The handsome boy has had some time pass. We sit together on the couch, ten days before his 14th birthday. He stands up, then promptly falls into the perfect spot for an arm rest beside me. I don't think it was intentional but I'll take it. I softly pet his head. I know yesterday we had a long walk in the woods with his two sisters and maybe that was a bit too much for him, but he sure seemed happy along the way. I lay next to him in the afternoon, taking a break from my work day and I tell him it's ok to have tough days. I have them too. There are some days I have to just sit in the hammock and stare at the sky because my legs don't work and I have no energy to lift my body about. Much has changed since 2011 when I brought his little chubby self home. Little would either of us know, we'd move an additional seven times, eventually add another human to our life, and then, a little sister, another little sister and the finally promised fenced back yard with a dog door. We didn't know I'd get sick and have intermittent issues with walking. We didn't know I'd become a director of IT and then eventually work from home. We did know that I asked him to live till I was 40. I am 40 this year. He held up his side of the bargain. 

Ice Cream Saturday

I look at Orion asleep on his bed which I stacked on top of the two remaining boxes in the house.
"I want to go do something."
No response.
"Want to go get ice cream? Then we can go for a walk?" He lifts his head.
I begin texting friends, seeing if anyone else wants a nice social distance walk and evening ice cream. Earlier today I snagged a coffee around 2, sucked it down and then fell asleep for an hour. The logic baffled me but as the night progressed I was feeling more antsy than sleepy.
"Well, no one wants to go. How about we go together?"
He flips off his bed and I trick him into his collar and off we go, as usual, with his chorus of barking the whole way down the now quiet street.
Friendly's is mildly busy. I loop my face mask over my ears and stand patiently with Orion who is thrilled to be outside sniffing poles, peeing on mulch and waiting to see what comes next for our impromptu outing.
"Hi, can I have a scoop of cookie dough with peanut butter topping?" The ladies all crowd the window to ooh and aw at Orion. "He's so handsome!"
"Thanks!" I notice in the window a drawing with the words "Doggy Ice Cream $3.18".
"Oh! Can I have one of those too?" I ask.
"Sure, it's just vanilla ice cream with two dog bones," the cashier says.
"Sounds perfect."
I collect our cups and we sit on the side of the mulch, me making Orion sit before diving in.
It's pretty quiet as the sun is gone and COVID dominates the usual summer crowd. I'm feeling happy to be there with Orion who is oblivious to my mood, going to town on his cup, even as I reach to pull out the mulch that sticks to the vanilla ice cream.
"This is a good night," I tell him. And just smile as his head pops up to temporarily assess my ice cream. Some things never change.

Evening snack party

It's late by my standards but I just returned from a meeting and I'm all energized because it was a fun one. Orion meets me at the door, his collar jiggling as he exits the dark room where Marisa is already asleep.
"Hi buddy," I say, propping the door open for a last night bathroom break. He wanders onto the deck, waiting to be hooked to his lead then does his business while I wait for him then off we go into the kitchen.
"What do we have that I can eat for dinner?" I ask him, as I peer into the brightly lit fridge. I pull out a three day old bowl of pasta and pop it in the microwave. We are moving at the end of the week so the grocery supply is quite pathetic.
"Up, up," I say, gesturing to the couch for Orion to join me in the quiet house. He hops up, butt on the edge, a pile of drool slipping from his lips beside me as he stares in rapt attention at my bowl of pasta quickly disappearing.
Then, after clearing my bowl and the one piece I left him, off he trots, returning with the lid of his food kong... like, "Hey Ma, I want an evening snack too!"
"Okay," I say, and we settle in to another evening snack, him with the kibble, me with the yogurt. Evening snack parties are so much better with the company of your best friend dog.

Day 1 of school

24 tomatoes, 1 pill container and 1 glass down. The boy doesn't like the fact we both have gone back to work. 

Today I rushed home because I wanted to spend my time with this guy. We went for a long walk around the neighborhood, saying hello to the cows, looping down the dirt road and back home to rest on our porch. I think today I was forgiven for the school-day violation.

