Dogs I Have Owned and Loved

The first dog that lived in our home when I was a kid was Rex, a Heinz 57 variety of cocker spaniel and traveling man. Rexie was mostly black and brown with tan eyebrows and muzzle...I see a lot of dogs with that combination so the traveling man was very popular with the ladies.

My own first dog was a collie given to me by Ken, my high school sweetheart and the guy I eventually married. Danni was a purebred, an offspring of two show dogs. Danni didn't have the large white ruff around his neck so was not considered show quality and his price was affordable. He was a sweet, good natured dog but had wanderlust....when we moved to a new house in the suburbs without a fenced in yard, Danni wandered off.....we always hoped that he found a good home.

When our second daughter was about 2 years old, we decided to get another dog....prior to this, a friend had given us a pony...a little white spotted mare. Since our suburban neighborhood was rapidly filling with new homes, we no longer had space for a pony so traded her to a farmer friend for a bassett puppy. Lazee Dazee was the family playmate and followed our girls whereever they went. Dazee died when she was 8 years old.

Our family was growing so we bought a larger house and moved again...by this time we had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. And wanted another dog. Freckles was found at our local animal shelter...a combination of cocker spaniel and we think terrier. She was also a very prolific little dog....she had evidentally had some dealings with another traveling man because a month or so later she had a litter of 6 darling little black and white puppies. About this time we decided that 3 young children, a dog and 6 puppies was too much for me to care for, so my mom graciously volunteered to take Freckles and her brood. Freckles lived out her life in luxury .... spoiled to the max.

When our last child, Nancy, was 3, we were given a German Shorthair Pointer....a beautiful dog. His name was Argang's Dark Shadow and he lived with us until his death at age 13. Shadow was of the "traveling man" variety...if he could climb the fence, slip out the gate or get out of the door, he was GONE!. The kids would run after him yelling "Shadow, Shadow" and he'd tuck his tail between his legs and run....but he always came home. 

After Shadow passed away, I said "NO MORE DOGS" but of course no one listened. Our son was 16 and had just passed his driving test...he had a license!!.. so the first place he went was the animal shelter.

I was busily cleaning up in the kitchen when the phone rang....a lady from the shelter. She said that Jeff was there wanting to adopt a dog...since he was still under our roof, she said she couldn't let him have one without our permission. I asked "what does the dog look like, what kind is it?" She must have been very anxious for Jeff to have the dog because her description was a little vague...."well, its white with black spots and we think it is a terrier.." Yep, it was white and black alright, but about 8" taller than any terrier. We had Duke for nearly 10 years.

Finally our children married and moved into homes of their own. And, we were dogless. But not for long. Our youngest, Nancy decided that we needed a pet, so brought over a darling little cocker spaniel puppy....golden brown with a WHITE topnotch....his name was Copper Valley Flintstone. One look at those liquid brown eyes and we were hooked. Fred is 14 years old and is my husband's constant companion.

The last member of our doggy family was a Keeshound named D. B. Kuper....Kuper was one of our son's four dogs. When Jeff moved from the country to the city, he could only take three of the dogs with him. Kuper needed a home...ours. Luckily Fred and Kuper knew each other and Fred was willing to share his home and yard....not his doghouse however. Kuper knew that the doghouse was forbidden territory and never went in. They were good buddies until Kuper died of cancer.

Ole Fred is not in the best of health, he doesn't see well and is hard of hearing (so is his owner!) or has selective hearing....hears when he wants to. He has a small tumor which is being watched. We dread the day that Fred passes away, but realize that it will not be far off.  Fred will be our last dog....I cannot handle my heart being torn apart piece by piece when our sweet, beloved dogs die. Each of them lives in my heart and memories of them will be with me always.

Post script:  Fred passed away on September 1, 2011.  He had been ill for a while and one night, he curled up in his bed and went to sleep. We hope that he will be waiting for us with the rest of our beloved dogs at the Rainbow Bridge. 

