Doug Goodman

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers everybody, but I lost Voodoo tonight around 9. The hookworms were just too much for her. She wasn't moving much most of the day, and by mid-afternoon I was convinced she needed to be euthanized. I told the dog to give some sort of sign why I shouldn't euthanize her, but she didn't, so I called the vet's office to start making the arrangements to take her in. While I was doing this, Voodoo walked across our house to sit by me. It was more movement than she had made all day, and a definite positive sign. I decided that she had at least bought herself another twelve hours. By five she was sitting in her cage with her head erect and looking around, but this was her last hurrah. By 6 she was back to her former ailing self, and I was petting her at 8:40 when I stopped to go watch Angelina Jolie in Wanted. I came back after 9 to check on her, and she had passed away.

My daughter is much better today.  I showed her some Facebook comments about Princess, and I showed her a very nice note from her grandparents.  These condolences really helped her out.  I think being able to talk to her friends did, too.  Now I am looking into a pet memorial.  This could easily cost hundreds of dollars.  Is there a price for grieving?  I don't know what the dollar amount is, but I hope when we do have the memorial, it helps my daughter get over her loss. 

Very unexpectedly, my daughter's dog, Princess, died a few nights ago.  She had bloat, and there's not much that can be done when that happens.  But in a weird art-imitating-life scenario, I recently published a story, Haruspex, about a child dealing with the death of his pet.  The story is in the latest Murky Depths.  Both dogs are retrievers, and both children I imagine to be about the same page.  It was an interesting coincidence, which is a word we are dealing with a lot after Princess' death.  I think when someone dies, you start to see signs everywhere, even in th little things.  I wanted to capture some of that in the story, and hopefully I did.  Lord, I just hope my daughter doesn't turn into a haruspex. 

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Job update:

There are no jobs at NASA.  Even the major companies just aren't hiring right now.  I've spent weeks looking for a job and haven't found anything.  Fortunately, I have a new position with Jacobs.  I am working in shuttle records archival.  It is a 5-month position, with a possibility of  a longer contract.  I just hope that by then, NASA starts moving forward again.