It’s been a long week for our dog, Rocket.
A few months ago, my wife and I noticed a growth on his rear paw; it wasn’t very large, but the two of us were concerned enough to drag our poor pet to the vet in order to get it checked out. We’ve had the same practitioner for many years now, and she’s a true gem capable of talking us out of fearing the worst; fortunately, it didn’t appear to be anything more than a common skin tag, something that even humans can develop. She gently sent us home with instructions to keep an eye on it as it was quite possible it could grow to a point that it became bothersome to Rocket.
We did as instructed; unfortunately for our pooch, that line came early last week when we discovered him attempting, shall we say, to perform his own bit of dermatological surgery. So it was back to the veterinarian to get it looked at properly; when Rocket returned to us, he was sporting a fancy blue bandage and, unfortunately, the canine equivalent of the Scarlet Letter.
Thankfully, it’s only for a few weeks, but it is truly difficult to watch him try to navigate his world with an unexpected extra few inches of diameter about his head. We’ve been pushing furniture around to make the openings wider for him, and trying to keep all of the doors open so he won’t accidentally bang into them; after a day or two, he managed to figure out how best to sink down onto his favorite pillow for a nap, but it’s clear he’s not terribly comfortable. I’ve found myself apologizing to him at every turn; knowing Rocket likely couldn’t help himself does little to assuage my guilt. Let’s just say a few extra treats have been snuck in here and there to help both of us feel better.
He has a follow-up with the vet on the day this blog posts; the bandages should come off, but I think the cone will be sticking around a bit longer. Hopefully that will get offset by his ability to take longer walks than we’ve been able to do so far; one thing he truly misses is those grand adventures he takes every morning, scouting out the various changes in the neighborhood since his last appearance. I’m sure he’s like most dogs in that every single rock requires his attention; he also seems to know everyone that should — and those who definitely shouldn’t — be in our neighborhood. I can’t wait to see him back out there sniffing the air and scowling at the Yorkie from the next street over that just can’t seem to pass muster.
I’ve finished writing novel number thirteen, Mirage, and posted a new page for it on the website. I don’t think it will be out until late 2024 at this point, so hopefully it will be something nice to look forward to for that holiday season. It came in a bit shorter than my last Vasily book — not by much, but shorter than the last few have run. I think that is a good thing, for while I tend to let the story go where it wants to go, I never desire for it to linger on for another hundred pages when it could wrap up in a satisfactory way in fewer. Still, I made add more to it during the editing process — filling in areas that initially seemed complete but on second look had some gaps that could have added more shading to a character or the plot. I like the story quite a bit, and hope you will too; I’ll spend the next few weeks fleshing out my next idea with an eye toward starting that one (maybe) in July. Stay tuned.