A couple of months ago when Hobbs was diagnosed with diabetes, another doctor examined him as well, an opthalmologist. She said:

It’s not a matter of “if” he’ll get cataracts, it’s a matter of when. Please keep a close eye on him, as they could form over the weekend. They happen fast.

For the next two months, he was fine. The other day, I noticed that his eyes looked strange. They had the look like when you take a picture of a dog, using a flash. You see the reflection of their retina and it looks white or gray. I hadn’t taken a picture and they looked that way in normal room light. Also, I had noticed that he was having trouble walking with me in the mornings. No trouble in keeping up, but sometimes accidentally crossing my path or not responding when I turned to the left, right into him.

I tried an experiment. I broke off a piece of one of his treats, tossed it to him. He usually catches with aplomb. Hobbs doesn’t miscalculate when a treat is thrown; however, this time, the treat hit him on the nose, bounced off, landed on the floor right in front of him and he couldn’t find it at first. A good amount of sniffing finally yielded the goody.

This afternoon, after taking him out to the bathroom, a bright sunny day, upon re-entering the apartment, he was very hesitant, as the interior was rather dim. He had to trust me to lead him because he couldn’t see where to go. Poor pup. I had been considering that he was hard of hearing as well and was able to confirm that. When I call him, no response. If I call somewhat loudly, he can hear it, but can’t tell from where it comes and looks all around. I have to wave my arms vigorously to get his attention.

Earlier in the afternoon, when I opened the door to the patio because of the nice weather, he went immediately to the threshold of the door, sat down, and enjoyed the bright sunlight. I can only suppose that it made him feel good to be able to see.

This morning, I called to make an appointment for him to see the eye doctor. He has an appointment on December 28th, the earliest he could be seen.

Yeah, it will be an expensive New Year, but well worth it for my buddy. Surgery is next, then the 6 weeks of recovery. I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday, my friend! Hobbs will be 12 on Monday, Halloween here in The U.S. He was born on October 31st, 1999. I actually met him sometime around the middle of December of that same year, after he had been weened from his mother.

I had had a Miniature Schnauzer before and wanted another. I used the same method to pick out Hobbs as I did to pick out Fritz, my previous dog. I walked among the litter and let him choose me. The first little one, male or female, that made a move to investigate me would be the winner. That winner, as you have all come to know, is Hobbs. He was the winner then and has been ever since.

He was always a lively pup. I remember playing chase with him. He would chase Pedro, Tony, or me around the living room, barking and having a good time. Whenever we would run around the couch so that he couldn’t get us, at times, he would just take the shortcut by jumping right over the couch. That gave us no end of amazement, pleasure, and fun. His days of jumping over the couch are long gone. His jumps now end up on the couch; this seems to be a sleep-inducing behavior. He doesn’t seem to be able to make it off of the couch without a nap, even though he’s been told hundreds of times not to get on the couch. Oh well. Age has its privileges and it is just a piece of furniture.

Another sport of his was to chase rabbits and squirrels. As far as that is concerned, he’s probably 0 – 950. He never caught one single rabbit or squirrel, but then again, it wasn’t about the capture, it was always about the chase.

He sleeps a lot now, and occasionally, I’ll hear a dream-state bark or growl. Who knows what he’s dreaming about. I certainly don’t. I’m just glad that he’s still around.

Happy Birthday, pup! No matter how old you get, you’ll still be my ‘pup’!

Things have been a bit off since my visit to Australia. Certainly this had nothing to do with Australia, at least I don’t think so. Since I’ve been walking, the last 18 months or so, I’ve not missed a single week of walking; however, since Australia, there have been more weeks than I care to admit where I walked only once or twice in the week. I could give a hundred excuses as to why, and some of them might sound pretty good, but they’d be excuses nonetheless.

This past weekend, I made it a point to stop offering excuses and get back to walking. I walked 5.5 miles on Saturday and on Sunday. This morning, I did only 4 because I had to come back and get ready for work. The sunrise is at 7:30 now, so I leave around 7:00 … I want to be able to take pictures, too.

Per Monte’s suggestion of yesterday, I put my Canon S90 in my pocket this morning, and set about my walk, intending to take some handheld macro photos, of which this is one of them. The walk is different now, without Hobbs, who cannot even come close to keeping with me and forget about the distance, so he gets his own short, 3 block walk after I’m finished.

