What a slow poke!

 I've been wanting to add a list of SOME of the blogs I read for quite a while but was too lazy to work on it.  So today I attacked Blogger to try and add that list.  Oh shit!  Sorry about the language but I'll bet it took me an hour to get that little list added.  And it's not nearly as long as it should be!  I'm going to work on making it longer now that I have the secret but OMG it took a while to figure out that seemingly simple thing.  Ok, I can breath again.  

Not much going on around here but we are having fun anyway.  We have almost always had a dog but our last dog passed away late in 2013.  Before she died we had purchased tickets for a Viking cruise in China and that was the start of six years of heavy travel.  But we missed having a dog so we decide to adopt one from our local animal shelter.  This is Ollie (Oliver) when we got him at the end of November last year.

They said he was a year and a half old.  Well, that's obviously wrong.  They said he had stickers so deep in his fur that they had to shave him.  They said they did that in September when he was taken in 2 months before that photo was taken.  Our vet said they had shaved him too closely and his hair follicles might be damaged and the hair might not grow back!  Well, after two months there wasn't much there. 

 Anyway, we kept on feeding him and giving him medications and now we've got this.

He  has grown hair differently in different places:  his neck hair has guard hair but not fur; his shoulders haven't grown much at all; his butt is totally regrown; his back is spotty but coming along.  What you don't see is his limp.  He simply cannot walk normally and after trying three different kinds of pain medication we are kind of giving up.  He also cannot walk long distances.  Going down to the mailbox has him ready for a nap.  Of course we've over fed him; he's gained 20lb!  

He is also definitely MY dog.  He will put up with my wife but she certainly isn't his favorite.  We come home and he will walk right past her to come up to me.  It is embarrassing!  Of course it annoys her too.  But we are getting along.  

We don't expect much time with Ollie.  He is clearly more of a 10 year old dog than a year and a half.  If we have him for another 2 years we will both be amazed.  In the mean time, we'll try to show him some of the western United States in our truck and trailer.  I've build a little staircase so he can get into the backseat of the truck.  I was worried about hurting him lifting him in and out and he certainly couldn't jump!  

I'll keep updating you on Ollie as we go on.  In the mean time, this is his usual position.

He sleeps a LOT!  Take care and keep washing those hands!