The new job means I'm almost constantly at the keyboard. No social life, no nothing. I've thought "what are some things I can do to relieve stress" and certainly using a blog - this blog - to rant would be in keeping with how I came to form it, oh so many years ago now and so funny because it was for different reasons then.

I like working from home, I can tell you that, but it's not all that it's cracked up to be either. It's great to be here working in a room that I've fixed up to be comfortable, with many windows, the sun shining in, the apple tree in full bloom, the view of the lake past the houses across the street.

Grace comes and reminds me, with a gentle whistle, when it's time to go out - and I can do that now. It's nice to have her around, especially now when there's probably not much time left. She stumbles on her walks, and she can only walk the perimeter of the property, panting heavily with a noise that sounds like wheezing. Well, I tell myself, she's 15-and-a-half. Pretty remarkable, really.

Of course it will be a terrible day when her final day arrives. I halfway hope to wake up and find her in her bed as if she were asleep, passed away peacefully in the middle of the night. But that's not likely - her heart is still strong the vet says. That means I'll have to make the decision.

I was looking at end-of-life websites for pets, and one described it as "crossing the rainbow bridge" - which is pretty hokey and yet comforting to me at the same time.