I just opened a brand-new can of Spam, and Ghost slept through it.
That has never happened before.
Can’t jump up onto platforms any more, either. Has to take the stairs into the Lair, can’t get into the back of a pickup.
I guess if your biggest problems come from getting old you don’t really have any problems worth the bother of complaint, but it’s still a little sad to see. Ol’ hellraising Ghost, an old man napping through the day.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones.
– Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Christopher Morley
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”
-Frederick Douglass
ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
To be, rather than to seem
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.”
– Ida B. Wells
Do what thy manhood bid thee do; from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies, who makes and keeps his self made laws
– Sir Richard Burton
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
― Father Alfred d’Souza
It’s hard to watch that happening… It’s much harder to live with it yourself, of course. At least we can sympathize with the old dogs and never let them suffer. Ghost looks as if he’s got a lot of time left… just at a much slower pace.
Oh, sure. He’s in great health, but he’s paying for an active youth. His joints hurt him noticeably sometimes, and he’s not a dog who advertises his hurts.
I’m sorry to hear he is in pain. Dogs don’t generally complain about that… of course, you just notice the effects of it such as not being willing to do the jumping and movement they used to enjoy. Maybe FurryDoc can suggest something for the pain. I don’t know if there is a dog safe chemical anti-inflammatory, but it’s probably expensive.
Turmeric and cayenne pepper are known anti-inflammatory herbs, but I don’t know if a dog would/could take enough of either or both to do much good. I can’t take a lot of them at any given time, and certainly not often enough to prevent pain – even though I do try sometimes. When I’m having a bad pain day, I take capsules of both and it does seem to help, but it’s too much for my digestive system to handle very often.
Don’t have a good answer, really. Just try to keep him warm when it gets really cold. The best thing I can do for my pain is not to get chilled, and sometimes I wander around here with three or four layers of clothes. He’s got a fur coat, of course, but it might not be enough, especially for legs and hips.
Pat him for me, Joel. This reminds me sadly of watching my old dog Rascal go down this road. We can only do our best for our furry friends.
I feel ye… I finally admitted it and started calling my dog Ol’ Timer these days. He just turned 12, and all of a sudden he’s feeling all dozen of those years. Getting good and deaf these days, and having trouble bounding up on the bed, trouble in and out of the back of the pickup, when he used to not even wait for the tailgate to go down, in or out.
They don’t last forever, but sometimes they last long enough.
Dad used Absorbine Jr. on his old hunting dog, as well as baby aspirin, after a trip to the vet to discuss what could be done to improve her mobility. She enjoyed three more years of hunting with Dad rubbing her down 3-4 times a day while they were out in the field.
Glucosamine isn’t cheap stuff, but I’ve heard success stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Glucosamine-Chondroitin-chewable/dp/B003ZMGC6G
And then there will be one last perfect day…
It’s a sad thing to watch and I feel for you. I know there will be more good days but Ghost has started on that slippery slope. On the plus side you have done well by Ghost and LB, better than a lot of folks would have.
If you can get dry MM leaves, which I think are usually tossed, you can crumble them up on his food. I know a lot of dogs in Alaska who are pain free from having M leaves in their kibble.
ff
If Ghost is aging perhaps he should start some daily meds in liver flavored chew-able form. A glucosimine supplement plus Rimidal or the generic equivalent (a NSAID like Ibuprofin for humans).
When you get to be my age and have had dogs all your life, you’ve seen several go down this road. You’d think it would get easier but it actually seems to get more difficult. Each time the sense of loss has stung a lot more. Unfortunately, there’s no good answer.
Vetprofen:
http://www.allivet.com/p-1722-vetprofen-caplets.aspx
You’ll need a vet to give you a scrip for Ghost. Any vets among your readership? Of course, Ghost’s owner should take care of that. I think the standard dosage is 1 mg per pound of dog per day, although it wouldn’t hurt to start at a lower dosage. And you give it every day, not just when he’s in pain.
It looks like those other people are wearing him out and he must come to your house to rest. And you just can’t compare a can of spam with the sausage you say he gets elsewhere. 😉
I think I’d give up a year of life to have a dog that would live as long as I do.