Sunday Updates

In Memoriam

Lost in the manic activity for the last few weeks was another powerful and tragic event at Seamus’s casa. We lost Face, a faithful feline companion for 16 years. While we had a houseful of family (kids and grandkids) and the Buffledog was in the hospital pre-surgery the two cats had retreated to the safety of the basement. I went down to check on them after returning from an outing with the kids. After loving on the blind kitty first I went to Face’s bed and she crawled up in my lap. She looked up at me for a moment, had a spasm and died. It was all so surreal and I realized that I had watched her being born and watched her leave this plane. She was a special cat that medically wasn’t supposed to live past her 2nd year. She was a companion to our house and also to my mom for a couple of years during our travel year and while we were settling into Seattle. She will be sorely missed.

Buffledog Update

Riz reminded me that I hadn’t given you an update on Taylor. This weekend Taylor is doing much better, but last week was a trying one in the recovery phase. Taylor was very sore last weekend and by Monday was refusing to go out to pee and poo. I put him back into the hospital on Tuesday for overnight observation and x-rays on Wednesday. All appears well in the healing process and the explanation for his reluctant behavior was an increased soreness because of the additional stress put on the repaired leg to support the still lame leg. We may do the 2nd surgery earlier than originally planned. Today he is happy and is moving about better than the past few days. I’m choosing to believe this is real progress.

The Tale of the Ancient Plates

I’ve completed the cleaning and scanning of the first group of plates. There are just short of a hundred plates in all and this was the first dozen. Some of these plates date back to the 1880’s and go into the 1930’s. I’m finding varying finishes on the plates and spend a lot of time with each trying to discover the nuances of each so I know how to clean them. Some I can wash and other’s I cannot. It is a painstaking effort, but a worthy effort. One of the most interesting things is the discovery of lines and wrinkles and profiles of the ancestral gene pool. It is interesting to spend and hour or so looking at a relative in the negative and then seeing the positive result on the scan. I feel as though I’m getting to know many of these people for the first time and in their youth. A labor of love with benefits!

My workspace and assistant

Details of what I’m facing

Closer detail of some hideous water damage

Another wondrous discovery – this is the only photo I’ve ever seen of my Great Great Great Grandmother. I’ve seen a painting, but not a photo.

Check out this detail of one of my Great Aunts! I hope the puppy survived!

Ok, all you dream interpreters, hack this!

Finally, a different post from Seamus!

First, I was just playing around with a new camera this morning! This was too fun not to share!

Now, the weirdest dream I can remember in a long time happened in the wee hours. Now I’m going to preface this with I don’t remember having any dreams this powerful or with this content – a death experience. I also know enough to not take this literally.

This is the first lucid dream that I’ve had in a long time, and it felt quite odd to be able to direct my involvement in the dream. The short version is that I, and what seemed like the rest of the planet’s population, was aware of some cataclysmic coming and were moving en masse to a safer better place. There was an awareness that we were just ahead of whatever disaster that was in our wake. We approached a line of demarcation and on the other side was an environment that was like looking through a yellow or gold filter – everything in varying shades of that. When I crossed this line into this “other” place I felt awed and overwhelmed by the beauty of the place. Next I realized that I was both sleeping and in the dream at the same time and was able to freely move about the landscape, interacting with others there. I also came to the realization that I was “crossing over”, out of this life and into another. It was all peaceful and calming and I remember thinking, both as the sleeping person and in the dream, to “bring it”. In this dual reality the sleeping me was waiting to stop breathing – I was aware of my breathing and waiting for it to stop. I was quite ok with it all, not panicked or otherwise disturbed. There came a voice, mine or someone else’s, that said I wasn’t done yet. Again I felt ok and calm with it all. It then all morphed into a house being built in the desert somewhere and that’s where it trails off…

So, I’ve got lots of theories but I’d love to hear what you think!

From a dynamite Friday through a sucky weekend

…and I finally get back here to my blog, my space, my refuge – it’s 11PM on a Sunday. Weekends are my days to catch up with all of you on the roll – didn’t happen. Weekends are my time to get errands done – didn’t happen. Weekends are my time to get connected and rejuvenated – didn’t happen. Weekends are my time to catch up on my rest – didn’t happen (slept a lot of hours and got no rest – WTF?) I’m actually looking forward to Monday ……… hush my mouth!!!

I was able to scan a more few more plates this weekend, but that’s the sum total of any productivity. The plates are in a terrible state of disrepair and it’s a slow go cleaning them without causing any further damage.

