Doing his best to look pathetic...........

"Each night I ask the stars without fail..why must I be a good beagle in jail" With apologies to Dion and the Belmonts, this must be going through Ripley's beagle brain, as he is following his doctors orders to stay calm and heal from his recent back surgery. That doesn't mean he likes this, but it is going to be his fate for the next two weeks until he goes back to Critical Care & Veterinary Specialists of Sarasota, where his doctor Anne Elizabeth Chauvet has given him the absolutely best care and love. We can't say enough about this practice, but what we can say is "it's the absolute top place to take a pet for critical care".

Ripley, however, being the object of Dr. Anne's neurosurgery is less enthusiastic about his current predicament, where he is very restricted in his usual ability to run, jump and climb things. For the next fortnight, he only gets to come out to go out, and for several applications of cold compresses on his back, with plenty of tactile attention. When he came home, they sent not only great instructions on his recovery care, but a great CD explaining in civilian terms all about his issues, which unscientifically might be called a crushed disc.

In med speak, he had a Hemilaminectomy level 1 L1-2 left, and Fenestration T12-13 to L3-4., following an MRI. Now, I'm sort of a car guy, and I know what a Hemi is, and I also learned long ago that the word "defenestration" was from the Latin 'fenestra' or window, and is defined by Webster as "An act of throwing something or someone out of a window". The stock market crash of the late 1920's featured a lot of defenestrations, but recent markets not so much - the windows on Wall Street don't open anymore.

I know Ripley was not thrown out of a window, because the care he got was very special, so maybe I need to ask Dr. Anne when we take him back in two weeks for a check up. Until then, we'll have to explain it with that wonderful phrase ' je ne sais quoi'.

Stay tuned to these blog pages for Ripley updates.

Ripley and his love for veternarians

My wife and I just returned from visiting Ripley Wild at the Critical Care and Veterinary Specialists of Sarasota LLC. This was his second surgery in under a month - you'll recall the "peach pit" incident from prior blog entries.

This time, Ripley had what I think was identified as a crushed disc in his back, which we believe happened a week ago when he was with his girlfriend Bonnie, the young West Highland Terrier. We've warned Ripley about younger women, and how you don't want to rough-house too much, but he didn't listen apparently. We humans were in the other room, while Rip and Bon-bon were chasing each other. We heard a loud YELP from Ripley, but have no idea what he ran into, but clearly he hit something. We took him to our vet, who recommended Dr. Anne Elizabeth Chauvet, DVM/DACVIM - Neurology. She's not only a specialist, but like most animal doctors, she's very special to her patients. She and her partner Dr. Schneider, took good care of our boy, and from the report following surgery, Ripley will have a full recovery and no more pain. We can go pick him up tomorrow she thought.

When he walked into the room under his own power (just a few hours following the procedure) he came straight into my arms. There is no better feeling for this "doggy daddy" to hold his baby beagle boy close, after too many nights without him, and before that almost a week of hope that this could be resolved with muscle relaxants and rest. The surgery wasn't inexpensive, but at my age I'd rather have a happy dog than a 40th anniversary cruise. The dog is never mad at me, while I give my wife plenty of excuses to shove me overboard. I don't have to lock my wife AND my dog in the trunk for an hour, come back, and see which one is mad at me - I know the dog would still be happy to see me.

So, tomorrow we'll go fish out the Royal Caribbean VISA card, and add several thousand worth of future cruise points, and hope September is a slow month in the life of our fast little beagle. I suspect his instruction for plenty of bed rest and only trips outside to do his business will keep him out of trouble. I've told him, no more unsupervised play with Bonnie, and perhaps he should trade her in for an older, more refined French Poodle. His doctor is French, and he seems very taken with her. An international love story - American boy meets Scottish lassie, ends up in the hospital and is nursed back to health by a lovely French woman - let's make a short story out of this and sell it to The New Barker magazine. Who knows, maybe Animal Planet will pick up the option.

Will report again after we pick him up at the hospital, with the certainty that there'll be lots more pain killers in the medicine cabinet. Wonder how "Doggie Darvon" works on 200 pound males? I'm in pain without my boy around to love.

(FRIDAY UPDATE) Rip came home today, and is resting comfortably in his crate. We have a very complete set of instructions to follow, and will be keeping him calm for a fortnight.

Setting the "way back machine" to the late 60's

Of late, I've found myself thinking of my time in Europe spending my misbegotten youth behind a microphone and next to a couple of turntables. It's been a trip down memory lane, amplified by my I-pod getting a cash infusion in the form of a gift card, and my own Pandora internet radio (playing in my ears as I compose this). Bryan Hyland's "Sealed with a Kiss" playing right now, as a matter of fact.

