Riley — Page 13

A Cricket Named Jiminy

August 19, 2012 at 8:20 am by Claudia

There’s a cricket in the house.

We’ve named him Jiminy.

I saw him scurry under the living room sofa last week. I tried to capture him to put him back outside, where he must surely prefer to be, but he was far too elusive.

I rather like the sound of crickets and I find I don’t mind the sound of one in the house. It’s a comforting sound. At this moment, as I write this, I don’t hear him. Where are you, Jiminy? I miss your music.

Riley is amazing. Yesterday, I lost count at how many times he got up on his own and walked around the living room, kitchen and den. Twenty? More? He’s certainly improved a great deal in the last two days. This morning? Already up and down several times: checking for crumbs on the kitchen floor, going to the water dish, heading toward the kitchen door so that I know he has to go outside, walking over to my chair so he can settle down beside me. He’s a fighter, my Riley. So, we’ll continue to fight right along with him. What a teacher he continues to be.

I’m leaning toward Saturday for our “A Favorite Thing” party, simply because there aren’t a lot of parties/memes on Saturday. Any more thoughts on that one?

Happy Sunday.

Feisty Riley

August 14, 2012 at 9:27 am by Claudia

Good morning, everyone! Not enough sleep last night – Mr. Riley was especially feisty during the early am hours and decided he was thirsty and that barking would be the appropriate thing to do in order to secure some water. Now, I limit Riley’s water after 8 pm because he sometimes has a bit of a problem with control.

But he was having none of it. The first time he barked, I let him outside, thinking he had to take care of business. Nope. So I succumbed and gave him some water.

Apparently I didn’t give him enough. Two hours later: more barking. More water was given. This time the amount of water seemed to meet with his approval. Now? He’s sleeping peacefully and I feel all gritty-eyed and irritable. Thanks, Riley.

There will be some changes happening to the blog very soon. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I’m excited about the whole thing, but it’s a big deal and it’s taking a lot of time. I’ll keep you informed as the week goes on. I’ll try to post every day, but I may not, so don’t be concerned. I’ll still be here, checking in and monitoring everything.

Happy Tuesday.

Foggy Early Morning

August 9, 2012 at 7:28 am by Claudia

Early morning here at the cottage. Early.

The last few mornings here have been foggy and mysterious. I love fog.

It suits my mood lately, which has been a little blue. Too many worries. Too many broken nights of sleep. Allergies haywire. More than a tinge of sadness. At times, a feeling of hopelessness.

I get up a couple of times a night to check on Riley to see if he needs to go outside. Before I go to sleep, I tell myself that I will wake up at a certain time and I usually do. This time is arrived at by a set of calculations: when did he pee last, when did he poop, did he drink a lot of water? I run the numbers in my head and come up with a time I need to wake up. Last night, it was at 3:30 am. Usually, I come downstairs and he is agitated and needs to be helped outside. But this early morning, he was sound asleep. I went back to bed, thinking that I needed to wake again in a couple of hours. And I did. At 5:15. And that was it. I was up for the day.

I’m happy that Riley is able to get up by himself a few times a day. But it presents another problem. He can’t see all that well and he ends up being wedged in a corner or under a table. If I’m here, I quickly extricate him. Yesterday, I ran an errand that took approximately 45 minutes. When I returned, Scout was agitated and Riley was wedged under the coffee table. He must have been trying to get up, most likely barking for me to rescue him. These episodes are hard on him as it takes a lot of energy for him to use his back leg muscles. He was exhausted for the rest of the day. Breaks my heart.

We had a little scare with Scout last week. She suddenly couldn’t put any weight on her back legs. She was clearly in pain; her ears went back, her leg trembled and she looked at me with those big eyes, confused and sore. I gave her a Rimadyl and prayed a lot. The next morning she was a bit better and I could see that the pain was coming from her left rear leg. She was limping. Time has helped and she is doing much better. I imagine it’s arthritis. It’s hard to see my most agile and fearless of dogs become more careful, more hesitant to jump up on the sofa, more cautious when laying down.

This little one was out on the front lawn this morning.

Yesterday, as I was mowing the back forty, I saw a little creature (that I first took to be a large field mouse) scurry under a log, trying to avoid the sound and menace of the lawnmower. It seemed to have somewhat larger ears than normal. I kept on mowing. Then I saw it again, near another log, again scurrying for cover. And I realized it was a tiny baby bunny. Adorable. I usually don’t seen them around here when they’re that young. The lawnmower must have scared the heck out of him. I moved away from that section of the yard quickly, so that the little one’s heart could slow down a bit.

That’s all I’ve got today, my friends. But don’t worry. I’m resilient.

Happy Thursday.

A Cricket Named Jiminy

Feisty Riley

Foggy Early Morning

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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