Monthly Archives: October 2012

Emma in Hospice

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Sugarland is the mini dachshund. Emma is the weimaraner, who is clearly enjoying the relaxed rules of hospice.

 

Every once in a while I have an email conversation with someone that just makes me laugh out loud.  It occurs to me that many of them are dog/pet related so it seems about time to do another Ordinary Pet Legacy post on another one of them.  Following is an email conversation with a dear friend and gardener that I’ve known for many years, it’s bitter sweet and laugh out loud funny at the same time but aren’t all dog stories?  The subject: “more direction needed” is work related and I’m sure of no interest to you.  Suffice to say I was lurking while on vacation and this is one of the few I found worth popping in about…

 

Email From: Mitchell, Lance
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Subject: Re: more direction needed.

 

Hi,

 

Hope all is well with you and yours. Other than the 2 boys having left the manse to go to college, leaving me with 2 female dogs Sugar, the mini dachshund, and Emma ” the devil dog” weimaraner who is on hospice due to bladder cancer at age 12 and enjoying every minute of it due to unlimited food and attention, my lovely bride and my 15 year old daughter Brynn who is turning 25 tomorrow, all is well.

 

To: Mitchell, Lance
Subject: Re: more direction needed.

Never in my life have I laughed about a dog in hospice, God love you, you crack me up. Will be online Friday (no wireless where I’m staying) if it can wait we can chat then. Best from the Cape, slc
Forgive the brevity, sent via Blackberry

 

Email From: Mitchell, Lance

Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Subject: Re: more direction needed.

 

Hi,

 

Too make it even more funny and tragic…

 

Josie “the outlaw Josie Wales” mini dachshund went missing in late fall of 2010. My second son is convinced that she went feral. My heart broken daughter said she is on an extended walk about. My thought is that the resident fisher cat or coyotes have “adopted” her. So bottom line Josie is MIA. Open to discussion if she was KIA.

 

Emma, 80 lbs. well-conditioned dog, went MIA in February 2011. She went out at noon and never came back. She had never strayed for more than an hour or so. Very dog friendly area – a five house loop off a cul de sac, state forest in the back yard etc. Three or four of her buds and her would go house to house looking for treats in the am and pm. It had snowed the day before, very easy to track foot prints, spent days in the woods tracking. Conclusion that she went down the road and somebody picked her up.

 

In late March 2011, Sugar showed up when I was away skiing. Nice little replacement mini dachshund. Thinks she is a big dog. She roughhouses with the neighborhood dog pack daily. She is on an electronic radius fence. Her buds like to play you can’t catch me by crossing the DMZ where she gets a reminder that she is too far from the electronic box.

 

Late April 2011 get a call from a town 25 miles away. We have Emma. Their story is that she was 5 miles away in a neighboring town the day she went missing and they picked her up. Failed to understand that she had on the dog collar when I picked her up with three forms of ID with phone numbers etc. We are results oriented- we have our dog back. We refer to that period as when she went on vacation. When exasperated we threaten her with being sent back to Framingham. We think they called us because after 7 weeks they realized she is way too needy.

 

Now Emma has bladder cancer ergo the hospice. They gave her 60 days last Thanksgiving. She has lost a few pounds and doesn’t run quite as well but other than that seems fine. She eats as much as she wants to all day. Has an unlimited supply of self-serve treats whenever she wants. There are no longer limits to jumping on beds and couches. Life is great for her other than she can’t abide Sugar. Teach her to go on vacation….

Aren’t you sorry that you responded?

regards,

 

Lance Mitchell

 

And there you have it, I know like I know that you are laughing and thinking God aren’t dogs and their people the best. I’ll be looking for more of these so stay tuned.

 

 

Today Was That Day

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Today was that day in October that I had to turn the heat on. Change the filter in the furnace. Take the screen out of the storm door and put in the glass. Wash the window. Take in the plants from the deck for fear of frost.  Put on a turtleneck for the morning walk and leave my sneakers and socks on all day long.  Wear a sweater. Switch out the sandal slippers for the pile-lined moccasins. Have a glass of red instead of white.  Turn the oven on to make dinner.  Put a throw across the bottom of the bed.

I have a mostly love, sometimes hate, relationship with this time of year. Autumn brings thoughts of Honey and how much we miss him.  It brings an end to the farmers market’s colorful fruits and vegetables to make way for the sturdier harvest.  It brings soups and stews and baking.  It brings nights by the fire and thicker coats on the dogs.  It brings dark mornings and more layers for walking.  It ushers in the holidays and the nostalgia of days past.

It is essential to me to nest into my home.  I love everything about my home and this time of year forces me to look around at each item and its story and oh there are so many stories.  The other life stories are tucked away in notebooks and photo albums and cedar chests.  The now life stories surround me every day and remind me of the wonderful life that is now mine.

Welcome to autumn; my roasted tomato tart is ready to come out of the oven.

 

Grateful Jersey Girls Retain the Crown

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Today was a banner day for the Jersey Girls.  WE WON!  We have been raising money for Companion Animal Advocates for the last month and were able to raise over $5000.00 to retain our crowns as Queens of the Carnivale 2012.

