R. I. P. GRIFF... 1997? - 2013

5:10 this AM
got up and went down to let dogs outside.

Laundry room covered in dog poop, vomit and Griffin had it all over his back.

He was in a panic running back and forth and the other little ones sitting in a scared little bunch.

I quickly let all dogs outside and cleaned up the room.

Griffin continued his panicked circles out in the snow.

I let everyone back inside and grabbed Griff and carried him to bathtub and cleaned him up.

I took him downstairs and he ran away from me terrified.

He's been doing that a lot lately, looking at me and running away like I'm some stranger he's never seen.

In tears I took him to work with me and left the others at home.

He ran around the back of the van and would come up between the seats and stare at me with big wide eyes.

We got to work and I let him outside.

He ran around stumbling into snow banks and banging into the fence.

I text my niece Lily, the one who has grown up with him and who he adored and she him.

I told her that I thought it might be time to let him go.

I didn't even give her details, I just asked if she would be OK with that.

She said that she wished that she could tell me NO!, Don't do it but...

she thought that he was already GONE.

She said that he no longer had any idea who she was and she agreed that it was probably best for him to let him go.

Everyone at work agreed.

But still, my heart feels like someone is squeezing it tight and won't let go.

I want to throw up.

I text my sister afterwards, after he was gone

and she replied back -

"He's not confused anymore. He can see his way out"

That helps me a bit, to think that he can finally see his way out.

But right now...I just can't stop crying.

I need to take a break...I'll be back later when I can think straight.

read here for more on Griffin:

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-miracle-or-something-gross.html

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2012/12/griff-and-plan-1.html

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2012/11/when-it-rains-it-pours.html

http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2010/04/griffin-raccoon.html

(Old photo of him sleeping in Blue's old food bowl.)

I DON'T KNOW FOR SURE BUT...

I might be having a midlife crisis.
Yeah...Maybe it's that.

The feeling of time running out...

but having absolutely no energy to do anything about it.

Or maybe I have S.A.D.

Symptoms

Symptoms usually build up slowly in the late autumn and winter months. Symptoms are usually the same as with other forms of depression:

• Hopelessness
• Increased appetite with weight gain (weight loss is more common with other forms of depression)
• Increased sleep (too little sleep is more common with other forms of depression)
• Less energy and ability to concentrate
• Loss of interest in work or other activities
• Sluggish movements
• Social withdrawal
• Unhappiness and irritability

Yep, maybe it's Seasonal Affective Disorder!
and I just need some SUNLIGHT to fix everything?

So....How you doin'?

I'm cleaning up my other blog...

I just want to have BLUE over on that one,
but I didn't want to lose this post that I did about Bono!
I can't believe it was TWO years ago!
Wow! Time flews.
Here's Bono!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

MEET BONO!

OK, Probably not the Bono you were thinking of!
Bono is a Belgian Malinois. He has a job. He is a police dog.
He boards with me when his owner goes on vacation.

He never listens to me. Well, that's not really true. When I tell him to sit or down, he looks at me like I'm talking a foreign language.

So I went up the one of the receptionists and told her that I thought I was speaking the wrong language because he had this way of watching me like he was thinking "What are you saying?!"
So she looked up some German words for me.

So there was "Setz"! for SIT and "Platz"! for DOWN

So I went back and tried them and they worked!

I have to admit that at first Bono was a bit intimidating, knowing what he can be capable of doing when he's at work.

But now we are buddies.

We were out in the play area and suddenly there was the sound of a siren, an ambulance or fire truck or possible a police car.

Bono stopped suddenly. Listened and then began to howl.

I think he thought he was missing out on the action!

Dog got Rhythm

A Funny Story about Flower Giving

Today, being Valentines Day, some of the girls at work got flowers.

One got a big bunch of red roses

and another got red tulips and blue irises.

Some of the girls were saying that red roses are such a cliche

and that they would want something different.

While I might also prefer something else, I refrained from saying so.

I actually think that the people making these observations, along with myself, would have been happy with any kind of flower.

Just the fact that someone bothered to send them is cool enough.

So, we got to talking and the girl who received the tulips and irises sent her hubby a "Thank You" text and he replied back that he choose red for the tulips to represent his love and the blue of the irises was to represent her blue eyes and eyes have irises and...

