Monday Trip to Uncle Todd

We call our vet Uncle Todd..... at least that's how we refer to him around our dog Gracie. "Come on, Gracie, we're going to see Uncle Todd.....!" --- and poor Gracie jumps in the car thinking we're going to the park or out visiting.

Our vet is absolutely wonderful, and he's one of our friends who has been to our Charades parties and Christmas parties with his wife. And wonder of wonders, this amazing man even makes house calls for people who can't get their pets to his office, or have too many pets to transport to his clinic, or have cats (like Rusty) who just get too sick during car rides. (Not even our own medical doctor makes house calls. What is wrong with that picture?)

So off to Uncle Todd we went with Gracie today. I swear, as soon as my husband opened the door to Todd's clinic, Gracie turned herself around and started to walk back towards the car. No offense meant to Todd, because Gracie clearly likes and trusts him, but she's a smart dog and knows that sometimes a visit to that clinic isn't exactly a walk in the park, if you'll pardon the pun.

And today wasn't good news for Gracie. Not altogether bad, but not what we wanted to hear. My husband noticed a lump on Gracie's right side, near her chest. He found it over the weekend and wanted to get it looked at right away. Todd took some fluid from the lump (as I stood there watching the wall because I couldn't look at the needle going into her). From what he could tell under the microscope, the fluid is either fatty tissue or the beginning of cells that could turn into cancer. He said he's 75% sure that it's just fatty tissue, but being that the lump is small and not yet attached to muscle or organs, he gave us the option of leaving it alone or having it taken out.

My husband looked at me and I told him the decision was his to make. Being that Gracie has to have her teeth cleaned and will be put under anesthesia for that, he opted to have Todd remove the lump as well. All this will be done this week, on Thursday. We'll have to get Gracie to his office very early in the morning and leave her there till after four o'clock that afternoon.

We've had Gracie's teeth cleaned before, and when I went to pick her up the first time, poor Gracie was still groggy from the anesthesia. I swear it was the saddest thing to see and I've never forgotten how disoriented she looked when I picked her up that day. My husband was out of town for that adventure, but he's home for this one and I don't know who will be more upset on Thursday.... my husband or Gracie.


While I was walking Gracie after dinner tonight, I saw our neighbor V walking along the GreenBelt in the park. She was walking her dog and had his leash in one hand and the biggest bunch of weeds in her other hand. Of course I couldn't resist, so I walked towards her and said "Now don't tell me you've been pulling up weeds in the park?"

V looked at me and said there's no place for her to hide from me when she has weeds in her hand. She told me that her daughter's car had a parking ticket on it this morning. "Right in front of our house... a parking ticket.... just because she was parked the wrong way on the street..... someone was probably robbing a Stop & Go, but that policeman gave my daughter's car a ticket...."

I told V that the same thing happened to my husband's car a while back..... and when it did, we told all our neighbors to make sure their cars were parked the right way on the road. V said she didn't remember us telling her that. I assured her that we did....... and told her "Well, no wonder you're pulling up weeds again!"

V told me that her having to go to the park for weeds was the fault of my gardener who didn't save any weeds for her when he cleaned out my front flowerbeds. You have to know V to understand that this makes perfect sense to her.

The number of steps on my pedometer tonight is 12,705. It's just about 11:00, and my night is not yet over. I still have to go out on the porch and play with Mickey Kitty for a little while so he'll settle down and go to sleep. And Gracie has to go outside on the lawn for a minute or two before she goes on her blanket for the night.

Speaking of Mickey Kitty, our vet asked me this afternoon if we had found him a home or were we keeping him. Silly man....... did he really think that this little kitten could come into our home for a week and then be given away? Kittens have a way of letting you see everything with new eyes, even if the things you're looking at have been around for years. Mickey Kitty absolutely loves my black sandals with the rhinestone flowers on the toes. I usually wear these shoes around the house, and when Mickey Kitty sees them, he curls his little head up on the toes of these shoes and rubs his nose on the tiny rhinestones that are on the petals of the flowers.

AngelBoy also loves these shoes. Come to think of it, he does the same thing-- rubs his nose on the rhinestone-covered flower petals. AngelBoy has been sleeping out on the screen-porch with Mickey Kitty these last couple of days. Oh goodie........ now I'll have two cats who are fashion critics.