A few days off

Today and tomorrow are all mine. I'm looking forward to finishing a few chores that have been waiting for me. The guy building our wall is back from Utah and will put it together as soon as the stone is delivered. Hopefully, in a few days. An architect (the one who redesigned the neighbors house) is supposed to call today so we can start on that project. Our coop should close in the next month and will finance the improvements here on Beaver Lake. Ruby is doing great. Starla and I took her to see Starla's parents yesterday. She really enjoyed them and their home. She will be staying with them for 3 days starting Wednesday. Starla and I are going to New Bern with the ALOpera company. I have 2 performances there. 2 sold out performances in a 900 seat auditorium. Sounds fun. Puppy and giraffe are at my feet.

another by the way

If you click the Next Blog button in the top right you might find something interesting.

by the way

I am drinking a big glass of Scotch right now.
Wow, that was more difficult to type than the previous post.

tu, tu, tu, tu, tu

The first two butterfly performances are over. They were both to sold out theaters. I enjoyed both of them to an extent but chorus is really on so-so. Hopefully, I can score a comprimario role next season.

Snow, snow

Yes, it is snowing here today. Fine by me. Ruby doesn't seem to mind too much either. When it quits she might get a walk in the park again. Today is my first performance of Butterfly. It will be a cinch. Mostly I will be in the dressing room doing crossword puzzles. Starla and I got our tax returns back from the CPA. Wow, she owes a lot. Fortunately, he forgot we were recently married so he is redoing them to save us a bit more money. This is my first year of not doing my own taxes. I kind of missed it but Starla's returns are just too complicated for me to do myself.

Some alone time

My wife and I will be going out for dinner this evening. That means Ruby will spend her first few hours alone in the house. I'm not too sure how irritated she will be but obviously it is necessary. Her evenings are much better now. She sleeps in a little box right next to the bed. She scratches when she wants to go out. She is down to one trip out per night. In the morning (5 or 6 am) though she gets lonely and hops out of her box onto the bed and I let her sleep next to me for about 2 hours. You might say this is coddling her but I would say it is an extra 2 hours of sleep for me.

opera make-up

Here I am before and after make-up. Sorry the one picture is blurry, perhaps I should read the directions for the camera. Anyway, my Goro stint went well. Hopefully, some more meaningful work will come from it. For now/././

/. (Ruby typed the preceding symbols.) I am glad to be back in the chorus. It doesn't require nearly as much focus so I can try to get some of my chores done that I have been putting off.

Butterfly

I have been singing in the chorus for Asheville Lyric Opera's production of Madama Butterfly. The chorus part is quite easy and not much of a time/energy commitment. However, a week ago the ALO's director called me and said he had a small problem. His cover for Goro was withdrawing. He asked me to cover the part and sing a couple of the rehearsals because the person playing Goro was out of town a few days. It has been good to work real hard the past week getting the part memorized and the blocking down. But doing that and taking care of puppy and wife has been tiring. I am looking forward to getting back in the chorus. For my next role I hope to have more than a week to prepare and I hope to not be taking Ruby out twice every night. Tonight is my last night doing Goro. I am singing the dress rehearsal. Don't wish me luck.

Ruby playing

Here are a few pictures of Ruby with her shake and kill toy (aka the rubyball). She is doing really well. We are starting to train her again. Number one on the list is nipping fingers and feet. Fortunately, she does like her rawhide chews. I did get my car inspected and found that I had to take the tinting off the windows. NC does not allow tinting as dark as mine. I rather liked that tinting but off it comes.

Puppy fix

Here you go. I have to get my car inspected today but Ruby doesn"t like to see anybody leave anymore.

Ruby comes home

Here is a picture of Ruby right outside the vet's office. She was pretty happy to come home. She remembered all the doors and how to get around the couch. She still likes her crate but most of all she likes Starla's lap.

Ruby again

She seems to have beaten the Parvo bug into submission. Whew. She still has some ulcers in her throat though due to the vomiting. So they are keeping her again tonight. We sat with her quite a while today and visited. Starla fed her dinner and then held her nice and close. All the nurses agree Ruby has the best kisses in the Animal Hospital. We can't wait til she's cleared for home.

Ruby sighting

Starla and I just got a quick visit with Ruby. She is doing much better and should come home tomorrow. She has been eating regularly with only one small vomiting. Her catheter is out and she couldn't be happier. She jumped up on us and was all tail wagging and licking. She was very disappointed when we had to leave her. Lots of accusing puppy barks but soon enough she'll be home. Unfortunately, it looks like another of her litter mates is sick. In the cage above her a sad Parvo puppy named Ella sat with her catheter in. She was not too listless though and is in very good hands at AHNA. I'm rooting for you Ella.

Ruby update again

Yesterday I had the pleasure of feeding Ruby a little lunch. I went by the vet's office to visit her and she had improved enough to have some solid food. They let me give her lunch which she quickly ate. The vet said she looked much better which was obvious to me, also. I scratched her ears for a while before I had to leave her. Dr. Wooten said she hoped Ruby could come home soon. As I left, one of the kind staff at the Animal Hospital of North Asheville who knew Ruby's story turned to me and said, "Better than bacon and eggs, isn't it?" I'd have to agree.

