Benny – The Hermits' Rest

I’d rather be a dolphin than Benito

If you had to be an animal for a week, which one would you be and why?

I liked today’s question. I thought about many possibilities, brought on by the book I’m reading about consciousness. I wondered how it would feel to be a bird, a fish, or a snake (those were my other ideas). But I settled on a dolphin,

Why a week as a dolphin? I’d love to live on the water and perceive how that feels. Of course, dolphins know what air feels like, so it’s not like many fish, who don’t know there’s any other option. I’d love to learn how dolphins communicate, what matters to them in their world, and what kinds of emotions they have. It would be like experiencing another culture and language but much stronger.

I wouldn’t want to be a captive dolphin. They are probably depressed. Image from Pexels

This kind of experience would probably lead us humans to rethink a lot of our assumptions.

I could be one of these happy guys I saw from a boat.

Okay, but why wouldn’t I want to be Benny/Benito? He had a hard day today and hurts all over, I’m guessing, having been neutered and given many vaccinations. It’s for the best in the long run, of course.

Plus, Dr Amy and team found out he is heart worm positive. I guess his previous folks hadn’t given him heart worm preventative every month. So he is embarking on a long road to recovery that involves keeping him inactive. Yeah. Good luck. Maybe the medicine will keep him tired.

I’ll miss that testosterone once it’s out of my system.

Poor little guy. I’m glad he made it over here so he can get the care he needs.

Currently he’s sleeping under the covers next to me.

A cute thing about today was that when he got home, instead of Benito following Carlton and pestering him, the tables were turned. Carlton didn’t stray from Benito’s side, like he was caring for him. So sweet.

We are liking the nickname Benito for Benny. After all, he’s Hispanic sort of. He just has to get used to it. This way when we scold him Penney won’t think she did something wrong.

We just had to keep the dog

Believe me when I say this: I’ve never had any interest in owning a chihuahua dog. Most of them remind me of rats, yappy rats. Nonetheless a chihuahua mix now lives here. Benny is shaped more like a loaf of bread than a rat, and he is way less annoying when he barks than the other four house dogs.

I have you this look and won you over, right?

I was impressed that his teen “owner” was willing to let him stay, but she was not home enough to supervise him or give him the attention he craves. Benny is a very social dog. I’m happy to see he isn’t constantly on top of Carlton now, though he follows him like a shadow.

Carlton holds his own just fine and has less trouble with Penney now, which is a bonus. As long as all the dogs get their doses of attention, all is well. Even Harvey doesn’t grr at Benny. They have achieved detente.

It’s a good thing everyone is getting along, since we had another big rain here, unusual for July. The two horses Kathleen has in the front field had to go hide under trees, until the arroyo filled up. But then, they weren’t hot and there were no flies.

I enjoyed watching Benny and Vlassic together after the rain. They get along fine. I think Vlassic told Benny how much nicer it feels lying on your belly with those annoying testicles out of the way.

I’m glad Benny won’t be tied up outside or in a cage and ignored all summer. He’s really a pretty good dog, and will be better once trained to not mark indoors. Tomorrow’s vet trip should help with that. If it doesn’t flood more.

This Hackberry Emperor hid from the rain on our porch.

Book I treasured

Which book have you read more than any other?

Still on yesterday’s book theme, I guess. I thought about it a while, and there are two books I re-read so many times I lost count. One was Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. She was a very good horses’ rights advocate, and she sure convinced me that horses should be treated kindly, even working horses.

I have a feeling I wrote about this before, and I did, a whole blog post two years ago. So go read that. Obviously the blog prompt writers repeat themselves!

The repetition did give me a chance to think of another book I read so much it fell apart. It was a book about Star Trek (TOS)* that listed every episode, its name, the cast, etc. Allow me to go find out its name. It’s not on the shelf next to my James Blish novelizations of each episode. Yes, I had all those beauties, mostly first editions.

The best I can come up with is The Making of Star Trek. That was by Roddenberry and someone else. But it was 1976, too late.

I don’t have book cover photos so here are the fish again. Three of four goldfish.

Or perhaps it was the World of Star Trek by David Gerrold. I had both, but this one came out in 1973 at the peak of my fascination. I do remember I annotated the book extensively and kept it by my TV chair (which is still with me, in my office). Yep, that book probably got read more than even Black Beauty.

Well, I hope someone found this interesting. My one Trekkie reader, I guess.

Oh. We have been given Benny the brown chiweenie or something related to that. His owner says he obviously seems happy here. Yeah. He’s not in a cage outside. I woke up this morning with him and Carlton sleeping sweetly beside me. Anyway, we can get him neutered and updated on shots now.

I just kept coming back until you got the hint.

And I had a very complicated day at the dentist. A simple crown replacement turned into an extraction, prep for another root canal, and something or other on a third tooth. This leads to the need for expensive repairs. Glad I have a savings account and pain meds.

Animal comings and goings

While I was on the East Coast looking at waves and birds, there have been shifts in the population here at the Hermits’ Rest. One is a familiar friend/nuisance (depending on behavior that changes moment to moment).

Yep. Apparently Lee woke up Thursday night to find Benny in his lap. He no longer has his collar on, but still is a fully functional manly dog. So much for the people 2 miles away promising to fix both their fence and the dog.

