My awesome dogs had another altercation. One's overnight at the vet, and the other ... never thought we'd get to this point

Day 5 of 2020:

          Around 1130ish, the dogs are outside and the tone of bark is of concern, so, in my ‘jammies’ and robe, I go right out. Neighbor’s puppy has been barking, so maybe it’s a dog outside the fence.

          It’s a possum or raccoon or whatever just sitting there, and Vander and Coop are very worked up about it. I had a squirt bottle for them to get them away and back toward the house, but they were hyped.

 

From Jan. 1, eyeing a toy.

         Just like that, as I’m squirting the critter, they run into each other and get tangled up and are into a severe altercation. *Snap*

          Which happened on Day 21 of 2018. After which I said I couldn’t go through that again, and if it happened ...

  

The body operates on its own terms. So did my brother, whose battle after a stroke, and more, ended today

            Every so often, you go through spells of pondering mortality, a little more than you should, and it is then attached to insomnia, which doesn’t need any help.

            And regularly,  everybody needs a reminder of other people’s mortality. The human body, I’ve been saying for years, will do what it wants, which is often not what doctors say, predict, or expect. We all know of medical miracles still bouncing around, and poster children for proper health gone in a second.

            The body operates on its own terms.

            That’s what my brother’s body went and did. A few years ago, he had a stroke, and was living in an assisted-care facility back home in Pa. As per usual, he went forward and backward. Couldn’t really speak, but still could express himself. Things were where they were.

            Then my sister called a couple weeks. Uh oh. A form of cancer had emerged on his bladder, I think. No, he wasn’t in perfect shape when he had the stroke, but he wasn’t a big drinker by any stretch, and had gone back and forth as a smoker. There was chemo, and something else, and initially, it looked like the plan was to go with ‘something else,’ but all that would do was give him about six months or so.

            As it turns out, he had decided against that. He was still normal, despite the inevitability. My sister said to plan a Christmas trip, because it looked like he’d still be pretty good and have a few months left. When the phone rang this afternoon …

Update: Vander and Coop, 11 weeks After Disagreement, more of Life Before Disagreement appears

          Life is not like it was before Jan. 22, 2018.

          The dogs aren’t deciding when they’ll sleep on the bed, or if they’ll just stay in the living room. They’re not falling asleep on the couch a foot or two apart, occasionally one’s head up against the other’s butt or back.

          They’re not doing their own things in the backyard all afternoon, one chilling on the porch and the other relaxing but keeping an eye out for them there varmints: squirrels and birds, or a rabbit in another yard.

Just like that, two brothers are fighting 

 Dogs and Roomie a month after The Altercation:

          They’re not sitting still, proper posture and serious faces, in the dining room watching my every move upon crossing the threshold of the kitchen, because apparently I must depart every kitchen visit with something for them other than loving words.

          It’s been nearly 11 weeks – and overall, about $1,200 – since Vander and Coop went at it (and that’s all I’ll say about that here).

Dogs and Roomie a month after The Altercation: good, but not normal, and normal was awesome

            A month after The Altercation – God, a month? - it’s mostly good, and became mostly good after about a week.

            Not me. On the inside. Better, yes, but not necessarily all that good.

            It was Jan. 22 when the two dogs who had never growled at each other suddenly were beating the crap out of each other, and of me, in the middle trying to break it up.

In seconds: two dogs, mellow 'brothers', are fighting; an altercation becomes a nightmare, and a week of pain - more for the human than the hounds

            One minute, I'm on the edge of the bed changing into my "we're gonna go for a walk" clothes and sneakers.

            Vander and Coop are on the bed, a pile of pillows and comforters, going through their little wrestling dance, which I let go for about 10 or 15 seconds on average just to keep things cool at all times.

This is them.

            Didn't get that chance.

            Within seconds, I had two dogs - within the previous hour, one was laying on the couch having his face licked by the other one - at each other like a bad dogfighting evidence tape.

            I screamed. Did exactly what you're not supposed to do, and dove into what couldn't - could not, no way, not this nightmare - between two dogs who are different, but so silly in how well they've always gotten along. Always. One was the annoying little brother, the other the chilled older brother. They'd wrestle, and then when I yelled to stop - it was normal dog stuff - they'd look at me, panting, and tails wagging, with this, "Oh, come oooonnnn, Grampaaaa, we just playin."

            And I'd laugh. All these two did all day everyday was make me laugh, individually or together.

            Just like that, I'm yelling and wrestling and pulling and trying to cover one up with a blanket so they can't see other - one of the things you're actually supposed to do - and break up the momentum. Didn't work. They were both so unbelievably pissed at each other. They'd get a grip and shake their head back and forth - a vision that won't be leaving my head soon - and snarled and just everything.

            I'm trying to get in the middle, screaming "noooo" because this is simply a scenario I never, ever, ever expected with these two, and am literally putting my hands in there to pry a mouth from whatever the mouth is on. There's my left index fingernail bleeding and not looking good.

            We roll off the bed, my britches actually come down, and there go my glasses, while they roll from one bedroom to the next. I was dazed for a few seconds, and dove back in. Grabbed a pair of jeans to cover one up, and they were so active, there was no way for one person to slow them down.

            The snarling and gripping continued, the bait-dog pitbull mix who I would clone a thousand times if I could and the remarkably affectionate hound, these two life-improving glorious dogs.

            My brain was frying.

Who's actually seen Jake Fromm play live a lot? This guy

            Not long after Jacob Eason’s clumsy post-push stumble out of bounds, the analysis started.

            The Jake Fromm experts got busy, moreso as he came off the Georgia bench and looked like somebody who probably shouldn’t be on the bench.

            And it’s continued, daily and hourly proclamations and speculations and discussions and confident postulation of a player few actually saw in a game situation at all or more than a little.

            Games are a wee bit different than a highlight or video or offseason camp, yes?

            Hmmm.

            As it goes, pretty much everything said is still on point.

What do I have in common with Mark Richt, James Comey, a bunch of ESPN folks recently, among others?

            Those people were, in simple terms, fired.

            Other variations for other situations: laid off, involuntary separation, downsizing, restructuring.

            And another one.

            "... As a result, I need to tell you your position is being eliminated."

            It started here on Aug. 10, 1998, and the announced end came at 3:04 p.m. on Thursday, June 22, 2017.

            Yessir. Indeedy. Alllllllrightythen. Wish I'd have worn a cup to that meeting.

            Thus ending a stint that included some Super Bowls, some NCAA Final Fours, scores of state high school championship games and events, my first trip to Starkville, Mercer beating Duke in the NCAA Tournament, and probably around 4,500 game stories, features, notebooks and columns.