Call Me Crazy, but I LOVE gifting for the Holidays
I know. Really, I do. There are many downsides to the commercialization of the winter holiday season. We all know that they are-too focused on material things, leading to too much stuff in the world for the environment, and too hard on folks who can't afford food much less gifts. I'm always resistant to make too much of holiday gifts on the blog and social media for those reasons, and because it tends to cause so many non-Christians to feel left out. And, but. The end of the year is a time I like to reflect about how much friends and family mean to me, and how I think of ways to show how much I care. So, I'm throwing out some ideas for those of you who also love to wrap Read More
Unilateral Deafness in Dogs (and Skip?)
Ever since I got Skip, three and a half years ago, he has turned preferentially toward me to his left, even if to the right is shorter. If I call him when I am at six o'clock, and he is facing three, he turns to his left and runs 3/4 of the way around the clock face to me. Here's an example: https://youtu.be/oUenoNeo9Cw?si=-ACfTAdhY_jeHSjC Note that when asked to go counter clockwise, he did go to the right, because he knows Come Bye means to run around the sheep with them on his left. But if you call him to come, he almost always turns to his left. Why would a dog do this? Obviously, the expected behavior would be to turn toward the sound the shortest way, in the example above, Read More
Love and Dogs and Dogs and Us
Feeling a tad raw today. A combination of the untold suffering in the world, worries about the future (mine, yours, our country's, humanity), and recovering from facial surgery on an eyelid--just a small carcinoma, but eyelid surgery is not to be recommended. Nor is anesthesia during reconstructive surgery when you have CFS and POTS symptoms. I'm back to wobbling all over, running out of gas way too soon, and having the mental acuity of a cabbage. (Example: It took a few seconds to find the name for "the light green coleslaw vegetable" in my brain. At least I started out being descriptive.) Personally, it's all good news. The surgeon says in six to twelve months my face will be back to Read More