Blog Archive

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Two Old Dogs and The Rainbow Bridge


Picture two old dogs sitting on a porch.  One is a graying a Scottie, the other an old Shitzu.  Both on soft blankets, overlooking a green yard and trees with a big rainbow in the distance.

Gizmo: Hey, see that blob of color?

Tucker: Not really, I have not been able to really see for some time or hear or run or properly chase a cat far. Hey, I am 14 years old and you are 17.  You do not even have both eyes!  I am surprised you can see anything.

Gizmo:  I guess I am sort of blind. Not that my eye was very useful at the time the weird lady took it away. But boy can I still smell good things like other dog’s butts and when there is food on the table.
Tucker: Have you noticed that every time our person takes us to that lady in the place that smells bad and they do mean things to us, they discuss how long we have on this side of the bridge? I have heard my person talk about something called the Rainbow Bridge. I cannot see color on a good day so why would I have to go there?  I know that rainbows come after thunderstorms, so I am not a fan.  If it were made for us, it would be covered in  pieces of meat and carrots and bones and chocolates and maybe some roast beef.

Gizmo:  When my person talks about it, he seems so sad also.  What do you know about it the bridge?

Tucker:  Well when my person mentions  it  she gets those wet blobs in her eyes and her eyes leak. 

Gizmo: But they say good things about it, so I am confused.  If it is such a good place, why are they sad?

Tucker:  I think it is because we must go there before they do. I think all we do is go there and wait for them to join us later. Sort of like Doggie Daycare. We get treats and chase balls and I think we get to hear and see and jump and be like we were when we were puppies. I am not sure the cats are there, but I am hoping so and maybe a squirrel or two.  What would you want?

Gizmo:   I would want to bark at every officious interloper and have no one tell me “NO”.  I would want to sit in a warm place in the sun and have everyone tell me what a good dog I am being, even when I bark.  I would want endless Chicken Jerky and not have it taken from me when I put it down for a short nap.    I want to find Otis and have him show me what he has discovered since he was such a great explorer when he was here. 

Tucker:  I think we are closer to being puppies. Do you remember when you first met your person?  They were so big, and it was so confusing.  They made those weird noises with their eating holes and wanted to keep us off the floor and try to keep us close.  They tried to give us strange food and thought we could not find the water place.  I remember I had to meet lots of other things like me.  I had an older sister named Sadie.  She was bossy and would not let me follow her.  She would make her legs go fast and I would think it was a game only to discover she wanted me gone.  She made lots of noises and smelled different.  I used my short legs and I kept up with her.   I also spent hours on end making sure our outdoor space was completely free of a black cat named Lucy.  She was so much fun.  She ran when I barked.  It was a great time.  My head was so big that when I jumped over things, I would just tumble and fall.  Come to think of it, my head is still big!  I have the teeth of a land shark and I am not afraid to use them.

Gizmo: I met my person when my first people had to leave me in a weird cage. My new person found me and took me home. I was not the only child but shared my person with Otis. Otis was a bad bad dog. He looked quiet, sweet, and listened but sometimes, he would get ideas in his head and just go for meandering journeys.  He told me he was just exploring because he had been a dolphin in a former life and could really move.   Otis was insulted that he was so confined in a dog’s body.  That crazy dog would listen enough that he did not have to be on the long string all the time but he was a problem.   Being the doting younger brother, I would just follow.  He told me he was much smarter and wiser than I.  As I look back, we were lucky that we made it back to our person time and time again.  Two 12” dogs wandering, in our neighborhoods, in the woods, down a busy major thoroughfare.  We were quite the pair.  Otis left a few years ago and I am sort of excited to meet up with him again
One of my peeps says I am really a cat.  I have been almost eaten by wild coyotes, fallen in the window well twice, fell into the pond and had to swim for my life and bark at the same time, I also just walked off the porch.    John found me once wandering in the basement.  15 steps down.  I am practiced at rolling.  What about you?

Tucker:  I have cost my peeps thousands of dollars because of my love of food adventures.  Yummy to chocolate, Oreos, chocolate covered almonds, bird suet, rat bait, and of course let us not forget the purple “edibles”.  I edibled three of them.  Boy did that make me crazy for a while.   No one worried about the beer that Lisa Cooper gave me when I was just 8 weeks old.  The can was bigger than my tiny head.

                    My Name is Sir Tucker of Berwick and I am an alcoholic, 
                                a substance abuser AND a chocholic. 

