My Irish Shepherd!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I love all things Irish. Green. Guinness. U2. So gotta celebrate with the pooch, and he's suuuch a good sport about being dressed up. Well, usually ha ha. He does give me the stink eye sometimes. 

So in spirit of today, here's a few shots of my Irish German Shepherd!

RENT

Five hundred sixty five thousand six hundred minutes.

 I love RENT. I saw it way, way back, in the late nineties sometimes when I lived in LA. Mark was played by Neil Patrick Harris, who was good...but when I found out that the Broadway Tour was rolling into town, with the original leads, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, I was so thrilled. I just had to see it. Especially this being the farewell, tour, after it has closed on Broadway. 

These two were in the film, of course, which I've seen a number of times. But nothing beats a live performance, sharing the energy of the audience. I decided to go for opening night tickets, with this benefit for the Center, which helped "pay rent" for a new Gay and Lesbian youth center. Included was a cast party after the show. That was the clincher. My actual seats were the wheelchair section, in the back of orchestra. Not too bad, but still hard to see faces. Plus, I seemed to be surrounded by sourpusses, who were just not into the show at all. I overheard an elderly couple walking out during intermission that "this wasn't even rock and roll, it was screaming". 

OK, different strokes. 

I don't see how anyone couldn't get the message of this show. It sure resonates with me. Though I'm not a "renthead"...the ones that go to show after show. Kind of like RENT groupies. But I did end up seeing it twice. I decided to try for front seat tickets, which are just $20 a few hours before curtain. Jonathan Larson made sure that students, artists, and other assorted broke folks would be able to see the show in a great seat, at a cheap price. Bless him. 

Though the rentheads were in line, many over night. The rules state no holding places in line for people, but they did it anyway. This young woman's mom who was behind me in line was quite vociferous and gave the security people a piece of her mind about this. I tried, and another woman tried to complain, to no avail. But she got through. The security reviewed tapes, and ousted anyone who came to the line just before the box office opened. We would have had no chance at all to get those less than 30 seats available if it were not for this. 

I went up to the window, texting my mom if I got tickets would she go. I was going to buy just one for me, but decided to go for the maximum of two. To my delight, the tickets were front seat, damn near center!! 

The folks who got the boot still saw the show, just more like 4 rows back. Boy did they bitch about it, too. To anyone who would listen. I got called a few choice names. Shame on them. Let others get a chance to experience the show close like that! Think about the spirit of the show, and what Jonathan wanted!

I think it was so cool to bring my mom, too. Who is very much not dying from disease. She's living through her second round of breast cancer, going the holistic route, and is more healthy than she's ever been. The emotional overtones of RENT are just wonderful. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No day but today. That's something I think we all should remind ourselves of this every day. The most important thing in life, is not the stuff we own, it's love. It's relationships. How we live our lives. 

Lucky me, with my great dog getting to go to the party. I got to meet a few of the cast, including Anthony and Adam. Anthony was a bit more aloof, and I made a joke about Borias being in his way while he went to the restroom, saying the "dogstacle" line. He looked puzzled and said "popsicle??" Uh. Yeah, that went over well!  Sorry for being a dork, Anthony ha ha. Adam was really cute. Most the night he was upstairs in the loft, where I couldn't go, but towards the end, he came down, and I got a chance to chat with him. I think he asked me about Borias pulling my chair, and I was explaining "zoom-zoom", asking if he'd seen Bolt. Indeed, he has two young boys, so he sees "every fucking Disney show there is" as he said. Found out that he has three herniated discs, in his neck region, and he said one doctor insisted he do surgery, and another urged to do holistic, which he's trying. I told him how I'm doing that with Borias, too. 

Such a nice guy. Good looker, too! Boy does he have some lungs on him!

I didn't take Borias in to see the show, because I figured the music would be just too loud. Especially up front. But he got his rubbing elbows with the cast : ) It sure was something I won't soon forget!

Birthday Boy!!

It's official, Borias is eight years old! 8 on the 8th. A milestone for me, too. I haven't had a dog with me this long. Most have passed prematurely, a few were rehomed. So it feels odd to say his age. Eight certainly isn't old, but it sounds older. He's getting there. It's gone by so fast, too. Too fast. 

I gave myself a scare the other night, getting too much information on the internet about kidney failure. During his massage and acupuncture session, Borias was extremely leaky, which was new. I talked to Dr. Keith about his urine being so dilute, drinking a lot, and how he had blood work done a couple months ago. He looked at the results, and thought perhaps we should do it again. He cautioned me not to get freaked out and worried, that it could be a lot of things besides kidney failure. But those are the only words I heard. When I read about it, I bawled and bawled. If he had it, the life span is a few months, to possibly a couple years. But it's terminal. 

Scary.

So yesterday we did, brining in a urine sample and taking some blood. I didn't expect to find out the results til Monday, but Dr. Keith called me today, and gave me the wonderful news that his results were completely normal. Whew! I am so relieved. And grateful. I really want my boy to be with me for a long, long time. As long as possible. 

The scare made me really count my blessings, and to remember to cherish every moment I have with him. And like him, live in the moment, stop worrying about what could be. Just live. Love life. Laugh. I'm so blessed with the love of this magnificent dog. For eight years he's given me so much joy. From a fat fuzzball with wonky ears, to a frosted muzzle, this journey has been such a blast. 

I'm looking forward to many more years of sharing life together. Thank you Borias. I love you so much my dear heart dog. 

My bird dog

Man, does Borias have a thing for birds. He's like a kid who likes to rush at a flock and get them to scatter. He's seriously into it. Has been since he was a pup. Ha! I thought it was cute when he was a little fuzzball bouncing at the pigeons in the Santa Monica Promenade. Well, it *was* cute! And truth be told, it still makes me smile. 

Sometimes it can get a bit much. I'm downtown, and every street corner has a flock of pigeons, and he starts stalking them a half block away. He turns into a Border Collie, head down, walking stealthily, ready to pounce. If he's on a flexi, and I say it's ok, he will rush them, look up with a big grin as they fly, and then bounce back and bark loudly about his prowess. Why he feels the need to give me a report of what I just witnessed myself is a mystery. He's a German Shepherd. They talk. A lot. 

Last night I was in Lowes, and there was a dove right inside by the bird feed, near the garden center. He felt it was his duty to get that intruder out of there. The bird just flew to another aisle, and Borias walked around eyes skyward looking for the damn thing. Serious bird thing. He even knows the names of various species. Or my baby-talk version, like "ca-ca" for a crow. He knows pigeons, crows, and seagulls. The sound doves make when they fly really perk him up. 

It's interesting how certain critters get a dog excited, yet others won't. Take lizards. He could care less about those. Yet I've seen dogs who will spend hours trying to flush a little lizard. Borias' prey drive isn't all that high for his breed. He'll chase a squirrel, but as soon as it disappears into the brush or a tree, he'll quit. He's into a quick thrill. 

Just one of his many quirks, which is a constant source of entertainment for me!