| September 2008 |
September 1 (Monday)
Labor Day. Gustav. Gustav has not yet crossed the Gulf Coast of Louisiana. I survived Hilda and Betsy in 1964 and 1965,
respectively. Both hurricanes passed through Baton Rouge, where I lived at the time. I also survived Andrew in 1992. The weather
here in Corinth, Mississippi, is calm and humid today. The dew is heavy on the ground and has been all weekend, making it difficult to
get yard work done. Maybe I shall get to that this afternoon.
September 2 (Tuesday)
In a funk this morning. The dogs got after Cathy again yesterday. I got there in time to save her, and I found no discernable physical
damage, but she experienced quite a trauma. It kills me to see the fear on one of my baby's faces. Why do they do that? What incites
the other dogs to attack her like that?
I have been isolating her when I leave the house ever since the last attack. Things had been going along so well that I had almost
decided to suspend doing that. Boy am I glad I kept up the isolation! I don't know why the dogs do that, but it has really put me into a
depressed mood this morning.
September 5 (Friday)
A very busy week. Dave has been working me into the ground at work, and on Tuesday I found a mom and six pups on my home from
work. The new additions have deprived me of sleep, but I otherwise have been holding up. The pups are ensconced away in my
bathroom, and the momma dog is safely tucked away in a kennel (I hope). I had a dream one evening this week, and the name "Grace"
came to me, so if I do keep the momma dog that will be her name.
| Grace and her pups |
| Pups eating away (and making a mess!) |
| Grace |
September 11 (Thursday)
I've been up the wazoo in Grace and puppies. Each morning I must see to the puppies, the other dogs, Grace, and the cats. Then I
must manage to find time to get myself ready for work and out the door. In the evening the puppies require more attention, and there is
always a gargantuan mess to clean when I get home from work.
So I have been too busy to work much on the website.
In addition to everything else, I found another dog on my way to work this morning. More about it later ...
September 13 (Saturday)
Hopefully, I shall get the puppies delivered to the animal shelter today. Taking a animal to the shelter is difficult , but it is the right ting to
do. With the addition of Taz and Grace I am up to 10 dogs. Now I have found another dog, a black daschund, which it appears may
have found a home here also -- that would make 11 dogs. Eleven is to many! But if they all get along and don't cost too much on food
and vet bills, I guess i can handle it.
I found the new guy in the Tuscumbia Wildlife Refuge area Thursday morning on my way to work. He already has a name: Willie.
| Wilie |
September 15 (Monday)
That little Wilie guy has really made himself at home. And he is unexpectedly sweet. My experience with mini daschunds is that they are
more obtrusive than sweet. Not so in this guy's case. He learns fast and has been accepted by the others as a member of the family.
And boy can he jump! He can jump over the four feet high fence -- so I must keep an eye on this guy!
September 18 (Thursday)
Busy week. Didn't get enough sleep last night. I have a pain in my chest, so I'll stop by the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully it is just an
inflammation of a bronchiole or something.
Dogs are really taking their toll. Grace is a handful, as is Willie. And Taz. And Cathy. I missed Pete at breakfast this morning.
September 19 (Friday)
The doc says that the pain in my chest appears not to involve the heart. I had X-rays and blood work, and doc's prognosis matched
mine: probably some kind of irritation of the breathing apparatus.
It has been a very busy three weeks, since I found Grace and her pups. Each day I leave home around 5:00 am, and don't return home
until around 6:00 pm. So with all the chores I have surrounding the animals I have a very busy schedule. One theme runs continually
throughout the thread of my life: I worry about the animals from the time I leave home until I return again. Not until I arrive home from
work and account for everybody do I relax. I love to see those panting, yelping dogs running across that front lawn, chasing and bowling
each other over, with tongues lolling. I love to see those wide-eyed smiles on those faces.
And the cats. They line themselves up on my kitchen counter for their evening treat. Ah ..., there is nothing to compare!
September 21 (Sunday)
Not a bad weekend so far. I have felt like I may be coming down with something, but I cannot be sure. I would prefer to be well enough
to go to work tomorrow than sick enough to stay home (???).
I sent an email to the webmaster of the Daily Corinthian Online Edition, asking if he would consider publishing some of my animal stories
in the Web Exclusive portion. I received an email back over the weekend, and the first story will be published this coming Friday. So, I
am excited. I am finally getting published!
So I guess that means I need to clean up the rest of my personal website -- seeing how there is bound to be some looking around the
rest of the site. Oh well.
September 23 (Tuesday)
Today I took one of those rare days off. I planned to do so a couple of weeks ago. I had to see a lawyer, for one thing, and for another I
had to schedule a day to get Willie neutered and Grace spayed. I have had all of my animals "fixed," and they usually require about a
day to fully recover, but it just seems like these two are having a more difficult time -- especially Grace. She has been "sick" several
times this afternoon. I've brought her some water, and she drinks it, and she seems to respond okay, but she sure is sick. I invest a lot
of money and time and emotion into these creatures, and it hurts me so to see one of them suffer.
Willie, who is usually very gregarious, has been just the opposite since I brought him home. He is very lethargic, but he too drinks the
water I bring to him. He has crawled into my lap a few times while I have been sitting at the computer. He will stay there for a time then
jump down and crawl into one of the chairs or onto the bed. Right now Willie and Grace are lying beside each other on the bed. Grace
has already gotten "sick" on the bed several times. I don't care -- I need her to be comfortable. They are each a very sad-looking pup.
So am I.
September 24 (Wednesday)
Poor Grace. Poor Willie. They were so sick yesterday. Grace got "sick" several times during the night. Two or three times during the
night I got out of bed to take her some water. She drank the water from a small bowl I took to her. She slept in my bed while I slept in the
other dogs' bed. Willie slept in my bed with Grace. I took both of them water during the night. Poor creatures! They were so sick, and
Grace really messed up my bed! Oh well, at least this morning when I awoke she had moved herself to where I was and was lying beside
me, tail wagging very slowly.
So it appears that she and Willie are going to recover. Good. That means that I can too.
September 25 (Thursday)
Joy! Joy! Grace and Willie were much recovered yesterday. Willie was back to his former gregarious self, and Grace went back to her
"running with the big dogs." Willie will require a few more days for the hormones to get completely flushed from his system. He chases
Grace around ..., you know ...
September 27 (Friday)
Yesterday's Daily Corinthian online edition published one of my stories. Evidently, the story will stay online until they publish a new one
next Friday. I don't know how many of my stories they will publish, but I shall have to gather some new stories anyway. Right now all of
the stories have been animals related, but I have considered experimenting in a new genre. Here is an example.
Regarding the story published in the paper, I received some feedback in the form of an email from a reader in Wisconsin. Wisconsin!
The writer related to me that his family had adopted a dog from our local shelter.
Grace and Willie are doing great. Each appears to have completely recovered from its respective ordeal.