Those familiar with Jay Ward and The Adventures of Rocket J. ("Rocky") Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose will also remember Mr. Peabody and Sherman - hence the reference to the "way back machine". If only time travel were possible, one wonders how you'd change things.

But it's not, right?........but then again I never thought the "replicator" on Star Trek was really possible until I recently saw a video of an incredible 3D printer (see this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SboxMsSz5Aw&feature=player_embedded ). If that doesn't work, just google 3D Printer. Now that we've established the future is now, back to the story.

So, there I was adding stuff to my I-pod, and probably driving my wife crazy as she likes peace and quiet more than listening to me rock out in the other room, but the funny thing is that of late my tastes have mellowed. No longer content to just listen to the Beach Boys, Eagles and the Mamas and Papas, I've been adding Neil Sedaka and Bobby Darin and (OMG) Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. Yes, just shoot me - Bette Midler, Streisand and Cher ("Believe" and "Turn Back Time") are revealing I'm getting dangerously close to my "feminine side". Anybody got a vial of testosterone? I may need a shot soon.

Now, before you think I've switched teams (sorry, guys), I'm also rocking out to Jefferson Starship ("We Built This City") and Katrina and the Waves ("Walking on Sunshine"), and Timbuk 3 doing "Future's So Bright". I've done both sides of Madonna with "Material Girl" as well as "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina". Olivia Newton John's "Physical" and Sheryl Crow's "All I Want To Do" also reside on my I-pod. Oh, can't forget Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To......" so maybe I better end this and go bitch slap myself back to that place where I was just enjoying myself playing those car songs and being "Footloose", where life was a whole lot simpler and I was just another pretty face behind the microphone. I still remember my buddies telling me "you have a face for radio". Of course, the best part of being on radio - and especially in Stuttgart where I was the only USAF guy on an Army facility - was that military haircuts were easily ditched. If they couldn't see you, they couldn't catch you. You'll note my non-military locks as I boarded a boat in Amsterdam on R&R ("rock and roll, naturally).

Forty years later, I still find myself asking "Does Anybody REALLY Know What Time It Is?" and I guess the answer is "it's my time". So, signing off from station WILD, and breaking on through to the other side. Be sure to close the Doors behind you.

Kiwanis Scholarship Breakfast

This morning, at our weekly Kiwanis meeting, we recognized 17 of 21 recent scholarship recipients. They joined 27 of our members, to accept awards of $1,000 (technical school) and $1750 (four year traditional school) each. With their guests, we fed 57 people a wonderful meal prepared by the Longboat Key Club and served at The Grille, where we meet every Thursday of the world except Thanksgiving. I filmed the crowd, as we stood in anticipation of our opening with remarks by this year's President, Bob Gault. Next October, it'll be my turn in the barrel as they say.

Kiwanis has been part of my retirement life since 2004, and a source of meeting many great people on our island. The club has 51 or 52 members (you'd think I'd know, being the current secretary) of which half are "snow-birds" and live here primarily for only four or five months.

We squeeze a lot of activities into those four or five months, from November through March, and then go back to falling asleep into our oatmeal bowl for the rest of the year. OK, not that bad, but clearly we need to get more full time members enrolled. To be certain, we all seem to enjoy each other's company, sing songs, play games of chance to benefit charities, and talk about our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The pictures above (which I've never figured out how to "center" on blogger) are of Jim Burmeister, who will follow me in October of 2012 as President. He's seen getting an omelet prepared - food was wonderful, as usual. The fellow with the small child (a winner's 2 year old) playing hide and seek is Bob Gault - this years President with only five more meetings to run.

The other handsome fellow is Weldon Frost, who led the group who evaluated over 50 applicants to find 21 most deserving. Next year we hope to help more.

All the recipients came up, spoke a bit about their lives and more important their educational dreams. A great morning for them, and a very satisfying experience for our members present.

No Show here, only Tell

This post is about shampoo - Synergy Lab "Ultra Oatmeal Moisturizing Shampoo". It contains Silk Protein, DL-Panthenol, Glycerin & Pomegranate. Pretty fancy huh? It also has as an ingredient Natural Colloidal Oatmeal, and Fragrance. On the front of the plastic bottle is the picture of a butterfly (in French). Where did I get this wonderful shampoo? Not Victoria's secret, nor a high end cosmetics counter. I got it at the Pet Store, and the "butterfly" was a Papillon dog.

