Gracie’s Birthday
As I woke up this morning, the alarm on my pa1m0ne Tungsten C was going off in an attempt to remind me of something. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and padded my way over to the chest of drawers on top of which my PDA lay beeping. I picked it up and looked and the white screen with a full screen message in blue text announcing that today is Gracie’s birthday.
My first reaction was that of glee. I was reminded that it was this time last year that Gracie found me and that today was her special day (if only to me). Yet in the next breath, I was reminded that Gracie is no longer a puppy and that made me just a little bit sad. That little tinge of sadness only remained for a moment, but it was palpable. For a fleeting instant I quickly went through the statistics of what a dog’s average life span is and how much longer I have with her in my life. Morbid as that may be, the thought of not having Gracie in my life is a thought I can’t bear to entertain. Hearing how Tyler Hamilton had to put his dog down yesterday perhaps put these thoughts more in the forefront of my mind. Whatever made me dive into these doldrums, I quickly shook my head to knock these thoughts loose, because today is a happy and special day, not a sad one.




It’s been awhile since Gracie was last groomed and since she’s been playing with Tumini and Vegas (the neighbor’s dog) a lot, her hair became a bit matted in a few places. After dropping her off yesterday, the groomer called to let me know that they would have to cut her very short in order to get out the matted areas. Since it’s now summer, I had planned on getting her cut short, but not quite as short as the groomer had to take it.
There’s a dog that was a recent addition to our neighborhood. He lives just two doors down and goes by the name of Vegas. He’s a sweet puppy, but a big puppy although I don’t know what breed he is. He has the coloring of a Doberman, but his ears are a bit floppy. I’ve heard that Dobermans can get their ears trimmed to give them the upright ears they are know for and maybe his haven’t been trimmed. I don’t know, I’m no expert, but whatever breed he is, he’s sweet as can be.
I love my dog. There’s no two ways about it, when I work from my home office, I get to spend the entire day with Gracie and I can’t describe the joy she bring me. Throughout the day, she’s my little shadow as I work, eat, and relax. I didn’t realize just how much being around her means to me until I had a particularly long day away from the house.
A few weeks ago, I was standing in the kitchen taking my first sip of coffee and looking out the kitchen window. After I swallowed my delicious coffee, I uttered ‘Son of a bitch.’ Holly said, ‘What?’, and then looked out the window and said, ‘Awww crap.’ What were we bitching about? Outside our window was a little calico kitten sitting on the window ledge.
Just thought I’d give a quick update on the state of Monkey’s health. For those of you that haven’t been following, our cat monkey has been sick. I’m happy to report however, that he has rounded the corner and everything is looking great!