When my children were young, I began to believe that it was one of the family's traditions for somebody to be sick -- or in the ER with blood and broken bones -- over the Christmas holiday. This year, the family, including the grandkids, were all fine, but the dog kept up the tradition ( Read more... )

I seem to be busier now that I’m retired than I was while working full-time. And actually, that’s the way I like it. When I first stopped teaching, I found myself sleeping ten hours a night, and after four or five months of this I began to worry. Was this the way the rest of my life was going? But just about the time I was considering making a ( Read more... )

Jack and I are recovering from the loss of Annie. He clings to me, following me around more than usual. At first, he was reluctant to get in the car, crying and trembling. I think he associated it with Annie's last trip to the vet, and maybe he thought I was going to get rid of him too. We've started our long walks again, two and a half miles ( Read more... )

On our Tuesday re-check, the vet said Annie could start the slide into real pain any day now. She had lost so much weight that she was literally a skeleton who spent all day sleeping. Not like the old Annie at all. He didn’t think she’d make it over Christmas. I didn’t want her last moments to be spent with an unknown emergency vet - since the ( Read more... )

All these reports of snow -- and snow storms -- and more snow -- from around the country. And we in SoCal had a warm day. Grrr! Doesn't the weatherman know it's almost Christmas?

(Though I have to admit I'd rather not be walking a sick greyhound in the snow. Rain's bad enough.)

It’s been a roller-coaster ride, at the beginning of this Christmas season, so please forgive me if I seem a little bit out of sorts ( Read more... )

The weather has been nice here in the mornings, with a healthy layer of marine fog that keep the temperature down, at least until noon. The greys and I have taken advantage of this for long walks along the bluffs, admiring the ocean views and the passing joggers and people walking dogs. Needless to say, the greys love this part! But while Jack is ( Read more... )

The three of us spent a couple of hours at the hospice today, the dogs performing their roles as therapy dogs. I really could hardly spare the time as I'm working hard on a story with an August 1st deadline, but the dogs hadn't visited the patients since before July 4th when I was away. And last week I had a nasty bout of sciatica that made me not ( Read more... )

I'm packing for Westercon in Tempe, over the July 4th weekend. I already took the greyhounds to stay with my daughter. The cat and I will spend a romantic night alone together here before my plane leaves tomorrow morning. I'm sure he's thrilled ( Read more... )

I'm home, and ready for a nap. I spent Thursday and Sunday nights with family, and the two in between at the Nebula Hotel in Brentwood (anybody remember OJ?) on Sunset. Samantha Henderson and I had the air conditioner (not) from hell in our room; the hotel "maintenance" (I use the term advisedly) couldn't fix it, and the only way not to roast to ( Read more... )