Tag Archives: Murphy

Life Without Murphy

Life without Murphy hasn’t been very much fun. “Wait a second,” you might be wondering. “Life without Murphy? Where did he go?” The Surgery We dropped him off at the specialist’s office early Wednesday morning for his paw surgery. Luckily Wayne was able to come with. Turns out we needed each other. It was surprising how much we both broke down once the vet tech came and escorted Murphy away. I think I’d always get nervous if any of my pets had to go into surgery, but I think I get especially nervous because my beloved Mackie died after what … Continue reading →

Murphy’s Newest Job: The Waker Upper

When Murphy picked his part in the personal pet therapy project, he did so without complaint –but with much sacrifice. Among other things, gone were his leisurely walks multiple times a day. He’s making up for lost time now. These days Murph wakes up early and with tons of enthusiasm. There’s work to be done, and he needs my help to do it. Company on My Morning Walk I like to start my day with a nice walk. But when I started caring for my mom I rarely got to walk. And therefor neither did Murph. Not the long walks … Continue reading →

Murphy Meets His Cousins

It was a big day around here on Wednesday. I kept telling Murphy (and the cats, too) that their cousins were coming and they’d get to meet them. Being smart like he is and understanding what I’m telling him, Murph was all jazzed up. “Cousins? As in plural? Little guys named Charm and Chenille? Cool!” (Well, really they’re little girls, but Murph uses “guys” generically for any gender.) He helped me straighten and clean, a sure sign guests were expected. But as morning turned to afternoon and afternoon was succumbing to early evening, it became obvious he was starting to … Continue reading →

Murphy on My Mom’s Mind

Murphy’s been on my mom’s mind a bunch for some reason. It started right before her stroke on Tuesday morning when she kept saying she followed him, he led her to the wrong room, and she was never following him again. (She’d never left her room, and Murph had been with me until I went in to see my mom that morning.) Or when she asked him why he took her down that gravel path. Or how she didn’t know what was wrong with her (like when the paramedics arrived or later when the ER staff was assessing her), but … Continue reading →

Murphy Meets the Paramedics

Yesterday my mom’s health took a scary turn. She was extremely confused when she woke up. She was holding the clothes she’d been wearing the day before but saying she’d lost her clothes. Explaining she was holding her clothes only made her contemplate the bundle with confusion. As he almost always is, Murph was at my side to help with the Grandma Dorothy wakeup routine. When my mom kept saying she didn’t have her clothes but needed them because she was “going home today,” I opened her closet door and showed her all her clothes hanging there. Murph even snatched … Continue reading →

Thoughts on Murph’s Pooch IQ Scores

I have to admit I’m a wee bit disappointed Murph fell in the Above Average category after his Pooch IQ Test. While I would have been thrilled if he scored even higher than Pretty Clever (at Smarty Pants, Top of the Class, or Absolute Genius), I wasn’t expecting that. I have to admit I was expecting Pretty Clever, though. Maybe it’s just me being a mom who thinks her son’s smarter than he is, but I truly think he should have come in one category higher, at the Pretty Clever level. Why? Because there were descriptions after each IQ classing. … Continue reading →

Murph Scores 100 on his Pooch IQ Test

I finally had a chance to administer the two remaining exercises from the Pooch IQ test kit I got. Which means I was finally able to tally Murph’s scores! Scoring All the tests ended with a letter answer to pick from. Kind of a multiple choice thing, but the answer we picked depended on how Murph performed during that exercise. After we took each test we went to the score sheet at the back of the book. All of the exercises attributed different point values to each letter answer. We had to find the exercise number and the letter answer, … Continue reading →

Why Murphy Likes Grommit

Not too long ago I finally got to see a movie I’d had in my Netflix queue for far too long: Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In case you’re not familiar with the clay-mation duo, Wallace is a man and Grommit is his dog. But Grommit is so much more than just Wallace’s best friend. He helps Wallace with everything, from getting up and dressed in the morning to chores to helping run their business. Now normally I ban myself from watching movies with animals, but I forgot about this one exception. (Yes, even cartoony animals can … Continue reading →

Babysitting Duties for Murphy, Mr. Meow, and Tabby

Yesterday morning around seven I got a call from our across the street neighbor and good friend Cindy. She was in a pinch. Her second oldest boy, Josh, was sick, but she was supposed to set up the book fair at their school that day. “Is there anyway you can watch him for a few hours?” “Of course!” Initially she needed to drop him off at 7:30 when she left to take her other son to school, but her husband decided to take the morning off. That way she could set up until about noon, come home, and he could … Continue reading →

Murphy, Tornadoes, and One Ruff Night

Just shy of a month ago violent weather hit one afternoon and caused Murphy, Mr. Meow, Tabby, and I to huddle together in the laundry room due to potentially tornadic activity heading our way. If you’ve caught any of the news today, you’re well aware Tennessee was one of the states ravaged by bad weather once again last night. It was a dark and stormy night… There were tornadoes in the Nashville area around 10 p.m., but not near where we live. Thankfully we weren’t forced to seek refuge in the laundry room again. (But I did have everything set … Continue reading →