Yes, after weeks of going without a bath (having stitches which came out Friday), Ripley needed a bath. He was rank, and I'm talking smell beyond normal dog. Ripley does not like baths (what little boy does?) but he's very stoic about showering with his dad. So, before it was time to Frontline him again, he needed more than a rinse with the hose.

I've learned that Ripley will tolerate the shower, and it does contain him very well. Our showers all have seating, so we park him on the granite bench and re-direct the flow of water to fall upon his back. He allows you to lather him up, and then rinse him off, without complaint. He is, after all, a very good boy. Afterward, he is towel dried amidst the usual animated shake that dogs do when wet. Then, opening the door, he runs to his favorite rug on the floor and pushes himself sideways across it to dry further.

Oh yes, in a pinch, that dog shampoo works well with humans too. The only side effect was that desire to roll around on the floor afterward. What, you expected pictures of us in the shower? Hey! This is a family blog after all. Ripley gets enough exposure anyway, and he always has a fur coat on. I may be a politician, but I'm no Anthony Weiner. Some pictures you just don't post online, let alone let them be taken. But, damn - I smell like pomegranate and that's not all bad.

Rock and roll Ripley

Ripley went to the Vet and was given a good progress report, and will have his stitches taken out on the 12th of August. It will end the days of wearing the "cone of shame" and later the terrible toga he decided was better than the plastic cone. The toga, actually an old top of Elizabeth's, served to keep the stitches in his belly clear of outside agitation. This was our version of buying a child's shirt at the Dollar Store, as suggested by Laurie at the Vets office. She also suggested a spray called "Bitter Apple" which, when applied, left a very bad taste in his mouth as a dissuader to licking the stitches, or worse yet chewing at them. We didn't want to see his intestines fall out if he succeeded, and certainly didn't want another $1,000 bill at the canine emergency ward.

Ripley is OK with the spray, which may impact him only if he licks himself where it's been employed. We try to keep the area small, just covering the stitches. However, he seems to think he can roll around and unburden himself of this "medicine", and thus we'd see him run in circles and rub his nose on the carpet. There's no rhyme or reason, it's just that he's a dog.

If I were better at using this upload facility, I'd post .58 seconds of Ripley running around like a crazy person, but apparently my Apple (as opposed to Ripley's "Bitter Apple") doesn't seem to have a correct format. More likely, I don't understand its format, but suffice to say Ripley is pretty darn funny when he gets the crazies, but for most of the past several weeks and especially since the surgery, he's only had flashes of crazy amidst hours of sonorous slumber.

Imperial Beagle, Ripperius Magnus

TOGA, TOGA, TOGA - well, that beats diaper, diaper, diaper.

Anything to avoid the dreaded "cone of shame" (see inset picture with clear cone) that Ripley hated wearing to keep him from chewing on his stitches. When we left the vets office last Thursday, following the invasive surgery required to remove the peach pit that went down way too quickly. However, it came out slowly and expensively with the help of two veterinarians and perhaps several technicians, AND he had to wear the "cone of shame". He didn't like it and he ran into things (a clearance issue); he couldn't scratch his ear, he couldn't sniff stuff on the ground, and for a beagle that was the worst form of punishment - the inability to sniff things on the ground. So, when he went back on Saturday morning, the vet tech suggested a small shirt and a spray of Bitter Apple, which we bought at the nearby pet store.

He also had not been able to use his crate, as the cone would not allow him to go through the gate. Two nights of him in our bed wearing the "cone of shame" were not fun, for Ripley or for us. The "toga" is one of Elizabeth's old sleeveless tank tops, slit up the back (along his spine), and using a twist tie at the shoulders to gather it up. Where it's slit, we then tie the two sides and this covers his stitches. A squirt of bitter apple spray further discourages licking that area.

Ripley is on a prescription diet ("I.D."), and he eats this wet canned dog food four times a day, with a quarter can every four hours (8, Noon, 4 and 8). He's also on three meds, in addition to the four meals. Neosporin on the wound whenever we can get him to sit still (not easy). He's somewhat lethargic in the morning (his pain meds are also administered in the morning), but by noon he perks up.

And aside from the fact he's not drinking any water, we can add a bit of water to the wet dog food, and he will lick an ice cube I hold in my palm. He's getting enough to pee, and today I discovered a new trick - I let him taste my fat free milk in the glass I use to take MY pills, and then quickly withdraw it and water it down a lot - it's still milky in color and he finishes it.

Maybe water is the next challenge to overcome, but he's doing fine on processing the dog food through his system. Too bad he couldn't process the peach pit as well. So no more "cone of shame", and he's now known as "Toga Boy" around the neighborhood.