Riley has never been a big fan of thunderstorms. Hurricane Ike solidified his anxiety concerning high winds and unexplained sky noises. He spent most of the night of the storm taking attendance; moving from my side of the bed, to Nathan’s pallet on the floor, to Erin’s pallet at the foot of the bed, to Stephen’s side of the bed then back to my side of the bed to start all over again. In contrast, Bailey slept quite comfortably on Nathan.

When the weather’s fine, he really, really loves to be outside – especially when it’s cool and breezy and the wind can ruffle his fur. This winter has been kind of hard on him (and, I confess, hard on me too) with his sore leg and his medicated old dog brain. When he’s inside he’s stuck on one of the rugs we’ve strewn about the house because he can’t get enough traction with only three functioning legs. But he seems to find great comfort – both physical and emotional – in lying in one of his yard divots.

But tonight, there’s a thunderstorm. And he’s anxious because he’s stuck inside AND because there’s the wind and noise thing going on. I considered giving him his of bedtime dose of Benadryl early, but then Erin sent me this photo of him and I felt guilty that he looked so dopey.