Admittedly, something like a dog’s birthday might be an easy
thing to forget. Unless, of course, its tattooed on your canine’s forehead.
Or inside her ear.
I’ve done very little in this space celebrating my
greyhound. The beast. The animal. Which is a shame because we have a lot in
common. (Regrettably, its not of the
long-legged-super-small-waist-big-chested-variety). But we’re both Worcester
transplants, we both sneeze in threes and we both fight for the coveted
spot-next-to-Tony.
Which is just a start. Looking back, Tony and I vividly
remember the ‘adopt-me’ advertisement we saw for her a year after we were
married. It said her name, age, likes – and that she had a sense of humor.
“Do you think that’s a typo?” Tony asked.
We learned (quickly) that it wasn’t. We brought home this brindled
- 68 pound 6-year-old former racer (and…ahem…winner of ¼ of those races) who
couldn’t climb stairs (which was quite
hilarious as we lived on a second floor apartment) who – yes – always loved
(and still loves) a good laugh.
[plug here – Cappy was a rescue from
the Second Chance Animal Shelter
and Becker College pre-Vet program – absolutely the best experience]
Last August tragedy struck. Cappy had a
massive stroke. She couldn’t stand up. She couldn’t walk, eat, drink, or focus
(she literally kept banging her head into the floor desperately trying to find
her center). We rushed her over to Tufts Cummings School. She stayed there for
a week as they tried to figure out what was wrong, what caused it, what could
prevent it. It was sad, heartbreaking, frustrating (especially seeing that she is my first dog). She was in the ICU and
they let us bring in a picture of Tom Selleck (side note – that brief period we
actually had a television in the
house, Cappy and I were totally into Blue
Bloods – she’s so silly, isn’t she?)
In the end we insisted she come home –
and she did. Within days of being back she started to recover. H & S
literally nursed her back to health. And now she’s back to getting all huffy,
playing in the sandbox, watching H & S rip apart pillows (not stopping it mind you) and entertaining it when they put the cone of shame
on her head upside down.
So it was quite the blessing that she was able to spend her
11th birthday with us.
People sometimes give us weird looks when we say her name (mostly
because they think we named her after a liquor
store – not true – its really a derivative of her racing name Kelsos Caprietti
– yeah – I know – try calling that off the back porch in the middle of the
night and see if you don’t shorten it).
Speaking of her racing name – can I tell you that her
genealogy can be traced/raced back
36 generations?!
A Very Cappy Birthday
Cake
1 large egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
¼ vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
1-2 bananas (2 small or 1 large)
1 cup carrots (shredded)
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a springform pan.
Combine the wet ingredients (egg, pb, oil, honey, banana(s)
and carrots [which aren’t really wet but are kinda wet as they’re a veg]).
In a separate bowl sift together the flour and baking soda.
Fold in the wet mixture and spoon into the springform pan. Bake for 50-55
minutes or until a toothpick is clean when removed.
Let cool.
Cut into wedges and give it to all the doggie friends. Heck,
let your kids have some too. Its all
edible.
