Close to Nowhere

Yes, I am too old for this. “This” is the new puppy at our house.

I’ve been seriously looking for a new puppy for about a month or so now. My pomeranian Foxie was very lonely after Mr. Bean, my mini-schnauzer and her companion of about 10 years, died this summer. Bean was 14 and Foxie was about 10, maybe 11 years old. Old dogs, old lady, kinda worked out.

Foxie had been depressed and hiding a lot since Bean was gone. About the middle of last week, she became very tired and wouldn’t eat scraps. Not eating dog food was not unusual, but not eating scraps was a crisis situation.

She’d had seizures her entire life and she had several last week. The one she had Friday morning was the last one her poor little body had to endure, as she just laid down in her favorite hiding spot and passed away.

Now, I’m still grieving for Mr. Bean. Foxie’s death has hit me pretty hard and I’m still leaking a lot most of the time.

But, I had found Foxie a puppy, so Friday, we buried Foxie and then I went and picked up her puppy.

The puppy is already bigger, at six weeks, than Foxie and maybe Bean put together. Foxie weighed about eight pounds, Bean about 12 and the new puppy weighs about 20.

She’s a beautiful thing, a solid black, (except for a few white hairs on her chest) German shepherd. Her mom, whom I’m told is the smart one, is a regular looking, pretty shepherd. Her dad, stunningly beautiful, but apparently not real bright, according to his owner, is also solid black,

The new puppy, tentatively named Riva, is bright, bubbly and very energetic. I’m too old for her.

Felix, my solid black cat who came to me from the humane society, is an old guy, about seven or eight now. I’ve had him a year or two. He’d just gotten to where he could tolerate being in the room with Bean and Foxie. Foxie wanted to be friends with him badly, but Felix was having none of that.

Fortunately for Riva, Felix’s previous owner had him declawed. I won’t bore you with my opinion on that, but...

Riva bit Felix’s tail this morning. The only possible way to describe the result is — all hell broke loose.

I don’t know how it’s going to work — an old cat, an old lady and a brand new puppy.

Probably, the above result is going to be ongoing at our house...