pet – Bluetyger – William J. Gibson's Notebook

Grace turns 7

_DSC2085 She is a wonderful dog. She brightens every day. Her favourite human is my sister, but Grace is actually my best friend. Today is her seventh birthday.

This evening I turned to size up how hot the dog might be in our sudden, hot, muggy May weather. Grace was panting near Warp 9 so I called for my sister to help me. We got our two portable air conditioners installed with only a modest amount of vocabulary violations. Grace is cool and asleep on my bed. ALL IS WELL AND COOL. We have liniment or equivalent if it is needed in the morning.

Dialysis on a warm Friday

Smooth run today. We had a visitor drop by, John, a former dialysis patient who received a transplant five years ago. He brought chocolate mint cookies which was kind. The hospital gives us a snack, coffee or tea or juice and two digestive cookies. I usually opt for cranberry juice on ice.

Warm, warm warm today, above ten Celsius. Grace and I sat out on our back deck basking for half an hour. I dragged out an old wooden kitchen chair.

I began dialysis a little over five years ago. I have been told to expect a kidney transplant this year by December.

first swim of 2006

first swim of 2006, a photo by gnawledge wurker on Flickr.

from my flickr posting in 2006: “I dont know why but this year Shakey was less interested in starting the swimming season. In the past he and his sister would have gone in even with the remnants of ice on shore. At any rate, yesterday he went for his first swim of the season. He also managed to find the skeleton of a large fish, a muskellunge.

I am always amused when he finds a dead fish washed up on shore and goes and rolls on it. I understand that this is to mask his scent. The only trouble is I have this mental image that forms of a couple of bunnies in the woods, a half mile from shore, sniffing the air. One says to the other, “Gee, I wonder what a dead fish is doing walking into our woods.”

It was 22 C. yesterday, warm enough for shorts for me. On the other hand, a few days ago the temperature dropped for two days and we had highs of just 2 above freezing. We have a curious Spring in these parts.”

Shakespeare passed away at age ten years and three months. He was a wonderful dog and we miss him. The dog in our lives now is Miss Grace, who is four years old and still very much a pup.