So in addition to being Halloween, today is Tucker’s 23rd birthday over the Rainbow Bridge:
And it’s also the third anniversary of Dennis crossing the Rainbow Bridge to join Trixie and Tucker there:
No doubt they’re having a big combination birthday bash/Howloween party there over the Bridge for all of their friends, and probably even for Pooh Bear and Trouble too. Party on, dogs. And cats.
So this year, we have a Halloween that’s, to put it mildly, not going to be like any Halloween that any of us can recall. (If you remember the Halloween that occurred during the 1918 flu pandemic, then you may be some manner of cyborg. And you’re almost certainly not reading this blog.) Around here, during Dennis’s tenure, we stopped greeting trick-or-treaters at the door, because all the doorbell-ringing and apparitions loudly shouting “Trick or treat!” really freaked the poor boy out, even when he was in the back bedroom; instead, we would put out a box of candy on the front windowsill, and operate on the honor system, whereby nobody took the box and just dumped the entire thing into their bag. Most years that worked out fine. I have no idea what to expect in the way of trick-or-treaters this year, but we’ll be putting the box out again, and probably leaving it there until the sun has a chance to disinfect it the next day.
For us, though, Halloween is mainly associated with two things: Tucker’s birthday in 1998, and the day Dennis had to go to the Rainbow Bridge in 2018: Two events, exactly 20 years apart, that, for now at least, mark the bookends of our experience as vizsla owners. So this year I thought it would be nice to have a couple of little retrospectives of Tucker and Dennis to mark these two very different sorts of anniversaries.
Continue reading “Happy Halloweens, Sad Halloweens”
One year ago today, we made the decision that it was time to let Dennis cross the Rainbow Bridge.
Continue reading “The Last Halloween”
Feathers, Pooh Bear, Trouble, Tucker, Trixie, and Dennis
We remember you all
Continue reading “(Somewhat) Wordless Wednesday: Remembrance Day”
Six months ago, our little mess-maker left us.
These pictures were taken just under a week before Dennis went to the Rainbow Bridge. Looking at them now, at his face and his eyes, it seems apparent in a way it wasn’t then that Dennis was worn out from battling osteosarcoma and IBD.
The farther out we get from it, the more we’re sure we did the right thing by bringing him in when we did. It’s the hardest balance to strike; we’ve been too late before; we don’t want to be too late again. With Trixie, we almost waited too long. Almost. But with Dennis, difficult as the decision was to make, we feel like we let him go at the right time, and that he had the best last visit, with his favorite veterinarian, out of all our animals.
We know you’re running free beyond the Rainbow Bridge now, Dennis, but if you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by and see the messes the Hipster Kitties make from time to time.
Obviously no one is as good at making messes as Dennis was, but the kitties do their best.
Dada’s Note: The memory box and plaque were prepared by Dennis’s Mimmier and Granddad and fit him perfectly. His Granddad says it is an old toolbox they found at an estate sale and fixed up, and that he thinks it looks like something Dennis would have carried on one of his adventures. (Tucker’s memory box is an old tin of cookies, and Trixie’s memory box is a very pretty old humidor — fittingly food-related and classy, respectively.)
Mr. Nibbles: “You look like you have a question, friend Hipsters.”
Chaplin: “We don’t understand why we’re having a party for Dennis but he isn’t here for it.”
Spicoli: “Oh, little dudes, this isn’t a party. It’s a memorial service. And that’s how memorial services work. You know, just like the ones for Trouble and Tucker and Trixie.”
Continue reading “In Memoriam”
Picture taken July 29, 2011
Gollum: “Well now that we has collected our new Ray-Bans from the tricksy stoner dog, we thinks it’s time to has our snacky-snack mousie. Gollum!”
Dennis: “How many pairs of sunglasses do you carry around with you, Spicoli?”
Spicoli: “Oh, a dozen or so.”
Mouse: “Nice going, hipsters. Because of you, that freak thinks he gets to eat me.”
Charlee: “He totally cheated.”
Mouse: “Of course he did! How could you be naive enough to think he wouldn’t?”
Chaplin: “Well, we are just kittens …”
Mouse: “Trouble would never have let a pseudo-hipster get the better of her like this.”
Chaplin: “Trouble? Who is Trouble?”
Continue reading “Deus Ex Cattina”
(Collar Tryout Pictures Taken June 19, 2010)
One year ago today was the end of a pretty bad week, when we had to say goodbye to our Beautiful Trixie. Trixie joined her brother Tucker and her kitty sisters Trouble and Pooh Bear over the Rainbow Bridge.
Continue reading “Trixie Tuesday: A Year Goes By”
Rest in peace, Trixie. You were the best and sweetest girl.
Continue reading “The Rainbow Bridge Is A Little More Beautiful Today”
One year ago today was not a good day. Fortunately, it was preceded by 15 years of better ones.
(Slideshow music is “Taken” by Plumb, who says: “It’s not so much a ‘goodbye’ as a ‘see you later’.”)
Continue reading “Throwback (Tucker) Thursday: A Year Goes By”
The Oceanside Animals 