Showing posts with label goodbye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goodbye. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

goodbye molly & millie





As we grow older, it seems we collect more than gray hairs and stories of our aches and pains, we collect names.  Of those whom we have met who touched our lives, whom we have loved, and inevitably lost.

Even though we always know from the beginning of our relationship that it is likely we will be adding the names of  our tiny little four legged friends to our list, it never eases the pain when that day arrives, nor does it  provide much comfort for the days thereafter when the world so rudely keeps on spinning. Tiny chumley's list of names grew by two these past few days, and it is with a heavy heart that today we must say goodbye to our friends Molly and Millie, and promise that we will remember them and all our friends whom we have lost, all the rest of our days.  Rest in peace sweet girls, and warmest of hugs to your families <3 br="">




Thursday, June 6, 2013

dapper doxie duds: funk soul highlander










Hee hee, I  hope a certain little somebuddy named Millie will have as much fun wearing her new dud and celebrating her family's heritage, as much as I did making it.  :)


Made for Millie: Vibrant peacock blue lace overlay vest harness on hand dyed cotton damask base, carmine red plaid binding.  Embellished with a Gordon Rennie Mackintosh sterling pin and removable brown and blue tweed woolen kilt and scarf. For romping through heathered moors, and other happy adventures. :) 










 mom, next time, can you please always make another one in my size so i can model it properly?  me and duk duk really wanted to wear kilts anyway for our scottish pirate adventure. they are so flattering yet so very versatile too.  and breezy! :)

 -b


Thursday, April 11, 2013

a lulu lookback :)













It has been a few years now since the little kielbasa and I started this blog.  As with so many things I never imagined would happen, I never imagined we would be here, mourning the passing and celebrating the life of a little friend whom we would not have met where it not for this world we created.  Today, just a few pictures of Lulu, some new, some old, but all I can assure you, cherished for the perfect foil to Baxter's unusual happy go lucky lifestyle, and for happiness and love she brought to us all. :)





















Wednesday, April 10, 2013

baxter and duk duk's nitey nite bedtime tales: dedicated to lulu, the little kielbasa helps a bunny (part 4)






Before our story begins tonight, me and duk duk just wanted to say that tonight's story is dedicated to the memory our friend Lulu, who passed away today without our even being able to say good nitey nite one last time.  Until we can say hello again, good friend, know that we will miss you very much, and that you can watch from above all the secret toyfriend clubs u want, without even having to stand over there.   ♥

(sniffle sniffle).  Okay,  on with our story...
























"Strik's in trouble, Pussycat!" barked the Little Kielbasa. "He is trapped with his cousins inside their cage and if he does not get out soon, our pancake and salad party will totally not be happening. Please come with me to Farmer Wells's farm!! Oh, and bring your gas mask, because the air is pretty thick if u know what I mean."












Ooooh look at that, duk duk! Pussycat's got some skills.  If he were real I think we would totally offer him some gummy worms to help us get into the pantry so we can get more gummy worms! Oh, okay, so on with the story...



Pussycat elegantly opened the cage, striking a pose so the Little Kielbasa could take a picture with a camera that made a klink sound when he pressed the button.  Strik the bunny hopped out, happy until  he looked down at his paw watch and saw that now the big hand was on the eleven and the little hand on the five.  "Well, Little Kielbasa, there are only five minutes left until Bugs Bunny is on. How bout we go down to the lake and do a few cannonballs instead?" "Sure, Strik, and maybe while we are down there I can show you how to make underwater bubbles!"  The End!


Well boys and girls, I am sorry but that is the end of our bedtime story.  I hope you enjoyed hearing it as much as we enjoyed reading it.  Good night my friends, and to Lulu and her mom. :)














Sunday, February 10, 2013

je me souviendrai de toi

Howling, as I undestand it, is canine speak for "I am here, where are you?".  A means to locate another when they are missed.   And I think with Joey's passing, our hearts are howling as loudly as they ever could.

joey, my friend, in celebration of the joy you and maggie gave us,  and the love of everything long and short with which you united us, we bow our heads as we bring out our biggest and best snackie in your honor, and we bid you one last, lonely, and heartfelt.....


aroooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo ♥


Sunday, December 16, 2012

goodbye my friend


I know our existence in this world would not be as rich or meaningful were it not for the crises and events that wound our hearts and give us reason to pause, but such knowledge hardly gives comfort in times such as these when we lose the ones we love.  Today, condolences to all those affected by loss this year, including hugs for a very special friend.

mom, for reading practice, may we read about german shepherds today?  because even though molly's brother max is gone,  and even though he was a very big dog, i think i would really like to remember him.  ♥

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

dapper doxie duds: Bucky Badger Bucky Jumpers

Buck-a-buck-a-roooooooooo!  It's Bucky Badger time, it's Bucky Badger time! Hee hee hee, hello my friends, it is me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter reporting to you today about the swell Bucky Badger dud my mom finished for my friend Linus.

