Suddenly, Gus is Gone

A previously undiagnosed abdominal tumor led to internal bleeding. On Tuesday he was trotting down the road, sniffing the plants, and on Saturday he was dead.

He was a good boy

Gus (aka GusGus) came to us when a neighbor found him tied up and abandoned at a dog park in Los Angeles. She asked if we’d keep him overnight; we kept him for 10 years. He tended to be aggressive toward other dogs, but he was a sweetheart with people and a close buddy with our longtime canine head-of-household, Ella.

Late in his life we discovered that he wasn’t a mutt but a purebred Duck Tolling Retriever. And he had some lovable quirks. One was to vocalize — a sort of “woo woo” – when he was excited. Another was that in the mornings, after I’d fed him breakfast and he’d licked his bowl clean, he would come over and thank me by licking my hand. Every day.

We’ll miss you, Mr. Gus. Every day.

The Year of Living Rainily

I know I’ve posted about this year’s rainfall before, but it just keeps on coming. We’ve had about 70 inches so far, and a little more is expected between now and the end of the year. That’s close to double what the normal rainfall here is, and several locations nearby have even surpassed the all-time record for rainfall in Ohio. That’s right, they’ve received more rain than has ever fallen anywhere in the state in a single year since records started being kept in the 1870s.

The soggy footprint of a record year

This graphic from the National Weather Service shows how a dark-green, oval-shaped patch of southwestern Ohio, southern Indiana and western Kentucky has gotten especially deluged this year. Even in a normal year, we share a rainfall pattern with these parts of our neighboring states, a result of prevailing winds from the west interacting with cold fronts moving into the Ohio River Valley from Canada, and warm fronts moving up from the Gulf to meet them. It all makes for complicated, rapidly changing weather — and this year, rain, rain and more rain. And then more rain.

Shower TV

A great many readers of this blog (well, okay – one) have strongly suggested that I should post more pix and info about Violet. So, in a shameless attempt to pander to my follower(s), here’s an update:

Violet is fascinated by our shower, especially if I’m in it. Most days she comes into the bathroom while I’m showering and just stares at me for the duration.

Violet watching the Shower Channel

Afterwards, she likes to investigate the shower stall and lick up the moisture (soap residue doesn’t bother her – after all, this is a dog who enthusiastically licks wet paint off the walls).

I’ve had dogs who liked to lick up overspray from the shower before, but never one that was completely transfixed by the shower the way Violet is.

*Sigh* Violet…