02112011 – The Almost Patterns

The end of the week has arrived and I punched in the date – 02/11/2011 and I wondered if there was a pattern there that I was missing.

Nope, just three numbers in three different configurations and if there is the potential of a pattern, the numbers would need to keep going. But they don’t. Today is what today is – the 11th day of the 2nd month of the year 2011.

There are a lot of almost patterns in my life and this week is a good example of them. When I start out on Mondays, I look at the week’s schedule and try desperately to find the rhythm of it. I am a guy who likes routines. When the routine changes, I struggle and so when Monday looked fairly normal with a rather distinct pattern, I punched my paw in the air and shouted, “Yahoo!”

But then the pattern shifted and changed. I ended up getting kind of sick and that threw everyone into a sleepy frenzy. I’m okay now — eating a new, hypoallergenic food after a long visit with the vet — but for a few nights, I slept on the couch curled up on Gretchen’s chest feeling pretty crummy. That made the week kind of a blur and any chance that a clarity would emerge seemed liked a distant hope.

Rosie tried to console. “I like patterns, too!” she told me in the middle of the week, “And, for me, it all got funky when Tyson went into the vet for some minor surgery.”

“He seemed fine on Monday,” I said, “Though the three of us struggled to fit on the tiny bench that Gretchen wanted us to pose on.”

“Yeah,” Rosie agreed. “She likes to do that, doesn’t she?”

“She does, but how’s Tyson?” I asked.

“He’s doing well,” she said. “He was a bit dizzy on Thursday, but he snuggled on the couch with us and woke up feeling better. Of course, he has a bandage on his foot and can’t go outside unless he wears a plastic bag. You can only imagine how that makes him feel!”

“Humiliated, I imagine,” I said.

“Let’s just say he never expected this outcome to his week,” Rosie said.

And I suppose that’s exactly what happened to all of us in one way or another. That’s how Monty and I felt when we had our normal Wednesday and then saw each other again on Thursday.

“Hey,” Monty greeted me at the door, “It’s Thursday. What are you doing here?”

“Great question,” I said and then it became way too clear as we made our way up the big hill to the groomer’s store.

“Oh,” Monty said, “I guess it’s that time of the month, eh?”

“I guess you could say it that way,” I chuckled.

And there we were…wooly and happy standing in Dog Mania’s store waiting to be sheared and…well, happy still because Liliana takes really good care of us while we’re there. And look how good we look after!

BEFORE SHOTS…

AFTER SHOTS…

When Gretchen went to go get Woobie she, too, was surprised to be alone on a walk with Gretchen. “Where is everyone?” she asked.

“At the groomer,” Gretchen informed her.

Crestfallen, Woobie walked with a little less bounce in her step until Gretchen said, “With any luck, the groomer will call while we’re on our walk and we can go fetch the boys, okay?”

Woobie wagged her tail happily in response. And guess what? That’s exactly what happened. So Woobie rescued us and then hung out at our house for a bit of time before she headed home, satisfied that 1) she got a walk and 2) she got to see her well-coiffed boyfriends!

And because of my intestinal distress (the fancy word for it), we took a journey south to a place called the Natural Pet Pantry. This was a definite break in routine since Gretchen usually makes my food. Since that food wasn’t working for me, we consulted with the really nice people at the Pet Pantry and they made a special batch of food for me. Gretchen informed them that I was a very finicky eater so when Janet, one of the workers, met me and set down some of my specially made food to eat, everyone was quite surprised that I gobbled it up!

“That’s a good sign,” said Janet.

Now, we just have to hope it’s not another one of those almost patterns.

Sometimes on Fridays we walk Rosie and Tyson. When I looked at the schedule on Monday, they weren’t on the calendar. In fact, it was just going to be me and Monty, but then, with Tyson’s surgery, Rosie got added to schedule. She, too, got to spend some time with her well-coiffed boyfriends and she was very happy about it!

As you can tell by the randomness of this post, what once appeared as a pattern never really was. It was just an illusion. Kind of like today’s date — 02112011. You want there to be a pattern, but chaos nudged it out.

So it goes with my life.

Until next week,

Rubin