Some photos and recapping
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 26 September 2008 at 9/26/2008 09:12:00 am.
Last Saturday night was the big Spring Party at the Yacht Club. It was fun. We went, we ate, we drank, we boogied, and watched the veld fires spread across the night sky over the dam.
Wednesday The Mr.'s birthday was a great success. I leaked his presents to him at decent intervals throughout the day, and he was happy with them all. Especially the new gee-tar that he's been promised since xmas 2 years ago!
Dinner was fun. But I hate rectangular tables. So hard to converse, it's like if you sit next to peeps A, B, and C, you can forget about ever hearing anything from X, Y, and Z throughout the night unless you come with a bull horn. Here's a bad photo of the A,B,C end of the table:
Anyway, that sneaky girl of mine, Ubs, got the waiters out to sing for him after dinner. The funny part was that they came out clapping and chanting and saying "AHNYO CHEH! AHNYO CHEH!" and we had no idea what it was that they were saying because of the acoustics (and the variety of different waiter accents) so the Mr. just sat there clueless and they had to keep chanting it for like 50 times straight - finally P, or whoever it was goes "OH they're telling you to stand on your chair!!" So finally he gets up on his chair and THEN they proceeded to sing happy birthday. It was funny. And they gave him tiramisu:
So yeah, Monday was yoga as usual, Tuesday gym, Wednesday the birthday dinner, then last night a big "thank you" drinks & braai for the Animal People volunteers that helped out at our big open day a couple weeks ago. I took some photos of the shelter between drinks and nibbles.
Troublemaker Billy:
This guy always jumps up on cars and then stands on their roofs and proceeds to jump up on top of the carport. However, the cars then eventually drive away and he's left stranded. Us committee members have no sympathy, and let him stay there. Actually about 8:30pm last night in the dark, Jenny finally gave in and moved her own car underneath him so he could get down.
Bunny & Guinea-Pig Land:
Wednesday The Mr.'s birthday was a great success. I leaked his presents to him at decent intervals throughout the day, and he was happy with them all. Especially the new gee-tar that he's been promised since xmas 2 years ago!
Dinner was fun. But I hate rectangular tables. So hard to converse, it's like if you sit next to peeps A, B, and C, you can forget about ever hearing anything from X, Y, and Z throughout the night unless you come with a bull horn. Here's a bad photo of the A,B,C end of the table:
Anyway, that sneaky girl of mine, Ubs, got the waiters out to sing for him after dinner. The funny part was that they came out clapping and chanting and saying "AHNYO CHEH! AHNYO CHEH!" and we had no idea what it was that they were saying because of the acoustics (and the variety of different waiter accents) so the Mr. just sat there clueless and they had to keep chanting it for like 50 times straight - finally P, or whoever it was goes "OH they're telling you to stand on your chair!!" So finally he gets up on his chair and THEN they proceeded to sing happy birthday. It was funny. And they gave him tiramisu:
AHNYO CHEH!!:
This week has been full of going out and not so full of studying. My next semester for my course started on the 1st of september and so far i've only managed to read 68 pages. blehhhh. I have learned one thing, though: Toxicology bores the bejeezus out of me.
So yeah, Monday was yoga as usual, Tuesday gym, Wednesday the birthday dinner, then last night a big "thank you" drinks & braai for the Animal People volunteers that helped out at our big open day a couple weeks ago. I took some photos of the shelter between drinks and nibbles.
Troublemaker Billy:
This guy always jumps up on cars and then stands on their roofs and proceeds to jump up on top of the carport. However, the cars then eventually drive away and he's left stranded. Us committee members have no sympathy, and let him stay there. Actually about 8:30pm last night in the dark, Jenny finally gave in and moved her own car underneath him so he could get down.
Bunny & Guinea-Pig Land:
Eric showing off my favourite little guy: "The One Who Got His Ears Munched":
And finally, it is indeed bushfire/veld fire season. Since last weekend every night there's a massive orange glow on the horizon which stretches as far as the eye can see. Very upsetting. Especially last night when it was so close to my neighbourhood that I could see individual smoke plumes and flames from my kitchen window....
Labels: animal peeps, goin out, photos, school, The Mr.
