Hattie Mae is our October 4, 2015 Pup of the Week

Last week I wrote about my friend Morgan from the wonderful world of Blogville whom many of you met for the first time.  I am very glad you got to know her.  I feel bad that so many of my friends don’t know these great dogs.  But the same is true the residents of Blogville:   They don’t know our great, caring friends from Tanner Brigade and Facebook.

And who is better or more caring than Hattie Mae?  It is hard to imagine a world without sly, beautiful, witty, emphatic, generous, inspiring Hattie Mae.  But for a time we will have to experience that world.   Hattie Mae has gone on sabbatical.

Hattie’s Mom is having some issues that keep her from the computer and all we can do is pray that it is for a very short time.  We have had to flail our way through the vast Internet without her before and we didn’t like it.  She was the first dog to leave DS and without her the site’s tone changed.  Many followed her out the door.  When we first began the Tanner Brigade Hattie, having been burned several times on different sites, was reluctant to join but thankfully she finally did and she completed our site.

Now what are we to do with her gone?  Who is going to make us smile every day with the perfect photo of her or her sister Jessie in beautifully tailored outfits worn so confidently and with great panache?  Who is going to post a silly picture of Hattie or Jackie Lynn giving their Mom the “I am so fed up with the modeling” look?  Who is going to instigate the structure of the perfect few lines to make us smile when we are sad, or make us feel less alone and a lot more loved?

I think of all the words I chose to describe Hattie inspiring is the most apt.  She has inspired so many dogs to share their stories and their lives.  She has inspired so many dogs to dress up and show their beautiful sides.  And she has inspired all of us to always give love and show compassion.  As for her generosity I can certainly attest to that.  I had, and have passed on to Pocket and River, an entire closet of Hattie Mae original dresses she gave to us when they shrunk in her closet and became too small for her.

It is Halloween.  This is one of Hattie’s favorite times of the year.  She loves to dress in costumes and she hosted her own Parade of the Horribles.  Jessie and Roscoe’s Mom is hosting a Halloween party on DS2015 and I would like to see everyone post, either there, or on their own blog pages, or on TB, pictures of them dressed in their scariest and most horrible costumes.  We know it would make her smile.

So dress up and celebrate Halloween and everyday for Hattie Mae and pray for her to return to us soon.  We live in a much less perfect world without her.

Tails From Rainbow Bridge: A Vist with Fella

My minions have been failing me lately.  My inbox is full but I am never presented with a question to answer and the minons are falling behind on my grooming needs.  So I have stopped them from poking into my inbox and have changed my Friday blog to reporting on what my friends here at Rainbow Bridge are doing.

This week I checked on my old friend Fella.  He is the older brother of Hattie Mae and Jackie Lynn.  He came to the Bridge shortly after I did and was the first dog I swore in.  Waiting for him was his brother in law Sage and Sage’s Mom Jackie.  Together they opened the Bridge’s first worm farm.

Fella spends a lot of time working on the work farm now.  He enjoys living with Sage but dodged question about living with Jackie, who he referred to as the “Mother in Law” with an eye roll.  I am not sure if his Bride Saffon has joined Fella at the Bridge.  If she did she did not come through my district.  When I asked Fella if Saffron was there he told me a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell then went back to hoeing the ground where his worms were growing.

He told me that he splits time with his other siblings at the Bridge checking in on his Mom.  “I am not happy that she still make those outfits for Hattie,” Fella said while separating his worms with the hoe.  “I know her body hurts. But she does love dressing Hattie and Jackie up and they do a great job posing for her.  Me?  I wasn’t much of a model.  I tried to model for Mom but was no match for my sisters.  I was like that Bruce Jenner guy but I like my man parts, at least what was left of them.”

We reflected on our days at the old DS when his pack was chased away by  a pack of bad dog.  “ Being the only male in the pack I really wanted to go out there and fight the bad dogs but Hattie and my sister Smartie wouldn’t let me go and Saffron begged me not to get involved so I didn’t.  But when your Mom is threatened it is a boy’s dog’s duty to step up and fight.”

I left Fella to his farming but he wanted his Mom to know that all her angels visit her when they can in different forms, usually with wings, and visit her in her dreams, even  if she can’t remember the visits,  and that they will always love her.