Now, I have never really heard of this Bucky Badger fella, and I don't really know what badgers sound like, but he looks like he might sound like the kind of guy u do not want to cross, even if he buckadoodleroos if you know what I mean.  So, I think this Bucky guy probably has a lot of enemies and if a Bucky Badger friend does not live under Bucky's protection close to home in the faraway Land of W, well, then Bucky Badger friend like Linus might need to be subtle about showing his support for Bucky Badger.  Which is why mom says Linus's dud on the outside is a subdued, refined statement of Bucky affection while the inside is all I LOVE BUCKY BADGER!  And I don't know about you, but I LOVE HIS SNACKIE POCKET! Whoops, sorry, that was just my tummy talking, and even though I have a few more pounds to lose..boy is it telling me to..so hard to resist...okay okay...



(ssssnnnnnnniiiiifffffffffff!)


Oh salmon crunchiezzz. They smell so terriffic!  Um, this is (crunchy crunch) Baxter, your roving (crunch) rover reporter, wishing you (crunchy crunch crunch) a fond - whoops, didn't mean to spit crumbs on you - (crunch crunch gulp) bucka buckaroo!  :)

ps - Linus I hope you love your new dud and please say hi to Ike and send my best healing regards to  Otto :) :) <3

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

i remember

Rain fell gently outside when we read the news.

mom... will i ever see twix again? i didn't even get to say goodbye.

Well babydog.  I think so.

and maggie? and jeeves?

Yes, babydog.  You will see them, too.  But hopefully, that won't be for a very very very long time.

but if i won't see them for a very very very long time, how can i make sure i will still know them when i see them?

Well babydog, I suppose you'll have to find a way to keep them in your heart and  remember all of them.

oooooh...... you know,  teacher said if we say things out loud it will help us remember.  do you think that might work, mom?

Why yes, baby dog, I think that's a very good start.

i remember digger and kep and padua. and i remember jeeves.  and  i remember maggie  and  miss edith and allie and lulu's dad mister tom. and i remember twix


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

the pact

Baxter and I have a pact.  That he will never leave me and I will never leave him.  And I know it's official, because we shake on it every day.  Shaking multiple times, using both paws and hands to be extra sure and even sealing it with a snackie and a kiss. Because it is that important.  Because it simply has to be.

Yet despite our best efforts, I know there will come a day when one of us won't be able to hold up our end of the bargain.   When one of us must say goodbye and join his brothers before him.  But I hope it is not for a very very very very long time.

Rest in peace, sweet Maggie, and the warmest of hugs to Joey and his dad.


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Tuesday, February 2, 2010

peep show: molly's dapper doxie duds



dear diary,
well can u believe i had to dress up again like a girl?? seriously, what is up wit dat? but to be honest with ya, so long as duk duk doesn't find out about it, i think i'm okay with the whole thing. i mean, the snacks aren't too shabby and look at all the friends i get to meet.

take my new friend, molly, a rubenesque red mini. now, i know what you're thinking and let me just say i don't think she looks like a sandwich either, but that's what my mom called her. i think she just looks pretty with all that white hair on her face n paws, and i bet you she'd be really soft to snuggle with, too. like a nice pillow. that is, if she'd let me. i'm not so sure cuz do u see those fangs on her? i wonder if she was just playing with one of her big dog brothers. sometimes the camera catches us at the most inopportune moment, know what I mean?

anyways, here is the first dapper doxie dud my mom made for her. molly's mom really liked the retro brown floral fabric from chloe's harness, and wouldn't ya know mom finally found some more and so she made this one for molly, only this time she bound the duds in fuschia hot pink hand dyed twill and skipped the yellow ruched ribbon in favor of a simple vintage button and glass bead embellishment. don't tell duk duk but i totally felt like marcia brady in this harness, and she was the popular one with all the boyfriends, right? molly is bound to turn some heads wearing this, i do declare, and yet she'll still be able to climb and dig into the log pile with her brothers.


