Critter Sitter's Blog

Friday, June 27, 2014

A Young Bear; Getting Peevish

Last night, just as dark was settling in, Kathy, Jim and Boo had stopped by where I'm house-sitting. As we left the house, Kathy and I saw a strange-looking silhouette moving toward us, and then stopping on the verge. As she asked, "What's that?", the young black bear turned his/her side to us, walked up to a wire fence in a neighbor's yard, and climbed over. Kathy and I looked at each other, and, nodding, said, "A black bear - a young black bear." Jim hadn't seen it, as he was fussing with Boo's collar and leash. Kathy and I walked over to the fence and could see a large dark shape ambling across Sarah's yard. Discussing it, Kathy and I agreed that it was a youngster - one or two years old, and since it seemed to be moving on at a steady pace, we just ignored it. But I did send out a neighborhood wildlife watch warning to folks in and around Githens Acres...
I had a wonderful salad from Lynn's organic garden last night - all freshly picked, washed, and served up immediately. Yum.

I wonder if I'm getting more peevish as I grow older. I know that I did something I'd never have considered doing earlier in life yesterday - during the broadcast of Jeopardy! there were three advertisements, all denigrating Senator Mark Udall; each ad was sponsored by a different "Community Action Group," and each was funded and backed by the Koch Brothers. As the last ad was airing, I found myself giving "the finger" to the television set. Television stations are paid to show ads - so why was I giving the TV the finger? It's something that I first saw and learned in grade school, but I think the first time I employed the gesture was when I was in college, to express my disagreement with a professor's opinion. If I had used such a gesture as a child, I don't think I'd have four fingers on each hand when I reached my teen years.
My "pet peeves" are many and varied:
Bicyclists who ride on a sidewalk when there are clean and open bike lanes next to the sidewalk.
Joggers who run in clearly marked bicycle paths.
Drivers who ignore pedestrians and bicyclists.
Drivers who weave through traffic at a high speed, endangering others, so that they end up one car length in front of you, but have to stop at the next red light.
Drivers who make jack-rabbit starts and then stomp on the brake as abruptly.
Anyone who drops or throws trash onto the ground, and not into a trash receptacle.
Pedestrians who jaywalk.
People who yell, or talk very loudly, into their cell phones or BlueTooth devices in public places, ignoring other people who are present.
People who dog-ear library books instead of using a bookmark.
Al Michaels talking about horses and calling all of them "it"s, not he or she.
And I hugely dislike anyone who mistreats any animal - another human, a pet, or wildlife of any type.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Various Photos

Sapelo Island (Georgia) Lighthouse staircase

Texas bluebonnets

Oklahoma mountain lion

Mule deer along the Hall Ranch Trail in Colorado

Iridescent feathers of a hummingbird

Starquest Princess Suki's Peek-A-Boo

I moved to Colorado in mid-November of 2004. Boo, my brother-in-law's Samoyed, was 3 years old and had just been invited to the Eukanuba Invitational Championship at Tampa, Florida. We were all excited, but the handler/breeder decided that Boo was just too hyperactive to take on a road trip that would last at least 3 days, one way. For a year, though, we all called Boo "Eukanu-Boo." Four years ago, Boo started limping on her left hind; it was diagnosed as bone cancer. Jim and Kathy took Boo up to the Colorado State University Veterinary School, in Fort Collins, and found there was a program of radiation and chemical therapy combined that had proven effective in fighting Boo's type of cancer.
In mid-May, Boo started to seem as if she didn't care whether she ate, or not. She was still interested in what were, normally, treats - but she wasn't up and wanting breakfast at the crack of dawn, nor was she eating as if there was no tomorrow. Soon, she was skipping eating breakfast. Then Jim went to spend a week with his brother in South Dakota, who underwent brain surgery recently. Boo wouldn't eat much at all for mys sister, Kathy. When Kathy joined Jim in South Dakota, I pulled Boo over to Rosie's house and kept them together. Seeing Rosie eat on the other side of the glass door, Boo ate her meals - but not with gusto.
When Kathy and Jim returned, and Boo went home, Boo stopped eating again. She'd take a bite of this or that, but had real no appetite. Jim took Boo in for a check-up last week; on Friday, her blood tests came back. Tuesday, she had an abdominal ultrasound performed. Her abdominal cavity was full of fluid (the vet removed 1.5 liters) and she had a tumor the size of a baseball on her liver. Boo is now on anti-nausea medications, and an acid reflux medicine, as well. The fluid and the tumor press on her stomach, and make her believe that she is full of food and contented. In reality, her pounds are melting off. All we can do is make her comfortable, and give her lots of love - and recognize when she is truly suffering, so we can say goodbye.
I met Jim in December 1979, when he and Kathy first started dating. He has always had at least one Samoyed as a companion... I'm not sure what he and Kathy will do when Boo crosses the Rainbow Bridge.