Goodbye, Mandy!

Not even six weeks after losing our beloved Bernice, we've now lost our other girl. Mandy, the puppy we adopted for Bernice to raise, is gone. Bernice did a wonderful job raising her puppy, and they both brought such joy to our lives. Now they're gone. I hope their spirits live on, together in a better place. I hope they and my parents are in a wonderful place together where Marc, Dodger and I will get to see them again someday.

For now, some photos to remember the beautiful girl we just lost.


This one really is the best. It's what I hope the girls are doing now, as my parents watch and smile!


She was about 5 years old here. She always loved the snow!


She had the most beautiful fur. When she was freshly bathed, she shined! And her coat felt like a mink!


Did I mention that she loved the snow?


She also loved playing with a ball. Here, she's challenging Patrick in his own home in Vermont!

And here, hanging out with another friend named Patrick. As you can see, Mandy was always nice enough to let friends share her furniture!

No stick stood a chance against her! This was one of her favorite pastimes.

I'll stop there for now. I don't want to overload you on photos of the beautiful girl. Besides, I can save some for another day!

There's another dog

This post may make you think I'm a complete flake, but it's an accurate report. Granted, the meaning is subject to interpretation, but... well, here goes...

For years, there has been a dog hidden in our bathroom ceiling. I know that sounds weird. Here's how it works. While showering, once the ceiling outside the shower gets steamed up, there's what appears to be the image of a dog's face that emerges there. Yes, I always figured it was a quirk of the paint (as opposed to the spirit of some family dog visiting us on a daily basis).

Then came today. This afternoon, we were in the shower, and at some point in things, I looked up and saw something. Marc saw the look on my face and knew something was up.

Marc: What?

Me: There's another dog.

Marc: Huh?

Me: On the ceiling. There's another dog.

Marc looked where I was looking, to the right of the dog image we knew about, and then he saw it. There was another one there. Perhaps just another quirk in the paint and how condensation collects there.

But he added exactly what I was thinking: "It looks like Bernice."

And it does. Not just a dog, but a dog that looks like our Bernice.

Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's just condensation from shower steam on ceiling paint. Maybe that's all it means when we suddenly, after all these years, see this... an image that looks like the dog we've been mourning for the past few weeks. Maybe, or maybe it means more than that.

A tree is the perfect remembrance

Around here, we're big on trees as a way to remember a loved one we've lost. You may recall that we've planted trees for such things in the past, as well as joining in such tributes when done by others. So it was a special joy when we came home Thursday to find a box from our dear friend Pua and her entire family that held a baby magnolia tree in memory of our beloved Bernice. (Rumor has it, it was Pua's daughter, Averie, who came up with the idea of sending it. Great idea!) Today, my live-in gardener (yes, that would be my husband) dug a hole in the back of the yard to plant it: The tree would have been more than enough, but the icing on the cake was this plaque that came with it: It says, "Bernice, January 1998 - May 2012 Welcome to the family, little tree. May you grow big and strong like the special lady you honor. You have big paws to fill!

Daddy Marc's little girl

Bernice loved both of us. I have no doubt about that. She was a big bundle of love and dedication wrapped in fur.

Still, from day one, she took to Marc with a love and commitment beyond measure. She took one look at Marc and decided he was IT. This photo, from shortly after we adopted her (look how skinny she was!) really tells the story--click on it to get a better view. They were head-over-heels in love, and that never changed. So wonderful!

Do some things happen for a reason?

I’ve always had a hard time with the “things happen for a reason” school of thought. There are too many horrors in this world for me to easily accept that there’s a grand plan into which everything fits.

Still, I was led to wonder this weekend. During a huge crying fit over losing Bernice, I was saying to Marc, in between moments of hysterical mourning, that I couldn’t believe the first people who had her returned her. “How could they be so cruel to her? She was the sweetest girl, and she loved the world. The idea of her bonding to a family and then their returning her. She must have been so horribly crushed.” I wailed, “How could they do that to her?”