As I leaned down to take this picture, I had a number of thoughts about life’s seasons, particularly about Hobbs, remembering when it was painful to take him for a walk when he was young. He was so full of vigor, swagger, and hard headedness, that he was a constant challenge to get under control. Spring.

Later, as he grew older, he became a slightly better listener, could always be out in front of me and give me a serious run for my money. Those were the days when I could take him to the park, let him run in the fields for hours, and then we’d head home, him asleep on the seat of the car. Summer.

Now, he can’t keep up. He’s very easy to manage because he just wants to go out, do his business, come back in, and sleep. I miss him on my walks. Autumn.

I had another thought this morning while I was waiting for him to finish. I let him walk off leash for the most part and he walks very slowly, at his own pace. He ambles. I don’t rush him. I think of the times when I’ve seen younger folks taking care of their aged parents. It does my heart good to see those who are so very patient with the elderly. I feel like that person, now.

In truth, Hobbs is old. He’ll be 12 on October 31st. However, I do believe that he’ll get back some of his energy after he gets stabilized, at least I hope so. He’s a cool guy to have walks, even if he makes it difficult to take photos with his constant pulling to get that nose of his over that interesting smell.

It has been two weeks since Hobbs was diagnosed with diabetes. Today I took him back for his glucose curve. They kept him there for about 8 hours and monitored his blood sugar level.

When we first discovered his illness, his level was 652 mg/dL, normal range being somewhere around 75 – 125 mg/dL. Today, at his first reading, it was 410, later in the day, after the insulin took effect, fully, it dropped down to 265, then rose until 4:00 when it was again over 400. After seeing this, the doctor calculated an increase of insulin of 20%, from 5 units to 6 units. There are 100 units/ml, so, 1 unit is 1/100 of milliliter. Not much at all, so he increased from 5/100 to 6/100. We go back in two weeks for another round of testing.

Hobbs also saw an opthalmolgist to have a look at his eyes. The prognosis was dry eye, or KCS. She prescribed some drops that I have to give him twice a day and hopefully it will stimulate tear production within about a month.

When the aqueous tear production decreases, mixing of the oily and mucin layers occurs producing a thick, yellowish, ropy discharge which clings to the eye.

That description fits it perfectly. He had a bunch of yellow gunk in the corner of his eyes that stuck to his hair and made lots of goobers! That’s my medical definition.

The ophthalmologist did say that it is not a question of “if”, but of “when” that Hobbs will develop cataracts and that he would need surgery to correct the condition. It is better to keep watch so that they can catch it early. So, he has an appointment with her every 3 months to monitor the situation. If surgery is not performed, he will be blind, could develop glaucoma, resulting in pain and the need to take powerful medicine with their own side affects. I guess that I’d better start saving for his cataract surgery. Poor pup.

As I mentioned, we go back in two weeks for more testing. At that time, I am to bring my own One Touch Glucose Meter so that they can use it, get a baseline, then I can do the monitoring myself every 2 or 3 weeks and report the results, saving me an office examination visit, or about $80.

I place all of this info here in the hopes that someone else who may be looking for information for their dog may find it, and find it useful/helpful in caring for their dog.

Today was a long day for Mr. Hobbs. I noticed that for the past couple of weeks, he’s been exceptionally thirsty. His bowl holds about 48 ounces of water, or about 1500 ml, or so. Normally it would take him about 2 days to empty it. This is normal, as the vet says about 1 ounce of water per pound. He weighs in at about 24 pounds (11 Kg), so 48 ounces in two days is about right. Lately, he’s been consuming it at about 4x that rate. Two bowls per day!!! Naturally, this causes him to have to go to the bathroom very frequently.

I had also noticed that his fur was getting wet around his belly and hind legs. At first I thought that he was licking himself a lot, but then didn’t see the truth in that. Upon closer inspection, I found out that he was ‘leaking’. It was urine. He was consuming so much water that his bladder couldn’t hold it. Also, during his walks this week, he was lagging behind considerably after only a block or two. I knew something was very wrong.

This morning, I took him to the vet. I did a walk-in. They saw him right away, did an examination, took blood and urine, and pronounced that he had canine diabetes! His blood sugar level was 652. Normal range for dogs is about 73-123. The doctor referred me to a specialist.

