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Bryceʼs ink bator
Notes from the Publisher ... Fostering ideas , conversations and arguments .
What an ugly couple of weeks , eh ? February was literally lovely and then … well , out like a lion , I guess . Bring on April . But I did get to have a nice date with my wife Christy for her birthday . We had dinner at Woodfire Grille at Diamond Jo Casino ( one of my favorites ) with Ron and Jennifer Tigges , and then we saw Steve Moris ’ live show at Five Flags . Unless you ’ ve been living under a rock , hopefully you know that Steve is a native Dubuquer who has had an amazing comedy career including probably hundreds of shows opening for his close friends , The Beach Boys , and a long run on Princess Cruise Lines . And he does it all clean and with so much off-thecuff audience interaction . We even helped a couple jump-start their car outside the theater before the show started . It was a lovely night with my lovely wife . So badly needed after our grueling week .
So , about my dog , Coco , who has been slowly dying of mouth cancer for a while now . As if there wasn ’ t enough wrong with him , for six days , he hadn ’ t pooped . But he was still eating . It ’ s ugly eating , the poor guy , and half of what goes in falls back out , but he got it down eventually . And where it ’ s been going , I have no idea . He ’ s never gone even three days before . He usually goes twice a day , so this is a DEFCON 5 alert . I ’ m wondering if there ’ s something else wrong I don ’ t know about . Christy and I were getting seriously worried . So when I walked into my bedroom and saw a giant poop right on my nice light beige carpet , I was … ELATED ! I yelled out “ GOOD BOY ! THAT ’ S MY BOY !” And when I got right up close to it , I got an idea of why it ’ s been six days . It looks like he pooped a ball hitch from a pickup truck . He ’ s only 10 pounds , mind you ! I ’ m glad I couldn ’ t see his poor face when he dropped that boulder . But man , I was so relieved . And so was he , quite literally . And since Christy got a Bissell Little Green portable carpet cleaner for Christmas after the incident when Coco managed to spread one poop over 40 % of the main floor of our house , it ’ s all manageable . I was so happy when I found it this time that even in his little doggy dementia mind , he probably wondered what the heck was going on . Why was he not in trouble ? He ’ s living in the Upside Down .
His nightly routine lately consists of us snuggling him into his Star Wars Chewbacca bed that Christy got him years ago . He likes a blanket , too . Then we humans go to bed , get nice a comfortable , and then , like clockwork , he gets back up and walks across the room , dragging his regal
red Fighting Saints fleece blanket behind him like a cape , heading to his king doggy coronation ceremony at the water bowl by the door . He then proceeds to drink water for about 10 minutes . Not kidding . It sounds like about five gallons , and he weighs only 10 pounds . But with the tumor in his mouth , it probably takes 10 minutes to get enough water down . And the prednisone also makes him drink like a horse . He walks around the room and goes back to the water bowl about five times . Then he heads back to bed for a couple of minutes . Then gets up and starts pawing at his Saints blanket which , of course , fell off on the way back to bed , and he wants it back on . So I lean over the edge of the bed to look for him , but it ’ s dark . So I grab my phone to get some light , and boom , he ’ s right there at the edge of the bed looking up right at my face when the light comes on , and I can literally read the thought bubble over his head . “ WTF , DAD ? You ’ re slacking on the blanket duty !” So , I pick him up and set him back in his bed because , you know , he won ’ t just go quickly jump back in there himself , and I cover him back up . And if I ’ m very lucky , he doesn ’ t repeat the whole sequence again in five minutes . But usually , he ’ s snoring within about 90 seconds , the adorable little old pain in the butt .
Coco was born on July 28 , 2008 . He came into our lives as a senior rescue on June 25 , 2017 , and forever changed our lives . He passed away on Friday , March 22 , and belongs now to the ages . Our hearts are broken into a thousand fuzzy little pieces , but we ’ re so thankful for the gift he gave us with the last years of his life . Who ’ s forever a good boy …? •
4 365INK MAGAZINE March 28 – April 10 , 2024 Issue # 457 DUBUQUE365 . COM