now, for the second harness, molly's mom said that mom mom could do whatever, only they both agreed that maybe a bodacious side flower on the back wasn't molly's thing. partly cuz she's kinda rough n tumble tomboy and partly cuz of the whole sandwich thing. again, don't ask me what that means, though when i look at her recent pictures sometimes it seems like i am looking in the mirror and seeing the dog i was when i first was adopted, if ya know what i mean. so mom wanted to keep the lines simple (ie no ruffles or big ol flowers) yet still do something texturally interesting that would help break up her lines for a slimming effect. so here's molly's second dapper doxie dud, an arty serged patchwork creation using fabrics from mom's scrap bin, bound in a different hand dyed twill and embellished with a pink baroque freshwater pearl and brass tag. girly, but not frou frou girly. the kind of thing molly could wear to the opera or to the park.



well, that is all for now. i sure hope molly likes her new harnesses! mom says i should get some extra zzzs tonight because i need to help her prepare for another etsy post. how cool is that? maybe she'll even give me a sandwich.

toodles!
b.

Friday, January 29, 2010

peep show: miss edith's dapper doxie duds





















o purple lace harness,
why am i dressed in you?
i am not a girl.


- baxter, 3.1 years old, on being lucky enough to fit Miss Edith's dapper doxie dud.












There's something so very Christmas morning about finishing up a dapper doxie dud order. Aside from the wrapping and sending, there's excitement and anticipation, the kind that's hard to ignore when it's so easy to post and show to the world that I've been doing more than just feeding Jenna all day. I am on a roll, ladies and gentlemen, and only the winds of procrastination can keep me from forging on with doxie dud orders.

Yesterday, I finished up a dapper doxie dud for Miss Edith, the real recipient of the lacy harness that Baxter is modeling. This girl is a sweet, senior doxie who only recently found her forever home, and whose new mom wanted her to have something special. Only Miss Edith knows the secrets of her past, why and how it is she ended up needing a new home so late in life. Somehow, it seemed only appropriate that Miss Edith wear purple, that she be graced with the textures of hand dyed lace and silk, adorned with mother of pearl, and comforted by the warmth of a soft flannel lining. The package is on its way, sweet girl.



Tomorrow, a start on harnesses for Molly, and hopefully some late night Etsy postings.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

day 6: family tree (digger, part three)


Yippee!!! Day 6 so mom is coming home today. But I digress. It's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter reporting to you today from my walkies. But don't worry if you already went to the bathroom cuz I'm not a marker either. There will still be plenty for us to do. I brought along another one of my mom's stories for us to read.








"This is the Digger I met and have always known, the little brown dog with white face and paws and a baritone bark. A manly little dog, made even more so because he was, ahem, still very endowed.



Digger's life as a little senior dog was uncomplicated, just the way he liked it. When he would wander out back in his tiny fenced yard, he would walk the perimeter carefully, sniffing at Molly the Golden Retriever on one side, and, having confirmed that she was there, continue walking his beat in circles until he felt it was time to come inside, at which point he would let out a single chesty bark by the door. Digger must have liked orbiting. When dad would stretch out on the floor, Digger would orbit him just as he did his backyard, trundling about with his tail wagging happily.

Although Digger was very spry for his age, by the time his dad and I were engaged, Digger would often set his own bedtime and wander upstairs on his own to turn in for the night in his little bed.



There were other things, we would find out, that he probably did in bed.
Digger's cheeks would occasionally swell and we thought for sure he might have a dental problem and took him to the vet. But to our surprise, the vet didn't find signs of dental infection. He found kibble. Little food packs. Evidence, of Digger's inadvertent but serendipitous method of eating, the mechanics of which somehow trapped food in hamster-like fashion between his back teeth and inner cheek. Our first boy with his chipmunky jowls had become a hamster in his old age, squirreling away snacks to nibble at his leisure in the comfort of his own bed. "






Hey whazit mean to be endowed? Duk Duk said it is when somebody or an institution is given money for a specific purpose. Do you think whoever endowed him could endow me so I could buy some rawhide?

Anyway, this is Baxter your roving rover reporter reporting to you now from my home. Thanks for keeping me company while my mom was gone!!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

day 5: family tree (digger, part two)

Me again, Baxter your roving rover reporter, reporting to you from my house cuz I am still grounded. Today was lookin like it was gonna be the pits but then I found these picture albums. And guess what I found for us to read - the second part to Mom's story about Digger, mom n dad's first doxie. U wanna read it with me?