This first picture is a scan of a print that I unearthed. It’s my Great Grandma and my Grandfather – circa 1894. I’ve yet to figure out why they dressed the little boys in such frilly clothes, but he’s a handsome kid none the less.

This next one is my Grandfather’s wagon; or more appropriately his “circus wagon”. It was big enough for compliant kittens, cats and puppies.

Hope you all have a pleasant week – Happy Monday!

Oh! I will get around to visiting you all!

How sweet it is!

This is another in a series of the resurrected glass plate negatives. There was a huge print of this that hung at my Great Grandma’s house and is one of my earliest memories of being there. Unfortunately that print was damaged beyond repair while stored in the basement there for many, many years. It was very exciting to find this amongst the plates. This is my Grandfather and three Great Aunts – circa 1899-1900.

TGIF!

An archeological dig

As many of you are aware I’ve had the pleasure and the pain of packing up my dad’s house so he can move to his new condominium. During this excruciating process there were some wonderful finds – things that the family had assumed were long gone and lost forever. Among the most precious of the finds was a set of glass plate negatives that were made around the turn of the century – some well over a hundred years old. My great grandfather had the first photo studio in Bessemer, Alabama and these plates are from his camera.

I’ve already found the negatives that belong to prints that we thought were lost in a basement flood in my great grandma’s house. So I’ve begun to experiment with scanning these negatives and so far the results are amazing. Here is a 1st pass scan that I have not photo-shopped the flaws out of yet – the raw and unvarnished version. It’s a scene of the iron ore mines on Red or Shades Mt. somewhere between Birmingham and Bessemer. The fun part will be to figure out exactly where. Dad should be a great help in identifying many of the pictures and I can now blow them up to a size that will facilitate him being able to see with his failing eyesight.

In the zone!
HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Almost back to (ab)normal

Here is the short answer to a long couple of days:

Saturday I noticed that my site meter counter was showing an unusual amount of activity, so I decided to see what the fuss was about - seems that I had been linked by some net group. Since most of the activities were centered on the Fremont Parade pictures and the link was through the post I did on it here, it seemed easiest to shut down and regroup. Given the content of the pictures linked I seriously doubt that I would want the Damp Dog to be associated with such a group. I made the tweaks that I think will stop the unwanted activity and there shouldn’t be any apparent changes to the blog itself.

So, the Damp Dog is back!

Our Bucolic Buffledog is doing better. He is getting around better and he’s mostly back on his normal schedule. His outdoor time still has to be strictly limited and I’m anxious to hear the surgeon’s assessment this Friday!

Happy day before Hump Day!

A different face

The Damp Dog will have a different face for a while. It’ll look pretty sparse, but for now that is the way that I want it; the way it has to be.

The biggest is the denuding of the side bar and the lack of photos. This may change over time, but for now no archives and no photos. Finding links to this and my photo site in places that I don’t want them to be has forced the action.

Not gone, just different. Happy Monday all!

HNT & Robobuffle

Happy HNT!

Robobuffle

Not for the squeamish!


Well, I find it interesting anyway. Perhaps it’s the engineering part of my brain that wants to know how it all works. Perhaps it’s the desire to know where all the dollars went. Perhaps it the want to know what has made my Buffledog walk again. I think that it’s the latter.

The procedure is called a TPLO or Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy. It is certainly a savior of a potentially crippling injury. The x-rays will speak for themselves.

The before

The after

The after side view

He is doing so well!

THE BUFFLEDOG IS HOME - HA, HA!

Well we made it home!!!!

That was one VERY happy dog when they brought him out to the Explorer. It’s been hours and my face has yet to dry off from doggie kisses. He was glad to pee in his own yard and was motivating around pretty good on flat ground. He still needs sling support for the ramps.

The clinic staff was very pleased with his progress so far and they were astounded that he didn’t need to wear an E-collar. They feel like at this rate he will be able to have the other surgery in 5-6 weeks.

So he’s home on his bed, flying high on doggie drugs and is now resting easy.

BTW - If you just see red X's instead of pics just refresh your page

(sometimes Pbase can be cranky)

POST-OP X-RAYS WILL BE UP TOMORROW!

(just so you'll know what all this fuss is about!)

Nite, nite! :)

Buffledog update and better news!

The clinic was so busy today that they couldn’t orchestrate a visit with Taylor for me (they are THE emergency veterinary clinic for in-town Seattle on the weekends – surgical clinic during the week). I did talk at length with the attending physician and she reported that Taylor was just King of the clinic. He has a huge, fluffy mattress in his suite and she said he was going to pee by himself now; without sling support. She also said his appetite was “excellent” and was smiling a bunch! It does look good that he’ll be discharged on Monday, but I think we’ll wait until Tuesday since we’ve got a houseful of small children and adults who are returning home on Tuesday morning. I’m not sure the children will understand about Taylor’s condition – given that they were carrying the elderly cats upside down a lot whenever possible. So I’m giving the boy a break on Monday!