It's that September birthday time of year again!!!
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 24 September 2008 at 9/24/2008 09:15:00 am.
The Mr.'s birthday!!
I am so happy that it's his birthday because I know he'll get lots of attention and happy messages and what-what-what, which he needs desperately because he has been in BAD FORM lately. Walking ball of stress and anger, overworked and under appreciated. The same old story. But I'm going to try my best to turn that around today. Already I woke up early and fed the puppies (normally his job) and made him eggs benedict and coffee and brought it to him in bed. And he got the first present of the day (new wallet) and a card, but the cloud still hangs there... :-(
But we're going out to everyone's favorite hip hep happnin' restaurant with 8 of our friends tonight, so I'll just ensure that I get him drunk and he lets all his cares just drift away, at least just for one night. (That means i'm on sober duty... poo) And all our buddies will fawn over him and make him all better. And laughs will be had by all!
If we hadn't gone off on holiday already a couple months ago, I'd say that's what he needs. But unfortunately I think we'll just have to keep our heads down and plow ahead til December 9th. Which is not that far away!! Yay!! AND on that positive note, I just now found out that my best friend HG is actually NOT going to be in Vietnam for the whole time I'm in the USA, but will rather be in DC and JC and DC again with me so WOOOOO HOOOOO for me!!! (my heart mourns for you though! ;-) really, I swear)
Things between me and Ma P. pretty much melted down to hell this week, but at least it's over. I said what I wanted to say, what's been building up for months now, and she pretty much got shitty and defensive and belligerent refused to even give an inch. Whatever. Like I said, it's over. And there was some selling off down the river involved, but I have to bear the repercussions of that (should there be any) and I'm prepared for it and will accept it as my lot in life. As Brandon said, it's just some deep shit that I'm going to have to wade through, but I'll get out of it on the other side somehow.
In the meantime my "aggro management plan" is to focus on the Mr. and let the bad things drift away as best I can.
I am so happy that it's his birthday because I know he'll get lots of attention and happy messages and what-what-what, which he needs desperately because he has been in BAD FORM lately. Walking ball of stress and anger, overworked and under appreciated. The same old story. But I'm going to try my best to turn that around today. Already I woke up early and fed the puppies (normally his job) and made him eggs benedict and coffee and brought it to him in bed. And he got the first present of the day (new wallet) and a card, but the cloud still hangs there... :-(
But we're going out to everyone's favorite hip hep happnin' restaurant with 8 of our friends tonight, so I'll just ensure that I get him drunk and he lets all his cares just drift away, at least just for one night. (That means i'm on sober duty... poo) And all our buddies will fawn over him and make him all better. And laughs will be had by all!
If we hadn't gone off on holiday already a couple months ago, I'd say that's what he needs. But unfortunately I think we'll just have to keep our heads down and plow ahead til December 9th. Which is not that far away!! Yay!! AND on that positive note, I just now found out that my best friend HG is actually NOT going to be in Vietnam for the whole time I'm in the USA, but will rather be in DC and JC and DC again with me so WOOOOO HOOOOO for me!!! (my heart mourns for you though! ;-) really, I swear)
Things between me and Ma P. pretty much melted down to hell this week, but at least it's over. I said what I wanted to say, what's been building up for months now, and she pretty much got shitty and defensive and belligerent refused to even give an inch. Whatever. Like I said, it's over. And there was some selling off down the river involved, but I have to bear the repercussions of that (should there be any) and I'm prepared for it and will accept it as my lot in life. As Brandon said, it's just some deep shit that I'm going to have to wade through, but I'll get out of it on the other side somehow.
In the meantime my "aggro management plan" is to focus on the Mr. and let the bad things drift away as best I can.
Labels: aggro, stress management, The Mr., The Ps
I am obsessed with sushi.
Mostly because you can't get it here (well, until this new sushi bar opens, which has been a rumor for a lonnnnnnnnnnng time now) but also because I just love it and don't feel like a fatty after eating it.
Anyway I took it upon myself to try making it and I did.
It wasn't very pretty, but hell it tasted like sushi. I made hand rolls and california rolls. i even made a prawn nigiri.
