…Now, my five month old beagle, Ralph, is sick. Wednesday morning, he wouldn’t eat his usual Alpo beef flavored dry dog food. He loves that stuff. So, after trying to cajole him to eat and failing, I took him outside to let him run around for a while. Well, he just sat down on the grass looking very tired. Pretty soon, he started vomiting. Now, I was concerned. He was really sick. So, once again, I called the vet and asked if they could work us in to see what was wrong with my little buddy Ralph. Sure, come on in, the receptionist said. I could almost hear the “CHA-CHING” in her voice.

On the way to the vet, Ralph threw up again in his portable kennel. Damn, what could be wrong with him?!?! Got to the vet’s office and I ran in with Ralph. I told the receptionist Ralph was really sick and to see if the vet could see him right away. Surprisingly, they took us right on to the back. It’s unusual for Ralph not to wag his tail at everybody. But, he was just looked like warmed over death lying on the examination table. After examining him for about ten minutes, the vet said he didn’t believe it was serious. But, it wouldn’t surprise him if Ralph had eaten something that made him sick. They did the blood work and told me to have a seat back in the lobby. So, after waiting about 45 minutes, they call me to the back again. Ralph was sound asleep in a kennel. The vet said he had gotten hold of something used by pest control companies (don’t even ask me to spell it) for termites. An immediate alarm went off in my head. Ralph had gotten hold of one of the termite stations around my house! DAMN!!!

End result is that Ralph had to stay over night for observation. I wasn’t happy about that, and not because of the added cost. I consider Ralph my little friend. You always look out for your friends in life. Ralph is all that and more. My house last night was lonely without him running around making a nuisance of himself. I really missed him! It was just another reminder of the fact you really don’t know what you have until you lose it. As soon as I leave from my battle at the billing department of the hospital this morning (see below), I’m going to go get my little buddy. I’m also going to call the pest control people and tell them to dig those termite stations a little deeper like I told them to do.

Now, if I can just teach Ralph he isn’t a termite…