Vet Time

She Used to Be Able to Stretch her Legs Out in This Box

Buddy the Wonder Pooch had a very interesting day yesterday. I brought him in and the vet quickly determined that he had an abscessed tooth that will require extraction which probably led to the fever he had as well as the swollen face. That wouldn’t have been too bad (expensive) except she also noted some troubling results from her examination, especially around his liver. She recommended an X-ray and a couple of other tests which more than doubled the bill. If you read this blog at all you know how much I value my canine partner in crime but I’m also not one of those people who will spend thousands of dollars for end of life extending medical treatment for pets.

The Patient This Morning

When she left to prepare the estimate based on her physical exam I told Buddy that I had a figure in mind that if the estimate exceeded I wouldn’t pursue. She came back with two separate estimates, one for the testing and the other for the dental surgery. The combined figure exceeded my “drop dead” line by a couple hundred bucks but we are talking about Buddy the Wonder Pooch here so he got both. The dental extraction will be next week and I hopefully get the test results back today. I also have to give him 4 pills a day for the next two weeks which Buddy immediately negotiated into a full casing of cheese required for each pill to assure ingestion. More to follow on this.

The Bravermans

My wife and I had to say goodbye to some very dear friends last night. About a year ago our daughter convinced us to start watching the TV series Parenthood and last night we finished our run through this incredible series last night. The Bravermans truly grew into friends as we shared their lives through the six seasons they were on. I think this is the best ensemble cast I’ve ever seen in a TV series and heartstrings were liberally pulled as their story wound to a close. I’d like to think they’re still out there enriching the Berkeley, California scene. I’ll be genuinely disappointed when I see one of the actors from the series in something else because that means I’ll have to suspend my belief the Bravermans actually exist. If you haven’t seen this show – do yourself a favor.

We also saw Dunkirk last night which is every bit as good as you’ve probably already heard. Chris Nolan does a fabulous job bringing the epic story of the miraculous survival of the British Army in the opening stages of World War 2. It wouldn’t be Nolan if he didn’t throw a few curve balls at the viewer though as the story is told through three intersecting story lines, each operating over a different time span, a week versus a day versus an hour. The bleak outlook for the remnants of the British Army at the outset are offset by simple heroic actions. Nolan exhibits his usual fine touch of not trying to pummel you into seeing his vision but allowing it to unfold. The cast, especially Tom Hardy and Mark Rylance, shine although the story of the Soldiers on the beach was a little confusing. I was brought up in a generation that venerated the significance of Dunkirk which allowed Britain to survive until the US could enter the fray. It would be a much different world today without Dunkirk and I’m glad such a fine film has been made so current and future generations can understand what we owe to the heroes of that conflict.

Conflict was certainly center stage on Wolf’s Bane, the latest book in Christopher Nuttall’s excellent Empire Corps series which I finished a couple days ago. Here again I had to say goodbye to some very good friends as this is the last book, at least according to Nuttall, that will center around Colonel Striker and his dwindling company of galactic Marines trying to put the galaxy back together after the empire they served fell. This book is wholly and excitingly centered on the climactic battle between Striker’s Commonwealth and the evil dictatorship of Wolf’s Bane. All the pieces Nuttall had carefully placed in prior books come together for a riveting concluding battle. I’m going to genuinely miss Striker as Nuttall continues the series in other locales of his fallen empire. A great read.