We ate it. It tasted great. We ate too much of it. I feel like I don't love sushi anymore. Oops.
Mostly because you can't get it here (well, until this new sushi bar opens, which has been a rumor for a lonnnnnnnnnnng time now) but also because I just love it and don't feel like a fatty after eating it.
Anyway I took it upon myself to try making it and I did.
It wasn't very pretty, but hell it tasted like sushi. I made hand rolls and california rolls. i even made a prawn nigiri.
We ate it. It tasted great. We ate too much of it. I feel like I don't love sushi anymore. Oops.
Labels: food
to sell them down the river... or not to sell them down the river...
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 18 September 2008 at 9/18/2008 11:38:00 am.
OK
Ethically perplexed.
Right, so, Character No. 1 makes outrageous claims that are totally off-base and WRONG about you, to Character No. 2.
Character No. 2 is one of your best friends, yet only "somewhat close" to No. 1. Obviously No. 2's loyalty lies with you, rather than No. 1. You've been friends for years and what-what-what.
Interesting side bar, however: No. 1 has not only said these things about you to No. 2, but has then proceeded to *swear them to secrecy* not to tell you.
Well let's just cut the crap here before it starts: OBVIOUSLY No. 2 comes straight to you and tells you everything. But then attempts to swear you to secrecy NOT to let it get back to No. 1, because after all, they do have a somewhat close relationship too. And while No. 2's loyalty lies ultimately with you, it wouldn't exactly be ideal to be sold off down the river as a no-good low-down promise-breaker, once you've ripped No. 1 a new asshole for saying that kind of crap about you behind your back....
hmmmmmmmmmm what to do, what to do?
I haven't had to deal with this kind of predicament since.... what, the 90's???
Ethically perplexed.
Right, so, Character No. 1 makes outrageous claims that are totally off-base and WRONG about you, to Character No. 2.
Character No. 2 is one of your best friends, yet only "somewhat close" to No. 1. Obviously No. 2's loyalty lies with you, rather than No. 1. You've been friends for years and what-what-what.
Interesting side bar, however: No. 1 has not only said these things about you to No. 2, but has then proceeded to *swear them to secrecy* not to tell you.
Well let's just cut the crap here before it starts: OBVIOUSLY No. 2 comes straight to you and tells you everything. But then attempts to swear you to secrecy NOT to let it get back to No. 1, because after all, they do have a somewhat close relationship too. And while No. 2's loyalty lies ultimately with you, it wouldn't exactly be ideal to be sold off down the river as a no-good low-down promise-breaker, once you've ripped No. 1 a new asshole for saying that kind of crap about you behind your back....
hmmmmmmmmmm what to do, what to do?
I haven't had to deal with this kind of predicament since.... what, the 90's???
Google Earthness
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 12 September 2008 at 9/12/2008 11:15:00 am.
We're getting the PRO version of Google Earth for work. I mean as if I wasn't crazy enough about Normal-G.E.... I'm sick in the head over how cool it is. As a toy, it's a geographer's wet dream and dammit I am a geographer.
I wanted to record some highly important coordinates for posterity, just because these are the things I'm supposed to be doing on this &%$*ing blog anyway.
So without further ado, here are some highly important ones
My house!
24 45'58.66 S
25 50'39.48 E
Mary
24 45'57.86 S
25 50'39.89 E
Our pool
24 45'59.70 S
25 50'39.41 E
Our office (which, according to G.E. still hasn't been built yet!)
24 41'41.29 S
25 52'59.92 E
The Yacht Club (friday sundowners!)
24 42'30.19 S
25 54'14.15 E
What else did I want to show? I can't remember!
I wanted to record some highly important coordinates for posterity, just because these are the things I'm supposed to be doing on this &%$*ing blog anyway.
So without further ado, here are some highly important ones
My house!
24 45'58.66 S
25 50'39.48 E
Mary
24 45'57.86 S
25 50'39.89 E
Our pool
24 45'59.70 S
25 50'39.41 E
Our office (which, according to G.E. still hasn't been built yet!)
24 41'41.29 S
25 52'59.92 E
The Yacht Club (friday sundowners!)