Ruby update

Ruby has been in the infirmary for two days now. Starla and I went to see her. She is still groggy but doing better. The doctor was reassuring but cautioned that Parvo can be fickle. Anyway we hope to have her back soon. While we were there
her sister who happened to be in the cage above her fighting her own bout of Parvo was released. We were really happy for her and her family.

new blog

Doug Morrissey recently put up a new blog.
For those folks interested in keeping up with
Doug, Leslie, Aaron, Shannon & Christopher
please use the address below or the link to the right.

http://morrisseys.blogspot.com/

And don't mind any typos please

small rumination on grief...Ruby inspired but not related

I have seen a fair share of pain and suffering in my short life. I'm sure many have seen more but death and disease and sadness aren't new to me. The sadness I felt last night and this morning as I was caring for Ruby was rather different though. It had a strong dose of guilt. I suppose that might be logical. I was aiming to take care of Ruby and provide a good life for her. But as I was laying beside her crying (note: Starla has been sleeping in another room because she is sick too and I didn't want to wake her up every few hours while caring for Ruby) I knew that Starla and I were not responsible for Ruby's Parvo. Still I had trouble shaking the feeling. Ruby snuggled nice and close to me on the floor and finally dozed off about 5:30am but I kept thinking about grief and guilt. Guilt I think does not have a purpose. Grief does. Only a couple of days ago Starla and I were reading our morning Bible verses and came across the shortest verse in the Bible. "Jesus wept." That is the story about Lazarus being raised from the dead. That made me comfortable that my grief wasn't for nothing. It, also, convinced me that guilt probably doesn't have any point. Jesus after all had nary an apology for tarrying before visiting the sick Lazarus. Guilt's cousins...honesty, repentance, change...certainly do have purpose. I wonder if I sometimes pretend my feelings of guilt absolve me of the mistakes I've made. Probably so. Fortunately, I can always change for the better.

happy pictures on a sad day

Here's Ruby getting comfy and trying to nibble on some fingers. Unfortunately, she has been so sick that we took her back to the vet today. They confirmed that she has Parvo. (This is a sad story but good news for Ruby will be included so don't fear reading on.) This disease was new to us but I won't soon forget it. The info we got on it is quite disturbing. You can look that up online yourself if you are interested but be warned that it is quite sad. The short story is that Ruby has a virus that keeps her from absorbing water and nutrients. That's why she had diarrhea every few hours. Drinking water eventually caused her to vomit. Generally, puppies get it and die quickly of dehydration. The good news was that we caught it rather quickly. The vet said she had a high white blood cell count and was starting her treatment from a strong place rather than a very weak place. I've been washing floors with bleach. The virus is hard to kill but I have a lot of bleach and my hands are dry anyway. I must hunt down all Ruby's feces this weekend and douse it good. The virus can live for 9 monthes and infect other dogs so dogs are forbidden from our home for quite a while. Starla and I have lived together for quite a while and I have to say our homes never really felt empty. Sadly, now that Ruby isn't here the place does seem empty. She took up a lot of room for only 7.5 pounds. ( Can you believe that she was only 6 pounds when we just dropped her off? 20% of her weight gone in two days. I can't imagine how I would feel if I was 36-37 pounds lighter on Monday. Even this morning though she had a couple little licks for me.) Well, we are going to see her at 4:00pm and, hopefully, she will be back home soon. The statistic we saw most frequently said 80% of dogs recover. So please pray for Ruby and us.

smelly dog

I promise not to go too puppy crazy but I thought you would want to see Ruby's first puppy bath. She didn't mind the water and didn't cry at all. I think the slick porcelain was her main concern. Starla and I were both amazed to find that she actually smelled worse after the bath. Go figure.

Here is the trench for our retaining wall. It is 160' long.
It is haard to get used to the new dimensions of our home.
The apartment was so small that any improvements cost only
a moderate sum. The sheer scale of Chez Schnurbusch makes
everything expensive.

bulbs a go go

Check out all the bulbs that our mothers missed. They dug for
hours in the yard. You'd think they were looking for truffles.
Well, I hope some of the ones you found are blooming in your yards.

Ruby feels better

Ruby had a rough day yesterday. She was asleep all day except when she had diarrhea. She got rid of pretty much everything in her stomach and intestines. By the end of the day she looked like we had starved her. She was smart enough to drink a bit of water and stay hydrated but no food yesterday until about 9:00 pm. Then she had one or two pieces and got a little energy. She fought with me a little and bit our hands and feet. Just the day before she was annoying the crap out of us with all the sharp puppy bites but this time we were glad to see some life in her. She wasn't really into going to bed now that she had revived but I persuaded her that I needed some rest after cleaning up so much pee and poop and other less identifiable substances. She only had accidents twice last night. ( And the night before she hadn't had any, but I think the illness gave her less time to warn me. Also, she is so smart. All day yesterday she would try to make it to the door when she needed to go.) So this morning she was in a much better mood. She ate a little breakfast and I tricked her into taking her medicine by putting a drop of honey in my palm with the pill. Anyway here are two pictures to prove she is better.
She is checking out the flowers and then chasing my shadow.

This is what a sick puppy looks like.

Ruby has a bit of a fever and too much bacteria in her intestines.
She is not seriously ill, probably just ate some bad dirt or grass.
She is on antibiotics for a few days and then booster shots. She was
not too fond of the rectal thermometer. But the shot was a non event.

Later the first day.

Just to get my picture in the profile.

Ruby's Tuesday

Ruby was a good girl on Tuesday night. She only kept me up most of the night.
The rest of the night my allergies kept me up. Ruby got up at 7:00 though and was ready for play time.