"This is the Digger I never knew, a young wiggly puppy who grew into a lad that ultimately kept my future husband company when they both lived in a drafty room above a sandwich shop, pursuing his master's degree in a field he no longer practices. Digger's dad, that is, not Digger. During the frigid cold days of winter, Digger would burrow under his blankies and snoooze the day away deep in the bowels of his blanket igloo, patiently awaiting dad's return from a long day of scholastic endeavors. Patiently, but with a dash of howling that could be sometimes heard in the shop below.



In addition to being a howler, Digger, apparently, was a digger, though he had apparently given up that skill by the time I came on the scene. I missed out on the dirt mounds and dirty paws, missed out on the time when my husband-that-I-didn't-know-yet chided poor Digs for constantly whining and digging by the deck at the townhouse, til finally it was discovered that the source of Digger's interest was indeed a rat and the nest it had made under the deck. This boy was on a mission, and neither chiding nor dirt were going to hinder this hound from getting his quarry.

There aren't many pictures of this time in Digger's life. The rat incident came some years after this picture was taken, during, I presume, what I like to call his ready-for-roasting years. Every doxie, it seems, goes through his butterball moments in life.



Though some, earlier than others."




Whoopsie. Is that me?? I guess I was kinda jiggly when I first came into mom and dad's home. Keep me company again tomorrow, will you?


Sunday, January 10, 2010

dapper doxie duds: kate & allie





Hey everybody! It's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter reporting again from my home, where I'm happy to follow up on my report about Kate n Allie's dapper doxie duds. You see, after Kate n Allie's mom chose from their selection of winter fabrics, my mom finished both their winter and summer harnesses and sent them off while we were on our trip. Here's a peek at how they turned out.











These are Kate n Allie's winter harnesses. Both are lined with flannel and have an inner layer of bottom weight twill to help the harnesses keep their shape. For texture and interest, my mom embellished Allie's red cotton cable knit harness with a flower my mom made from some velvet, and Kate's blue plaid harness has a flower on it that my mom serged from dupioni silk. That way the girls could sorta dress alike but keep their own identity, know what I mean? Believe me, after livin with 40 dogs, I totally get that.




These are Kate n Allie's summer harnesses. My mom made these from cotton interlock, u know like t-shirt or golf shirt type fabric. She interfaced the fabric and also used an inner later of bottomweight, again for structural sturdy reasons. Mom made the flowers by cutting irregular circles of different sizes out of wide ribbon, and then turned the edges against an open flame to seal the edges and give shape to each piece.





Okay are you ready for the best part of my report? Here are pics of Kate n Allie, first sniffing at their new duds, then getting dressed in their winter wear cuz it's cold out, and then runnin around! I sure hope to meet them one day. They look like fun!!



Well speakin of winter I best get back to sleepin next to George. Brrr it's been cold out, hasn't it? This is Baxter your rovering rover reporter wishing you a very warm Sunday afternoon!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

digger, part one

It occurred to me that we have no digital pictures of our first dachshund, Digger. I met Digger when he was already an old man, gray faced but still full of life despite the tiny ridge of spine that was already starting to make itself more prominent. He was very spy for his age, though I would not realize this til Kep and Padua reached their own less robust senior years. The old man that Digger was, I hope Baxter will be.

Little DigDog was my first introduction to doxies. I wasn't sure what to make of him, being so low to the ground. He was hard to pet, I remember thinking at first. But nevertheless he was a sweet dog and there was something so easygoing and familiar about his owner that I was sure I would be seeing him again. Digger. And his owner. Who is now Baxter's dad.

As Digger's owner and I started building a relationship, Digger tagged along on our journeys. We would go for walks, with Digger happily trundling about despite the fact that he would misjudge where the curbs were because of cataracts in his eyes, and he would end up jumping not once but twice to get up on the curb, the first time way in advance of the curb so all he did really was just jump for the sake of jumping, not that that was at all what he wanted to do. But Digger was a happy go lucky kind of fella and he took his double jump curb hopping in stride. Just like he did sleeping so hard that his little pink tongue would inevitably peek out of his mouth and he'd eventually have to wake up to remoisten things.