We returned home and waited for the specialist to call. They called about an hour later and set us up for an appointment at 2:30 PM. We took the appointment. Hobbs was a super trooper, trying to ‘regulate’ while he was there, you know, take charge. For such a super duper bad guy, he sure needed some coaxing to go with the doctor when it was time for his exam.

After the exam, the doctor told me that we needed to get him started on his insulin regimen this evening. She prescribed insulin and a special type of canned dog food to mix with his regular food.

When we left, Hobbs, who is usually all excited to jump in the car and search the floorboards for food, simply looked up at me and waited for me to pick him up. He was tired. Too much activity for one day.

We drove home, I dropped him off, filled the prescription, came home, fed him, and gave him his first insulin shot … of many. He’ll need it for the rest of his life. He’s my buddy and I’ll be taking care of him. He’s taken care of me plenty of times when I was down in the dumps. Now, it’s my turn to return the favor!

He’s eaten. His belly is full. He’s taking his nap right now, a much needed nap.

I know that it’s not fair, but why else would you have a dog, other than to blame it for something? Hobbs Did It!

Well, actually, he didn’t. Here’s the story. After our school visit, we had dropped Tony off at his school. We were heading back to Connecticut, but first, I needed to take care of some personal business. I had to ‘go’ bad! and I mean, bad! So, naturally, I thought: I’ll stop at a gas station. I stopped and asked:

Where’s the restroom? The lady said: We don’t have one but we’re working on it. Damn! OK, back into the car. Over across the street, another gas station. I drive across, pull in, ask: Nope. We don’t have one. Something a little stronger than Damn, starting with the letter “F”, but we’ won’t go there right now. Now, I start looking for secluded areas, willing to take it back to nature. My teeth are starting to float and eyes are getting yellow. I’m full up to the top! The lady in the store was helpful and told me that there was a McDonald’s a couple of minutes down the road. I had no time to talk. Seconds mattered.

I took off down the street, trying to drive at a reasonable speed, looking for any restaurant. Any! I didn’t see any. I pulled off on a side street. Time to take it back to nature, baby! By now, my foot was tapping, my kidneys were hurting and I was in danger of imminent loss of control. I had to go NOW! I pulled in a parking lot. Damn, again! A middle school! NO! NO! NO! Forget it. I parked, ran across the street, into a field, out of eyesight of the school, and pretended to be looking for something, back to the school and down the road. Fortunately, school had already let out and everyone was gone, but I was taking no chances. I didn’t want to be seen at all, but there were precious few trees around and fortunately, a very deserted road.

So, I took it back to nature and what a relief it was. Unbelievably, I had to go a couple of more times on the way home and we encountered two more gas stations without facilities. C’mon New Hampshire, get your act together!!! Get some restrooms!

It’s funny now, but it sure was not funny then! As for that yellow snow that was left behind … Hobbs did it!!! Even though he’s never been to New Hampshire … He did it!

What? I am meditating!

Is there anything better than window light? Of course, Hobbs using my meditation mat and re-tasking it for his purpose.

I’ve seen many flash photos taken by those who are exceptionally good with them, but I think that window light beats them every time. I think that it might have to do with the imperfections of the light, perhaps dirt on the window, blinds in the way, whatever. There’s just something special about that light.

And here is Tony on the same day making use of the entire couch. Both shots, Leica M6, Fuji Neopan 400, developed in Rodinal.

To say that Hobbs has an slight aversion to water would be, shall we say, a huge understatement. He accepts it as something to drink. He will stay still long enough to take a short bath, but doesn’t like it, but other than that, water has absolutely no use for him.

On our morning walks, people usually have their sprinkler systems going. Hobbs walks on my left; we always walk the opposite direction of traffic, with him safely away from any traffic, but close to the medians where the sprinklers are. Fortunately for him, most of the sprinklers point inwardly towards the lawns, with the occasional errant sprinkler spraying a bit of water into the street.

Whenever Hobbs spies such an errant sprinkler, he immediate starts a slight slant to the right, wanting nothing to do with that sprinkler. This morning, around 7:25, we were finishing up our walk. We were on the side walk, Hobbs on the left, me on the right, the median to the left. Suddenly, the sprinklers on the median came on. There were 5 of them directly in our path, streams crossing the sidewalk.

