Shane passed away Sunday evening. He had a tumor on his heart. We are all devastated.

Yesterday morning Shane was not in a good condition; his eyes had a confused look and he didn’t want to move. Only by putting a small sauce dish of water right by his mouth and moistening his lips was I able to get him to drink a little.

The night before at the vet’s, he hadn’t indicated that he was in any obvious pain, even when we lifted him onto the table. But, after talking with the vet on the phone, we decided to give him pain medicine and Alison and I went over to the office and got both pills and a syringe of pain medicine. Alison injected Shane and within a half hour, his eyes had taken on a warmth and his eyes started pricking up at noises and voices around him.

When Der Bingle got home, Shane actually sat up and followed him into the living room. He lay at his feet for most of the time, covered with what we have come to call the designated healing blanket. (You know how I can’t just lets a thing be a thing – most always there’s some history and or magic to it.) This morning we will start the pain pills and if they aren’t effective, I will be on the phone to the vet again.

The blood tests should be back soon, but they may not tell us anything and could indicate by negative results a neurological problem. So the response to the pain medicine is actually encouraging. We have discovered that although he walks without a limp, albeit carefully, Shane does not want anyone moving one of his paws.

I suspect we will eventually have X-rays of his leg. Right now we are going to attempt to give him one of the pain pills the vet assured me were “really tasty” and dogs liked them. Somehow, I think I will be calling and paying for him to meet me at the clinic for another syringe.

We appreciate all the good thoughts you can muster.

I regret what I wrote just recently; something is wrong with Shane and we don’t know what. Later that night Shane, who usually spends the night on his back with legs in the air on a big leather easy chair whined to go out and then we couldn’t find him. He was stretched out by the car. But he came in.

That following morning we had to go to Fort Wayne and when I got home I fed Shane, but he didn’t eat and I wondered if someone had already fed him. He lay around while I gathered up stuff to go to LaGrange and I thought he was pouting, thinking he wouldn’t go.

He got in the car and then climbed into the backseat and when I got up home, he didn’t jump out and seek varmints; he stayed on the seat while I toted in two or three armloads of things. He still wouldn’t get out and I had to open the door that he was facing to coax him out. He went to the back porch and lay down and he did not get up again until I had called the vet and led him back out to the car. At the vet’s he seemed dazed but stubborn. We muzzled him to get him onto the table and blood was drawn. His temperature was normal, but that was about all.

We decided to give him something to insure the night passed comfortably for him – as far as we could tell. He has been here,at the Kendallville place, not moving. I am going to go lie down on the floor close to him, but I am worried, scared actually. I am thinking I will never complain about being nagged with Wubbas again.

Shane and I are having a bit of a standoff as to the alpha dog in the house. He is on the deck, totally ignoring my commands to come. I am giving him the Evil Eye of Death. Obviously, this is not how to handle this situation. I really doubt a little conversation about him finding his meals and a place to sleep out of the weather is going to be a viable method. So, while one of us is literally digging in, the other one is going to rip the fur off that dog . . . or something. He’d better pray for the “something”. Amazing how emotions can just go wildly out of control.

I am reading one of a series of books and in the last two, the main character has exhibited symptoms, such as dizziness. I CAN’T STAND IT. I am going to do an internet search to see if I can find out what is plaguing him.

That is the mood I am in.

I woke up and thought I had heard Shane indicating that he wanted to go out, but he was not around and so I wondered if I should check this out. I found him upside down in the living room chair – going paws up has an entirely different meaning for Shane. He woke enough to stare at me.

So, okay, I settle back down, only sleep eludes me and I find myself thinking that I’m glad Shane didn’t want out because a couple of nights ago, I think a neighbor animal encountered a skunk near out fence. Ah, but then, he did want out. He’s out there now, with I don’t know what else.

I imagine if I go over and look he will be lying in one of his favorite spots watching over the sheep of the night. It’s comparably warm this night and probably quite comfortable for the furball. However . . . I think it would be a good idea to bring him in, for I am either smelling skunk or imagining it.

Yes, AmeliaJake, do it NOW.

