I are too. We will all miss her.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Update (part 2): A Visit from Auntie Nik

During the month of April, the fun just kept on coming. Niki Moore, Ray's Number One British Fan, came to spend some quality time with her second favorite blind dog and her second-favorite-blind-dog's-owner.

Taking some time off from tending her own dogs (blind Conor, deaf Twiggy, one-eyed Izzy, wheelchair Rocky, and gargantuan puppy Hooch), cats (Dora, Phoebe, Wilf, and Millie), chickens (Rosie, Lady Mary, Edith, and Sybil), spouse (Jez), and boys (Jamie and Dan), Nik arrived just in time for a plumbing disaster at our house.

Rocky, Twiggy, Izzy, Conor and Jez (the human)

Gargantuan puppy, Hooch

We didn't realize that we had a plumbing disaster pending; we discovered it while I was making dinner on the night that Nik arrived.When the smoke alarm went off. (I'm sure a smoke alarm during dinner preparation needs no explanation). As I went to knock the alarm off the wall, I noticed some brown spots, about the size and quantity of spare change, on the adjacent ceiling.

"Hey, Gregg," I yelled to my husband, "Have you noticed these spots before?"
Gregg and Niki came to investigate.
"I haven't noticed them before," said Gregg, "They must not have been there for very long. I think we would have seen them."

Niki reached up to point at a slight bulge in the paint next to one of the brown spots.
"This looks like a bubble," she said cheerily.
"Well, there's nothing we can do tonight," I said as I went back to preparing dinner, "I'll call a plumber in the morning."

That night, before going to bed, I put towels on the floor under the effected area. (I dismissed the thought of putting out buckets which can be a bit of a boobytrap for a blind dog.) Thankfully, the next morning, the towels were dry. However, the brown spots on the ceiling were now the size of dinner plates. I called the plumber.

"It's a pinhole leak in the pipe," said the plumber,
"Unfortunately the pipes are above the ductwork."

Undeterred and unfazed by the events unfolding inside the house, Niki and I went about the business of having fun. We went to buy a new car.

Nik, modeling my new car.

We took Ray for a walk around the lake.

Is it just me or is it getting hot?

We hung out on the front porch.

Oh, Aunt Niki, I'm so glad you're here.

There was a pajama party on the front walkway.

Hey Ray, listen to this.
There once were two cats from Kilkenny,
Each thought there was one cat too many,
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,...