Then Marc and I said, at pretty much the same moment, “They didn’t deserve her! If they couldn’t give her the right home, then they didn’t deserve her huge, unconditional love!”

That made me wonder. Could there be more? I don’t know. There’s still so much that’s horrible and cruel in this world, but did something greater say, “Bernice, as you’ll come to be known, you deserve better than these people. There are two guys who are going to love you for all your goodness. You hang in there, girl, and they’ll come for you!”

I still don’t know, but I like to think so. A bright, shining beacon of love has left our world. I sure hope we see her again somehow, someday, but for now we hold her in our hearts, pained beyond measure but knowing we were lucky she came into our world!

A story of our beloved Bernice

Bernice, January 1998 - May 17, 2012

As you may know from seeing me post on Facebook, we lost our eldest two days ago. She was a wonderful girl, and we're heartbroken over her death. My head believes it was the right thing to do, but my heart is crushed and I'm torturing myself over having euthanized her. I'll get past it with time, since we had to keep her from suffering. For the moment, though, I'm really hurting.

Now, I want to start to record some stories of this very special girl who won our hearts all those years ago. I may have to keep this short, because I find myself crying when I try to type things about her. But let's see if I can get an early story down before I have to stop.

We adopted Bernice on October 16, 1998. It was a Friday. We got her from North Shore Animal League. She was nine-and-a-half months old, and she was a bit on the wild side. That's why this almost-grown doggy was there. But she was the one for us (more about that in a future post), and the people who missed their chance to adopt her were fools. We were very fortunate!

When we took her home, she scraped a paw pad on the cement sidewalk as we went to the car--we figured her time in a cage had softened them up, and the soft pads weren't an issue once she had a normal life. We soon saw that the pad was bleeding, and by the next morning we were worried (as new parents) that we needed to do something about it. Since her adoption came with a month of free veterinary care at NSAL, we took her back there (to what we referred to as the "prison vet").

We had to wait a while, and the waiting room was packed. Bernice was a little under 40 pounds at the time, quite lithe and with some growing yet to do (her full, healthy adult weight would be 65 pounds). As we sat on the waiting room benches, there was another dog there, a significantly larger dog that was acting aggressively toward all of the other dogs there. When he tried to provoke Bernice, we kept a tight hold on her leash and she actually behaved quite well. She let it go.

Then the big dog growled at a little puppy sitting nearby. With that, Bernice pulled away, stood in front of the puppy, turned to the big dog and showed that dog what all of the teeth in her Doberman-Shepherd mouth looked like. The dog turned tail and hustled back to hide with its owner. Bernice walked back over and sat down by us, and that was the end of it.

That was our girl. She was there to protect us--there never was a doubt about that--but she also was very much the champion of those who couldn't protect themselves. Heaven help any bully if she was around. We already were falling in love with her, but that really told us that we'd brought someone very special into our family!

Gotham vs. Brooklyn Rugby

Not much need for commentary in this post. I'm just sharing a few photos. First, a few Gotham boys... And now, a couple of the Brooklyn boys... Like I said, not much to say. Let's just enjoy the loveliness! ;)

Book review: Winston's War

Winston's War by Michael Dobbs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a surprisingly good read! I suppose I didn't expect much from this book, despite reading an interesting blurb on it, because Barnes & Noble was giving it away for free, as one of their Free Fridays offerings. Yes, I realize that such things are supposed to build interest in the author or in similar works. Still, many of the giveaways are worth what I pay for them. In this case, that view was in error.

Winston's War is an historical novel, focused on the run-up to World War II, as Neville Chamberlain was trying to buy peace from Hitler through appeasement, while Winston Churchill was certain that this policy would only incite a tyrant. Of course, we know how that turned out. What makes this book interesting is the interplay between the characters and the political maneuvering in this very rocky time.

A well-written historical novel requires a good grasp of history. Being a student of history myself, many authors lose me through their lack of real historical grounding. That's not the case here. Mr. Dobbs did an admirable job of maintaining historical believability while throwing in a backstory that holds up and adds to the reader's interest. Overall, this is an excellent book!