24 42'30.19 S
25 54'14.15 E
SPCAshelter (alias: the Animal People, aka: "PUPPIES!!!")
24 37'18.81 S
25 54'14.15 E
What else did I want to show? I can't remember!
Death Metal in G-City
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 10 September 2008 at 9/10/2008 03:56:00 pm.
so we went to this big ROCK FEST this past weekend.
Lordy, lordy... who knew there were these hard core rockers on the dark continent! Moreover, who knew they were actually locals and not just a bunch of angst-ridden expat's kids!??!
Some photos of the day out...
This first one is of the first band we saw when we got there, around 3pm. They're called CRACKDUST and if you go to crackdust.com you can see their website. Not to be missed. Trust me. As you can see from the crowd, not many people had shown up yet, but those that did were really into it and loved to show off their Osbourn-esque SIGN OF THE DEVIL!! RRAAAWWWWWRRRRR!!! (imagine Rammstein with a Setswana accent... that's all I can say to describe the enigma that is CRACKDUST.
Also NB about this show is the fact that it was advertised to start at 1pm. We thought we were going to seriously miss out by not being there until 3. Little did we know that we actually caught the FIRST BAND!! Talk about genuine African punctuality! In general, most people came around 8:30 pm or thereabouts.
The concert promoters did something a little bit funny... they had a lineup that included about 10 bands and let's say 6 or 7 of them were actually rock/hardcore/metal/grunge. The remainder of the bands included some Kwaito, kwasa kwasa, and local R n' B. The ONLY reason they did this was because they'd tried something similar a year ago and this newspaper reviewer slammed them for "not including local popular acts, rather than bands aimed at the MINORITY of people in botswana who like this rock crap" (ok i'm paraphrasing) The jist of it was that they were being dissed because the lineup was too "western" and not "african enough" or whatever.
There had been a lot of speculation about the "wild crowd" and "troublemakers" that might be there. Extra security was in place. Cops everywhere. Editorials in the newspaper about devilworshippers and evil. You know the drill. Think bible-belt America in the late 80's, grappling with issues like "how to deal with children who listen to Quiet Riot".
CRAZY rock fans! CRAZY!
Thus, we had these guys: (somewhat popular kwasa kwasa group with dancers and obligatory dude with major afro). As you can see, the crowd was huge. (NOT!)
Yes that is a bicycle wheel on his head:
It was like tumbleweed City until they brought back on the HARD ROCKERS!!! There was one mega metal band from SA, and the rest were pretty local. I swear I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be watching about 150 africans in black leather and Iron Maiden shirts moshing to the sounds of RRRRRAAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!! KILL THE BEAST!!!!!! I AM SATAN'S BEARER OF PAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!!!! The remainder of the 200-strong crowd were those of us whities who kinda showed up just to see if it was real.
I do have to say it was worth it though! Well notwithstanding the warm beer that only arrived at around 6pm, and the 4 or 5 token non-rock bands who were just... zzzzzzzzzzz. It had only been one day since Reggie died and we weren't exactly looking for a huge party, so we left around 10 but I think that was sufficient. I got my rock on. Our friends were all there and we had a good time. Even the boys liked it.
Mines & Powerlines & the youth of today
0 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on at 9/10/2008 02:45:00 pm.
Work is about to get hectic, crazy, whatever you want to call it.
In consultancy you just have to live with this risk. You have to chase jobs and then sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't. You have to bid for jobs, you have to negotiate for them, you have to write huge applications to get them. Worst case scenario is that you don't get any work for a really long time (I wonder what that's like???! Gah!!) and the OTHER worst case scenario is that you get a butt-load of them, all at once. I'm afraid we're in a period of the latter. My blogs are about to get shorter. Maybe that's a good thing...
We just got this big diamond mine job and no sooner had contracts been signed and schedules been cleared then WHAMMO, we get this big powerline at the same time. It's going to go from Namibia thru BW into Zimbabwe and then Zambia. So for what it's worth the site visits will be interesting, at least I can say that (that there's serious elephant territory... it's not every day that one of your predicted impacts that you have to solve includes "elephants pushing over and uprooting electricity towers"). It's a nice area up there. But jeeeez... you put these two jobs together on top of the local stuff that we're already swimming in and you get 5 hours of sleep per night and lots of weekends at the office. Something tells me I'm going to be hanging on by a thread by the time my xmas break/journey comes around this year. The good thing is that both projects we get to work with our American mate from Namibia. Yea!