He’s still madly enamored of poor Carlton, who patiently rebuffs Benny’s attempts at fathering very ugly puppies with him. Benny is apparently an example that yes, dogs can be gay. He is Carlton’s constant shadow. At least he’s settled in enough on this visit that they have started playing more and mounting less. That’s very welcome.

I assume at some point the teen girl will come home from Grandma’s house (or whatever) and ask about him. Then her dad will have to come here and listen to another lecture on neutering and keeping track of pets. Until then, we will take care of our guest, unless he decides to go home. He’s a nice dog other than the boundless energy when I’m trying to sleep and his Carlton fixation.

Also while I was gone the population of the fish pond went from 0 to four. Kathleen bought me four pretty goldfish and had Lee put them in.

We needed them since the algae is creeping in.

They are my favorite kind, so I’m pleased. They are all still alive. Kathleen predicts they’ll die on day 15, since they have a 14-day guarantee.

She tried to get minnows yesterday, but the pet store didn’t have any and didn’t appear to be caring for their other fish.

Same fish. The other two saw the camera and fled.

However, today she was at College Station and found healthier minnows. I’ll get photos of them tomorrow, but they look like minnows, and they will be in this green water. Just imagine it.

We still have the same number of birds and equines, so that will have to do for the animal report.

Figuring out how you feel is the first step

I didn’t know how to write about this yesterday, because I was having a hard time sorting out my conflicting emotions along with conflicts between rational thought and emotional attachment. Truth be told, I’m not much better about it, but I ought to finish the tale of little Benny, the dog who came in from the storms.

You may recall that after we returned him to his official home, he showed up three more times. Remember, he is a small chiweenie dog and lives 2.8 miles away. The last time he arrived was last Friday. We decided to let him hang out until his people asked for him back.

So, we fed him and endured his love affair with Carlton along with marking various spots with copious pee. He was a typical intact male dog. He was also very happy, friendly, and easygoing. We started to get used to him.

Here he is, fitting in. Wanting to be top dog.

Finally, on Memorial Day, his teen guardian asked if we’d seen him. I said he’d been here quite a while. No word until 5 pm, when she said her parents would come get him. I didn’t know how I felt about giving a dog back to someone who hadn’t even asked about him for three days. I still don’t know.

But, we sent the nephew out to meet them, since he knew them from when he was renovating Anita’s house and that family lived next door. His mission was to act tough and find out if they had a credible explanation. About an hour after they showed up, he came back in the house without Benny. Apparently most of the family was out of town and the teen left home to supervise “thought his parents had taken Benny with him.” (Quotes indicate I’m dubious.)

The parent said he would be fine letting us keep Benny, but the teen girl would be sad (and I predict would be at our house “visiting” all the time. Plus, he vowed that he’d fix their broken fence and take Benny in to get neutered so he won’t make puppies with their two unspayed Frenchies. The nephew believed them enough to send Benny home. I accept that, since I asked him to handle it (and I’m grateful).

I was surprised to find myself sort of sad. I know we do not need more dogs and would have to neuter him. But I liked him. Now that a couple of days have passed, I still wait for him to come through the dog door immediately after Carlton. And Carlton? I think he also missed his buddy but is glad the constant humping and licking have stopped.

I’m just hoping that giving him back was the right thing to do. I agree it’s their dog. But I want him safe. I guess the lesson I learned from this is that sometimes you just have to accept discomfort and a lack of closure. There simply may be no way to know what the best decision is.

Nice sunset, even if it doesn’t show the prettiest view of the ranch.

Other tidbits: dudes came by to figure out how much the new gutters will cost so we can get hooked up to the water storage tanks. I’m a bit disappointed that the only shade of red is more like the left shipping container above. Our current gutters are like the right shipping container. That’s okay. Most important is that they do the job.

Attractive hummingbird conveniently shows a current gutter and a water tank.

I still have more deep thoughts but will save them for tomorrow.

Animal transitions

Benny the dog showed up when it was raining again last night. This was the fourth time he’s shown up, so he appears to know the route. The dogs barked a lot last night thanks to that, so no one got a lot of sleep.

I was quite surprised to turn around and see Benny and Carlton in my bathroom doorway this morning. I guess he has the dog door figured out.

So, we’ve been waiting to hear from his owners, but I guess they haven’t missed him yet. It’s no use driving him over there, because he’d just follow us back. Sigh. In the meantime, he follows Carlton around in a lovesick manner. I’m sure Carlton is getting tired of it. I promised him either Benny would go home or he will be neutered next week. That should help.

No one here dislikes Benny. But we aren’t looking for a dog, especially one with owners. So, we’ll see what happens. At least he’s safe and getting tummy rubs.

Tonight Anita and I went out to dinner for the first time in a good while. We ate Vietnamese food, which is a real treat for us these days. She has finally had to let Pickle go, after a couple of pretty hard years with dementia and other issues. You know that was hard. It’s one of the hardest decisions people make. People at the veterinary office were so kind to her, though. That warmed my heart.

I’ll miss Pickle in her younger years when we cuddled in bed and went on long walks with Vlassic and Anita. I’m glad she’s no longer confused and unable to go out. Send Anita some good thoughts.