Scotch, Pain Meds, and the Happy Husky

Now that the leftovers have been put away and the guests have departed; the house is clean and the remainder of the weekend is open for rest and relaxation; it is a good time to sit and reflect on all for which I should be thankful. 

I am thankful that George, aka The Big Fuzzy Rock, once again chose Thanksgiving week to have a near death experience.   Last year on the day before Thanksgiving, The Boss awoke to find that our living room looked like a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie.  She found George sitting next to the kitchen door, wagging his tail. His head had exploded.  A week ago Friday, the Husky decided that the arthritis in his hips was too much to live with, so he stopped eating and drinking.  Of course, every vet in the two state area was double booked and couldn’t squeeze him into their schedule.

I am thankful that Major Havoc’s den leader chose the weekend before Thanksgiving to host a campout.  It’s not like we needed that weekend to clean the house or shop for groceries or anything. He also failed to heed my advice to bring a chainsaw, preferring two bow saws to carve up our fire wood.   As the temperature dropped he discovered that his saws were very good at scoring wood.  I had to fight hard to convince both him and my oldest son (their Life Scout Den Chief) that if his scouts wished to remain warm, we would need a pile of wood the size of a water buffalo.  They were content with a pile of wood the size of a chipmunk.

I am grateful for the two old ladies with the chainsaw who agreed to cut wood for us in exchange for our loading their pick-up with their cut wood.  Nothing teaches manliness to young boys on the cusp of manhood more than asking a couple of women to cut fire wood for them.   The only thing missing to prepare them for marriage was a can of Schlitz for each boy and a NASCAR race on TV.  They would have learned how to yell, “Can you turn down the chainsaw?  I can’t hear the race. And bring me a sandwich!”

I am grateful for the roofing nail that lodged itself in the right rear tire of my van last Sunday.  I needed a flat tire that afternoon. 

I am also grateful that my garbage disposal chose last Sunday to quit working.  Right after the warranty expired.

I am grateful that the employees at Walmart were able to fix my flat.  For free.   This came after a near smack-down between three employees as they argued over a tread gauge in an attempt to determine whether or not there was enough remaining tread on the tire to legally repair the flat.   As I waited their decision, Captain Chaos turned pirouettes next to me and repeatedly asked, “Can we go see the video games now?”   Once the thumbs-up was given to the repair and a team of computer technicians recovered my maintenance records, we were good to go. 

I am grateful that our vet treated George last Monday.  She gave us pain meds for his arthritis.  By Thursday he was wobbling, eating (after I poured turkey gravy on his food), and drinking, although I’m not certain Scotch is the best thing to wash down pain killers.  If he can live on narcotics for his remaining time on earth he’ll do alright.  

I am grateful that God has brought me to a place in life were these events were something to take in stride with humor rather than get upset or experience stress.  And we were able to maintain our homeschooling schedule through it all.

Blessings to you all.

Have a good weekend.