She said "He's such a dork" but she laughed and smiled and said that maybe she should be nicer to him.

I said that maybe she shouldn't change whatever she's doing because it seemed to be working!

We got to talking about how he had obviously put a lot of thought into it.

I said that I found that to be pretty rare and the fact that he knew that she prefers something other than roses was huge.

I told her that when I was younger I got my fair share of roses.

I had one guy who used to leave a rose under my windshield wiper with little love notes.

source

 

Another time I was given one in a big box on a first date at dinner.

 

Then there was the time someone bought me a rose when he went in to pay for gas and there were some sitting at the register.

 

Roses are nice but I definitely prefer something else.

I would always remember the big bunch of wildflowers that a boyfriend gave to me.

He was waiting for me after work and as I and my co-workers came out the door he presented them to me. They were wrapped with paper towels around the bottom of the stems.

Everyone thought he was just the sweetest guy. When I got home and removed the paper toweling I found roots and some dirt still clinging to them, he had just pulled them out of someones garden!

 

So today I was telling the girls at work about THAT and they laughed and said that had to be the worst EVER and I said NO.

They couldn't believe any flower story could top that so I told about the time when I was working a waitress job in the evenings to help make ends meet and how this boy who was going to college in our town would stop in all the time to see me. Almost every evening he would bring me a carnation.

All the other girls thought he was so adorable and couldn't believe that he always had a flower for me. I have to admit that the thought that he took the time to get a carnation really made me feel special.

 

He and I talked about a lot of things. He was from Pennsylvania and was going to Chiropractic College and one night he told me that he had a part-time job. He worked nights and was on call for a mortuary. He would go out with the undertakers and pick up bodies from the hospital, nursing homes and such and help take them back to the funeral home.

And that's where he was getting my flowers from.

 

The funeral home.

So, I guess the moral to my story is, flowers are not always a good thing but a girl does remember them.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Finished the commissioned Collie Painting!

This one took me a while to do.

The client said to do whatever I wanted.

She just wanted her Collie painted.

She thought maybe just the head and shoulders.

She emailed me a lot of photos and this one was marked her favorite:

She said, maybe a pastel color for a background?

and the "starfish" story written on it.

and maybe a starfish painted on it too.

She knows her dog very well, all of her distinct markings.

So I knew I had to get it right.

Her Collie, Kelly is a rescue. My "client" actually works with me at the vet clinic.

Kelly was brought into the clinic from the Humane Society. Someone had left her there and it soon became very obvious that she had some major medical issues.

She was having a lot of nose bleeding and the blood wouldn't clot.

She's had some other medical problems too.

It's a very long story but Lisa (my client) adopted her and has taken her to the State University for various tests and she's been in contact with several vets all over the country.

She has actually spent several thousands of dollars on Kelly and...

she doesn't care. All she cares about is getting Kelly well.

And Kelly is doing better.

She's on meds and her nosebleeds are not as frequent.

Some people have shaken their heads over the fact that Lisa took this all on and

Lisa doesn't care. All she cares about is Kelly and that's why she loves the starfish story.

SO... I didn't show her any progress on the painting.

It was a complete surprise.

I took it to work and she covered her eyes and when she saw it,

she started crying.

Yep, she loved it.

 I was so happy and relieved.

But she was very happy.

and so I am too!

Embroidered Blue

A while back, my blogger buddy Denise said she wanted my Zombie Cat that I had made.
She wanted to do a SWAP.
So I said "OK" and sent him to her.

and she made me an embroidered BLUE!
How freaking cool is that!
You should stop by her blog and check her out:
http://onthevergeofsnapping.blogspot.com/
She is a very talented artist AND she runs a Schnauzer Rescue
in Connecticut where the grass is very green.
She loves Mod Retro, recycling and eating healthy
and she's very funny.
I adore her and I think you will too.

I'm kind of a Morning Person...

most days the alarm goes off at 5 am

snooze button might be hit a couple of times

but when the temp is MINUS 2

and the windshield factor is like 30 some below,

I don't want to get up

much less get in a frigid van and drive to work.

Apparently I'm not the only one that feels this way.