I interviewed a landscape architect graduate for an internship yesterday. I don't know what's with the youth of today. I mean WTF!? He comes in here with a t-shirt on that says "Kwik Crap" (in the KitKat logo... one of those damned logo-t-shirts) and his application email to me was full of "i was wondering" (lowercase "i") and "let u know" (it's supposed to have 3 letters, pal!!). I mean come ON! Sure I write my text messages and emails and blogs like that, but not to a potential employer!! Unfortunately it's slim pickins around these parts, and we're desperate for a new LA so I still had to call him in. He's a nice enough guy, but a total slacker. D- 's and C+s all over his transcripts. His name is Letlhogonolo... say that 3 times fast.
In consultancy you just have to live with this risk. You have to chase jobs and then sometimes you get them and sometimes you don't. You have to bid for jobs, you have to negotiate for them, you have to write huge applications to get them. Worst case scenario is that you don't get any work for a really long time (I wonder what that's like???! Gah!!) and the OTHER worst case scenario is that you get a butt-load of them, all at once. I'm afraid we're in a period of the latter. My blogs are about to get shorter. Maybe that's a good thing...
We just got this big diamond mine job and no sooner had contracts been signed and schedules been cleared then WHAMMO, we get this big powerline at the same time. It's going to go from Namibia thru BW into Zimbabwe and then Zambia. So for what it's worth the site visits will be interesting, at least I can say that (that there's serious elephant territory... it's not every day that one of your predicted impacts that you have to solve includes "elephants pushing over and uprooting electricity towers"). It's a nice area up there. But jeeeez... you put these two jobs together on top of the local stuff that we're already swimming in and you get 5 hours of sleep per night and lots of weekends at the office. Something tells me I'm going to be hanging on by a thread by the time my xmas break/journey comes around this year. The good thing is that both projects we get to work with our American mate from Namibia. Yea!
I interviewed a landscape architect graduate for an internship yesterday. I don't know what's with the youth of today. I mean WTF!? He comes in here with a t-shirt on that says "Kwik Crap" (in the KitKat logo... one of those damned logo-t-shirts) and his application email to me was full of "i was wondering" (lowercase "i") and "let u know" (it's supposed to have 3 letters, pal!!). I mean come ON! Sure I write my text messages and emails and blogs like that, but not to a potential employer!! Unfortunately it's slim pickins around these parts, and we're desperate for a new LA so I still had to call him in. He's a nice enough guy, but a total slacker. D- 's and C+s all over his transcripts. His name is Letlhogonolo... say that 3 times fast.
Reggie Resting in Peace
3 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 08 September 2008 at 9/08/2008 10:45:00 am.
We lost Reggie at 11pm on friday night. He had been with us at the office all morning but we dropped him at home at lunch because we had dinner plans for after work. When we came home around 9:30 he was curled up on the floor in a corner of the shed that he normally doesn't sleep in (i.e. not in his bed), and could hardly get up. While The Mr. was walking him out into the back yard to come inside, he collapsed and by the look in his eyes we knew it wouldn't be long, so we carried him into his blue chair in the bedroom and I sat with him and held him for about an hour until he took his last breath and his heart just stopped beating.
It was a horrible night but at least we were with him and he didn't suffer for long. I have a feeling he really tried to hang on until we got home that night, because when he collapsed on the way into the house he had the same look on his face as he did in his last few minutes, so he really "came back" for his last hour with me in his blue chair.
When an animal is dying, a lot of times his jaw will go stiff and the tongue limp, and his eyes roll back a little. This is how he was when he collapsed in the back yard. During the hour that I sat with him and cuddled him and talked to him, his eyes came back into focus and he relaxed a little, which is how I know he was really putting his all into staying with me for a little while longer. But his breathing was still puffing, and he was really focusing so hard on looking straight ahead. I couldn't really get his attention, but could tell he was trying to hang on for me. In his final minutes (it was very quick), he gave a few tiny hiccups and I saw the eyes roll backwards again, which prompted me to put my hand on his heart and was able to feel it just slowly... stop... beating.
