Finally...a photo!
This is Koven in Idlewild Park, which is where he meets his dealer as often as possible. Koven is to goose poop as K9 narcotic units are to illicit drugs...except for the part where he destroys evidence. It turns out his favorite treat dispensing toy is the vibram sole of my Chacos...in case he doesn't get enough of a buzz in the park. We're working on his addiction, and his recent success swimming in the Truckee River hopefully will help him realize how many other pleasurable things there are to live for. Hedonist.
Koven is still trying to fit into the social middle school scene.. He's an artist-philosopher and has a hard time figuring out how to play with his "peers." Judah is only a freshman and has already taken the varsity football, wrestling, rugby, and hockey teams to state championships. He's being actively recruited by the NFL and NHL. Koven really wants to like Polly, but she's a cheerleader with severe ADHD, and, like any reasonable person would do, he sometimes just has to run away and hide. And then there's poor Silas. He's had a very rough childhood and is still deciding on whether to join a street gang or marching band. And the cat...well, he's the higher power in our life and we just try to bring him offerings of sardines and liver in the hope he'll not smite us from the earth.
Shortly after his arrival from the Animal Adoption Center, K seemed to develop some allergies and to be just a bit too mellow... He bravely went to the vet who ran lots of tests, and everything looked great except for his urine sample that apparently was full of white blood cells, indicating an infection. We're dealing with that via antibiotics, and experimenting with the allergy symptoms/treatments. Part of this experimentation is with unprocessed (and often uncooked) foods. He was skeptical at first, far more interested in kibble (Canidae's newest premium grain-free food with primary meat source bison...vet recommended red meats, and I thought it would help him stay in touch with his Wyoming homeland) than various mixtures of beef and lamb and their respective organs. Once The Cat started in on the raw stuff, Koven--again, just trying to fit in--ate a bit. Chicken wings seem to have been his gateway drug (after goose poop) and he's eager to test more of the raw stuff. Koven also has endured a few baths with oatmeal shampoo. I think he's definitely improving.
One of our very best moments in the last couple of weeks was howling together. Sascha, a husky-mix who was "my dog" for a few years (hit by a car while I was at church, February 2, 1997) regularly howled when she heard sirens and I'd howl with her. Scout never howled, Honey howled once, and Koven...I think, based on his performance last week, will be an excellent howling partner. I don't really know if his howls come from the baying hound in him or having descended from wolves. The two compliments in my life that mean the most to me are: 1) having the attending ER physician tell my dad that I was "very stoic" while dealing with a kidney stone, and 2) the wolf biologist who, upon my demonstration of howling, judged it as very similar to a young female wolf. I'm glad I'll be able to get some more practice--maybe I can get my students' attention better by a howl than my current method of awking like a raven.
My hope is that with the means to take photos of Koven, my narration sickness might be cured.
Camera : Logorrea :: Childhood Vaccines : Autism...
oh, wait, that wouldn't be right... good thing I did so fantastically on the GRE.
"I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found." 
"Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality." 
"Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever [her] fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, [she] is rich forever."
