Tails from Rainbow Bridge: A walk in the woods with Mom, Dad, Blake and Me

I was looking at the Mortal News the other day.  I  try to avoid it because the stories are about how mortals are trying to make one another immortal without realizing it is a good thing.  But I saw a story about a scene for the new Ghostbusters movie being shot at the Ames Mansion in Easton Ma and I remembered my trip to the Ames Mansion.

I was just a pup still learning the ropes from my big sister Blake.  Ames Mansion sits near a large lake with several walking paths.  Mommy was many years younger and her knees and back were still working so Mommy and Daddy and Blake and me went for a walk on the paths.

It was a wonderful April day, warm but not hot, with a high sky.  Blake and I walked along as proud as any dogs you have ever seen.  There were bigger dogs but we strutted past them knowing we were the best dogs there.  There were many twists and turns along the way.  After time Mommy and Daddy grew tired but when they checked the trail markers to lead them back to their car they kept realizing they were further away.

Daddy, who is not known for his sense of direction, studied the trail marker and saw a path that cut over a hill and determined we could get back to the car in half the time.  So we left the nicely carved trail with crushed stones and cedar chips to a wooded area with a barely marked path and streams.

Blake and I loved the walk, so many smells, so many critters, but Mommy and Daddy weren’t enjoying their trek.   There were rocks that had to be climbed over, streams that needed to either be forded or carefully crossed with their feet barely fitting on the  small plank bridges.

We reached the top of the hill and we were all tired, sweating and panting.  There was a small pond with a bench.  Mommy and Daddy stopped to sit by the water.  Foley and I stood, on leash, by the water’s edge.  Mommy told Daddy not to let us jump in the water  Daddy said don’t be foolish we would never jump in the water.  We jumped in the water.

It wasn’t very deep but it was cool, wet, and filthy.  It felt so good.  It would be the only time in our lives that either of us were in the water, and it didn’t last long as we were lifted out immediately.  Neither parent had brought a towel and now we were two soaking wet dogs with undercarriages close to the ground who still had to walk down a dirty hill to get to our car.

We started our trek again, and got turnaround a couple of times, adding more time to our adventure.  Then, climbing the hill from the other side, dressed in dark robes with dark hats and beards were a group of men.  They were Orthodox Jews.  Holy heck!  They don’t hike!  They wander!  Oh my gosh we were going to be wandering around the hills of Easton for 40 years!

But that was not to be our fate.  The men were traveling single file and we walked opposite them until we came to a clearing and our car.  Mommy got some blankets out of the trunk and laid them across the backseat of Daddy’s car before we got  into it.  If it had been her car she would have sold it right then.  When we got home we got the longest baths of our life.

But it was worth it.  It was the best walk of our life.  Paths, rocks, streams, a dip in a pond, a wandering religious group.  How could a walk be better?

River Song: Personal Groomer

I am very into personal grooming.  What can I say?  I am a dog who wants to look good.

I am at a disadvantage when it comes to grooming.  I am snoutless.  Completely without snout.  When I groom myself my tongue comes way out of my mouth (when I enter a room my tongue arrives five seconds before I do) and when that happens I make very loud, and what I am told, is an obnoxious, slurping sound.

My favorite time to groom myself is in the middle of the night in bed between Mommy and Daddy while they are trying to sleep.   I pick this time because Mommy and Daddy both have large heads and I can put my paws on them to study my legs while I dive down under.

Grooming has been more difficult  since I attacked Pocket in her sleep, put a hole in Daddy’s finger, and then lunged at Pocket  a couple of mornings later.  I have been bound by leash to the headboard until my being a bad waker upper is cured.  I hate being tied to the bed especially when it interferes with my pleasuring myself.  I am sleeping like a Duggar.

I find Daddy’s ear to be a good spot for my right paw.  I stick my paw into his ear so the claws go in the little circle around the ear and then I can get my head underneath my leg and give myself a good grooming and the paw in the ear covers the loud slurping sound.

Mommy’s forehead is a good spot to rest my back legs.  With my grooming area raised I can get a good look under it like a car on a lift.  Then I get my head down there and start my grooming.  This usually doesn’t last too long.  I wake Mommy up and she pushes me away.

Eyes, noses, mouths, shoulders, butts:  If it’s on a human body it can aid me in my late night grooming duties even if my parents continue to tell me to stop.

They may be sleepy but they have a clean dog.

Wordless Wednesday

Odie is our September 6, 2015 Pup of the Week

We are all very lucky to have such marvelous parents.  But two of us have parents who are so marvelous they are downright magical.

Odie and Scooby are two Great Danes enjoying life in their mid teens.  What makes this amazing is that Great Danes should only live to be eight or nine.  And I think it is the love and care of their two parents that have kept them healthy so long.

Scooby spends most of his time on the couch now  While his heart and mind are strong the legs aren’t working too well.  His parents have to bring him outside to pee and move him around the couch when he gets restless but except for that he is leading a very good life.  Scooby gets to go on walks and see his friends.  His parents got him a stroller to push him through the neighborhood so he can enjoy the outside.  They have known for some time that Scooby is their special needs dog but now his brother Odie needs your prayers.

He had been losing weight so his doctor gave him a CAT scan.  The CAT showed that Odie has a tumor.  The only way to find out if it is cancerous is to operate on him.

His advanced age causes his Mom concern but the doctors assure her he should be fine. If Odie does not have the operation the tumor then it could burst and start internal bleeding.  There would  be little time to save him after that.  

