We adopted our dog Riley right after we moved into our first home. My kids were ages 12,6 and 3. We must have looked at hundreds of dogs before we found a chocolate lab that was about one year old. We filled out an application only to have the agency reject us because they felt that this dog was too hyper and not a good mix with small children. We found another picture on-line of an older dog. Although not our first choice, we signed up to meet him. When we arrived at the foster home and came face to face with our new dog; I nearly fell over from shock and the sweet smell of cologne for dogs. Before us stood one massive animal. This guy had to weigh at least 200 pounds! They obviously did a glam shot with the internet photo. The foster parents explained that Riley was a stray and I’m thinking, “What did he do? Eat his former family?” Regardless, we took the monster home and he ended up being the best dog ever. We had him for seven year before he became sick. I was with him when he died and knew we just lost the best dog ever.
A slow and wasteful day
My day started at about 5 in the morning when I wake-up with the baleful impression I forgot to pay for some taxes. Once in front of my coffee I realized that I could have lost one of the last letters about the garbage-tax (we have that, here in Italy) or about the river-cleaning-tax (we have that in my area). Since I’m a researcher in computer science my scheduling is quite elastic, so I decided to reach the central office where these taxes are collected: they could check with the computer if I missed some payment. I went to the office by foot since the place is in the center of the city, under a very hot sun. I discovered that the office I remembered has been probably relocated. I phoned my wife, asking her to find the new address, but apparently the place has also changed name… I resolved to further investigate tomorrow. I went to work, where I worked on a paper on wireless data transmission. I had lunch in the cafeteria with other researchers. I worker some more, then I went to the doctor, since once in every two months I need recipes for the drugs I take for diabetes and high blood pressure. I went home, where I cooked the dinner for my wife and my sons. After dinner I listened to some J.S. Bach and watched some Scrubs episodes on my laptop.
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Sunny
Waking on that awful morning was not what I wanted to do. The daylight came through the window, and I knew this was the day scheduled for our poor old dog to go to the vet one last time. Sunny was a 16 year old Brittany. She had been a hunting dog, a house pet and my best friend. We gave her treats all the time and filled her Christmas stockings for dogs during the holiday. A dog had never had finer manners. Now with her system shutting down, vomiting and unable to eat, it was time to do what we had put off for weeks. I took a couple of hours that morning to tell her how we loved her. We lay on the floor, and just ran a brush through her red and white hair, watching her laboring to breathe. I knew it was time to go. The procedure was quick. We had a funeral. Many tears were shed. I was sad for months. The thing I think of all these years later is with all the sadness, with all the grief, I would do it again. When you love a dog, you have to know you will more than likely lose the dog in your lifetime. It is sad. It is awful. It is worth it. I will do it again. Sunny would want me to!
Play with clay
I like to sculpt with polymer clay. I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like, and it can be kind of hard to motivate myself to get started. But when I sit down and actually do it, when I can make something with my hands that didn’t exist before, I’m always glad I did it. For a long time, I only knew about two kinds of Sculpey clay, this stuff that comes in a big beige brick and the stuff that comes in a big white brick. The white stuff stays crumbly, even after you fire it. The pink stuff is better, but if you want it to be any color but pink, you have to paint it. It was years before I discovered that Sculpey sells lots of different colors! Now my pieces are much more colorful and professional looking.