When we journeyed to places where we couldn't bring Digger, and friends couldn't drop in at the townhouse to check on him, we would deposit Digger at the kennel. Being small and older, Digger would be kept in a quiet, small space in the cat section, a humiliation we never really got to see in person though we imagine he ultimately handled himself well. Digger always seemed to have lost weight when we picked him up at the kennel, and he was of course, quite standoffish on the ride home, choosing to stick his nose near the car's floor vent rather than tell us about his stay. When we mentioned on a subsequent visit to the kennel about Digger's weight loss, the kindly folks switched him to canned food and suddenly things changed from picking up a svelte doxie to a picking up a newly fattened piglet. Digger became very happy about the notion of going to the kennel once canned food came into the picture.

There is more to Digger's story, but I'll save it for another day, when I've finally gotten around to scanning some of our favorite images of our first little red. Today, the best I've got is to show you is this, a dusty crafty retro rewind from 1996, when I first messed with polymer clay and first attempted to immortalize our first doxie, white paws and all.



Of course no day is complete without a bit of Baxter to brighten things up. It is still night as I write this post, with Baxter snuggled by George while he sleeps atop his cozy sheepskin. I didn't mean for these photos to be quite so similar in pose but I see now that they are. Life imitating art, I suppose.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

the days of september

I have always liked September for all the things that Mother Nature begins and ends this month. Goodbye, hot muggy weather and blood sucking mosquitoes. See ya, hazy skies and sweaty walks. Hello, cool nights, cheery crickets, and pleasant strolls. Even when I was a kid and September meant school had just begun, I still welcomed September because it arrived with the promise of new television shows and falling leaves.

September's beginnings and endings were always pretty swell in my book, at least up til recently, it would seem. September marks the birth and death of the beloved boys we had before Baxter, and quite honestly, I am not sure how I feel about that.

Kep and Padua were just puppies when we brought them home long ago. Our life was full of new beginnings back then, having just graduated college, just moved, just started a new job, just married. As puppies, Kep and Padua helped my husband and I brave our new world, one pee spot at a time.



With the boys' life spanning over sixteen years, early memories of our boys now come back to me in random pieces. Meeting the boys as little shavers, Kep boldly running with the big dogs, while sweet Padua kept crawling back under the whelping box to continue his nap. The boys galumping out of their crate, both with gigantic balls of fuzz around their necks where their puppy collars should have been, the result of a hard day's work gnawing on each other. They were pals who kept each other company and learned about life just as Baxter does today, one day at a time.



Unlike Baxter, squirrels, not rabbits, were their mortal enemies. The mere mention of a squirrel would rile them up and we would let them dash out the back door in vigorous pursuit. Only rain would stop the boys from venturing out to combat their enemy. Padua learned this lesson the hard way, having dashed out and become thoroughly drenched before realizing that the day's squirrel sighting was a ruse. Kep, who had screeched to a halt upon seeing the rain, was there at the doorway to greet Padua as he skulked back inside in search of drier ground.



We loved and learned much from having these brothers in our lives. That doxies don't mind bobbing for carrots, blowing bubbles all the way til their target was secured from its watery depths. That ripe cherry tomatoes and jasmine flowers are tasty treats to be sought out even when blind. That these memories and more were the memories we cherished, all because they were born one day in September.



As Kep and Padua entered their care-intensive geriatric years, we agreed we would not put down the boys solely as a matter of convenience for us. We thought our criteria firm for knowing when it was time to say goodbye. When they no longer ate. When perhaps one day we would awaken, but they did not.

Such was our mindset when I made the appointment for our mobile vet's house call. A routine follow up visit, I thought, so the doc could tell us that our old men were doing fine, despite Kep's recent tendency to curl onto himself, as though he wanted to nibble at a particular spot on his back, and Padua's intermittent interest in food, which we thought was the result of nausea from his antibiotics.



But same as the day I started my drive home from work and ended it spending three days in the hospital, some days have a way of unfolding in ways I might never imagine. After examining both old men, our vet mustered the courage to tell us what we were too blinded by affection to see. That day in September, sixteen years and a few days after Kep and Padua were born, we made the decision we wished we never had to make. I couldn't even be in the house when it happened.

Two years have passed, yet I am still haunted by that day in September. Haunted by the empty days thereafter where we found ourselves free of routine and unsure what to do with our new found freedom. Our boys were gone, and though they collectively weighed no more than twenty eight pounds, the hole they left in our lives felt more as though it was made by a meteor. Such are the empty days of September, when memories of their passing make the turning color of leaves all the more meaningful.

With September coming quickly to a close, I realize now that September is still the month of changes that I love. No story is complete without an ending. No life is lived without experiencing its ebbs and tides. I miss the boys, yet I am still thankful for the all memories that September brings. I will always remember the days of September.