Bean is on Tumblr now! You can see what she's been up to at beanthepit.tumblr.com.

Bean and the Bump

A couple of weeks ago, I took Bean to the vet's office for some regularly scheduled maintenance. On the way over, I looked over at Bean, sitting in the passenger's seat, and noticed that the little bump on her side that had been there for years was looking different. Since any sudden change in a mole/bump is potentially concerning, I asked the vet to take a look at it. The doctor came in and said she wasn't sure what the bump was, but it was suspicious enough to warrant taking it off. She also said that if it were her dog she would have it taken off as soon as possible.

OK....now I speak Doctor, and I know this is code for "THIS IS REALLY REALLY BAD!!! OMG GET IT OFF!!!"

And so on Friday Bean had surgery to remove the bump and send it off for analysis. Since she was going to be under anesthesia anyway, I asked them to go ahead and clean her teeth (did you know dogs have to be put under to have their teeth cleaned?). Here she is recovering this weekend:

"Hey mom, check out my rad new scar. I'm going to go as Franken-Bean on Halloween!"

[Yes, those are Bryan's arms holding Bean. We are trying to figure out how to still be a part of each other's lives...what makes sense now. It's going OK so far. And he has really come through to help me with Bean this past week.]

Bean never reacts well to anesthesia, and she spent the first night home standing over me (front legs on my left side, back legs on my right side) in my bed and crying. Every few minutes she would fall asleep standing up, start to lean over, and then startle herself awake and cry some more.

Then today, the pathology report came back. The bump was scary. It was a mastocytoma, aka "mast cell tumor". These can be nasty and sometimes need chemotherapy. Thank God Bean's was a Grade 1, and they seem to have gotten all of it. The vet says she will need to have any new bumps checked out, but we can pretty much consider her "cured". I am so relieved! I don't know what I would do if my Bean got sick right now. She's such a good companion.

"Oh Mom, you know I'll always be here for y....SQUIRREL!!!"

By the way, 2010? You can cut it out now. I've had enough. Thank you.

first day of school!

Well, not really. Or at least not for Bean. But I did find a way to walk Bean without her dragging me from tree to tree all the way down the street. I went to a very nice pet shop in the area called Phydeax (pronounced "Fido"), where a very nice lady helped me find a solution. It's called a Sporn Halter and it works like a charm.

There are two other perks:

1) it doesn't look at all like a muzzle, which some people seemed to think her old Gentle Leader was (people already assume she is aggressive, they don't need another reason to think so!)

2) The straps make it look like she is wearing a backpack if you see her from the front, don't you think?

Can I you walk me to the bus stop now mom?

I don't want to be late for the first day of school!

Now that I can walk her, she is much happier and more calm. (By the way, I'm feeling much better too. Thanks for all the support!)

sad to say

That Bryan and I are no longer together. He left a couple of months ago, and that's all I want to say about that.

My recent troubles are no reason to deprive the world of the happiness that is The Bean. And so, a photo of my little girl. She's been missing Bryan, and spends a good amount of time hanging out by the front door...just in case he comes back. Of course, I may just be projecting here, and she could be laying there because it's where the sun was at that moment... Either way, we're a couple of sad girls right now. But we'll be just fine on our own, right Bean?

Sure mom, but you're going to have to learn to walk me!

So much Snow!

In case you haven't heard, the Southeast has been blanketed with snow this weekend. Bryan is away in NYC, and so it is just the Bean and me. We are snowed in! At first, Bean was not sure how she felt about the snow. She stood on the back porch and whined, wanting me to come get rid of it somehow.

Hey MOOOO-OOOOMM! Someone stole our yard!

Eventually, she got used to it. All of the photos were snapped by me from inside the kitchen, by the way. There was no way I was going out there!

Who ever heard of snow and bamboo together? It's like a snowy jungle out here!

She spent the whole afternoon out there, running around investigating. ALL of the tracks you see in this next photo were made by Bean. But I guess she didn't realize that because she spent a good amount of time sniffing and following her OWN tracks! Such a good hunter...

It seems these tracks were made by a dog. 55 pounds or so. Female. They're still fresh. I wonder where she went?

I hope everyone gets a snow day tomorrow!

bean surveys her kingdom

Bryan is back! We are so excited to have him home. I have some new photos of Bean relaxing with her dad, but first a few more from when he was away.

We had a nice, warm-ish sunny day here soon after he left, and I decided to rake up some of the billion or so leaves around our house. I started at the curb, so that our neighbors can see we are at least trying to deal with our yard. Yes. We are that house.

I tethered Bean to the porch while I worked, so that she could soak up some rays and get a view of the street she can't get from the backyard. She made herself comfy in our out-of-control ivy bed. Doesn't she look regal?



But this one is my favorite. A great big goofy smile, much more like the real Bean.

"I has a happy."

No yard work this week though. It is freezing out. In fact, we built a fire last night, which Bean enjoyed very much. Pictures to come...

Bean enjoys christmas cookies

Bryan is out of the country right now, working for justice. Bean and I are both super-proud of him and miss him so much. With him gone, it's just me and the Bean at home, and she keeps bugging me to (finally!) update her blog, so here we go.

A fellow teacher at Bryan's school was kind enough to bring doggie Christmas cookies for Bean. They were lovingly hand made by her two dogs, Lucy and Ruben (with a little bit of help from their mom for the oven part). Before I let Bean destroy them, I took a picture of how lovely they were.

I especially like that they included a "B" for Bean. And also a little cat-shaped cookie, because Bean hates cats and this is likely the closest she will ever come to getting to eat one. And a nice, crunchy one too!

I took a video of Bean devouring these (a process which was way too blurry to photograph - her jaws are moving so fast that even parts of the video are blurry!) which I hope you will enjoy. Please excuse the unswept floor. I couldn't see the point of sweeping before I let my dog spew cookie crumbs all over the place.



Here's hoping that you had a lovely and delicious holiday!