Tennis

A hot summer evening. A two hour hike in the morning. Six forty-five on the clock.
"You want to take Orion across the street to the tennis courts?" Marisa asks.
"Sure! How about we play tennis too?"
The three of us waltz out the door. I wait with Orion, poised in the middle of street, two feet on the yellow line as Marisa digs in her trunk for tennis balls.
No cars in sight.
Such a different experience than living in Easthampton, where the cars rush by, one after another. Thunk thunk. Thunk thunk over the loose sewer lid.
Shortly Marisa pops up, the champion with two more tennis balls. I've since crossed the street, and turn to see her crossing as well, distracted for just the moment Orion needs to make a lunge for the spilled Ramen Noodles cooking on the pavement.
"NO!" I shout and then think for a moment about how it has been so long since I've had Ramen and isn't it too bad I don't have a pack to cook up upon return?
He is munching away at the bit he snagged and I'm less interested in the idea of pulling his jaws open and shaking it out so I let him have his night time snack.
Across we go and Orion trots happily to the warm-up board where often he and Marisa play in the mornings. She hits the ball, he makes a leap for it. If he gets it, he brings it to her, dropping it at her feet and the process begins again. If he misses though it becomes a keep away game between him, the wall and Marisa.
"Not this time buddy. It's real tennis and you can chase down the balls," I say winding up for my first strike.
I have played tennis during one period of my life. One period. High school gym class, 10th grade. Individual Sports and Games. Can't remember the rules. Can't figure out how hard to hit the ball. The balls go sailing over the net, past Marisa and a little yellow dog is off running after them.
A good way to round out the day.

And he's at it again, selectively.

I step up onto the sunny porch, exhausted from swimming and looking forward to the quite afternoon just myself and the boy as Marisa has gone off to class for the day. I open the door to a sheepish looking boy. Dropping my towel, I examine the shreads of plastic littering the floor. Puffs marshmallow packaging is slowing being pieced together. Oh no. The means s'more fixings. I round the corner, a Hershey's chocolate bar is sitting fully intact on the kitchen floor. Internally I thank the higher ups that he didn't eat that one, but there should be...
three more are sitting still packaged on the couch. Okay... so for some unknown reason, first time in his life he didn't eat something that was available to him.
"ORION!!"
He hasn't followed me into the kitchen.
More marshmallow packaging litters the floor.
"Are you kidding me??"
The pantry door is swinging open.
A spagetti jar lolls about on the floor. Intact.
So the boy is five and a half now. I look at him. He ducks his head and crawls under my studio desk.
"You're lucky it's me that found this and not Marisa. She'd have killed you," I say as I begin to scrub half chewed marshmallow stickiness off the bottom of my shoe.
"You know I was looking forward to just resting and recouping after swimming. Now I've gotta mop the floor," I'm muttering as I start picking up all the pieces of plastic. I'm wondering just how many marshmallows he may have consumed, 15? 20? I think we had all of five out of the bag. Maybe he was too full of marshmallows to bother with topping it off with chocolate.
I close up the pantry.
So much for feeding him rice this morning so he would quit having diareaha after eating his entire auto-feeding jar of food...

Summer is almost here

This little guy has some things to say about being on the far side of the river bank away from where the other humans and their off leash dog are... What he is ignoring is that his mama was so kind to grab him after school for a swim and some quiet time at the riverbend where we could sit and listen to the rushing river and watch the tall trees across the way cling so carefully to the cliff side.

Morning snuggles

This is how it goes most mornings when I can't sleep and don't want to wake Marisa... Orion and I move to the couch which is too short for so tall a girl but we make it work for some snuggle time.

Day care crash point

Orion played at day care so hard he was out cold. He ha been an indoor dog mostly since the tick levels have increased... Needed the day to run.

