This past Tuesday our girl had surgery on 50% of her paws, one front and one back, plus a tooth pulled. Shades of Brittie from last November, it is one of life's continuing ironies that I, the most phobic person about medical procedures that one can imagine, keep having to face my worst nightmares, which are always about medical stuff. Usually involving pets (but occasionally people too, like Brian's rare but scary ER trips, or learning to inject my Dad with insulin), life presents me over and over again with this particular challenge. Beginning decades ago with my very first dog Mutzie, who was attacked in a park in Santa Barbara by a Rottweiler who almost killed her, and was Frankenmutz for almost a month, through my bunny Dog, who needed subcutaneous water injections for 10 days but died anyway, there's been a series of slice and dice, inject and re inject, stuff, that to my credit (she modestly wrote) I accomplished without killing any patient, but mostly put me on the floor fighting nausea for several hours. Are you feeling the Christmas spirit yet? This makes the whole coal in the stocking thing look pretty mild to me.
On a much happier note, and almost anything would be, Thanksgiving this year was a true delight. Lisa and Josh decided to make the feast at the New York apartment, and Brian, Sadie and I drove in, Sadie of course shaking most of the two hours each way. I must say, traffic on Thanksgiving was pretty easy, and parking in the city a breeze. Also invited was a couple and their very new (seven weeks) infant. Much to my delight, Hyla, who loves all dogs, was particularly taken with Sadie. They had met a few weeks earlier here, where Hyla spent quite a while chasing Sadie in slow motion around the dining table, wanting very much to give her a hug. Sadie thought otherwise. But on Thanksgiving, thanks in great part to the big dead bird, Hyla and I both fed Sadie kibble and rice grain sized turkey pieces by hand. Could they be any cuter?
Hyla is still so small that she could only hold three or four pieces of kibble at a time, which made the dining process very slow and genteel, and provided a lot of bonding time. Hyla did eventually get to sneak a hug under the table (where both she and Sadie spent quite a bit of time), and when we left, managed to kiss Sadie on the nose. I was very thankful for the whole experience!
Lisa and Josh and their friends, who brought two pies and various vegetables, put together a wonderful meal even for those of us (me) who didn't eat the dead bird. And I realized that Lisa knows me better than I thought when after dinner, as everyone else was sampling both pies and praising them, she looked over at my empty dessert plate and asked if I'd like the single piece of very rich chocolate pastry they had in the refrigerator. It was my idea of a perfect meal, great salad (three helping for me, I love radicchio), great cooked veggies, followed by an equally great dessert.
It's nice to see Hyla's face light up in delighted recognition of Grandpa Brian. She may not know his name, but she knows he's HER person.
And I see more and more of Margie (Brian's mother) in her as time goes by, not only physically, but in gestures and attitudes too. Like Marge, Hyla is a very social, welcoming little person. And of course I consider myself completely unprejudiced in admiring her adorableness, as she's not a blood grandchild, just a wonderfully cute one! It was also pretty amusing that the less experienced parents came in with their new baby raising manual, and struggled mightily to stick to it, even as the baby, who clearly hadn't read it, didn't particularly want to eat, sleep or anything else on the book's schedule. At one point in the diaper changing, the new dad was holding the new naked baby, awaiting an assist from the new mom, when the baby started to pee - on him first, of course, and then on the floor. Only Hyla and I were amused, the others calling out to dad to use his tee shirt as an emergency diaper. It never occurred to me when we drove in that anyone other than Sadie might pee on the still newly resurfaced hardwood floors. Life is so unpredictable! Once the baby went in to full scream mode, the parents made a quick exit. Neither Hyla nor Sadie seemed particularly upset by the pee, screams, or much else, though Hyla was not happy when her mommy was holding the baby.
We weathered last weekend's Big Storm pretty easily (and thanks to those of you who thought to ask if we were okay). We only got a couple of inches of light powder here, have had much worse storms with no warnings whatsoever. But everywhere in all four directions around us got really pounded, and in our former stomping grounds in West Virginia, two hours into the storm over 5,000 households were already without power. As it's been bitterly cold here (at least we shared that with some of our neighbors), the snow that fell is still here, not deep, and fairly decorative as long as one doesn't have to do anything about it, or get anywhere. Fortunately for us, we don't have to either do or get. Brian brought in extra wood for the fireplace, we have ample food in the house, and our backup generator has a clear path shoveled from the back porch to it's access. We're as ready as we can be for whatever comes next - at least, weather-wise.
So - that's it from here. All is very quiet and gray right now,even the evergreen rhododendrons look grayish in this cloudy light. On a sunny day everything sparkles, but on days like today it seems as if almost all the color is leeched out of everything and there are only blacks, whites, and shades of gray. Tonight we are told to expect rain that will go on till tomorrow night (which also seems pretty strange for late December, but that's what we're told at the Weather Channel). If that's even close to correct, a few hours of rain should wash all the snow down. I'll just have to bag Sadie's paws when she needs to go out. None of us plan to go any further than the dog run anyway.
