by Phyllis McCrossin

This week I deactivated my Facebook account. No big deal, I’ve done it at least 50 times before; but I think this time it might be for keeps.

I found myself spending much too much time on social media. I think my time could better spent doing something else. So far I’ve filled that free time by playing solitaire.

Small steps I guess.

By avoiding social media, my goal is to finally finish my book about my mother’s struggle with dementia. In fact, the book is finished; but only a fool would be so smug as to not have it edited; or only a fool would assume to be able to edit it herself; or someone who self-edits has a fool for an editor… something like that anyway. (Yes, I know the correct reference about lawyers).

Anyway, I’ll keep tweaking it until I find someone who will actually edit for a miniscule amount of money because that’s all I can afford.

I also have half a dozen craft/sewing projects that I’d like to finish. It’s interesting, I’ve been retired for at least three years, but it is only now, when I am working (part-time) again that suddenly these unfinished projects are calling to me.

So, long story short, as we head into August-like weather at the beginning of June I’m thinking about all the things I SHOULD be doing and it just so happens that NOT doing Facebook is one of them. (I’ve never understood Instagram or Twitter so I don’t have THAT social media addiction to overcome).

Without my face buried in my phone or on my computer, our senior rescue dog, DK, is enjoying the added attention that Facebook stole from him.

At least I think he is enjoying it; it’s hard to tell with him.

It is only now — after his being a part of the family for six months — we are beginning to see some signs of contentment from him. And by that I mean he occasionally wags his tail. That’s it. A couple of feeble attempts at a tail wag, and King and I melt. “Oh look, he’s telling us he’s happy.”

It’s fairly obvious DK has had a very, very hard life — and that is the main reason we adopted him. His rescuer said he thought DK had sort of given up on life. I agree. I think he had.

He is pretty tired. His face is full of scars. We can only guess from what (and none of our guesses are pleasant). A big tell on his previous life is his attitude when he sees another dog. When we meet another dog on our walks DK turns his head and looks the other way, as if he wants to avoid eye contact. His attitude is one of “If I don’t see them they won’t see me.” (By the way, DK still walks sideways. His backend can never quite follow his front end in a straight line. It’s either hip dysplasia or worse).

But we love this little guy. We don’t know how long he will be with us before he makes the trip to Rainbow Bridge, but we think he deserves as much love as two human beings can give him. We are fairly certain he’d never been loved before he was rescued.

The gentleman who rescued DK from the streets of Tijuana concurred. In fact DK kind of wormed his way into the rescuer’s heart as well. I’ve never met the gentleman, but apparently he is a business owner in Tijuana and rescues dogs when he can. He spends his own money on the dogs, getting them vaccinated, de-wormed, medicated when needed and, as in DK’s case, pays for any additional surgery. (DK had a huge hernia removed from his abdomen).

We adopted DK through a rescue organization in San Diego, but the woman who housed him briefly asked if we would mind keeping his rescuer apprised of DK’s progress. We obliged, and I drop him an occasional line and let him know how DK is doing. He always is happy to hear from us. In his last email he said he had just rescued two dogs that did not make it. They were too far gone to be saved.

When we first went to meet DK, we were about the third or fourth potential adopters to visit him. It seems many people came to look at him to adopt him but when they saw how feeble he was they opted not to adopt. We decided even if he lived just 10 days (yes, that is how feeble he was) they would be 10 days filled with the love and attention he never got before he was rescued.

So we are rather thrilled that this little mutt dog is doing as well as he is.

Friday morning, before the heat of the day chased us into the trailer (with no air conditioning, but lots and lots of fans) DK took me for a long walk. And yes, he leads the way, I just follow and let him explore on his own. I know he doesn’t truly pay attention to where he is going because his eyes are always on the ground.

So Friday we left the open field of the campground and wandered into the woods. Suddenly he stopped, looked around and realized he was in unfamiliar territory. You could see it on his face, “Oh crap. Now where am I?”

Considering he is a street dog found in Tijuana, I don’t think the Michigan woods are comforting to him. In fact, I am quite certain if he were able to run, he would have.

But he can’t, so we didn’t, which is a good thing because I can’t run either.