View all of my reviews

Well, that explains it

We spent this weekend in New England. There was a party in New Hampshire, in honor of our cousin's (my Dad's first cousin's) 70th birthday, so we made a weekend of it. On the drive up, we spotted some trees by the side of the road that were both flattened and twisted in various directions. Between my background as a big-time earth science geek and Marc's experience growing up in Kansas, we quickly came to the same conclusion: only one thing can make that happen... a tornado.

But this was near Sturbridge, Massachusetts. While there have been tornadoes in this part of the country, including some really deadly ones, tornadoes aren't a regular occurrence around here. But sure enough, a quick Google check revealed that there had been tornadoes in that area last year. In fact, I found a NASA shot of the tornado's track here.

Anyhow, the weekend was really nice, but that was an impressive sight. Seeing what nature can do really is quite a reminder of human puniness!

Gotham Knights vs. Brockport Doggies

So how about some rugby photos?


If you like hot men with big legs, rugby is the sport for you!


You met Daniel, our new Aussie, in the last post. Here, you see him in action!




Tommy is one of our veterans. He's not a big guy, but anyone who underestimates him based on size is making a BIG mistake!


A not-too-hard-to-look-at guy from the Brockport team


Nathan in a scrum


If you like redheaded bears, have we got a new guy for you!

That's it for now! More to come!

By the way, if you want to see the full set, go to the Brown Hound Photos website. This particular gallery is here.

Reasons to love rugby

As I'm sure you know, I'm a proud member of the Gotham Knights RFC (Rugby Football Club), and that's because of my love of the sport. There's no other reason. For example, new guy Daniel has nothing to do with it...



Okay, so maybe I find him a little attractive. But then there's that off-putting way he speaks. You know, those Australian accents can be such a distraction!

*swoon*

Okay, now I have to get back to editing rugby photos!

Yay! Rugby starts again today!

Today we truly start spring, even if the calendar says we have a few days of winter to go, for today our beloved Gotham Knights have their first match of the year! The camera is ready, and I head out in about an hour to join them. Even Dodger is cheering for rugby:

The cozy dog

It's a hard life!

Our first baby, Bernice, the Energizer doggy!

When we adopted Bernice, we knew that we'd do our best by her but had to realize, as with all such things... well, you know. She's doing well for her age, but some days are hard for her at this point. We do our best to make every day as good as possible.

Still, the vet told us a while back that a dog of her type could be expected to live 10 to 12 years. I guess we've done okay, because she's now 14 years & 2 months old. And while she has her achy days, she has her good days, too. At the moment, she's sleeping by our feet.

So how's she looking at such an advanced age? Take a look at a shot of our pretty baby that I took earlier tonight as she relaxed on her new bed:

Old dogs with new beds

We bought a new couch, after one last bit of dog damage finished the old one off. Since we intend to keep the dogs off the new one (or at least try to), we bought new dog beds for this room (as opposed to the dog beds they already have in the bedroom). We only bought two, since Dodger tends to avoid such things during the day, even when they're made available. I don't know why--Dodge moves in mysterious ways.

So we bought lovely new beds that have a center cushion that sits inside a cushioned ring, letting them sink into the cushy center and rest their heads on the side, a perfect arrangement for how they often like to sleep. So what was the first reaction to the beds? Take a look:



Lovely. *sigh*

And what did Mandy do? At first, she was truly ecstatic. She had her ears up and was grinning. But then she got around to "I have a better idea!"



Yes, she got herself under the cushion. Oy vey, these dogs!

Well, she's now on top of the pillow, so all is well with that. And Bernice is on the floor as I type this, but she's been using the bed, too:



It's not easy to keep old dogs comfy, especially poor Bernice who is beyond old for a dog of her size. But we're trying!

It's so lovely!