After the tumor is removed it will be sent out for a biopsy. We are praying very hard that the tumor is benign.   If it is not benign then Odie will have to have chemotherapy.  At his age chemotherapy is a risk but the greater risk, as always, is to do nothing.  

We have absolute confidence that Odie and Scooby’s Mom and Dad will make the right decision for him.   Like all our parents who are faced with life altering decisions for their beloved pets Odie’s parents are under an extreme amount of stress.  They are trying to balance the quality and quantity of Odie’s life.   They want him to be with them a long time but don’t want him to suffer for a minute.  

Please send them prayers so they can make the right decision for their sweet baby boy and he can come through his ordeal healthy and live a normal life again.

And never take a normal life for granted.  Normal is fleeting while trouble has a way of seeming endless.  

Thanks for the prayers.

Tails From Rainbow Bride: Catching up with Bauser

I have an extraordinary life here at the Bridge.  While my friends lie in the sun, play, or watch their Mom’s channel on the television to make sure they are all right I have to go to work.  I am a Judge and I have to swear in new pups who arrive at the Bridge and decide on minor disputes that may occur.

I have a distinguished black robe that I wear while I am performing my duties.   Under it I wear a beautiful bandanna.   The one I am wearing today reads “Judge Foley Monster.”  The letters are written in red with a gold border.  I had it made especially for me.

I didn’t create the design myself.  I sent a butterfly messenger with my bandanna request.  The butterfly flew it to the home of my old friend Bauser.  Bauser is another dog with an extraordinary afterlife.

He works everyday too.  He makes bandannas just as he did every day on the mortal side.  But he can do something on this side he could not do on the mortal side.  Each day he gathers the ordered bandanas in his mouth and he runs.

Seven years ago Bauser suffered a serious injury to his back.  He could barely walk never mind run.  The surgery was expensive and Bauser’s Mom did not have the money to pay for it.  She was a talented seamstress and wanted to use that talent to raise money for Bauser.  And that is when Bauser’s bandannas were born.  They were handmade with love and were absolutely stunning.  Soon all of the dogs who were lucky enough to know Bauser and his Mom were sporting the most handsome bandannas in town.  They also became very popular gifts for birthdays and holidays.  Every dog was thrilled to open the box and see a Bauser bandanna enclosed.  Soon enough money was raised and Bauser had his operation which was a complete success.

There was still a demand for bandannas and he and his Mom continued their business for four years until Bauser went to the Bridge after a battle with cancer.  As soon as he arrived here word spread that the mortal side’s best bandanna creator was now immortal.  Bauser scouted locations and found a wonderful cloud for his business.  He then set up a big spinning wheel and eschewed a sewing machine to do every bandanna by paw.  The requests came flying in from butterflies and birds and Bauser quickly got to work.  Somehow he filled the request for every pup at the Bridge.

The sad thing is that new pups arrive daily.  Bauser sends one of his messenger butterflies to the new pup asking what bandanna they would like and on their first morning he goes running like the wind past them leaving them their new bandanna.

So thanks to Bauser all your angels are sporting nifty bandannas.  I wish you could see a picture of us.  It would be magnificent. 

Wordless Wednesday

River and I Fought, Daddy Got Bit, and it was all his Fault

Early Monday morning River Song and I got in a big fight at the foot of the bed and Daddy got bit on the tip of his little finger and got blood on the sheets but don’t worry we all decided it was his fault so everything is alright.  Let me tell you how it happened.

Mommy had a bad night’s sleep.  One of those nights filled with bad dreams and thoughts.  River is very protective of her when she has nights like that she sleeps very close to her.  She does not like anyone coming close to Mommy and has given me a few growls to stay away.  I learned my lesson and stay on top of the covers at the foot of the bed.

Daddy got up early in the morning and went into the bathroom.  When he came out he picked me up and put me under the covers.  He broke the “let sleeping dogs lie” rule.  I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there and so did River.  She went down the end of the bed and stood over me wanting me to go back but I got confused and couldn’t find my way out.

That’s when she bit me and I let out a sound that sounded like this:  “AYYYYYEHHHHOOOOOWEEEEIE.”  Daddy yelled River’s name and reached under the covers to pull her off of me.  River felt something grab her and thought it was another threat to Mommy.  She turned and bit down on Daddy’s right pinkie tip.

Daddy has always said that we are so small our bites couldn’t hurt him but he made a noise that sounded like this:  “AYYYYYEHHHHOOOOOWEEEEIE.”  He pulled us apart and I got the hell out of the bed.  Daddy picked me up, put me back on the bed and held me near him while I nervously licked him.  He had his back to Mommy who was holding River.

River kept getting away and looking over his back like that Kilroy guy looking over a wall.  I was shaking knowing River was angry and had a mean bite.  Finally Daddy took me out of the room and we sat on a recliner.  I liked and licked some more because I love Daddy and I love the taste of blood more.  Daddy realized he was bleeding from the fingernail and he washed it off, put on a bandage and we settled down on the chair for an hour until Daddy decided I was calm enough to go back to bed.

He rightfully placed me at the bottom of the bed and got under the covers where we slept another hour peacefully.  The we woke up and saw the blood on the sheets;  Ooops.  Sorry Mommy.

Daddy said the bite didn’t really hurt but that was before the blood got under the fingernail, I guess that hurts a lot, especially when he slammed the pinkie on the pavement trying to edge the driveway.

All we can hope is that this incident taught him and other humans a lesson.  Let sleeping dogs lie.

And we are glad that River and I are totally blameless.