Hattie Mae is our April 13, 2014 pup of the week

This week the Internet was rocked with news that shook the country and roiled the oceans.   Hattie Mae announced her retirement from social life.  She is stepping aside to spend more time with her Mom and Dad, her handmaiden Jackie Lynn (sorry Jackie, it’s true) and her husband Leo (who will still post but is under orders from his wife not to speak of her.).

Hattie has spent the last few years on the small, private, Tanner Brigade site.  But before that she was the single most influential dogs on social media.  A trailblazer in a summer dress and yellow sun hat.  The web designers and investors may have created Doggyspace but it was Hattie Mae who showed us how to use it.

Under her bewitching touch we all learned how to get our secretaries to both take, and post, pictures of us in the most adorable clothes.  She taught us how to take our everyday life and spin it into entertaining and often moving stories.  Hattie Mae was the first to be able to convey a dog’s existence in a way humans could understand.

What she taught us most of all is how to personify compassion.   When one of us goes to the Bridge or gets sick Hattie always knows the right thing to say, whether they be words of kindness or prayer.  Whenever a post is made on our page that brings us comfort we see Hattie’s paw prints leading the pup there.

Under previous ownership DS was like the old west. Anyone, friend or not, could post a comment on your post or page.  There were many dogs on the site, including the owner’s, that were not dogs at all, but humans trolling for arguments.  Hattie Mae, a pup who wears her heart on her fur, was ripe pickings for these trolls, and they soon chased her from the site like uncontrolled mutts at the dog park.  One by one her friends, including us, followed.

After we founded the Tanner Brigade the members spent weeks enticing the reluctant Hattie Mae to join.  When she finally relented she became the heart of our little group.  Every day she made us smile, or she touched our hearts, or stunned us with her beauty.  She was all of ours’ best friend.

We all came together on DS as a group seven years ago, and they have been a wonderful seven years.  But many friends, both dog and human have been lost in that time, and it has taken a toll on all of us.  When you are a loving, sensitive pup like Hattie each passing takes a bit of your soul, and visiting pages that once filled you with joy now becomes a sad reminder of friends lost.  Somewhere, over time, she lost her smile, and she needs time to get her smile back.

We can’t say for sure how long she will be gone.  She may disappear like Garbo, rumored to be at some opulent location, leaving dogs whispering of her imminent return, or, like Sinatra, this may be the first of many retirements.  We hope it’s the latter.

I wonder when I will hear from her again.  I have two thoughts in my mind:  One is getting a postcard from  Fort Hancock, Texas. Fort Hancock... right on the border. That's where Hattie crossed. When I picture her heading south in her own car with the top down, it always makes me laugh. Hattie Mae... who crawled through a river of sith and came out clean on the other side. Hattie Mae... headed for the Pacific.

The other is her sitting at her villa, getting a drink from Jackie, in a chair next to Leo, watching the water.  Leo asks her if the Internet got too big for her.  Hattie takes a drag of her cigarello and says “I am still big, it’s the Internet that got small.”

Whereever you are this one is for you my sister, with love:

I took my love and took it down

I climbed a mountain and I turned around

And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?

Can the child within my heart rise above?

Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I'm getting older too

Well, I've been afraid of changing

'Cause I've built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I'm getting older too

Oh, I'm getting older too

I take my love, take it down

I climb a mountain and turn around

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Will the landslide bring you down

And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills

Will the landslide bring you down, oh, oh

The landslide bring you down

Foley, Pocket and the Hattie Mae LIne

Last week I got a message from Hattie Mae saying that she had a few dresses that she and Jackie had outgrown, and would Pocket like them.  I didn’t check with Pocket.  I said yes.  Now, I must admit, I did not intend to give them to Pocket.  I was going to turn around and put those suckers on EBay then watch the kibble fall into my bowl.

The box arrived.  I waited anxiously as Mommy and Daddy used scissors, then a knife, then an industrial saw, on the box.  If you ever plan to mail plutonium across the country ask Hattie’s Mom to seal the box.  She is a marvel with tape.  Finally the box was opened.

Pocket stuck her nose in the box looking for what new designs she would receive but I Yorkie butted her out of the way.  “None of these are for you,” I snapped at her.  “These are original designs from Hattie Mae’s closet, we are going to sell them and get rich.”  Pocket tried to tell me this wasn’t why Hattie sent them to us but I had visions of golden kibbles in my eyes.

Pocket pulled out a little red and blue number with her teeth and ran off with it.  “Pocket, bad Pocket, get back here!”  I yelled as she scurried into the bedroom and shut the door.   Well, I could write that dress off.  Dogs would pay big money for a dress worn last by Hattie Mae but no one was wearing anything that was last worn by Pocket.

There were so many outfits that I lined them up from the front door, across the kitchen, and into the spare bedroom.  I began to think how much I could charge for each one.  I called over my lackey Daddy and told him to photograph the outfits and write down the prices.  He told me this was wrong but I gave him my sweet determined Yorkie look and he folded like a poleless tent.  He was snapping the photos when Pocket sauntered out of the bedroom like a brand new dog looking nothing but fine in her Hattie Mae wear.

“Take a picture of her!” I barked to my lackey.  Pocket made a wonderful model for these designs.  A good model could add thousands of kibbles to the price of a design.  I had never known what Pocket’s purpose in life was but now I knew.  She was born to model.

“Try on one of these,” Pocket said to me.  “They make you feel pretty and strut so confidentially.”

I dismissed the idea, then the lackey said to me:  “You should try one on.  If dogs are willing to spend more kibble on a design worn by Pocket how much more would they be willing to spend if it was worn by you?”

The lackey was talking sense.  I picked a halter top with a peace sign and a pretty skirt with a green print.  I went into my kitty condo and tried it on.  Suddenly I felt six years younger.  I came out and both Pocket and Daddy to me how beautiful I looked.  And you know what?  They were right.  I was beautiful.

I decided to keep this one outfit and brought lackey back to take more pictures for E Bay.   Then I saw a beautiful black outfit with little dalmatians sewed on.  It was precious.  I decided to model this one, and when I did I decided to keep it.

Pocket said if I got to keep clothes then she should get to keep clothes too.  I wanted to ignore her, but her clothes were very nice looking too.  Like all sisters I could sneak into Pocket’s kitty condo and steal her outfits.  They look better on me anyway.

I went back to look at the designs.  I couldn’t decide what to keep and what to sell so I decided to keep all of them.  I am not saying I am never going to sell them, but probably only if my Buddha belly keeps getting bigger and I can’t fit into them or they become torn and frayed.  

So let me give a big tip of the tail to Hattie, her little sister Jackie Lynn, who outgrew some of these clothes, and their wonderful Mom who is the world’s best dog clothes designer and seamstress.  You are cherished friends and we love you so much.

We have five pictures below.  We will be posting more.  Maybe we will have a fashion show blog a few times.  Hope you enjoy them.  

Hattie Mae and her Pack are our September 2, 2012 Pups of the Week

They say you don’t recognize a good thing until it is gone.  Even if the being gone is only for a short amount of time, your heart aches, you pant more, you lose your appetite.  Absence makes the heart grow weary.

This week we have been without the wit and wisdom of Hattie Mae, Jackie Lynn, Fella and Smartie and it has been a hard week.  Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if we knew they were away on vacation somewhere without the Internet, like the North Pole, but when it’s a vacation we know it will end soon.  When someone is hurt or injured and the return date is open ended it is so much harder.

None of us ever want to be put in a kennel when our families go away, but when our parents can’t take care of us because of illness we don’t know if we will ever escape this dark, dank place it’s so much worse.  And that’s where we are with the Hattie Mae clan.  In a dark, dank place.

Hattie Mae is the shining light of our group.  She is our everything diva.  She’s hard when we need a laugh and soft when we need a tender touch.  She’s the lollipop all lollipops want to be and the lollipop that the boys wish they didn’t have their nuts chopped off over.  And Jackie, who is learning so much from her, and Smartie and Fella are missed so much as well.

Many of you don’t remember life without Hattie Mae.  We first met her in the early days of DS.  But there were some mean dogs there and Hattie beat a hasty retreat.  When we took a short stop at a Ning site she joined then the bad dogs showed up again and she, and soon the rest of us, were gone.  When we started TB we tried and tried to get her to come here but she said that she was done with social networking.  Thankfully we wore her down and since then she has been  our ray of sunshine.

We have been lucky enough to get brief blogs from her keeping us informed of what is going on with her Mom.  Also there was the terrible scare when Lou ee thought he had stuffed her in a bag and killed her but like most celebrity death reports this one was a hoax.  Now if we can only get Lou ee to come out of hiding.
So we are hoping that Hattie’s Mom’s arm heals soon and we can have her back every day.  We need her sunshine in our lives.

If I haven’t conveyed it well enough let me just say Hattie, we are naming you and your clan Pups of the Week because we love all of you and we miss your witty quips, your kind words, your fabulous pictures, and the joy you fill our lives with.

Hopefully your Mom will be better soon.  Love to you all.

(A quick note on a sad subject.  Jack from Australia went to the Bridge this week.  He has been a TB member for some time but has not posted in a year.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.)

Smartie is our August 5, 2012 Pup of the Week

Last year Pocket and I went to see a marvelous show called Jersey Boys.  In it the character of the bassist for the Four Seasons, Nick Massi explains why he left the group thusly:  “When there are four guys in a band, and you’re the Ringo......”  When I think of Hattie Mae’s Pack of Four I think of a band with four members.  Hattie Mae is the John, smart, clever, the leader.  Jackie Lynn is the Paul, the cute one.  Fella is the George, the smart one (work with me on this one.)  And Smartie is the Ringo, the quiet one that we never hear much from.  But we suspect that Smartie has plenty to say, as his name would suggest, but not the gumption to fight the others for the limited family spotlight.

The fellowship of four and their parents have been keeping a secret to us of late: Smartie has been an ill little pup.  The first sign of trouble was when Hattie offered us some diapers because Pocket still suffers from excitable peeing, and gets excited a lot.  Why does Hattie Mae have diapers, we wondered?  Shortly we heard Hattie Mae whispering in the Tanner Brigade cathedral to heal her sister Smartie and give her parents guidance.

No one pried,   Hattie is a Jack Russell terrier, and they don’t like being pressured.  Finally, when she felt ready, as we all knew she would, she informed us of Smartie’s illness.  The family first noticed it when the little beagle stopped eating.  If you know a beagle they never stop eating.

Then Smartie began having accidents in the house.  The vet did what vets do.  They start with the most likely answer, a urinary tract infection.  But Smartie did not respond to the treatment the way the vet had hoped.

So now the pack entered the horrible puppy health care torture go round.  You start with the blood work.  Mom pays the bill.  The doctor says they know no from the blood work.  Mom pays the bill.  They run x-rays.  They find nothing.  They order more tests.  Mom pays the bill.  They got sent to a new hospital, one with an excellent reputation.  They took more blood, they did an MRI.  Mom pays the bill.

But, thankfully, the merry go round ended there.   Smartie was diagnosed with Stage III Chronic Kidney Disease  With a new diet and medicine Smartie took a turn for the better.  She was acting like a pup again, playing with Jackie Lynn, smacking Hattie Mae.

But then she went back to being one sick pup.  More tests showed the disease was progressing.  Also her red blood count had dropped quite a bit.  Her Mom and Dad decided they could manage her care with her being poked and prodded for the rest of her days.

Smartie is home.  She has accepted her medicine, her diapers, her pee pads.  She is working with Jackie Lynn passing on all her knowledge.  We don’t know how long it could go on for but your prayers will be appreciated.

I don’t believe that just because Smartie was the quietest that she wasn’t equal to her pack members or better.  Smarties has held her own council and lived her life out of the spotlight.  Not a life for me but a life I can respect.  

So tonight when you go to bed think of the quiet, loyal, proud dogs like Smartie and know they mean to their families.  Because without Ringo they would have just been a bunch of guys with guitars, long hair, and no rhythm.  

It’s the Ringos that hold the pack together.

Per Hattie Mae, We are the March 25, 2012 Pup of the Week

Usually we do not take any outside suggestions for Pup of the Week. But this week Hattie Mae sent us this suggestion, and when it is Hattie Mae, well, you have to give in to her or your will get a nasty nip in the butt. So here is what Hattie Mae sent us. Although we don't feel we are worthy here is Hattie's Mae blogging on why we should be Pups of the Week

By Hattie Mae:

We all tend to take things, or furiends, for granted. Never giving a second thought to efforts and time devoted to making sure we all feel safe, happy and loved.

When things got crazy over at that other realm, some of us fled, others were tossed out of the gates without so much as a tribunal to hear their case. We were lost and missing our true furiends. We wandered the streets, confused, hungry and lonely.

Little did we know that two small, but powerful forces, were at work finding a safe house for us. Foley and Pocket. They sniffed around and found just the spot. The rent was cheap, the neighborhood was safe and it came with a great security system. The tiny gals, rolled up their sleeves and gave the place a good cleaning, hung some frilly curtains, got some modest furnishings from the Goodwill. Soon they got the word out to the outcasts that there was a safe haven for them to come to.

One by one we began to come. We felt safe. We could trust again. We urged our furiends to come and they did. They told 2 furiends, who in turn they told 2 furiends and so the community grew.

As we approach the Three Year Anniversary of the Tanner Brigade (May) I want to be sure that we all take a moment and thank Foley and Pocket for giving us a small slice of heaven. No matter what is going on in their lives they continue to make sure we are comfortable and happy.

So we, the members of the Tanner Brigade want to acknowledge Foley and Pocket as our Pup(s) of the week!

Hattie Mae is our March 11, 2012 pup of the week with special mentions for Hans and Remington

I hope you know that Pocket and I love you all equally. But, as in all packs, pups become closer to some pups than others. Among those we are closest to is Hattie Mae. I think all pups would agree they are closest to Hattie Mae too. I know each of us is special and unique in our own way but I don’t think there is either a more special or unique dog than our Hattie Mae. There are hundreds of ways she makes us smile, through her warm heart, her wonderful style, her sly sense of humor. Hattie Mae makes us all want to be better dogs.

So today, when we wandered into the Brigade and found out she was sick it was a cold slap to our muzzle. Hattie Mae sick? Oh my gosh, this cant be happening. She is the glue that holds us all together.

We think of Hattie as our diva but she is a Jack Russell at heart. And Jack Russells need to play. Yesterday she had her big friend Taylor and they played until she was exhausted. But after playing Hattie womited, and then she cried out in pain whenever she moved.

She went to her comfy spot and laid down. When her parents went to check on her she nipped them both protecting her hurting little body. Her parents knew they needed to take her to the emergency vet. But first they had to muzzle our poor baby. A Hattie Mae should never be muzzled.

In the vet’s waiting room she shook and cried in pain. In the vet’s office she was just chilling. Perfectly fine. Nothing to see here. Move along. The doctor suggested she go back to her regular not triple overtime doctor on Monday then asked her parents to pay the triple overtime bill.

When they got back in the car Hattie began crying in pain again. Well sometimes a girls needs to play hard to fix. She is resting today, and still crying in pain, while her worried friends gather and fret. We are sending major prayers and good JuJu out to our special friend. We pray also that she know how much we love her. Get better real soon Hattie.

While we are on the subject of good friends who need some prayers I would like to include my good friend Hans. He is a buddy from Doggyspace. He has been very sick lately. He has a growth and the dogtors have not been able to determine if it is an ulcer or a tumor. He has also had bleeding from an unknown. Last night he was falling a lot and his blood count is low. This has been very hard on his mother Miss Heather.

But she still found time to start on a new Doggyspace Group on Facebook. She thought it was a quicker way for everyone to keep in touch. If you are on Facebook and want to be on the Doggyspace group send me a message and we’ll make it happen. Mommy has agreed to help as an administrator. Don't worry. I will watch over her.

Finally there is my friend Remington from the Blog World. His wonderful blog can be read here.

He took very sick this week. He too was womiting. And when he womits it's the size of Pocket. He scared his poor Mom. But thankfully the vets prescribed medicine, and he is now healthy and happy.

Let's all get together and pray that the same good results happen for Hattie Mae and for Hans. We love you all.

2010; A Doggyspace Christmas Carol

It was a bitterly cold Christmas Eve in Northern Virginia as we peer down on a young man hurrying through the festive crowd, who are wishing each other the best of the holidays.  The young man ignored them all, staring down at his blackberry.  He was stopped by an elderly man who asked him if he could donate money to poor children on Christmas.  The young man scribbled the http address of a web site and continued onward.

He came to his front door and searched for his keys.  When he found them he looked at the door and his heart skipped a beat.  His beautiful door knocker had turned into the face of a yellow lab.  "Tanner Bub?" he asked, his voice squeaking in despair.  But the knocker turned back into the @ symbol he had paid an extravagant amount on e-bay to obtain.  He shook his head and wondered if he had too much punch at the Christmas party, which was entirely possible, since he was the only person there.

He entered the house, put down his blackberry and switched to his laptop .  He checked his rating and saw his new site was ranked near the bottom for hits.  The space he created for advertisers was bare.  He went to the refrigerator to get a Corona with a slice of lemon and a Promax bar then sat back down.  His instant message icon was flashing.

He clicked it on a window opened saying he had an instant message from Tanner Bub.  He clicked ignore but the window opened anyway.  "Merry Christmas Levi, it is Tanner Bub from Rainbow Bridge."

"Humbug," Levi said and began to bang on his mouse trying to close the window.  But it would not close.  He tried rebooting his computer but it would not shut down.  His calls to his service provider were rerouted to dogs singing Jingle Bells.  It became obvious to Levi the only way to clear the message from the screen was to answer it.

"Why are you cuntackting me Tanner?" he typed in his unique verbiage.

"One day at Christmas all us pups were gathered under one roof, a roof called Doggyspace.  We were, peaceful, happy and content.  But then your greed took over Levi.  Your need to control all around you.  Happy pups were either driven off or packed up and left on their own.  Soon you packed up and left too leaving those behind at the mercy of the mean and evil profiles who moved in."

"That's caled capittooisim Tanner," Levi typed. "Buy low, sell high, and move on."

"There is more to life then that Levi," Tanner typed.  "Tonight you will be visited by three ghosts showing you Doggyspace past, present, and future.  They will show you the error of your ways."

"Can't do it dude," Levi typed.  "I got a partee tonite at Flashdansers.  Strippin' elfs dude, you should czech it out."

"I'm afraid not," Tanner answered.  "Soon you will be fast asleep and then the ghosts will visit you."

Levi scoffed at the idea as Tanner's IM disappeared to be replaced by Levi's Linkden profile. "Oh this should be interesting," he said.  He was asleep within seconds.

He awoke to the feeling of his pants leg being pulled.  He looked down to see a familiar beagle.  "Do I know you?" he asked.

"It's Pepsi, bitch," the dog said.  "And I'm back."

"Pepsi, what are you doing in my apartment?" he asked.

"I'm the ghost of Doggyspace past, I'm here to bite ankles and chew  rawhide and I'm fresh out of rawhide."

Levi lifted his legs. "Are you going to take me on a tour of my past Christmases to show me the error of my ways?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Pepsi said.  "Because you're the Grinch and I'm Max the dog, you moron.  Just look at the computer screen"

The screen went back to Doggyspace on Christmas Eve in 2008.  "Read the posts, see how everyone is wisihng each other Merry Christmas.  There is Hattie Mae's profile, and Tanner Bub's.  There is Foley and Pocket, Luca, Sam and Junior, Hobo Hudson.  Everyone is laughing and sharing stories.   Then it all changed."

"Yes, but they lacked discipline, the site needed it, you can't eat your pudding until you've finished your meat.  How can you have your pudding when you haven't finished  your meat?"

"You let the power of running the site go to your head." Pepsi said.  "You began to ban members, including the beloved Tanner Bub.  That began a decline in membership and less hits on your site.   If you had not let all the power over take you Levi, every Christmas would have been like that."

"They needed monitoring, they needed expelling Pepsi!" he said looking down.  But Pepsi was no longer there.  On the screen were some of the writings he had recently done for his new web site.  It put him to sleep instantly.

He awoke to see a dog in a dress and cap checking herself in a mirror.  "I just can't get this hat right," she said adjusting it on her head.

"Is that you Hattie Mae?" Levi asked.

She turned around.  "Well of course Levi, we haven't spoken in so long.  Oh, but tonight I am not Hattie Mae, I am the gift of Christmas Present because I'm the best Christmas present anyone could wish for."

"I thought that was Peruvian gold."

"Oh Levi, you're like an old painting you never change," she said.  "Now get ready for a thrill.  For the first time ever you are going to get to view the Tanner Brigade web site."

"Oh, oh, can Princess get a membership?" he asked.

"You have a better chance getting a membership in Mensa,  Now you read some of the posts, I know it will be like waiting for a third grader to read Moby Dick but I've got all night."

Levi read the comments of a close community of dogs wishing each other the best of the holiday season, of those reaching out to help heal both hurt and sick humans and pups, of those trying to get Miss Gina's dogs to their new home.  He got done and looked down at Hattie.  "Where are the ads?" he asked.

"The ads?" Hattie responded.

"How are you making any money from this if there are no ads? There was a woman I took for $8,000 for an ad on DS.  I spent that money on jeans."

Hattie sighed.  "Why don't you look at the comments on DS this Christmas Eve," she said.

