Clancy died today, at around 1:30 or so in the afternoon, in East Greenwich. We understand that it was not painful, that he did not suffer, and that there was nothing anyone could have done.
He’s gone.
I miss him already.
Monthly Archive for August, 2005
Yea, I gave in to the wordpress monster. It’s really quite hot. I’ll tweak it out this week. Also, need to find out a way to mass edit the dates of all the old posts…
Nature’s first green is gold,
bq. Her hardest hue to hold.
bq. Her early leaf’s a flower;
bq. But only so an hour.
bq. Then leaf subsides to leaf.
bq. So Eden sank to grief,
bq. So dawn goes down to day.
bq. Nothing gold can stay.
bq. Robert Frost
It’s been beautiful, the last few days. Perfect temperature, perfect light.
For those that care (and how could you not), Clancy, apparently, did really well in his operation. He’ll be coming home later in the week.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…
Thanks for the kind comments and emails (including those from total strangers). So here’s the deal: last night Clancy finally had his ultrasound, where they apparently saw that:
- He does have a tumor on his spleen.
- It is cancerous.
- It hasn’t spread to his lungs or any other organs (they don’t think).
- They have to operate immediately (today, Tuesday, this afternoon).
- If all goes well, he should be fine for a while. How long a while is, no one can tell me…
My best buddy, one of my oldest friends and companions, a constant presence in my life for the last nearly 11 years, is sick. He’s not eating, and we just found out he’s got a tumor on his spleen. It could be just a benign growth. He’s had those before. Or it could be cancerous. We find out Monday when he goes to have an ultrasound. If it hasn’t spread, then it can be removed (albeit by a relatively painful surgery). If it has spread, possibly to his lungs or God knows where else, then… well, it’s really wouldn’t be a good situation.
I don’t care what god or gods you believe in. I don’t care what you think the universe’s higher powers should prioritize. I don’t care that there are other, massive, depressing human problems out there. Those all deserve our attention and thought, and they deserve to be solved and addressed.
But just do me a favor and, while you’re earnestly hoping away that all those other problems get solved, toss one up to the big beings in the sky that my dog lives, and lives well.
I just don’t want him to go.
Seeing as I’m off to Martha’s Vineyard for 4ish days on Friday, I thought it totally fitting that this was part of an ad series on NYTimes.com. I’ll have slightly more than 36 hours, but I will also have 2 people that live there and one who’s spent the summer there to guide me around.
I thought this was clever:
The newswires have reported that the French Government has announced that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide”.
The only 2 higher levels in France are “Surrender” and “Collaborate”. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire which destroyed France’s White Flag factory, effectively disabling their military.
The Italians have increased their alert level from “shout loudly and excitedly” to “elaborate military posturing”. Two more levels remain, “ineffective combat operations” and “change sides”.
The Germans also increased their alert state from “disdainful
arrogance” to “dress in uniform and sing marching songs”. They have 2 higher states, “invade a neighbour” and “lose”.
Seeing this reaction in Europe, the Americans have gone from
“isolationism” to “find somewhere else in the Middle East ripe for
regime change”. Their remaining levels are “take on the world” and “ask the Brits for help”.