Poor Ramen

Many years ago there was a woman on tv who was a pet psychic. Nerdstar loved that show. She has always wanted to be able to "talk" with the pets. She's been worried about Ramen since the cats died, and since we've had Noah. He has seemed a little less energetic.

We've been reading John Katz for several years. I don't envy his life on the farm only because he really conveys how much hard work it is. Nerdstar has always wanted lots of animals around.

Anyway, he has recently written about Jeannie, a pet psychic he knows and is working with, one animal at a time. We figured if he trusted her, it was worth giving a try.

Yesterday, we spoke with her on the phone for about 30 minutes. Apparently, we've bored Ramen to death. He kept showing her that he really wants to be outdoors more, to have more walks and to be able to even run around off leash sometimes. He's a dog's dog and wants more of a dog's life - outside running around and smelling things. The back yard is nice, but he wishes we were outside with him more. She said that even though he's 13 years old, he feels like he's 3. If we can provide more outdoor, walking, running time, he'll really "come back to life".

He's not upset about the cats not being around. We knew they weren't close. And he's fine with Noah being here.

He said he listens to me more than Nerdstar because I'm more clear and direct, and it makes him feel safer. So she's going to work on that and on taking him for more walks. We pretty much stopped walking him once we got the back yard for him.

There are a few problems with the off leash dog parks in our area. They're not all that close to where we live. They're in the process of setting up one in our area, but that's still months away. The bigger problem is they don't allow kids under 9 or 10 in with the dogs. And while I understand that - it's a pain in the butt to not be able to let them both run around in the same area.

It's a shame we're finding this out right as the cold weather is setting in. We'll do what we can until it warms up and then hopefully really find him some areas and times to be a dog.

We feel like she had some basic but good insight into Ramen, so it was cool.

Noah and Ramen

Life has certainly gotten much more frustrating for our poor, old (he's 12) Ramen dog now that Noah is mobile.

Noah has always loved Ramen, has watched him all the time, loves his fluffy tail.

Ramen loves me. He's always where I am. This now poses a problem because while Ramen could simply go sleep in another room, he won't. That means Noah can now inch worm his way over to Ramen all the time and pet his feet, or try to pet his tail and end up pulling it. Noah is mostly very gentle with Ramen, but baby hands tend to grab things and not let go.

Me, well, after spending so many years telling Ramen to "Move" all damn day to get him out of my way when trying to walk anywhere in the house, I'm kind of enjoying Ramen's new problem of having to get up and move about six feet across the room every so often.

Thankfully, Ramen is a gentle, patient dog with Noah.

Pics

Here are pics of Silly and Little Man and Ramen. Sorry about the first pic :-)

Silly cat

Took our girl cat to the veterinary internist this morning, hoping that he'll find out what is wrong with her and help to cure it. (Caption: Silly is the cat on the right.)

She had been losing a lot of weight but all of her tests were normal, barring a case of anemia.

Turned out she had a serious case of stomach cancer, even the ultrasound took a lot out of her, she was that weak. The vet said she was much too weak to undergo any sort of treatment, he recommended putting her to sleep. We were going to say goodbye to her before she was put to sleep later on this afternoon. However the vet called back and told us that she wouldn't even make it that long. So we consented and will pick up her ashes at a later date.

I never thought that we'd never see her again, not like this, but it's a lot better for her to be out of her suffering sooner than later.

I wasn't there for all of her 14 years, but I was there for almost 12 of it. You were one of the smartest cats that I've even seen, and not only that, you were able to put Little Man (our boy cat) and Ramen dog in line, something that I'm still not able to do to this day. You laid close to my belly when I was pregnant with Noah Maxx, as if to try to hear him, and you've made sure that we woke up for Noah Maxx's feedings in case we didn't promptly hop off of our bed to go and feed him. I'll also miss doing your butt rubs, and I hope you'll be off to a place where that's plentiful, plus flowing fountains filled with ranch dressing (your favorite flavor).

We'll miss you a lot... it'll not be the same without you.

RIP Silly aka Queen Silly Butt

You were with me for almost 14 years. I found you at a little family farm outside Austin. You fit in the palm of my hand, but you were all tough and feisty. I said you were silly - and it stuck. Not one day of your life were you ever actually silly - which led to us calling you Queen Silly Butt.

You moved with us all around the country. When we brought home Little Man, you hit him upside the head right off the bat, and although he was twice your size, he never messed with you.

Then we did the ultimate in evil and brought home a dog. You didn't like him much either.

I'm sorry you got sick and we couldn't get you better. We're going to miss you a lot.

Juicy and Tender

While eating dinner the other night, Ramen dog was lying there in his usual "I'm so miserable" way. Nerdstar told him that very soon he'd have a new playmate that was - and I quote "juicy and tender."

I let that sink in and then told her she'd basically just told Ramen that Noah Maxx was a nice steak we'd be bringing home for him.

Today we were still laughing about it and I finally asked just what she meant by juicy. She said it had to do with him being all drooling and leaky.

Life With Pets

Back on my old blog, we had a pets category. Might as well continue the tradition.

It's July 4th weekend, which means there will be fireworks/firecrackers going off for a few nights. Ramen's not a big fan of loud noises, and hates fireworks. We're even close enough to Quantico, that when they have big booms going off over there all day, he hates that.

So, tonight he went and jumped in the bathtub to stay safe. I explained that we're not in a tornado, so the tub might not help much.


He also loves to lay around with his head up against something, or in corners. I was going to try to take several different pics of him in different positions, but he hates having his picture taken, so it's been kinda hard. This one is a pretty good example.


And our dear Little Man, dumb as dirt - or as we like to call him - very Zen. Dude can hunt, though. Apparently he's ran out of moles in the backyard and has moved on to little frogs. What's funny is, he just catches them, brings them in, and drops them. He'd already lost interest in this one.

That would be fine, except that the next one he brought in at 4 a.m. and dropped for Ramen to find and play with - which naturally woke us up.

Life with pets, we call them our 3 ring circus. And now it's soon to be a 4 ring circus!

Handsome and Naked!

Nope, not Noah Maxx (although I'm sure he is!!)

It's Ramen dog: