well before i say anything else, i would like to suggest that you go right now (after you read tinyengine) to listen to elvis costello's imperial bedroom. thanks to the miracle of modern itunes, i was able to eat my lunch and also listen to the whole album, and by album, i mean CD for you little cipollinis who might not understand that terminology. anyway, that whole thing stands up, boy. it is one of the greatest. it's a good lesson in songwriting, that's for sure. come to think of it, this year's model is a pretty great album too. get that one too while you're at it.
well, what i'd like to talk about is not the bombings in jordan and the husband/wife suicide bomber team, but what i would like to tell you is that i have a friend who has a really gigantic dog. the dog is so big that when you are near it, you keep thinking it's one of those gigantic stuffed animals you get for landing 3 rubber baseballs in that springy-bottomed basket at a fair. this dog is huge. it has a huge head and huge feet that look like props, or as mon mari of all maris said, it looks like how you would draw a foot if you didn't want to spend that much time drawing a foot. it's a cartoon paw. a big paw-shaped sketch of a paw. anyway, this dog is very gentle, and his caretaker is a very great friend of mine and she's a person who can really handle a big dog. she has some kind of special dog dish that she drives around with that prevents water from spilling out onto the backseat of her car. and she has a big car too, so the dog can fit in it. but anyway, i am thinking that this big huge dog might be the dog that can keep my beloved granule company.
my dog can't really abide canine company. she is much happier with people. she understands them. she is a little bit anxious and while i think some of it is her own funny brain, i do take responsibility for the rest of it. i think i made her a little bit nutty by indulging every dog whim of hers since 1995. so besides that i will tell you this:
she was 4 months old when i got her from the pound for $29.00.
she had a foxtail in her ear when i brought her to the vet the first day i had her. i always forget and think it was a foxglove in her ear, but it wasn't. and it wasn't a foxtrot in her ear either. i always have to say inside my head: foxglove, foxtrot, foxtail. and then i remember which one it was.
she had 3 kinds of worms, and loads of fleas.
her legs were all cut up and she had just been running around doing who knows what on the city streets since she was born probably, though she may have lived in a big high rise and then ended up on the street at the last minute. it's hard to say.
she has had 3 surgeries, been attacked by one dog in 1997, by 3 crazed dogs on the street while i was walking her in 2003, gotten mange, had earmites, bladder stones, a heart murmur, she's diabetic and has hypothyroidism. and now because of the diabetes, she is losing her sight from cataracts. but the eye dr. says she is a very lucky dog and has maintained her sight, especially in one eye, longer than any diabetic dog they've ever seen. and tonight she ran straight into a brick planter on her walk. (we are still learning what she can see or can't see and how much freedom she can still have. it's a difficult time.)
but you know what? she doesn't ever complain or cry about anything. she is seemingly content and really has a pretty good quality of life. most people with a third of her ailments would have already driven everyone mad with their complaining, but she adapts very well. the vet said that dogs don't experience the emotional sense of loss and tragedy that people do when they lose their sight. they simply adapt. they are at worst a little confused, but they manage quite well. and she is! besides which, this dog is the most loyal creature i've ever met. once, during a particularly difficult chunk of time in my life, when i sobbed for days on end, i woke up in the middle of the night, startled to see that she was standing over me, a paw on either side of my head, and a paw on either side of my body. it completely freaked me out. i tried to get her to go somewhere else--to lie down on the bed, and she wouldn't. she just stared at me. i fell back into a dizzy sleep and woke up again, later, and she was there, staring at me, watching over me the whole night.
tonight when i came in, she was asleep and didn't hear me. i looked at her sleeping and i thought how wonderful she is and how lucky i am to have found her, and for her to have found me--she's not the easiest pet in the world. i was simply thinking that she is one of the dearest souls i've ever known, and she's getting old, and dogs get old. and as i was saying the other night, the only reason i can think that a dog's lifespan is shorter than a human's is so we can get to know so many good dogs in our lives.
so i was looking at her and i was wondering if my friend's gigantic dog might be a friend to her. he has a very kind way about him and she wouldn't be afraid of him, because he is so gentle and she wouldn't try to fight him because he is so big. so maybe this might be something she'd like. she hasn't made dog friends well, first because she was just a territorial creature, having survived on the street, and then, even with loads of training and dog parks and potential suitors and socialization, she just didn't love company. and then, after she was attacked, well, that was the final straw and now she gets very defensive and barks a mean bark but she is afraid, really. so maybe the gigantic mountain dog will be the friend she could confide in at this point in her life.
or maybe she'd rather just sleep on her new bed and eat that thing of frosty paws in the freezer.
she's a good dog. you'd know if you ever met her. she can also balance an egg on the bridge of her nose. I KNOW! i told you she was a good dog.
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