11/15/2009 - Shar Update and Other Things on a Lovely Sunday Morning

Most of the music I listen to is evocative of moods. To translate, I like hard angry rock and introspective classical and dangerous/powerful movie themes and anything else I can use to write in my head.

For blog writing, I dip into my funky old jazz - anime themes from just about anywhere in the 70's, Vince Guaraldi - click here for a sampling of his music...

Vince Guaraldi. Oh yah. Vince is for when it's rainy out, or for when it's cold and I'm taking the light rail... the point being, anytime my soul needs warming, that's when I go to old Vince. Yup. Vince is my Go-To Soul Warmer.

Um... Things going on. Let's see:

Update on Shar: Shar is becoming a teenager, and that is not without its hazards. Point in case: Friday, while on my way to pick up my niece and head to Morgan Hill, Shar had something of an accident in the back of the truck, of the Number 1 variety.

Now, Shar is a big dog. She eats four cups of dog food at a sitting - that's EIGHT CUPS per day, campers. When she poops, it's like finding logs all over the back yard. When she pees...

Gallons. I got mad and yelled, but she was so horrified, I don't know, maybe from the smell, or because she wasn't going to sit in her own pee, that she launched herself into the front seat of the truck and tried to crowd herself through the window.

My truck weighs almost 4 tons - 7400 lbs or something like that. I had to have it weighed to register it. Losing control and crashing into somebody's Hyundai is NOT an option... Well, not for THEM in any case.

I have to give myself some credit here. It took no small degree of proficiency in Mommy Emergency training to accept that gallons of pee had just happened all over the back seat, that my 90lb dog was trying to climb into my lap, and that the truck was going to have to come to an orderly stop at some point in the extremely immediate future.

Which it did. I couldn't clean anything out, of course, and I have to admit to being thankful that I keep a ton of crap in the truck, because as it turns out, I had not one, not two, but THREE blankets handy. One went on the bottom, to soak up the offending substance, one went in the middle as a buffer, and the third was for Shar to lay on.

We made it down to Morgan Hill with all our stuff crammed in the front, and with the windows wide open. It was nasty cold.

I have to admit to some blame in this. No, I tell an untruth - I have to admit to all the blame. Shar, of EVERY dog I've ever rescued or owned, will NOT whine, no matter what, no matter how bad she needs to go pee. It was my fault because I got to talking with my mother-in-law and her best friend before we left, and forgot to take Shar out to go poddy. Shar waited as long as she could, but she just couldn't stand it anymore.

We got to Morgan Hill after dark, and Shar got to play with her Rottie BFF Holly. I know for a fact they were playing on Friday night just like they always do because when I called Shar into the trailer for bedtime, all the hair around her face was wet and stringy. Both Holly and Shar chew on each other's head as they play, with the result that their heads get slimy.

(Okay, reason #167 why you should NOT get a dog unless you're completely insane: Jeff just walked past the bathroom, which is where we keep the kitty litter pan. He shouted out, "Oh boy, looks like SOMEONE has been playing in the kitty litter pan again!"

GAG!!! Shar was standing about a foot away from me, looking at me when Jeff said this. She gave me her best "huh?" stare, and then calmly licked her lips. EYEEEWWWWW!!! )

So, on with my Holly/Shar story. Saturday mornings I can always tell when Holly's owners let her out of their apartment, because she immediately comes to my trailer door, bounces on the step so that the whole trailer shakes, and "talks" for a while. (Rotties are very vocal - they growl and whine and "talk" all the time. If you've never been around a Rottie, don't be scared to death if you meet one and it growls at you while madly wagging the stump of its tail - it's just saying 'howdyplayplayplayplay?!'). It's hilarious - it's just like when Elise's friend Wynter comes over, knocks on our door and asks if Elise can play.

Shar will climb out of the lower bunk, which is her "crate" when she's in the trailer, and go stand at the door. I'll climb out of bed, let her out to play, at which point Holly will take the opportunity to bounce multiple times with renewed vigor upon the step, and to slime me as completely as possible, just so I know for sure she loves me. I'll then have to clean myself off and climb back in bed because, usually, I went to bed around 2am and have only got 3-4 hours of sleep. Frequently, I don't succeed in getting back to sleep, but that's another story.

This last Saturday, I let Shar out before Holly came, so I never so Holly. When I did, finally, her head was drooping, she could hardly move, and she looked like she was in incredible pain.

Long story short, after many hours and $1200 bucks at the emergency vet in SJ, Holly's owners found out she had gone into anaphylactic shock, possibly from a spider bite or from chewing on an oleander stick. Holly chews on everything: rocks, sticks, oak galls, my door mat, everything.

John and Doris do have a huge woodpile in the back shed, and they do have a ton of Black Widow spiders all around the barn and the back yard, and it IS the country, so no surprise there. Poor Holly - everybody was really worried about her and fussing over her, and I think Shar was really upset. She kept charging into everyone's face, trying to get attention, and not understanding why they pushed her away, or why her best friend wouldn't get up and play with her. It strikes me she was very like a three-year-old human kid, faced with a crisis they didn't understand, desperately trying to get the grown-ups to reassure her. I kept calling her back to my side and getting her to sit, and I would just stroke her head and try to talk calmly to her to reassure her. That seemed to help.

Shar was really bummed the rest of the day. She slept on the piece of foam Holly had been laying on, and wouldn't be budged off it, and then when it got dark, she wouldn't go outside but staying in her bunk in the trailer, her head on her paws, every so often giving a mournful sigh.

Today, like most young kids, she's (mostly) bounced back. I've promised her a really long walk since she didn't get to exhaust herself with Holly the way she's used to doing.

Oh, this is so sad! She keeps finding her toys - the "armadodo", the "hippopototomus", the red "Clifford" slipper that doesn't fit Elise anymore, her rope dolly - and bringing them to me to play with her. I play for a bit, but I'm trying to finish the blog entry, and I just can't play as wildly as Holly does. Well, we're going for a walk as soon as the iPod is charged up. That should help.

I was going to add a few more things today, but this has gotten wordy enough as it is. I'll try to take some Shar pictures later and add them.