While it was completely and utterly devastating, it was peaceful and real and comforting (considering it was the loss of Reggie). Definitely the closest I had ever been to experiencing death, and 500 billion % better than the loss of his sister, J. (who I came home from work and found unexpectedly hours dead, completely stiff, flies buzzing, at which stage I proceeded to totally freak out, etc). I never had a good feeling about that one. In fact I think unfortunately the way that played out actually has negatively impacted all my memories of J., and that's just a horrible feeling. At least with Reggie, the only feelings I'm left with are those of genuine emotional pain and mourning, but in a loving and comforting way.
At 11:03, I collected myself and called out for the Mr. to come in, and Alan followed too (who was here visiting for the weekend). He was upset that he hadn't been with him during his last minutes, but we just didn't know how long he was going to last. No one could've known. We went straight out into the garden and the boys worked into the wee hours of the morning digging a grave for him in his old pen, right under our bedroom window. The damned soil in our part of the country is so rocky we had to break out every tool in the box, chisels, hammers, lump hammers, picks, etc. All the rock-breaking woke Mary up, who knew... before she even came out to the yard to see what was going on... she just knew. She had seen him vomit that afternoon and I think was way more worried about him than she let on (she had called us at dinner to tell us).
Probably one of the best things that could possibly happen during all this was that we worked fast enough between 11 and 1:30am that while his little body was left laying on his chair, covered up in his blanket, he stayed nice and warm and supple. So when the Mr. carried him out, there was no horrible scary stiffness or coldness to the touch. Putting him in his grave was the hardest part though. There were just so many rocks... I insisted on making sure there was a layer of dirt at the bottom because I nearly had a mental breakdown at the thought of laying his body on a sharp rock or something. Then i cut one of his doggy blankets from Ireland in half, so that we could keep one part as a memory and cover him up with the other part, to avoid seeing my precious boy get dirt and rocks thrown on top of him. I know it sounds outrageous, but these are the things that make burying your best friend emotionally manageable.
So there we were, 1:30 in the morning, standing over my boy's grave, all 3 of us. I have to say we really couldn't have done it with out Alan... I had to hold lights over the boys as they absolutely wrecked themselves like slaves on a chain gang, carving out a sufficient hole in this horrible ground we have here. They were drenched in sweat and pain by the time it was done but none of us could have left without making it perfect. After all, it was Reggie.
The next morning the Mr. woke up and told me that we should be so proud of Reggie for hanging on until we got home, to let himself go. The whole experience would've been so much more horrible if we'd come home and found him. He also said how proud he was that he braved the operation on Tuesday and didn't die on the table at the vets. He also reminded me that when we came home his bowl of food was gone, that Mary would've fed to him a few hours before we got there. That means right til the very end, Reggie loved his food enough to pull his poor old body up and over to his bowl, and try to eat one last time. We talked about how happy we were that he left us from the comfort and familiarity of his old blue chair - the one he "selected" for his own out of all our furniture in Australia (where he wasn't allowed), and then Ireland, and now Botswana (where we finally caved).
I could say we've cried buckets of tears but that still wouldn't even explain the half of it. First of all there's the sheer pain of turning around every corner and seeing the last place he was laying, the leash that took him for his last walk, the chair he used to sleep on, the doorway he used to sit in to watch us cook.... not hearing his Reggie-noises... not having to fill up the little yellow bowl every morning. And at work it's even worse. There's no cuddle breaks or water-bowl filling to do... E. has no one to sit under his desk and order pets (likewise for me & the Mr). But then compounding that, it's the emotional difficulty that surfaces when you think about our bond with him. He was our first kid, he lived in all 3 of our houses on 3 continents. He had more quirks and behavioural challenges, and character than any other dog I've ever had. I know people say that you can't have favourites, but I know in my heart I loved this dog more than any of the 5 I'd had before him, and any of our 3 that we have now. Every 10 minutes the Mr. and I look at each other and our eyes well up. One of us will say something about something he did just recently, or something that we remember about him, and the other one will have to look away before choking up all over again. This has been the repeated procedure over the last 72 hours.