Yesterday I listed a link to Hooked on Houses, and after I did so, I scanned through some of the other posts on that site, including the Worst MLS listings category. And that got me thinking. When I look through magazines featuring nice homes and decorating ideas, I need to have a computer app that will overlay the picture with AmeliaJake clutter and let me see what would happen if I lived there – sort of the opposite of The World Without People, but, in a way, having the same effect. Within a short time, I am certain, everything thing would be covered over with AmeliaJake undergrowth.

I know this because every time I walk into a model home or one of those Showcase Homes, I think. “Where are their things???” It is not funny, but shocking, how much I just don’t see as I walk through the rooms; then I will take a digital picture of something and, believe me, digital pictures highlight everything in the background – unless you do that bokeh thing. I find myself reeling at the . . . ok, I’ll own up and call it “mess” in the background. Gosh, I’ve got a lot of stuff.

So, yesterday, I decided to stream everything down. This could take time if done correctly, so I opted to not do it that way and just went around sweeping things into boxes and, at least, labeling what area of a room the box contained . . . so when I go madly looking for something, I will only have to look in the box where it was last seen. I’m being fairly brutal, sparing only the most necessary catch-all tins until I get my sea legs.

I know, I know. This will give the effect I am a living in a house from which I am boxing up in preparation for a move. But then, that might not be such a bad idea; another option would be to put a movie in the machine, start a fire downstairs and “sort” through the boxes. Of course, there is always the estate sale . . . kill me now.

I’ll have to be supervised while considering some of these options . . .

I came upon a site in which a church policy was to use creative contextualization to enable all people to understand the Bible. A couple of groups were cited: explaining some message to young children as opposed to senior citizens. Now I am wondering exactly what is so difficult about the stealing and false witnessing (lying) part? It’s simple, straight-forward. Also referenced were different eras. Frankly, I cannot understand why it has to be discussed in more relevant terms because we are now in a modern culture.

I mean, lying is wrong. Stealing is wrong.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Am I terribly dense or is does that say just what it means. Just basic Christian values; you know, doing the right thing even though you’d like to have all the chocolate pie for yourself.

I don’t know, but I am considering the idea that anyone who thinks such things need to be explained or made relevant may not be far from justifying doing the wrong thing because times/circumstance/situations are different now.

This has nothing to do with any recent discussions about Christianity I may or may not have had; it has everything to do with my coming across a church website in which core values were outlined. When you use jargon such as creative contextualization, it seems so ironic you’re talking about making things clear. Heavens to Betsey, saying Splitting the Atom is pretty darn clear and that’s talking about nuclear physics. Creative Contextualization seems like the type of phrase you find in the infamous fine print.

Look HERE. It’s the Hooked on Houses website and it is about an Idaho lodge for sale, complete with guest cabins and natural hot springs that heat the house.

I’m not posting a picture that stares me in the face because that would just turn my hazel eyes green every time I logged in here.

I was rummaging through my purse yesterday and found a card for a doctor’s appointment on October 8th. Ack! Ack! Rats! and Drat! That’s this coming Wednesday. Oh, like I really want to go. I didn’t kick the table leg, but I felt like it. A nice little mini-tantrum.

And, if that wasn’t enough drama yesterday, I slipped leaning over the open trunk and smacked my healing ribs into the car’s upper bumper. It wasn’t too bad, but it was a reminder. Maybe I should have just passed that major Stouffer sale up . . . Well, at least it doesn’t take much lifting to put a Salmon and Basil Stouffer entrée into the microwave.

I just looked at the fine print at the bottom of my draft post and now realize my posts are being dated one hour earlier – because, apparently, the Internet thinks I am in an Indiana county that keeps Chicago time. In the past, this would have triggered at Daylight Savings Time in the far western Eastern Time Zone. Today, you get a sigh.

Oddly interestedly is that one of those old posts – Fast Time/Slow Time – attracts weird commentors and periodically I have to trash them. The English used is not natural and the comment usually invites me to view some website, which I do not do.

Rose says I’m boring her, so, okay, see ya later.