A Rational Animal

Last year’s Christmas tree

Well, I’m off to perform my Christmas [commercial] duties!  I’m taking Mom Christmas shopping before the post-church crowd hits the mall - with a little luck, I can be all done in an hour and a half or so.  Then it’s back home to fnish decorating this year’s tree, with one more foray to the grocery store later; then cooking, wrapping, and imbibing eggnog with Bailey’s, which is an inviolable holiday tradition chez A Rational Animal.

Oh, yeah - and a break for substantive blogging somewhere in there.  I’ve found lots to snark about today already, and by the time I leave the mall, I’ll need my fix (and a double scotch, probably).  Meantime, amuse yourselves by hitting the blogroll. 

Sorry, folks:  After a day of trying to catch up on all the Christmas stuff I didnt think I was going to be able to do this year, an emergency developed with one of the four-legged members of the family.  Mom’s dog got past her and out the door, shot over the six-foot stockade fence, and eventually made for Main Street three blocks away, in 5:30-PM-night-before-Christmas-Eve-and-a-Saturday-to-boot shopping traffic hell.

Yep, you guessed it:  Canine head, meet SUV bumper.  (I didn’t see it, thank God, but I heard the howls from three blocks away.  Jesus.)  He actually managed to make it back home before I could get to him in the car.  After an hour of calling, we finally found a vet willing to take him.  Looks like concussion (with some immediate vision problems, but we hope they’re temporary), mouth injuries, foot injuries, and some fluid in the lungs, which may be simply a result of bruised ribs.  The good news is that we think he’s ultimately going to be okay; we’ll know more tomorrow.

So please think good thoughts for the poor boy.  And for my back, too, come to think of it:  Do you know what it’s like lifting a 100-pound dog from lying on his side to a standing position, when he’s a complete dead weight and can’t help?  Doing this by yourself, I mean.  That’s right; you don’t want to know.

Doggy condition update tomorrow, when regular blogging resumes.