In Memorium

If I had made a resolution to "be on time" or "stop being late" for 2011, I would have already failed. The lateness of my "year end" post here is only one example.

I can't say that I'm too sad to say good-bye to 2010. Yes, some very good things did happen this past year. Unfortunately, there have been some not-so-pleasant personal things and a really sad recurring theme. In the last twelve months, family, friends and I all lost dear pets. We were "lucky" in many of the cases in that our precious four-legged friends were old and lived very long, very full lives. While somewhat comforting, that fact does not diminish the losses. So, my year-end wrap up blog post is not meant to be depressing, but is a tribute to some of those we had to bid farewell to in 2010.

Jetta and Rex, both of my parents' German Shepherd Dogs passed away within about a month of each other. I took this photo when I last saw them six years ago. Jetta had just come to live with them at that time. Rex was with my family since he was puppy. They were good dogs and I was really sad not to see them when I visited at Thanksgiving. 

Bryce was a good friend of ours. We've known his dad since college and met Bryce, also known as "The Mooch," shortly after we moved to California 16 years ago. This sweet, adorable little fuzzball peed on our old tv, but I can't blame him. Prior to that, when we took Cosette to his place, she took all of his toys and was so bossy that he hid under the bed. I was embarrassed, but we did laugh about that for years to come.

Audrey the cat was the most recent to leave us. For several years, I looked in on and fed Miss Audrey while her parents went away for the holidays. We sort of had a love-hate relationship. I tried, I did, but I'm not really a cat person and Audrey knew that. I smelled like dogs and accused her of "wagging" her tail. I shot the above video while trying to make nice with her. It fully demonstrates my ignorance of the inner workings of a cat's mind. Overall, she was pretty tolerant of me and my camera (which she did not like). The old, wise feline definitely taught me some life lessons and will be greatly missed.

I know that I have some photos of Bailey, a friend's German Shepherd Dog, but can't find them. He was a beautiful, smart and gentle dog. He was quite a faithful companion.

I never knew Peter, Electra and Sophie as I did the above animals, but I care about these cats' owners and was sad for them having to experience their losses.

A day hasn't gone by in this past year with me thinking of our sweet Cosette, often with tears. I still miss my Puppy Girl so much and know I always will.

Happy Pawlidays!

From me and my pets to you and yours...

Hope. Pepper Haz It.

So this cool friend of mine, in spite of being a weerdo, was over at Disney and snagged this t-shirt for me from the G-Force visual fx crew. I couldn't resist doing a little photo shoot. I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm losing my dorkiness. Pepper was very interested, while Pickle couldn't have cared less. Maybe Darwin isn't her choice for leader of the guinea pigs.

Tolerance

Cosette and Little Guy

This is a crappy cell phone photo, but I captured the rare moment while still in bed yesterday morning. If I'd gotten up to get the real camera, they would have moved in anticipation of something to eat.

Cosette and Little Guy have merely tolerated each other for the eight-plus years they have lived together. Cosette had been an only dog for about seven-and-a-half years and it was a big adjustment. Little Guy came into our home thinking he'd suddenly take over as alpha dog. This did not go over well with the true leader and he was soon put in his place. When Rusty became part of the family a year or so later he bonded immediately with both dogs. He and Little Guy became playmates and Rusty took on the role of the puppy Cosette never bore. Little Guy and Cosette haven't fought since the very beginning, but they simple coexist.

I think that's why I was a little surprised to see them lying so close together, which is something they just don't do. Cosette kept getting bopped in the face when Guy would wag his tail, but she'd simply move her head position and that was it. At first I thought it was a really sweet moment and perhaps it was. In reality though, I think it was more likely that nearly seventeen-year old Cosette and almost thirteen-year old Little Guy, who is still recovering very slowly from his knee surgery, have difficulty moving and can't be bothered to get up for such a trivial matter.