THE LOSS OF A HEART DOG

I stood by your bed last night,
I came to have a peep
I could see that you were crying,
you found it hard to sleep I whined to you softly as
you brushed away a tear,
"it's me, I haven't left,
I'm well, I'm fine, I'm here" I was close to you at breakfast,
I watched you pour the tea
You were thinking of the many times,
your hands reached down to me I was with you at the shops today,
your arms were getting sore
I longed to take your parcels,
I wish you could do more I was with you at my grave today,
you tend it with such care

I want to reassure you,
that I'm not lying there I walked with you towards the house,
as you fumbled for your key
I gently put my paw on you,
I smiled and said "it's me" You look so very tired,
and sank into a chair
I tried so hard to let you know,
that I was standing there It's possible for me,
to be so near you every day
To say to you with certainty,
"I never went away" You sat there very quietly,
then smiled, I think you knew
In the stillness of that evening,
I was very close to you The day is over,
I smile and watch you yawning
And say "goodnight, God bless,

I'll see you in the morning" And when the time is right for you
to cross the brief divide,
I'll rush across to greet you
and we'll stand, side by side I have so many things to show you,
there is so much for you to see
Be patient, live your journey out,
then come home to be with me.

(source:  http://memorial4ourbelovedpets.blogspot.com/ )

Did an Angel help me?

I have always believed in angels, well sort of. I've read about strangers who appear when someone is in trouble, in an accident, or just needing help.....and then when the problem is over, just disappear. Not fade away like a movie angel would, they just are no longer there.

In October of 2008, my husband and I went on a 12 day train trip, starting in Chicago and making a circle through Nebraska, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota and ending up back in Chicago.

We met 8 of his model train club buddies in the lower level of the Chicago train depot. Some of them had taken a train from Omaha but we had driven to Naperville, IL where our daughter and family live and then took the commuter train into the Chicago depot. Most of us were retired and all were looking forward to this trip,

We met in the lower section of the depot and lined up to take the escalator to the upper level. We carried our our luggage with us, suitcases and duffle bags.....2 or 3 apiece. We should have taken the elevator. One by one we stepped onto the escalator. I was behind an elderly lady holding her suitcase and purse and behind me were other people with theirs. Suddenly about half way up to the 2nd floor, a older man who was about 8 feet ahead of me lost his balance and went down on his knees, his luggage tumbling down onto the people behind him. He couldn't get up, and the escalator kept going, taking him closer and closer to the teethlike end where the stairs disappear into the floor.

He sprawled onto the floor at the top of the escalator, still unable to get to his feet. But the escalator didn't stop. It kept going, causing the rest of us to fall on top of him. I was so afraid that someone would get their clothing or hands caught in the end of the escalator. The lady in front of me fell on top of the person in front of her, I fell to my knees over her, and the people and luggage behind me piled up on top of us.

The escalator kept going and I yelled out "somebody help us"....there were people walking around on the upper level but no one noticed us or had made a move to come over to help. Then a young man came out of nowhere and I heard "push the red button"....by that time, I was at the top of the escalator well within reach of it. I slapped it, and the escalator stopped. When I slapped the button, it was about as big as a silver dollar and bright red.

We are all so fortunate that none of us were badly hurt....bruised, scraped and scared, but not hurt. The gentleman who had fallen was so apologetic and felt so bad about causing the accident. All I could think of was that old Lucille Ball TV show where Lucy and Ethel were working at a candy factory and they couldn't package the candies fast enough and the candy on the conveyer belt kept coming and coming and coming.

The young man who had told me to hit the button was gone. Maybe he had to catch a train, maybe he had somewhere else to be, but he was gone. All I could remember about him that he was fairly young and had light hair...nothing else. And, none of our group remembered seeing him at all.  So, did I really HEAR   "push the red button" or did I mentally HEAR the words?