Tucker: Boy, we both have had a great life. I went to college; you explored the world with Otis and John.  I have been fed endless carrots and slept on down comforters and chased squirrels and chipmunks. I kept the yard free of pesky crows.   I have been on long hikes in the woods. I know I am going to go on that last long chase soon.  I will be free to bury my bones and not have to worry about whether they have maggots on them. Just when the bones get good and ripe, I am not allowed to bring them into the house.  It's called Aged.  

Gizmo: My life has been grand. I know my person is going to be incredibly sad for a long time because we are special friends.  I have worked extremely hard to properly train him and he has done a good job.  I wonder if he will still get up at 3 am.  I have been making him give me a peanut butter treat.   I wake up and I am bored, so he gets up with me.  I of course must spend a bunch of time making noise so he will awaken.  That other one refuses in the morning.  She just closes the door and goes back to sleep.


Tucker:  I am a Scotty.  I only really care about one person.  Mary-Elizabeth has been my human.  We are really one person.  She has lots of good friends and a Mom, so she won’t be alone, but I am special to her in another way.   I will go on walks and have dinner and sleep with other people, but she is my person.   She and I graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane.  I worry about leaving her.  I came to her when she was fighting a big battle with cancer.  Then she did it again.  Lots of her worry was focused on me and then she could focus less on her own worry.  I am proud to say that I have been wonderful for her, but I know my time here is coming to an end.   I can feel it.  I am slowing down.  My brain is weird, and Mary-Elizabeth will not let them poke and prod at me.  She knows it is too hard. 

Gizmo: I guess when we talk, I realize it is going to be okay.  We are going to go ahead and be missed, and they will cry and have lots of those heavy sighs.  We are going someplace incredibly special and we will wait.  We are good at waiting unless it is time for dinner or a walk or bedtime.

Gizmo:  Tucker.  Tucker.  Where did you go? I can tell you aren’t here anymore.

Tucker:   My brain went nuts again.  Mary-Elizabeth held me tight and told me I was going to be okay.  She held me so I could smell her cuz during the Bad Brain things I could not hear or see.  I was terrified but when she held me I was able to relax.  In her quiet way, she told me how good things were going to be. I knew she was there and that she would be okay.  I finally just let go.  I got sleepy and then I just left my stupid old and tired body.

I’m brand-new and have found Sadie and Grandpa John and Wolf and a bunch of friends.  Lucy is here.  I get to chase her but she is still way fast. 

Otis: See you soon

Monday, March 23, 2020

When the Pool Expands

I remember what it was like when they first mentioned a new virus. It was in January. In a lot of ways, felt I was the only person that heard it.  Deep in my gut... a slow-burning sense of dread.  Ever present.  Ever-growing. A feeling I could not shake.  Chocolate didn't help.  A big rich meal and wine did not help. Sleep began to become more difficult.  

A steady beating drum....... It's coming.  It's coming. It's coming........

It's contained.
It won't get to Eastern Washington
It is just like the flu.
It's a left-wing conspiracy. 
It will dissipate in April.

Oh, the quarantined ships, well they are not Americans so they don't count. 

Oh, we are screening everyone that comes into the country.  We let them arrive after hours in close contact and then we screen....hmmm?

No one can come into the country.  Now we don't know if they are positive because we don't have any real testing because this is America.  We are immune to all bad things.  

Oh, we are ready.  I was thinking about ready when I looked up the amount of hospital beds we have in this country.  Less than a million.  

We are fine. We have this under control.

Spreading
Spreading
Death
Spreading

Now what? We all enter my world.  

From the beginning, I was confident I knew how to deal with this.  I spent over seven years facing a world full of pathogens.  Simple things could kill. Simple things did kill.  What you eventually realize is that your mind needs a project to keep from thinking about what is happening to you and yours.  I think as a species we need to think we are "doing something".  Something.  Something to make things better.  The need propels us forward and keeps us sane to a certain extent. But where do you start?

Washing your hands.
Using hand sanitizer when no soap and water were available.  

Wiping down door handles and other surfaces.

Tasering anyone that sneezes in your direction.

Wipe down places people touch.  Door handles, phones, handrails, the outside car handle, the inside car handle.  It all is germy.  Wash all your hand towels every day. With Bleach.  Throw away sponges.  Make everyone that comes in the door use your special home-made hand sanitizer.  When did alcohol begin to smell so bad?

Essentially what happens is a new awareness.  A new appreciation of how many surfaces are lurking out there.  A new form of hyper-vigilance.  Every moment of every day your adrenaline surges through your body.  

You have To bE careful.
You Have to Be careful.
YOu have to be CareFul.

This will be a much cleaner world.  It might not be a much friendlier world.  But at least wiped down and freshly sanitized.