Is my new Ford Explorer Limited perfect? No. But what's wrong is minor in the grand scheme. The Sync system is powered by Microsoft. So there are moments where I'll push the button on the steering wheel so I can talk to the system, and the system is off doing other things. I don't know if it's rearranging its stamp collection or it saw a squirrel, but it does get distracted. As the Ford salesman commented, "it's like six different computers, and sometimes they have trouble talking to each other."

Yeah, another win for Microsoft. *sigh* But while that sounds like a pain, it's actually minor. Most of the time it works fine, and it's a lovely convenience (you can tell it to do a TON of things) when it's working.

As for everything else that drives the purchase of a particular vehicle, this one is a home run! Marc took the Explorer to work on Friday to show her off, and one of his people described the ride as "silky." That's the best adjective I've heard, and it's quite accurate. It's not mushy--she handles very well for an SUV (and I'm just coming out of a sports sedan)--but the ride is silky smooth. She has nice power and is an all-around pleasure to drive. Add to that things like the dual-panel sunroof (so backseat passengers can get sunshine, too), the powered shade, the... oh, never mind. The list of comforts, conveniences and features could go on for pages. This is the kind of vehicle that makes us want to take long road trips.

Today, we took her for a quick jaunt down to Robert Moses State Park, where we saw the deer and parked briefly for a couple of photos:


Click on the photo to see a larger version and enjoy all her beauty!



When we got back near the house, I finally (okay, I've only had her 6 days, but still) tried the feature that makes her park herself. With the push of a button, she found a space and whipped that steering wheel back and forth, maneuvering perfectly to the curb. Amazing!

Closing in on the new car

As you may recall, I'd previously mentioned that I've been car shopping. The Lincoln MKT was a serious contender, but since that time we learned more and decided it wasn't a fit.

So now we get back to one of the other finalists, the Ford Explorer. Happily, the more I learned about the Explorer, the more I wanted one. I even have a probable color picked out, so I can tell you it probably will look like this:





We'd both sat in Explorers in a couple of dealers (have to shop around to see what you can leverage in a final deal!), so we knew it was comfy for driver and passenger (vital for our long drives). The features and technology--and everything else about it--we liked a lot. That left the test drive.

We took that test drive on Saturday. Wow, we were impressed! What a nice ride! It doesn't have quite as much speed as the Infinitis we have now, but it's still plenty of get-up-and-go (the Infinitis are silly fast--not that I was complaining). The Explorer has more than enough power for those highway on-ramps and passing needs.

So now I'm doing the "I'm not in too much of a rush" thing with the salesman. Can't seem too anxious! His numbers already are far better than the other dealer, but there's always some room for sweetening the deal. Still, I think this is the one, and I feel like a kid waiting for his birthday present! :)

Dog baths

I'm a little late on posting these, but the New Year brought both birthday celebrations for the eldest and youngest members of the pack, as well as baths for all three of the kids, since the weather was warm enough that we weren't concerned about any residual dampness in their coats when they'd go out a few hours after their baths.

We'll start with the birthday girl, Bernice, who turned 14 this year...


This is before she got brushed out, so she still has some stray undercoat pieces marring her beautiful black fur

She's looking pretty good for 14, isn't she? We're worried for her and know she's much older than the vet thought she'd ever be, but we have to take comfort in knowing we've done well by her and she still has a good life!


This doesn't quite capture it, but 12-year-old Mandy gets very poofy after a bath!

Actually, Mandy gets poofy and very smooth. When freshly cleaned, her fur is so soft, it feels like a mink coat!


Mandy can be talkative, and this was especially so after the bath!


Someone wound up in a cone, because he wouldn't stop trying to groom the "stink" of shampoo off of himself!

Last but not least is a photo of Mandy that really captures her mood after a bath. Ears down, sad looking face... In fact, we were considering a little work in Photoshop to add numbers to make this look like the complete mugshot that it really is...


Well, at least this shows some of the poofiness!