After the trip was over and we were back in Chicago, we took the elevator  to the upper floor.  (no more dealing with luggage and escalators)  I walked over to the escalator and looked for the red stop button.  There it was right on the top of the escalator next to the moving belt.  But, it had a plastic cover over it and it was a little push button about the size of a nickel. Not at all what I remembered.  I absolutely DID NOT have to open a plastic lid and fumble around for a nickel sized button....I was on my knees on the escalator and just reached up and slapped it.

So, did we have an encounter with an angel or just a nice guy? Personally, I think whoever it was had wings and other places to go and other people to help.

MEN...you gotta love 'em

NICKNAMES:
If Joleen, Marte and Jean go out for lunch, they will call each other Joleen, Marte and Jean.

If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

EATING OUT:
When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20,even though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.  When the girls get their bill,out come the pocket calculators.

MONEY:
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need but it's on sale.

BATHROOMS:
A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste,shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel . The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. A man would not be able to identify more than 20 of these items.

ARGUMENTS:
A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

FUTURE:
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

SUCCESS:
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.  A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

MARRIAGE:
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.  A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DRESSING UP:
A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the trash, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.  A man will dress up for weddings and funerals.

NATURAL:
Men wake up as good-looking as they went to bed. Women somehow deteriorate during the night.

OFFSPRING
Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and romances, best friends, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
A married man should learn to forget his mistakes.  There's no use in two people remembering the same thing!

A Great Way to Start Mother's Day! (sarcasm!)

Another Mother's Day ..Well, I qualify since I have four lovely children...and even more so if you include our equally lovely grandchildren.  They are coming over to take Ken and I to a Mother's Day luncheon.  Yeaaaa, I don't have to cook!

This morning didn't start out well though....our grandson Andrew had been visiting last night, and I had forgotten how much he likes to twirl dials and punch buttons....especially in the kitchen.  I decided to eat lightly so put two slices of  raisin bread into the toaster and walked over to pour myself a cup of tea...

Phew, something was burning!  My toast was toasted to a nice dark black cinder!  Andrew had obviously been fooling around with the dial and had moved it from normal/medium to the highest setting the little toaster had.  Smoke and burnt toast....great...

I went to the kitchen cabinet grabbed the Glade air spray and started spraying the kitchen, living room and hallway. "Hmmmm the aerosol container must be nearly empty since spray is coming out, but I can't smell the fragrance"  About that time I slipped on the slate hallway.  In fact, I could have ice-skated all the way down the hallway.

I must have muttered fairly loudly, some un-motherly words because Ken came into the room and asked what was the matter.  He looked at the container of Glade in my hand....surprise, it was not Glade, it was my aerosol can of Olive Oil No-Stick Cooking Spray.

Yep, I had sprayed the kitchen, living room and hallway with greasy, oily no-stick spray.  The furniture looks okay, the overstuffed chairs and couch look to be spray-free, but the slate floor sucked up the oil like a magnet.  And WOW, is it ever shiny!

So....how was YOUR Mother's Day?

Where did our US jobs go??????

This was sent to me by a friend who lost her job in October. She had worked at the same place for 15 years....but no longer. Her company could not compete with the foreign imports...many of which were actually American companies who chose to have their items made overseas.....cheaper? I suppose so. But in a way, we, as comsumers are also to blame. We want the best bargain, i.e. cheapest, items we can find....who cares if John, Helen, Tom or Doreen, American citizens, will lose their jobs....obviously we don't.
 
John Q. Public started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN ) for 6 am.

While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG ).

He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRILANKA ), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE ) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA).

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA ) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO ) to see how much he could spend today.

After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) turning off his radio (MADE IN INDIA ) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY ) filled it with gas (FROM SAUDI ARABIA) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day of checking his computer (MADE IN MALAYSIA), John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL ) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE ) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA ), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA.

Do you see anything WRONG with this story? You should.

Our Legacy

       

 

..........................100 Years From Now.......


It will not matter what our bank account was, the sort of house we lived in or what kind of a car we drove, but the world may be different because we were important in the life of a child...

Our grandchildren:  Mason, Jennifer, Connor, Austin, Hayden, Rebecca and Andrew...

Grandpa and Grandma Boicourt