Thanksgiving

Orion tucks beneath my feet, dodging in and out as I zip back and forth in the kitchen throwing ingredients into the tall pot on the stove. It is the day before Thanksgiving and my once little dog is thankful for the treats falling around me as I turn quickly with a pile of walnuts in my hands to add to the fudge. I pull the plastic from the Fluff container, "Marisa, you'll want to see this," I say as Orion plops into a sit. I hold the plastic as Orion gives it a lick. Fluff flips from his tongue up to his nose. It sticks on the fur below his nose and he flicks his tongue again trying to get it. More fluff spreads to his fur. I'm chuckling. I'm also wishing I had a video camera rolling, but sometimes laughing is just enough.

Fall

The crisp air from the morning faded into a cool afternoon. The light was sharp on the decline and leaves covered the backyard of my friend's house. As usual, I was alone in the yard watching as Orion ran with happy abandon, trailed closely by a possibly happier border collie. Even if he was so insane in the car I almost wanted to cry on my way over, I loved watching him be so happy.

Mindless

I move into the living room and flop down on the couch. My sheet is still there from sleeping on it the night before--taking advantage of the prime AC room. Orion lumbers over and climbs up on his end, plunking down right between my legs. I am mindlessly patting his back while chatting on the phone. As I hang up, he moves beside me and demands some scratches and kisses. I oblige.

"You have halitosis Orion," I say, as his breath has begin to stink as of late. "I'm going to have to start brushing your teeth with more regularity." I scratch his butt. "And you smell like a pond. I really need to get you a shower as well."

He ignores me, and after much scratching and attention wanders off to his "tent"--a pop up crate I have set up in the corner. After finishing my book, I flop down at the entrance to his tent.

"You know you're roof is leaking," I say, noting the ceiling of the tent where the zipper is pulled back and the pillow on top of the crate is falling through. "Want me to repair your roof for you?" He just moves further back in the tent. "Alright." I do it anyways.

It's a rainy day. I feel pretty lousy myself but move to my studio desk to try and fake productivity. He moves to his bed under my desk. It's a pretty good thing to have a dog I think.

Don't feed the animals

Friday Night:

"Did you see the raccoon???!" My neighbor creeps back from the roof top porch we have, eyes sparkling.
"No, but I heard Karen mention she saw one yesterday and it ate a piece of bread she gave it," I mention walking Orion more quickly by the roof top.
"It's huge!"
"Yeah and we just gave it a slice of pizza," my other neighbor chimed in.
Somehow in the back of my head the age old, "Don't feed the animals," is running through my head though I can appreciate the excitement of seeing wild animals up close. We move on to our evening walk.

Saturday:
"Hey Moll, the raccoon was back last night and I noticed it has a hurt foot. I feel so bad," neighbor one mentions as I walk up from my morning walk.
"Well you could probably call pet rescue centers around here and they might have some ideas. Or look up if there are any antibiotics that they can have."
"Yeah I just feel so bad. I gave it another piece of bread because it came back."

Sunday:
I see my neighbors out cleaning the porch. Beach wafts my way.
"We read up on the raccoons and their poop can have all kinds of diseases in it and we didn't want the cats being sick."
"I'm still feeling bad about the foot though. And the rescue folks said they don't take in hurt animals."
"What's the point of a rescue then?" I ask.

Monday:
I'm thinking about the raccoon myself as I'm walking by the porch. Yes, it's coming back because it's getting a free easy meal. On the one hand I'm still of the opinion that feeding him/her is a terrible idea because of creating this habit and because of their known rabies issues... and yet, too, I'm beginning to feel a little bad about the sore foot too. What if I threw him/her some bread too? Or the birds... "Leave nature to nature," my friend tells me when I explain the predicament my "neighborhood" is experiencing.