Happy Monday all!

Buffledog update - Sunday

I talked with the weekend hospital attendants last night and they said that Taylor was doing well. He was being bright, responsive and happy to see them when they came in to love on him. He’s eating well and not acting depressed. I won’t know if he’ll come home Monday until Dr. P evaluates his progress on Monday morning. I’m going to go spend some time with him today.

Quick Update on the Buffledog

I just saw Taylor and he is out of surgery. He was still unconscious, but as soon as I started talking his heart rate went up significantly. The surgeon seemed both pleased and surprised. The x-rays are amazing and I’ll try and get digi-copies and post – Franken-buffle he is! Dr. P said all went very well and is hopeful for a quick recovery so we can fix the right knee. They started with the most recent injury and said the joint was pristine.

Thank you all for your support and concern. More later…

A Little Change of Plans

UPDATE: see end of post

Yesterday I found myself to be pretty out of sorts – aw screw it – I was pissed off - just pissed at the fickle finger of fate! You know, it seems sometimes like you’ve done everything as right as can be done and things still go wrong.

“Murph? Is this Murphy? Not in? Asshat! Are you the bitch in charge? What? Screw that! I wanna lodge a complaint …” - dial tone now buzzing in my ear – grrrrrrrrr!

I started not to even blog this, but all of you have been along for this arduous ride with the Buffledog’s knee …. so … sit down, strap in, shut up and hang on!

My largest, biggest, baddest concern over all the waiting we were doing trying to clear up this skin infection has come to pass. I was so afraid that the pressure placed on the “good” knee because of the blown knee was going to compromise its integrity. Well, night before last he was coming up the ramp to the front porch after an innocent little pee and yelped in that excruciatingly awful way that left no mistake as to it’s source. Dammit, dammit, dammit! He had popped the cruciate ligament in the good knee as well. Grabbing a towel to support his hind quarters I “wheelbarrowed” him into the house. Calls to the vet and the surgeon were fruitless since they had gone for the day, but I left messages and settled into a long night of trying to comfort a “very confused” Buffledog.

Yesterday morning, after several conference calls between the vet, the surgeon and us the surgical clinic sent a technician out to help transport him to the hospital. Trying to move a 140# non-ambulatory dog is no easy task without the right equipment.

So, instead of 1 TPLO, our Buffleboy gets 2 – one between now and Friday and another five weeks after. We should be experts at rehabilitation after this exercise of righting a bad hand in the genetic card game.

I talked with the tech last night and he was resting comfortably in the “Buffle-suite”, charming all the ladies as only Taylor can. He’s in good hands and all we can do now is wait out the schedule.

It’s frigging lonesome around here.

...and I'm a little calmer.

update: many are expressing concern that the surgeon has been negligent - not the case. Here's my reply to Aimee a few minutes ago:

This was a discussed and calculated risk after the first postponement. Our job was to keep a lid on him as much as possible – no off leash activities, etc. The postponements were in his (Taylor’s) best interest – given the risk for post surgical infection. The possibility was ALWAYS there that we would have to fix both knees; I just didn’t expect to have to do it this soon. There’s a lot of history and foreknowledge that I had and I don’t feel as though the surgeon was being negligent in any way. The postponements have been independently corroborated by our vet and by the dermatologist. Was there anything to be done to prevent it from occurring? Probably not, other than complete confinement. The problem would have shifted the other way post surgery anyway due to the repaired leg being stronger and a different, but equally damaging, stress would have happened to the other knee. I probably should post this as an update – all the folks concerned are just as dismayed as I am and have all stepped up to the plate. Oh! There is a quantity discount! Blue light special! Bwahahahaha

Crawling Down Memory Lane

Let’s play a game!

My youngest was engaged in an archeological dig through the family photos last night and we ran across these. Far too many moons ago I spent most of my weekends underground – unfortunately there are very few photos of those days, but these are classic Seamus caving days. The 1st and 3rd are the before and after respectively, standing near the vertical entrance – a fairly easy 60 foot drop into the bowels of the earth. The middle is one of my all time favorite photos and I’ve always thought that was Ma Nature telling us just what she thinks of our rapin’ & pillagin’ ways.

Now here’s the game: where’s Seamus!

update: congrats to all of you who chose the "green shirt"!

HAPPY MONDAY YA'LL