Dog and Writer: Volume 8 in Blogs on DiscoverSayville.com

It has been a hairy (ha! ha!) time this past month for mom, although it has been really nothing to joke about. Her mom, my grandmother has been rushed to the hospital twice but is now doing okay.

As I can't type, it has to come through mom.

I'll tell you, mom barely fed me. Oh, I'll never starve but the food in my bowl was really becoming questionable. I really was starting to expect M & M's at one point. They would come in, barely pat me on the head, sometimes flop in front of the television. Mom did her job at the paper and that kept her from being worried ALL of the time. She would look at me and say, "Maxie, drink your carrot juice."

Mom joked they were getting to know the emergency room staff at Stony Brook and Southside Hospitals, who thankfully helped grandma out.

But things are much better now. My food is also looking more enticing.

AND GUESS WHAT?

She is taking me out for walks. I don't always get an A. Sometimes it is a C+ and mom comes back looking weary, but man, it is great getting all those sniffs and sights in. Mom and dad actually took me to Meadow Croft today. I laid down by the vineyards where they sat and said a prayer for Barney.

Mom is trying to get in her stress relievers. She works out with Debbi Reines and pumps weight as she looks out on the Great South Bay and listens to swing music. Can you imagine us dogs doing that? (Naaah! Too much work.) Sometimes mom talks about doing little dances between the sets. She does it at home sometimes to a CD. Lets her joy out.

(Ma, that's why dogs race around in circles - what do you think we're doing.)

She still loves Robert Osborne from TCM. Saw The Great Ziegfeld the other night, wow, for three hours. Very glam. (Ma, I like those movies too, but try something like Avatar once on a while.)

Mom is going to have a baked potato and some spinach now. (Yeah, and she's probably going to have a Hagaan Dazs pop in about two hours.)

It's nice to have life back to normal again. Ciao!