Tuesday Night:
It's ten o'clock. I throw open the outside door as I always do, ready to round the corner to walk down and let Orion out. As the door is halfway through it's full swing Orion takes off at a full sprint. My mind flashes, "What the hell..." as I clamp down on the leash, he's going so quickly I'm not getting a grip, and I barely register a cat, then a raccoon running ahead of Orion down the porch. I reach with my free hand to try and 'grab' the leash, the ribbon long leash but quickly feel the burn on my index finger that comes with a fast moving ribbon over skin. "NO ORION!" I yell, as the raccoon makes it to the roof and Orion shoves his nose between the porch posts that block him from his could-have-been-new-best-friend. I start reeling him in, reminiscing on the trouble I always get myself into at night when I am lazy and think it's a good idea to use his retracting leash and prong color rather than his normal leash and harness... one broken arm, and now one burnt finger.
We decide to go in the front door and as I turn to return to my hallway I notice a bag of garbage outside the door. Of course the raccoon was at my end of the apartment complex. Orion snags the napkin and pizza crust that fell from the ripped bag and I drag him into the hallway to pry open his mouth and make him leave the napkin on the floor. The pizza crust long gone.
Out the front door we go, only to have locked ourselves out of the front entrance. We have to go past the raccoon hide out anyways. Sighing I create a death grip on his leash and drag him past. He is now out cold and I am now contemplating the error of our ways this past week with unrefutable clarity.

Sunshine

Both of us were happy to feel the sun shinning on our faces this afternoon. I think Orion, much like myself, is sick of being indoors. Sick of the grey skies. Sick of the snow piles. It is now, while spring flirts with New England, I'm reminded of how much I enjoy spending summers with Orion--walking to the pond to watch him splash around... not having a set agenda....

Snow melt

The snow piles are dropping low, Orion is a sad panda... more to come..

Blizzard Juno

Well the epic blizzard was anticlimactic but one boy loved playing in the snow plowed piles. Up and down, rolling, digging, jumping, leaping, the boy had no qualms with the single digit temperatures.

Citronella

After the first week of dog training class I walked away (borrowed) the instructor's citronella spray collar to test out on Orion in the car. Tonight was the first test and I have never laughed so hard on a car ride with him. Granted my car and his head now reek of citronella but it was so worth it...

Philosophical conversations

"What do you think? Do you think I'm dying?" I cough loudly.

"Slowly dying..."

I cough again.

"Well I guess when you really think about it we are all slowly dying..."

The boy still sleeps.

Walking surprises

Today was one of those lousy walking days. I was functionally alert in my head all day but the rest of me never woke up. I knew coming home there would be a happy yellow dog looking to play but sadly I'd have to bail on him, exhausted from the day. So, walking in the door, I get the usual enthusiastic loops in and out of my legs and I hook him up to his long lead so that I can sit on the ground while he can go to the bathroom nearest to the parking lot. Then, we both go back up to the apartment, he eats his food and patiently crawls up to join me on the couch for an evening of reading. I couldn't ask to a better end to a challenging day. I couldn't ask for a better best friend to pal around with on a low walking kind of day.

Doggie Day Care Monday

I walk in the door and peek around the corner. I am doing a rapid and quick assessment. Labradors are bouncing at my feet. One yellow one is wiggling his way between my legs while a black one is spinning in circles glancing around for something, anything to put in his mouth to carry over to me. I pat black dog. Yellow dog barks in indignation. I pat yellow dog and give him a kiss on his cheek. So far the kitchen is in tack. My glance in the living room reveals two jars of spagetti sauce I know I put in the recycling the night before, one squished empty can of lentil soup (also in the recycling last night) with a half missing label, and lots and lots of dog fur. I stand up straighter.
"Good job boys!!" I praise.
One can never be sure.
The black lab is stealthy at finding his way into my bed no matter what traps I lay as a deterrents. We're talking two chairs, a fan and a sideways walker (folded up). Stumped. A curtain, a card table, fan, two chairs, walker and couch cushion seems to have prevailed this time so my sheets may make it another few nights.
One day I came home to my bike lock on my bed, slightly frayed but overall in tack. Yay bike lock! Labrador teeth couldn't break you!
As I move into the living room I notice they must have had a pillow fight. Lab 1 verses Lab 2. It is unclear who won but the couch certainly lost. The cushion is half on, half off. Blankets are tangled. Pillows tossed.
The dogs have found a toy and are dragging each other this way and that as they now have an audience to watch.
"Yes, hello boys, aren't you too cute?" I say and flip a cushion up to watch as I relax into my afternoon. Doggie day care, Orion Timothy/Oliver Jackson style. All is good.

(picture from Doggie Day Care Weekend Patrol...)