♥️♥️ Grayson

 The best part of Saturday for me was our afternoon walk on the Elder Cedar trail, but Her Highness was not terribly inspired. She sauntered slowly behind me even though I was walking impossibly slowly. I miss the dog she used to be, so I resolved to start half-dosing a day earlier than advised.

When it came time for bed, I was glad to bring an end to the day. I took her for a walk at 9:30 pm, hoping to get her to pee often enough to make it through the night without having to pee on the carpet in the hallway. But Sunday morning, there was a circle of wetness on the carpet that has become her diaper.

Every morning, I put the carpet in the washer, and then I hang it in front of the fire to dry out and it dries quickly. Then back in place it goes for that night’s emergency pee. Sunday morning, we walked our most frequently used trail, at trailhead #6, and she showed signs of her old self. She’d had prednisone earlier in the morning, so I was very happy to see signs of her personality coming back.

Grayson returned at 11:30. My God, he’s a nice man. He is warm and readily smiles; his manner does wonders for my speech. He’s a big guy, like many of the wood workers here on Gabriola, and yesterday he mentioned that my eaves need cleaning and that he’d be happy to clean them. Check! He works hard. When I took him a cup of coffee yesterday at 2:00, there was an impressively huge pile of chopped wood in my shed. I reckon I’ve found the perfect guy for my wood stacking every year.

After giving him the coffee, Sheba and I went for a walk and on our way, we came upon Cynthia, with whom I walk three times a week, and her dog Jake. They were going for a walk with her friend, Shelly, and Shelly’s dog Buddy. Buddy and Jak are two extraordinarily handsome Golden Retrievers. Sheba and I joined them for their walk, and I came home over-the-moon about seeing Sheba’s personality emerging from the fog of prednisone.

Grayson did an amazing job. He chopped probably a cord of wood. Paying him to create a cord of wood costs half of buying a cord of wood. There are two entire trees to buck and split, and there’s another tree’s worth of wood on the ground from the trees that were felled a couple of years ago. 

For Beth: I watched an amazing short series on Britbox last night. It reminded me slightly of Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, another script that stuns with its virtuosity. In both movies, words fly like bullets from automatic weaponry. This show is called Douglas is Cancelled. It’s fucking brilliant and nearly all the weight in the show falls on Karen Gillan and Hugh Bonneville.

It's a total joy ride from start to finish. There’s a supporting cast, all of whom have a lot at stake in the battle between the characters portrayed by the two lead actors. The ending is incredibly clever and deeply, deeply emotionally satisfying if you’re are Feminist at heart. It’s a film you want to force every misogynist to see and understand.

There are only four episodes. That’s my current preferred maximum number of episodes to watch, but I’ll consider going as high as six if it’s really engaging and fulfilling. 

Sheba had a pretty good day yesterday. The difference between the past week and yesterday, was eye contact. We’ve always enjoyed a lot of eye contact every day, but that stopped last week. It makes all the difference in the world to have her glance back. Today will be her second day on a half-dose of prednisone.

This morning, Sheba jumped off the bed at 4:00 am. Against the wishes of every cell in my body, I got up and encouraged her to go outside to pee. While she was outside doing whatever, I checked the diaper/small carpet in the hall, and it was dry! Whoopee! I credit her being on the ½ dose for this break.

It’s brilliant and sunny this morning. Grayson is not coming back today. He needs to get a new chain for his chain saw in Nanaimo, but he plans to come back tomorrow. It’s too bad he can’t work today but tomorrow is predicted to be as glorious a day as we’re having today.

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From a Tweet going viral: 

"My wife asked me why I spoke so softly in our house. I told her I was concerned that someone might be listening. She laughed. I laughed. Siri laughed. Alexa laughed.