Helllllllooooo all!

Cora is 5 years old, can you believe it? She is still full of spirit (aka, stubborn, determined, strange) and keeps on gaining skills. She amazes me, because she continues to figure out new things. And yeah, some of them are things that would be no big deal to a "normal" dog but when you are a blind, brain-damaged tripawd that was deemed "hopeless" it's a big deal. One of her new things is she's figured out how to ask to go out and in. This is great... sort of. Except like many dogs she asks to go out, she asks to come in, she asks to go out, she asks to come in... I think you get the idea. Unless it's sunny. Then she doesn't want to come in. She will *sometimes* come in when I call her, which is also new. However, if the day is really nice, she can't be bothered. She loves to be outside.

She also is becoming more affectionate with other people. If people come into my house, without seeming to aim for them, she will end up leaned against their legs. She's a bit cat-like in that. The other day someone was sitting in a chair and she came up and leaned against the chair leg. Heh, chair leg, human leg, it's all a leg, right? She's always wanted attention from me, but we've worked out a new understanding (more about that later) and now she likes to be held. She has to be in the right mood of course, because in Cora's world she sets the terms.  She also seems to interact more with Floyd, although he still irritates the heck out of her and frightens her when he gets over excited. As he has knocked her down before in over excitement and he expresses his over excitement by jumping up and down, barking madly and charging around the house, I don't blame her.

The bad, she's been having some issues with pain. The vet and I are not clear where the pain is coming from because she is a resistant little twerp when she wants to be. It's not clear to me if it's some soft tissue issue or arthritis. The vet and I have very similar mind frame when it comes to Cora. We want to do the least invasive and most cautious options first. We put her on metacam and she improved a bunch. We have also upped her gabapentin, which clearly seems to help her brain issues if nothing else.  The bad news extends to me. Believe it or now, just a 1.5 years after my back surgery I took a nasty fall at work and severely tore the meniscus in my knee. At first the doctors weren't clue into how bad it was and then I had to fight with L&I to get surgery. So, five and a half months after my fall, I finally got surgery. How this relates to Cora is that she has had to manage again with less help from me. This makes the possibility of soft tissue injury very real. I am also very, very broke (and overwhelmed). The recovery for the knee has been hard because the back problems left me with very mild nerve damage to the other leg. So having my good leg be injured has put strain on the "bad" leg and back. Circling around to Cora, two days ago I picked her up (don't remember why now) and was trying to protect my leg and tweaked my back and bobbled her a bit and she let out a bark of pain. She had been off the metacam for over a week and doing well. ARRRRRRG. So, I put her back on metacam and kennel rest. I know what Jerry is going to recommend and do intend to do that when I'm more mobile. 

Ok, so Cora woke up while I was writing this novel and I let her outside to potty and then let her eat. She has now come and laid down beside me in a place she never lies down. I swear she knows I'm writing about her. 

The funny. Cora and I have an ongoing battle. She wins more than I do. The battle of the water dish. I have tried so many different methods to keep her from knocking over her water dish or bucket but she always does. Cora believes that not only should she drink her water she should conquer it. Take her outside and go to a pond or something like that, nope, she won't get in the water. Giver he a dish for drinking and it doesn't matter how big, how full, how carefully arranged she will knock it over. I am beginning to think she just likes the noise of it spilling out. If I can figure out how to the link some video I will. For now, I will treat you all to some pictures. I am also thinking of starting an audio diary of all the crazy noises Cora makes. Often she sounds grumpy, but a lot of those are her just letting you know she sets the terms. My friend said every day with Cora is talk like a pirate day. 🙂

Cora loves her adventures in the yard. That white stuff around her eye is a mass of spiderweb. I really don't want to know.

It had been snowy for several weeks. Cora was happy to have the warmer temps. She always seems to find the sun

Some of you may remember when I built the ramp, almost 5 years ago. It has held up well. The fencing on the right side was an addition this Fall. Cora kept going over to that side and then seeming to get stuck. Since the fencing has been added, she finds the ramp super easy to use. She tends to lean on the fencing a bit, which means she is in no danger of falling off.

Cora seems to seek out challenges sometimes. Why use the nice path I created, when she can wander over the rocks?

And Floyd wanted to be a part of this fun, too.