Anyway now his grave has a little bundle of flowers that I picked from our garden on it that we left for him, as well as his old bowl that we filled with water so that the other puppies can drink out of it and "visit" him from time to time. It's under a nice shady tree in the part of the garden that he spent most of his time while outside. We found ourselves going out there numerous times throughout the weekend, just to stand and talk about what a good boy he was. It's weird but it really does feel good to be there by his grave, and it's the first thing we think about in the morning as the sun comes in through that window that overlooks it. It's like he's close by, at least.
Since we'll probably move sometime in the not-so-distant future, we've decided to make a memorial piece of him, probably with one of our best pictures of him and something written to remind us of Reggie, in a frame. Or something. But that will be our memorial to him since we'll have to leave his body behind, eventually.
Reggie's last photo: thursday night when we went around to Petra's for dinner.
A. is driving up today to join us for the "Woodstock BW" rock festival this wknd... that's right, a ROCK festival... in BW. Including, on the bill, a heavy metal band from Maun (pop. 2000)! Everyone I could possibly know in this country is going, so that should be fun... if not verrrrrrry interesting!!!
P. had us over for dinner last night at the place she's housesitting. It was great... always nice to do something cool for no reason during the middle of the week after work. Except I got a headache after 2 glasses of white wine, must be attributed to the fact I'm *still* feeling seedy after this past weekend and the big rugby match in Joburg. OMG I haven't been that sloshed since I don't even want to remember when. But it was probably the best day out we've had in years!
OMG! Can John McCain be any LAMER of a public speaker!?!? Talk about Fast-Forward-Worthy! If I see that idiot Sarah Palin's stupid face on the TV one more time I'm gonna puke, but hey at least the girl can keep a speech going without a major snore-factor!! I'm telling you, that woman is ubiquitous... even down here on the dark side. She was even in my face on the TV at the GYM yesterday during lunch. (Why they had it tuned to CNN I don't know) It was seriously disturbing. Yet funny at the same time because she's SUCH A FRUITCAKE!!! And I think McCain has sealed his own fate with the female population by having the gaul to patronize the women of america with this pitiful attempt for a token female! I mean surely he couldn't possibly think....
ugh!
(sidebar: could that Republican Convention have possibly LOOKED ANY WHITER???)
I'm getting used to the idea of Joe Biden. At least he *gets* the concept of THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN COAL (, Barack!) and LETS NOT SPEND MONEY ON BUILDING MORE NUCLEAR POWER, but rather spend more on figuring out this whole nuclear waste-issue FIRST. Maybe some of that can rub off on his candidate before November. It's just a shame about him being oh, 275 years old. And not a Clinton.
At work we got our first Million-plus contract. It's huge. It's gonna be a hell of a lot of work. I can see many late nights in my future between now and xmas. But hey, it's what we've gotta do, and will ensure the financial windfall of our company for the next 2+ years. Can't argue with that. But I can't really look forward to dealing with it either. I just have to put all this new positive-attitude stuff that I can muster into the job for the next few months.
Speaking of positive attitude! The Audiobooks were great. I'm going to get more of them! "Next" by Michael Crichton was very intriguing. Transgenic science. Hmmm... interesting. Genetic ethics. Freaky but worth thinking about.
Then the funny mix up... I thought I had purchased "The Art of Happiness", by Howard Cutler and the DL, for our 2nd book. What I REALLY purchased was "Vol. 2: The Art of Happiness AT WORK"... by Howard Cutler and the DL. It was really good, and fitting in a way, considering all the stress and turmoil that both me and the Mr had absorbed before our holiday was completely workplace-based. I highly recommend this book to anyone needing a fresh outlook on their day to day routine at the office place. Not so much zen, but a lot of reasonable advice.
And finally, I am grateful for the holiday we just had - particularly for the mass quantities of seafood that we ingested of stellar quality, and the fact that I relaxed completely and managed to read THREE whole books in just one week. WOO HOO!