At first, I thought that I would go out in the street, avoiding the water, but it was warm and humid and I was sweating. I thought that a nice spray of water would feel pretty good. The streams were starting out at about mid-calf height and shooting upwards. Mind you, this put them right about even with Hobbs’ side. Figuring that he might be a bit hot and bothered, I took us through the stream. LOL! He tried to fight it, but had to take it.

To my credit, I only took him through two of them and let him avoid the other three. It’s just the kind of guy that I am. Well, to add insult to injury, I made him sit and took his picture!

I guess that the title of the post is 1/2 accurate because his right side was still dry; however, all is not loss, the sprinklers come on at 7:25 AM tomorrow … maybe we’ll just happen to be walking by in the other direction! Haha!

Though I did not brave the icy streets in my car, like my friend Earl did on his Winter Tour; I don’t have a four-wheel drive. I did go for a walk this morning with Hobbs, of course. The temperature was about 15° F, but the sun was shining brightly. I did have fun watching Hobbs slip and slide on the ice. I saw him take several nose-first dives to the ice. He’s short, so not to far to go from head to ground.

Today’s forecast called for clear skies, abundant sunshine, and rapidly rising temperatures. They indicated that the temperature would reach into the mid 30′s by about 2:00 PM. It is now 12:05 and the temperature has increased some 21 degrees. It is now 36 degrees outside and rising. I would imagine that it might hit 40.

The neighborhood kids are trying to get their last rides on the sleds. They can go down the street for a while, then they hit the slush and have to push themselves. I would imagine that they have about 30 more minutes. The snow is no longer crunchy, but is glistening a bit.

Hobbs, as usual, is doing his bit to welcome the sun back. He can enjoy himself in any type of weather … except rain! As far as winter goes in these parts, that’s probably a wrap, though old man Winter could drop by for a surprise visit, but who knows.

The other day, I was thinking that it was almost time for our annual snowfall. I went back through my photos of the last few years, looked at the dates of the snowfalls, and determined that the snow would fall sometime between 1/20 and 2/1.

I promptly forgot about it. Yesterday, I looked at the forecast for Charlotte and saw that they were calling for a “Wintery Mix”. In general, this means snow and sleet. As I was riding along the highway yesterday morning, the electronic signage above the highway read: Anti-Icing operations underway. Slow moving traffic possible.

Usually, for whatever reason, the snow seems to skip us, but I was pretty sure that it was coming. After all, I do have four years of photographic data to back my assertion! How’s that for scientific?! I have proof!

And, so it started yesterday around 5:00. Snowflakes so light, so small that you needed a dark background to see them. My wife suggested that I had over to Blockbuster and grab a few movies. I liked the idea, but groaned to myself because I know this area and we all get the same idea at the same time. As I guessed, the line at Blockbuster was pretty darn long. Usually, I end up 2nd or 3rd in line, even if we go by there on a Friday night. Not yesterday. The aisles were crowded and I was number 12 in line. Sigh.

Having successfully secured the movies, making a quick stop at CVS, I headed back home. It was now snowing in earnest and was a little bit disorienting. It has been a while since I’d driven in snow. It wasn’t sticking to the ground, but it was coming down rather fast and blowing directly towards the car. All those little flakes flying towards the windshield were distracting. Rookie!

The wife and I popped in one of the movies and settled down to watch it. Outside, it continued to snow, some of which was now sticking to the grass. In short order, Vera was asleep. I was left watching one of the worst movies that I’d seen in some time! The name of the movie is Fragments, staring Forrest Whitaker. Do yourself a favor … skip it!

So, off to bed we went. At about 3:00 AM this morning, I heard what sounded like an insistent tapping on the window. At first, in the fogginess of my sleep, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Then it came to me, sleet. I got up, looked out of the window and everything was covered in white. Nice, I thought. Hobbs will enjoy that tomorrow morning.

When I awoke at 7:45 this morning, the first thing that we did, Hobbs and I, was to go outside and have a look. It’s hard to say what his favorite things are, as he enjoys so many things that involve running freely. There were no birds to chase, nor salt water to sample, but there was plenty of room to run. As a matter of fact, he took off on one of his adventures and went down the street and around the corner, but he was easy enough to find. Foot prints! So, I quickly forgave him this ‘adventure’.

Now, as I write this, he’s lying on my lap, snoring softly. Too bad I can’t take a picture of it, but I’ll just have to enjoy the moment.