Today's Cloud

My brother is coming to visit.

He'll be here the day after tomorrow.

Good lord...

What? Uncle Roar is coming here?

First of all, I love my brother. I really do. He hasn't been down to visit in years, so he hasn't seen the house or anything. That bit will be fun!

Secondly, he loves dogs, he really does. But he doesn't really agree with me on how to treat and train dogs. He's not extreme, but he is old school. And that of course shows itself more when it comes to Monster, since he has the behavioral issues he does...

Roar won't actually do anything to Monster, and he won't directly interfere with the training. But those of you who have an older brother know about the pressure of the Silent Judgment, and the stinging of the Scoffing Remark, right? Oh, man...

Read my lips: No! More! Whining!

Monster of course loooooves Roar. They've met when I've been back home to visit family, and Monster finds Roar to be one of the few men up there he'll love unreservedly. He hates my father, for instance. And in general, he has some difficulties with the lumbering body language, loud voices, big gestures, and violent humor in my home village, especially with the men. But for some reason my brother is exempt, even though he's at least as loud as anyone else (he's called Roar for a reason), and quite confrontational when he feels Monster should chill (so, always). It's a mystery to me.

You don't need to get it. Shut up and start baking, we need to make Uncle feel welcome!

And now the real reason this truly is a Cloud. I've saved this for last because it's actually been difficult to type it out, much harder than I expected it to be. Roar had to put his own dog down two days ago. He was a wonderful dog, who unfortunately suffered from patella luxation and bad hips. He was fearful and aggressive from the start, although he did become more accepting of people in his last few years. He always liked me, though, and would come up to be cuddled from the first time I met him. He loved to play fetch, and he was such a good dog, in spite of all his issues. My brother won't talk about it much, but I know it hurts. It wasn't a surprise, he's been living on borrowed time for more than a year, but while that should make it easier I'm not convinced that really is the case...

Monster and I will make Roar feel welcome, though.

Or possibly Monster will eat him, no way to be sure...