Saturday Night With The Dovers, Or, Can you top this? Friday night we were out to dinner, and so I wasn’t too disappointed Saturday that there was a huge storm brewing as bans from Hurricane Bill passed by on it’s way north. In a mad moment, even though it was looking ominous, and thunder was rumbling in the distance, I decided to cook Chili from scratch!  I had purchased most of the ingredients the day before.That meant we had to go back to the store for crackers, root beer and Bud Light to go with the Chili. Arriving back home we found there was no root beer or Bud Light. It had been left in the bottom of the shopping cart! Drat! Back we went. A man approached me, but poor guy, before he could utter a word I said, ” No, don’t even dare to ask me anything. Out of the way” You should have seen him jump as I  stormed into the store, Herb behind me.. A sweet bag boy recognized us, and came running with the two containers. I grabbed them and stormed back out. Once at the car I felt regret that I had only said thanks, but had not given him anything to show our appreciation. Back again I went, and  once more we headed for home, .  Now, when I say from scratch I mean, I browned the meat, and followed the directions as stated so clearly on the eye catching  packet by the two stately men, father, DR. Ghazi Taki, Food Scentist Founder, & his handsome son, Adam Taki, Co-Founder. The Amazing Chili was for 6, and only Herb was going to eat it, but never to be deterred I persevered.  Luckily it proved to be easy to make, and Herb thought it delicious.. I say that because he didn’t complain.   Next problem, what to do with 5 more servings! I have always put my storage containers on the second to bottom shelf of a long cabinet.. Being a little older then when we moved in 18 years ago I soon realized, as my back was giving out from bending down so low, that a change had to be made. We must put the assored seldom used stuff on the lower shelve, and rearrange the contains by size on the higher shelve.  How come  you put away containers tops & bottoms together, but when you get them out few tops fit bottoms and vise-versa?.  Behind all that was a chopping blade for a container Herb used when he cooked. Out it went.  Things were shaping up. Next problem,  How to fit three chili containers into an already stuffed freezer! I can’t believe I ever saved so many leftovers we will probably never eat. I must remember to give them to someone who will think each a great treat. So Dear Friends, here I am 2&1/2 hours later writing this as the thunderous storm roars over head. I am too tired to be scared. If the worst happens I don’t believe you have to clean shelves in heaven on Saturday night do you?. What do you think?.                                     Roberts Mo

It’s time for April’s Pet Pics! Here are the entries so far:

Send in your pet pics soon to robert@doversworld.com!

I have had two Jack Russells in a row live to be 18 years old. If you speak to J.R. owners, you will find that even one living half that age is normally a miracle, since most of them are either eaten by bigger dogs they are determined to fight with, or run over by cars or farm equipment. Finding one that dies from natural causes of old age is almost unheard of. And I had two!

But the real reason this phenomena took place — aside from the fact that Robert and I treated them both like the children they were to us — was that I had and still have for my new pup, Simon, quite simply the best vet in the world, Dr. Ringler.

Now you might think this sounds like a paid advertisement or an infomercial, but I assure you I’m being straight up with you, so to speak. I even have a story to help convince you.

I started going to Dr. Ringler at his Royal Palm Animal Hospital when my first Russell, Half-Halt, was already quite old. He had suffered kidney as well as heart problems and I was very worried about him. I asked my horsey friends in Wellington and one by one was told there was one man who had saved more old dogs in our community than all the rest combined, Dr. Ringler.

The problem is there are dogs and then there are Jack Russells. My philosophy, shared by many, is that the difference between a J.R. and a dog is that, while dogs are reincarnated from the souls of other departed dogs, Russells are the result of human criminals who are not allowed to come back as human beings. Get it?

So, anyway, Dr. Ringler saved my Half-Halt countless time from near death, and he lived his life pain-free and exasperatingly difficult to deal with until the last day, close to his 19th birthday.

But that’s not the best story. Half-Halt’s daughter, Pirouette, was as sweet as he was, shall we say “tough”? She loved everybody but all the hunting she did wore out her crucial ligaments as an old dog and she had to have plates put in both hips. But that wasn’t all by any means. Piro, at the age of 15, suddenly began having seizures which lasted only a second or two, but literally knocked her off her feet onto her back. Her hind legs would look like they were kicked out from underneath her and she’d tumble but get right back up an instant later and act like it hadn’t happened.

So off we schlepped to Dr. Ringler and he spent the entire day running test after test to try to diagnose her symptoms. The problem was that she no longer showed her little stumbling act and, at 5pm I went to pick her up and he said he had no idea what was wrong. He did say it could be a spinal lesion or another neurological disorder, and that we could try some steroids, but thought it best to wait and see if it was just a virus.

Just as we were about to leave the office, low and behold, Piro suffered a seizure and down she went! Well, Dr. Ringler took one look at her and said, “Wait a minute. Bring in the EEG machine”, to the nurse. Five minutes later we had our diagnoses, Pirouette was having electrical malfunctions in her heart, causing mini heart attacks.

Well, I was naturally beside myself, thinking I was about to lose my second beloved dog, and probably most vets would have told their clients all was lost. But not Dr. Ringler. He made a couple of calls and came back and told me that we could try putting in a pace-maker and he had a specialist who would perform the operation the next day. Putting a pace-maker in a dog is not something one hears about very often. Even the specialist had only performed such a surgery once before in his career, but we would do it the following day, provided Piro survived the night, and so we sat vigil and waited through until morning. And she not only made it through the night but also through the operation and then, unbelievably, another 5 years!

All of the extra quality time I got to spend with my pets has been because of Dr. Ringler, my amazing, (and also the tallest at 6′6″) vet whose training, experience and knowledge is only eclipsed by his compassion and true love for animals.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to my Pet Pics post. You guys have sent so many great photos in of your wonderful friends that I asked Jory to set up a gallery so we can go and look at all of them like the art they are!

Remember, on March 15th, we all get to vote on our favorite pic and the winner is going to get a special prize from me. So keep those pet pics a comin!

Cheers!
RD

I would wager that if you’re reading my site you love all animals as much as I do. And I’m sure you have lots af fantastic photos of your pet. So here’s the thing - I want to see them!

If you have a great pic of your “best friend”, send it to Dover’s World and every month we’ll all vote on our favourite pet of the month. The winning pet will get its own “This Is Your Life” spot on DoversWorld and a prize for its owner. So get those fabulous pet pics streaming in. I can’t wait to see them!

A few recent pics…