Linda Lee, you have been heard

At the end of my last post, Linda Lee (yes, of the Colorado Lees) asked about our puppy and health care system.  I will gleefully respond after a desultory paragraph on Trump.

I will miss Scarmucci.  He was looking more and more like a character from Guys and Dolls.  I was amused that Aging Orange thanked a group of 12 to 18-year-old boys for voting for him, but appalled by the rest of his Jamboree speech — and a tad unsettled by the Scouts’ reactions.  They had been reminded to be courteous (Point 5 of their Law) and they were being obedient (Point 7), but many were booing the mention of Obama and Hilary.  That ain’t right.  Does Trump think he has to blow up every American institution?

The last three days we have been sweltering in the massive heat wave baking western Oregon and Washington.  I hasten to add that that’s Canadian sweltering.  As Portland and Eugene hit triple digits F., and Olympia and Seattle broke into the mid-90’s, our farm topped out at 30 C. (86 F.) the last two days.

Today at 4 p.m., it’s 25 (76), but at the expense of others.  The extreme weather is pushing the smoke from the forest fires in the B.C. interior toward the ocean.  So, even though we are hundreds of miles from the hundreds of fires, our sky is quite hazy and the sun looks like this:

The ground looks like this:

The puppies.  In May of last year, Jude and I had to put down our beloved Slinkee.  She was Queen of the Farm, one of a kind.  We wanted to mourn her properly, so we weren’t in any hurry to consider another pet.  Then she walked into our lives:

The dog of a friend had just produced a beguiling litter.  Mom is border collie and lab, with a wolf in the woodpile.  Dad is black lab and Rottweiler.  We brought Katoo home for a brief visit, then could barely wait until she was weaned.  At first she was a pain in the neck.  Literally.  For several weeks we had to sleep with our arms over our faces due to her middle-of-the-night romps.

We all got through it, of course.  Now she’s a sweetheart, though her wolfiness gives her a wild streak we may never contain.  She recently gave me the wolf look when I tried to take a dead mouse from her.

Then he walked into our lives:

Tooka is Katoo’s half-brother.  Papa was a rolling stone, but we’re guessing German shepherd.  At just over six months old, he already outweighs Katoo by ten pounds or so.  He, too, has the wolfy wild streak.  Right now, for example.  We can’t get him to come inside, and we can’t catch him.  It’s those difficult adolescent months.

But between those bursts of testosterone, he shows tremendous sweetheart potential.  Katoo has been a very patient big sister.  They play together (though roughly) well.

And they rest together well.

Jude and I hope they stay friends for a very long time.

Linda, this post got a bit out of control, but I promise you the very next one will be about health care.  I want to do it right.  I’m going to describe it as a consumer, and Jude, who recently retired as a nurse, will describe it as a provider.