Last days with Reggie
2 Comments Published by Oh Wayward One on 03 September 2008 at 9/03/2008 05:22:00 pm.
(Reggie at work yesterday... hiding from mean mommy & daddy who want to take him to the chop shop, under the safety of Uncle Eric's desk)I know I should probably be writing about how awesome the holiday was and how much fun we had (with the exception of me coming back with a horrible tendon injury from running on the beach for too long), but Reggie has been the main focus since we got back so I just can't get him out of my mind for now.
Before we left, our wonderful Vet (and co-committee member of the Animal people with us) was hmming and haaahing over whether or not to operate on the massive tennis-ball size lump that has been growing on Reg's left side for the last few months. The older a dog is, the less happy good vets are to operate on them because the anesthesia doesn't metabolize through their body easily anymore and their tissues don't heal well anymore after being sliced & diced. At any rate he said we'll give it a shot when we got back from the coast.
So monday we brought him in. We've also noticed some new lumps out of nowhere, and him slowing down and being a bit sloth-like. But our team of lovely Vet boys are my heroes and if anyone can work miracles, I know they can. He went under the knife early that afternoon and at 5:30 when I called to see if we could pick him up, they were STILL in surgery with him. Apparently this lump was way more than they had bargained for, it was all up in the chest cavity wall and everything. Anyway, those guys slaved away til after 6pm and called to let me know when it was over that our faithful old hound survived it, but just barely. They say he nearly died on the operating table and they had to do one of those dramatic ER-style emergency resuscitation things on him, shove a drip into him, and hold their own breaths a lot. So our boy just made it. He lost a lot of blood.
I picked him up today and he looked so bad it reduced me to a quivering mound of jelly right there in the waiting room. Super-lovelyVet and I had a long talk and he explained how hard it is for them to handle major ops at this age, and it was pretty clear that he's seen his last tumor removal - meaning the next time it grows back, we just have to let fate take it's course.
Essentially, the cancer will come back, and there will be nothing we can do. The lumps will grow again, and we'll just have to monitor him to ensure he doesn't get to the point of suffering. At which stage, there will be only one option this time, which will be his last trip to Super-lovelyVet. I had to ask him: "how will I know when he's suffering?" He said when he starts scratching or licking or showing signs of confusion and disorientation, maybe stumbling and losing balance, etc. They left a few of the newer, smaller lumps, because sometimes if too many of these are taken off at once, they go crazy and multiply even faster.
I just cry and cry whenever I think of not having him, even though I've been a dog owner my whole life and know how these things work. It's just that Reggie and his sister J were our first "kids" and after losing J. awhile back, Reggie was the remaining kid who will always be more special for that reason, than anyone else. Even last night while he had to sleep over at the vet's to wake up from his surgery, the house felt extra empty and extra horrible. No geriatric snoring coming from the blue chair in the bedroom, no little paw on my bedside at 3am asking nicely to go out for an old-man-midnight-pee. It just makes me think that this will soon be "normal", and we'll have to get used to it.
Luckily since he comes to the office with us, we'll be together 24/7 until that time comes, and I can give him as much attention and cuddles as he can take. I just don't know how I'm going to handle it when we notice the first telling signs. I think "will we bury him? or just leave him at the vet? If we bury him, where? how will we get his body back from the vet?" all these horrible morbid things. But it's time now - it's not something that will just happen "someday", it's happening now, and I just have to prepare mentally. All my life it was always dad who had to deal with these things. We would never even know what was happening until he would come back from the vet with a long face and the whole "it's very important to never let an animal suffer" speech.
Reggie post-op:
The incision is huge and bloody and all stapled up, and some of the smaller lumps are still on there, around the shaved area... they took one off his underbelly too, so he's got incisions underneath, as well.
You can't see his eyes from this photo, but he's just so tired and worn out. He's had a rough day and is very sore. I had to help him get up and go pee, and he cried a lot.
All I can say is thank god we moved to Botswana, where these operations only cost about P800. That's about 80 Euros or a 100 bucks USD. You wouldn't even get a consultation or a few doggy painkillers for that back in those places. And I can't say enough about our vets. They have it all: bedside manner, knowledge, optimistic attitude, genuine love for animals, approachability, and kind faces. We are so lucky to be here for Reggie's last days.
