Who wants to live forever?

My dog, Duncan, a Shetland sheep dog, just died today. I wasn't home for it. He was about 13.

The photo was actually taken Sunday. I did it on a whim. He was very sick lately.

Of Dogs and Men

No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversations as a dog does.
- Christopher Morley (1890 - 1957)

Well, the vet thinks my dog has cancer.

Duncan is a Shetland Sheepdog. I'm not sure as to what his exact age is. (Apparently, it's 12.) He has been a part of my family for a long time. He's never been the most active of the animals at my house, but he became increasingly lethargic in recent days. It was almost overnight, when he started showing signs of sickness. I thought it would have just been a stomach thing. He would want to go out late at night and just lay in the grass, eating it occasionally. Apparently, eating grass isn't bad for a dog. Still, normally, he would bark at the slightest thing while outside, which isn't a great thing when it's 2AM.

In any case, he was taken to the vet this morning, for a $400 visit. X-rays were taken, as was blood and stomach fluid samples. Duncan is at least moving around a bit more. We have some prescriptions for him. One of which is a higher dose steroid than what I am actually on for my gout. With any luck, it's nothing too terrible, and he would eventually get over it.

Signs aren't looking good though. I am not the best when it comes to financial resources. Also, Duncan is already an old dog. (I hate to sound that morbid.) I just don't want him to suffer, and I definitely don't want to put him down prematurely. I watched my cat get put to sleep when I was a lot younger, and I am never seeing that again. I refuse to let my pet die without the dignity of me actually being there.

Well, now I just have to wait for more test results and pray the medication works.

Minas Tirith Done... For Now

Once again, I am very tired.

I am trying to write something because I should. This is one of those times where the desire to write is greater than the ability to write. I can't use lack of topics as an excuse either. I have actually been doing semi-interesting stuff lately. I was building a castle at work.

Here's a slideshow of some of the pics.: Minas Tirith Slideshow

Probably because my constant frustration while working on it, I am actually receiving verbal credit for my efforts. Some of the time, I think I didn't put forth much effort. I didn't create the structure. The I rememebr I did nearly everything else. Most of the detail was me. I carved all the pointy crenelations on the tops of the walls. Ok, I didn't do all of them, maybe 90%. All the good ones are me though. Granted, I used a hotwire and a stencil, but each one is only about 8 inches in length. I lost count on my actual number. I even put most of them on. If there is a lot of repetitive, annoying work, I did it.

I only painted a handful of models at the start of the project. At the time, we weren't sure what we were undertaking. My coworker, Tim, took my finished models and finished them better, so that they actually looked good. He is the store's main painter, so it makes sense.

We initally built the thing for Games Workshop's Games Day Baltimore. It was a big hit apparently. I don't know first hand since I was pulling a double covering for my boss, who was down there. The store wound up snagging two awards: Best Lord of the Rings Club Table; and Best Overall Club Table. The LotR one was almost a gimmie in that there were only 3 other contestants. One of which was using an idea our store used at last year's Games Day. The Overall winner is pretty good though.

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with the castle since it is back. The crew that went to Baltimore showed up at closing with it. Last minute is their specialty. Currently, my boss has to figure out how to put it into the window display. There will be some construction because the castle is way too big at the moment. We will have to basically remodel the whole area behind the counter. This will not make me happy, which is pretty much par for the course.

At least there are awards to accompany the huge thing in the window.

Vote Team One

A friend of mine, Eric, is a mural painter in Phialdelphia. I am not kidding. He does this stuff for a living. It's pretty cool. There is currently, the Citywide Mural Competition in Philly. There is voting on three different sites for the competition.

Vote for Team One.

Mural Arts Program: This We Believe

6 ABC ( you know... the news)

Philly.com

It's pretty amazing all the detail that is involved with the mural. Eric goes into it more on his blog. I don't want to just copy and paste his stuff.

EricOkdeh.com News

There are even slideshows of the mural design and close-ups of each of the mural panels.

Go vote. He deserves it.Just look at the beauty of that design. Don't you want that in the City of Brotherly Love?

Oh, you can click the image above for a larger, better view of the mural.