We arrived a bit late to the event for several reasons but suffice to say we made it.  We are always greeted so warmly by the volunteers from CAA, makes us feel right at home.  Each year gets a little easier for the girls to navigate.  This year there was much butt sniffing and only one tiny little scuffle with a pit puppy who didn’t know his own clumsiness.  Lina was all about “don’t mess with my sistah…”

Had our picture taken by a man from mybergen.com who was pretty happy to find out from Patricia that he was amongst royalty first picture of the day.  Patricia tells me I don’t brag enough.  Yeah it’s not my style, doesn’t sit well with me to brag, however, it doesn’t mean I’m not proud of our accomplishments.  And if there’s anything I am it’s grateful, that I can talk a blue streak on.

One of my dear friends sent me a quote from a board she follows that went like this, “I would rather live in my car with my dogs than in a castle without them.”  Oh how I know like I know.  There are no words to describe the bond between woman and her dogs.   They know everything there is to know about me, have heard me laugh and cry more than any other breathing being.  They are grateful every day to have been rescued by me but the truth is I was rescued by them.

That quote represents one of the reasons I feel so strongly about raising money for CAA.  The thought of having to give up the girls because I was unable to feed them just doesn’t have a place in my head.  The fact that we are able to help prevent that from happening to others makes me proud.  The gratitude I have for the wonderful people in my life that give each year so generously runs deep.

It’s not as easy for the Jersey Girls to be in and among the dozens of dogs at the event like other dogs.  Whatever their life was before left its mark on them.  We’ve all worked very hard to grow and trust again and with the help of some very good friends (thank you Shawn) we make progress each day.  We are all grateful to be together, we take care of each other and we are proud to do what we can to take care of others; makes for a great life.

A blessing from Rev. Celine Penti and the girls can go home to their respective comfy chairs and sleep the rest of the afternoon away….acting royal can be exhausting.

 

 

 

MMS (Makes Me Smile)

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It’s been an amazing day on Stowe Lane.  That alone makes me smile.  After yesterday’s Defining Moments post I am delighted to share some of the tiny little defining moments that made me smile today.  My top ten MMS of today:

MMS to see the first text of the day, sent the previous night, included a quote that made them think of me, love that.  Watch for the quote in Sunday’s post.

Peanut butter and jelly for breakfast MMS

MMS every day to use my new coffee pot, makes hot delicious crema topped espresso in a minute.  Note to the Aunt M’s, it’s no longer a process to make latte, you’ll be fine when you have to make my coffee every morning when I get old.  No sippy cup filled with wine until lunchtime.  God love you both for becoming my Stowe Lane family.  That definitely MMS EVERYDAY

Dancing MMS.  Even after almost three weeks. Knowing that the cool down song was a gift meant for me. “When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy.”…Natasha Bedingfield

Watching someone recognize their own power and use their energy for themselves, finally, after some tiny little thing you did made a difference. I know like I know that MMS

MMS learning that a contractor referral you made turned out very well.  So well it might result in a date for her best friend.  God love my Jewish friends they all have the matchmaker gene.  And even more they mostly have UN-handy husbands so my contractor will do very well indeed.

MMS to have the most beautiful day to drive with the top down in October.

Raising a significant amount of money for my favorite charity fills my heart with joy especially after reading all of the comments and personal notes that accompanied many of the donations.  Just ask and you shall receive. MMS to know I have the most amazing people.

MMS to discover the clicking noise I make that sends the dogs into play.

Last but certainly not least, Toto and Lina MMS Terri MMS ReeRee MMS

There is something in everyday that makes me smile.  What makes you smile?

Prayer for Defining Moments

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I passed an accident scene yesterday on my way home that really got to me.  I don’t normally slow down for accident scenes, I don’t consider myself a rubbernecker (mostly because it annoys the hell out of me) but this scene was odd.  It was a small car, looked very new, with the entire front end smashed in.  The driver seemed to be trying to back up but this car wasn’t going anywhere.  There was no other damaged car to be seen. There was no tree or wall and nothing had fallen from the sky.  There was, however, someone in a Jeep protecting the car from being hit again as it was in a precarious spot.

But the driver was screaming, screaming from her soul.  It was that type of gut wrenching scream that didn’t denote injury; but rather a desperate plea to something bigger than all of us.  What you might expect from someone who’d had horrific news or lost a child.  It was animal like and stayed with me all night.  You knew by the sound that the woman’s life was changed in that moment.

I witnessed something like that a few years ago.  Same kind of you-know-that-person’s-life-just-changed moment.  I was at a light on my way to work and heard that God awful sound of metal buckling.  There is nothing like that sound and for a moment I thought it was me the sound was so close.  The car next to me had been hit from behind.  It was an older model Honda hit by a much bigger Mercedes.  The woman inside the Honda just deflated before my eyes.  We made eye contact for the briefest moment and I could see that she was physically ok but she knew her life had just changed in that moment.

I could pretend to know the story behind each of these incidents, elaborate on their circumstances.  But honestly how could I, or anyone for that matter, ever know for sure what each of these women was up against.  Doesn’t mean I could get either of them out of my head.  I wonder about things like this all the time.  I wonder what will happen to people and how they will cope with their defining moments.

It can always go either way.  You can look at these kinds of things as great misfortune or you can look for the silver lining.  Ok not at that very moment but many times the most wonderful things come out of what seems like the darkest of situations.  My friend Sandra is a perfect example of a happy ending from a misadventure.

Either way my prayer for these women and anyone else I see up against a defining moment:

Dear God please give this person whatever they need.  Don’t listen to what they want because you know (like you know) much better than them.  Please give it to them quickly and help them see the lesson in this moment so that they can define their lives with love not hate and resentment. Amen.

There I prayed for them again.  I feel much better now.