shabbat shalom 13.06.08

Hi everyone,

Uff. This was supposed to be a relaxed week; the Shavuot holiday extended our weekend until Monday night. It started well. I volunteered at the cat shelter last Shabbat, spending five hours cleaning cat dishes, outdoors in the sun. Must have been a week's accumulation, since they are shorthanded and this is one of the less urgent jobs. (It seems to now be my designated volunteer task.) Got very suntanned.

Sunday was a half day so I took it as a holiday, but disaster struck, literally. I was walking with my dogs in the morning, on leashes except for an ancient black female Labrador , Shelly, who never runs off. She can't see or hear either, just trudges along behind me. I stopped to talk to a neighbor in his car, an SUV, and meanwhile Shelley wandered around in front of it to pee. He didn't notice when he pulled out, and ran right over her. The poor dog went under the SUV and spun under the carriage. Miraculously none of the tires went over her, but when she emerged, she was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Took off running for home, and when I caught up with her, she was a mess.

I bundled the other dogs away and wrapped Shelley in a blanket and rushed her to the vet with my heart in my mouth, certain she had internal injuries. But the bleeding stopped on the way, and when I got her to the vet, he checked her carefully and found only a bad bruise and cut on her cheek. I suppose she whacked her muzzle a few times under the car and got one helluva nosebleed, hence the blood from the nose and mouth. He cleaned her up, gave her some Optalgin (by the way, NEVER use aspirin or acamol on dogs, it can clot their blood. Use Optalgin, which is safe for them.) Both badly shaken, we toddled home and I spent the rest of the day watching her for any sign of internal bleeding.

She seemed on the mend pretty well until last night. Then she had an attack of something, panting rapidly. (Like a dummy, I didn't take her temperature; found later at the vet that she had a high fever, hence the rapid panting all night.) Anyway, I gave her some more optalgin with a resolve to see the vet in the morning. Turned out to be dumb luck, the right thing to do. So now she got MORE optalgin to bring the fever down, and four more days of antibiotic injections.

Shelly is a 15-year-old dog. She had a stroke a few years back; been hit by a car before too. More lives than a cat. I doubt she will get through the coming winter but as long as she keeps putting one paw in front of the other, it's my job to help her keep going. She seems to enjoy her life in her way, mostly quietly lying on my bed. I've gotten used to her. In fact when she didn't sleep two nights ago, I didn't sleep either; she didn't eat, and I didn't eat; she was sniffing and coughing this morning and I had cold symptoms too! So I'm relieved and quite certain she is as well. I came back from the city about 8 pm last night, and was happy to see her sitting up, wagging her tail, and ready for dinner.

In between the first and second trip to the vet, I squeezed in a concert in the Abu Gosh Shavuot music festival. Bach's Lutheran Mass. The whole gestalt of the Abu Gosh festivals is unique: classical vocal music in an Arab town, Bach and humous, performances in medieval churches and high tech CD's for sale outside. Plus now a whole market of kiosks with handcrafts of various kinds. People selling soup and hot dogs from kiosks as well as pita and labane. I go to every festival with a friend from the Hebrew University , and we always go for an Arab lunch or dinner afterward. It is a firm tradition. Good music, good meal.

I also got some work done. Test ran the videoconferencing software with my colleagues in the Netherlands ; works great. I gotta get a webcam now. Whole new level of technology for me. I suppose that is what chat rooms are about…..

So NOW I'm more than ready to rest.

Shabbat shalom,
Linda

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