The DS screen appeared.  He began reading, slowly.  "They seem quite similar to TB, well wishes and good cheer."

"Let me help you," Hattie said and the screen scrolled until it stopped.  "See these comments, a dog bragging about the number of guns he owns, two dogs arguing about a boy in school, young pups insulting each other, bullying other dogs about their profiles, what do you think of that?"

"I would have to see how much they paid for their membership fee before I decide," Levi said.  Hattie growled at him.

"This may take more than three ghosts," she said.

"This activity has nothing do with me," Levi said.  "I have already sold the site before it occurred."

"And let's check in on what the new owners are doing this Christmas Eve in Texas," Hattie said.

The screen showed a You Tube video of a man eating pretzels and watching TV.  "Laura," the ex-president yelled "the kid has his tongue stuck to the pole again!  That's the fourth time tonight he's done that.  How stupid can you be?"

"George, come in here for dinner right now," his wife said.  "And did you check on that all dog social network I bought you for Christmas?  You promised me if I got it for you that you would watch it.

"I don't need to check on it.  We will be treated as liberators.  What could go wrong?" he said as the You Tube clip faded from the screen.

Levi looked down but Hattie Mae was gone.  He then looked back up at his computer screen.  "Oh,. the lost Princess blogs from Doggyspace, I shall entertain myself all night by reading these."  Ten seconds later he was fast asleep again.

He woke up to a little dog tugging at his pants leg.  "Who are you little dog?' he asked.

"My name is Fuzzy Bacon," the little dog said.

"Fuzzy Bacon?  I think that was the name of one of the strippers I ordered."

The little dog sunk her teeth into Levi's leg making him yelp.  "Sorry, I'm just a puppy, I haven't learned my manners yet.  OK.  Now I have to remember what 12 taught me to say.  I am the Future of Doggyspace ghosts.  No wait, that wasn't it.  I am the Doggyspace Ghost Future. No, that's not right either.  Darn."

"Is it possible you are the ghost of Doggyspace future?" Levi asked.

"That's the ticket," Fuzzy said.  "Because I am the newest member of the Brigade I have been chose to show you the future."

"Well I have had enough of my night wasted, let me see it."

"First let me show you Doggyspace," he said.  But all that came up on the screen was a notice that the domain name was for sale.

"Well they didn't have a sound business plan," Levi said.

"And maybe you got pups to join the group under false pretenses and then abandoned them all.  I don't know, I'm a new pup, but I don't like what I'm hearing.  Now let's switch to a Facebook account."

Levi was speechless as he stared at his profile.  "Friends zero?  No friends?  What kind of idiot has no friends?" he asked trembling.

"It seems, you," Fuzzy said.

"This is terrible, how did this happen, where are all my friends?" he asked.

"There is one more video you need to see, it's from a surveillance camera across the street from a drive-thru."

Levi saw the man working in the drive-thru.  "Look at that smuck, working on Christmas Eve.  Wait a second," he peers further into the screen.  "Who is the man in that window?  Tell me spirit who is handing out that bag of fries?"  His voice grew more excited.  "Who is that putting ketchup into bags?  Who?  Who?"

Fuzzy held up her skinny paw and the camera zoomed in to see Levi bagging the fries.  "It is me?  Me?  Working in retail fast food?  No friends on Facebook?  Tell me spirit, are these thing to be, or can they be changed?"

Levi slumped down in his chair.  He fell asleep shaking in fear.  He awoke with the first morning light.  He rebooted he computer and saw that it was Christmas day.

He knew the first thing he was going to do.  He went on Pea Pod and ordered a large Christmas Goose.  He then began to hurridly run around the house making plans.  "I will buy back Doggyspace and make it a user friendly site.  I will let the dogs have the freedom to bark what they want to one another.  I won't charge for premium  memberships, in fact I won't charge at all.  I will ask for contributions.  And if I get too many I will put it back in the site.  I will take no money for myself.  Well, maybe a little, for food.  And expenses.  And a car, in fact a few premium memberships won't hurt.  Or all premium memberships, and lots of ads, and dogs who don't pay, can get out.   Yeah.  Lots of money for me.  Letting three ghosts change me.  Nah!"

In a dusty corner of the apartment a recently downloaded Foley sat with Pocket licking her paws.  "What are we going to do now Foley our plan didn't work?" Pocket asked.

"Next year get bigger dogs," she said as she hit the return button and down loaded herself back home











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