Seems like we should have the Dragnet announcer, saying, "Mandy T. Dog was tried in Department 187 of the Superior Court of the hamlet of East Meadow and convicted of kibble theft in the 3rd degree. She's currently serving a 15-minute timeout on the couch."

Catching up

So when we last chatted, I'd had a hard day. Fortunately, most days are far better than that one. Things are going pretty well. Work has been busy, but I'm doing good work. And Marc and I have had lots of fun since--and we continue to. Life is good, and it's important that we all focus on the good as much as we can, since many have much tougher lives!

Let me share one event I recently enjoyed. This actually happened before the last post, but I hadn't put these photos online yet. For once, not photos I took but, rather, a couple of photos I'm in. These are from Gotham Rugby's 10th Anniversary dinner...


Me (second from the right) and some friends


I'm in this one, with a few more of the boys. Can you find me? (Click on it for a better view.)

Unfortunately, Marc couldn't join me for this fun party. I hate going to events without Marc, but he had a work event that night that he had to attend. In fact, his event is an annual one that I usually attend, too.

Fortunately, there's another rugby party this Saturday--the far less formal End of Season Dinner--and Marc will be going to that one.

We're also looking forward to attending next year's Bingham Cup tournament in Manchester. We've attended a few Bingham Cup tournaments, including the one in Dublin a few years ago, and it's always a fun event!

I could go on sharing, but I think I'll stop there, mostly because I'm tired! :) I hope everyone who's reading this (both of you?) is doing well!

I should have just skipped today

Maybe I should have hidden under the covers all day. Whatever, I've sure had better days. Work had a ton of headaches, but nothing was worse than the drive to work this morning.

I hit a squirrel.

He ran right out in front of me, just feet away. I slammed on the brakes, but I heard the thud, and I saw him in the road in the rearview mirror. Much as I'd like to think he was just stunned, I suspect it was worse than that.

I usually go home a different way than I go in, but today I retraced my route. I didn't see a dead squirrel on the street where I hit him, but I suppose someone could have disposed of the body. Still... no, it's silly to hope that he was just stunned. Squirrels generally don't walk away from these things. I know it was unavoidable, but I hate what happened. I hate that some dopey squirrel got itself killed, but that's how I am. I ache for every dead animal I see in the road, whether it's a squirrel or a raccoon or anything else.

Would it be an easier life if I were a heartless bastard, instead of hurting for every little creature I see? I don't know, but I am who I am.

Lyon

I've again neglected my blog. So how about we go back to posting photos from last year's trip to France?

After Nice, we got back in the car and drove up to Lyon. When we got there, we found that our hotel--one of the best rated hotels in town--wasn't in the old part of Lyon. Still, I found the view lovely and had to take a shot. This was done hand-held, bracing against a window frame, so it isn't exactly perfect...



An interesting feature of Lyon is the traboules. They're passageways that run through buildings, connecting streets and courtyards. Many of them are open to the public. Our friend Eric, an American who has been living in France for much of his life, took us around and showed us through some of his favorites. Here's a view from inside one...



All kinds of interesting architecture back in those passageways...




Check out one of the many little details!

Many of the windows have crosses built into them. In a country where Roman Catholicism is the official religion, one might think this was just a common profession of faith, but Eric explained that these windows go back to a time when there was a window tax. Having the cross apparently gained an exemption; hence, lots of crosses built into windows...




Another traboule, with Marc & Eric up ahead, Marc videotaping as he walks


I seem to recall these wells having some sort of religious use back in the day--yeah, that's all I've got. Can't remember what was said about them!

There's something special about this shop that got me to shoot a photo through the window...



What's special is that this is the Miniatures Museum, and everything you're seeing is tiny. The chairs are maybe two inches tall.

I loved the name of the pub in this next shot. I particularly liked the drawings at either end of the awning (you may have to click on the photo for a larger version, so you can see it well).



Please note: you shouldn't encourage your dogs to smoke. It's not good for them!


A building I found interesting


A street in Lyon

I suppose that's enough for one post. Hope you enjoyed it!