He Ain't Dead Yet

I got to talk to Gary for a whole 30 seconds last night. The boys...I'm sorry...the men decided it was a good idea to bring a satellite phone out hunting with them to call the womenfolk every night so we wouldn't worry. The womenfolk appreciate it. But you have no idea how hard it is to squeeze an entire day's worth of information into 30 seconds.

I skipped over the part where everything had turned to slush and my feet had been soaking wet all day. And the part where they made me swaddle a baby at work today and I was not so successful at it. Not important. I was telling Gary about the two pages of instructions I had typed for his brother to housesit because I am on my way to Portland right now to have Thanksgiving with my family since Gary ditched me for some deer. I'm not bitter. Anyways I was telling him all this and the fact that JD had just puked up his entire dinner about five minutes after he ate it. I didn't think it was too big of a deal. I think JD was very excited to play in the very wet snow. Then we came inside and he was still a little too excited to get a spoonful of canned food, causing him to gobble down his dinner without chewing any of it. I know that he didn't chew any of it because I had to clean it up.

So Gary is upset that his sixteen year old dog just threw up because anything that a sixteen year old dog does at this point makes you worry. [Honestly, I don't think JD is ever going to die. I think he will outlive every single one of us. That's how sprightly he is at his old age.] He also tells me that he was just having a conversation with his dad and their hunting buddy about JD. They were telling Gary that JD was going to "die any day", "there's no way he can live much longer", "he's so old!"

Now here is some very important information: Gary is very much attached to JD. Gary's mom brought JD home when Gary was five years old. The two have seen each other grow up and Gary will never be ready to let go. On more than one occasion I have heard of people giving Gary all kinds of crap about how their dogs died and his is going to die too. Here's what I have to say to that:

Why the fuck would you badger someone about their best friend dieing? Does that seem okay? Not so much. Everyone knows how much JD means to Gary because he tells everyone he meets. If you've ever met Gary, even for only a few minutes, I guarantee he will bring up JD and how much he loves that old pup. And, yes, I believe that all dogs go to heaven and when JD is ready he will join them. However, we're not counting down the days until this happens. When grandpa turns 80 we don't start saying, "Oh shit, he's gonna die soon" because that's rude and grandpa and all his friends and family would be offended. I'm sure if JD knew what they were saying about him, he'd be offended too. My first dog died when I was 14 and it was one of the worst days of my life and I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone, especially Gary. When JD dies, it will be very sad and we all will cry and mourn because it will be like losing a member of the family. JD has a very obvious personality that we know and love. I don't care when he's going to die because I plan on spending every day loving him even after he's gone.

I'm sitting here in the Seattle airport fuming. I've been awake for almost 24 hours, I'm hungry, I'm freezing, and all I want to do is get in bed with all three of my dogs and cuddle with them all day long. And I want to give Gary a big hug because it was awful for those guys to gang up on him like that. And I hope they read this and realize what assholes they were being because other than this incident they're very nice guys.

JD may not be able to hear very well or see very well, he may pant a lot and poop in the house. But you should have seen him playing in the snow last night. Running and rolling and nuzzling the other dogs to join him. You should have seen him prancing around with his ears flapping and his tongue hanging out. He may be old, but he ain't dead yet.

Home Alone

It's that time of year when the deer are out and all Gary thinks about is shooting them. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Western Auto - the man store - in the past month so Gary can look at gloves and bullets and deer urine. He tricks me by saying we're going to Costco, then makes a quick stop at Western Auto. I'm not so much a fan of guns or traipsing in around in the woods, following tracks, being stealthy. Guns are loud and dangerous and I just don't like them. I also have a really hard time being quiet in the woods because I'm incredibly clumsy. The one time I went hunting, I went with my dad when I was about twelve years old. I was cold, bored, loud, and almost fell down a cliff to my death. Never again.

But Gary loves this and has started an annual tradition with his dad and brother to take a trip to Gambier Bay every winter to have manly bonding and shoot some deer. Last year they were gone for five days, but this year they have extended it to eight days. They left yesterday morning and I'm already incredibly lonely. The only things keeping me sane are cable tv, homework, and my puppy dogs. The boys slept on the bed with me last night, taking the place of my big spoon, Gary. However, for the first time since he was a puppy, Max woke me up at 6 am because he had to potty. Then I had to kick JD off because he kept standing up and shaking the bed.

Today I have fed the boys breakfast and dinner, bought Crimson his especially expensive dog food (they have very high maintenance food needs), took them for a walk, played with them, and loved them. Tomorrow I have to wake up, feed them, let them out, go to school, bust home to let them out again before work, go to work, go to class, bust home to feed them and let them out. Single parenting is hard. Gary's mom is helping me out when I can't be home for eight hours, but I totally feel like those girls on "16 and Pregnant". Not really...but kind of.