Puppy Love

Freya loves Gabe and the rice cereal that is still on his face. And Gabe, well he loves his new Bumbo seat!

A Eulogy...for Mac

Today is a sad day. My Grandpa Jim’s dog Mac passed away this morning. So in honor of Mac, I am going to write him a eulogy. I know this will not ease my Grandpa’s pain but it may help the rest of us remember Mac in our own special way.

General Douglas Macarthur “Mac”-Herndon

Born: November 24, 1995

Died: Monday December 21, 2009

Age: 15 Years (Human) 105 Years (Dog)

General Douglas Macarthur joined our family Christmas Eve about 15 years ago. I remember the night well. We were having our yearly Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Kathy’s & her then husband Larry’s house in Salt Lake. Mac, as we called him for short, was hiding in the bar area of their home in a kennel. Just a tiny puppy then, the grandkids kept trying to sneak peeks at the little shitzu. He was a gift for my Grandpa Jim from my Grandma Diane.

Ever since that night Mac has been a part of our family. He has attended every event my Grandma would allow my Grandpa to bring him too and even some when she had told him no. I can remember Mac from the time I was a child to the last time I saw him a couple week s ago. And I know how much he meant to my Grandpa, as well as my Grandma.

Mac led a life of comfort. Right from the start he got what he wanted. Mac was given every type of human food you could imagine-even those the veterinarian warned my grandparents against. And despite what we all thought would happen Mac did not die of a doggy heart attack or diabetes. No, he proved us all wrong.

Mac even had comforts like a doggy car seat. (My grandparents’ children didn’t have car seats when they were younger, but Mac did.) Mac had special rugs, toys, water bottle, brushes, and even a little sweater when he was younger. As Mac got older, he became too grumpy and would no longer wear the sweater.

I have many personal memories of Mac. When he was a little puppy, my Grandma brought him to our house and he and my kitten Pinto (who has preceded him in death I assume because Pinto left one day and never came back.) played until they couldn't play anymore. They played and played and chewed each other’s ears raw. I will never forget how cute the two of them looked together.

As Mac got older, he became more and more spoiled. He would bark at the dinner table to get my grandparents to feed him. And my Grandpa would always tell him “Now you aren’t getting any of this.” But he would say that as he was feeding Mac from his fork. Needless to say, Mac never wanted for anything.

A more recent memory of Mac was when I lived with my grandparents. He was an elderly dog at this point and my guess could not hold his bodily functions as well. And more than once Mac would come into my room and poop on my floor. I would let my Grandma know and WITHOUT complaint, she would come in and clean it up. She would always apologize but she loved Mac anyway. Had it been me, I probably would have despised him.

So love him (or not) Mac was a part of all our lives because our Grandparents loved him so much. We all may have wanted to throw him in the canal out back at points, but he made Grandma and especially Grandpa, very happy. And we all have happy memories that include him-even if some of them are all the funny jokes we made about how spoiled and awful he could be.

Mac is survived by his parents Jim and Diane Herndon, siblings Kathy C. (Paul), Tracii D. (Randy), John H. (Debbie) and Karen P. (Chad) as well as many nieces and nephews. Mac is preceded in death by his gay lover, Walter the Stuffed Dog.

Goodbye Mac and rest in peace. You will be missed…by most. (But really by all of us.)

I bet she'll taste great with some A-1 steak sauce!

I love my dog. Now please go back and re-read that last sentence one more time. Do you understand? Okay good. BECAUSE I AM GOING TO BARBEQUE HER!

For example, I was watching a show last night on A&E about people who O.C.D. (obsessive compulsive disorder) and there was this woman who obsesses over dogs being tortured and killed. Well they took this woman to a local pound and America got to watch her have an emotional melt down over all the fuzzy faces in cages. I am the kind of woman who cries at the IAMS dog food commercial so being pregnant and seeing this, I started to weep and proceeded to hug my dog until she couldn’t take it anymore due to lack of oxygen. Do you really understand how much I love my dog? I hope so…because taking away all her squeaky toys and leaving her with nothing to play with really going to breaks my heart.

Every morning my dog and I have a routine. I get up, shower, go downstairs, put her on her leash, let her out my front door so she can “relieve herself” on my lawn, go inside, feed her, feed myself, go back upstairs, and get ready for work. This pattern was interrupted when Sera came to town. She wanted to walk Freya across the road every morning and let her use the bathroom on the big lawn. I agreed because it was Sera and it wasn’t a big deal. But 2 weeks of walking across the road to let Freya urinate on the large patch of grass spoiled my dog. And now that Sera has gone, Freya can’t get back into our normal routine.

I let her out the front door and she just sits there…staring at me. It has become a battle of wills which I lose because I don’t want to bring her back in and have her pee on my floor. I have ended up caving in and walking her across the road to let her go to the bathroom. But not today! I wasn’t going to let that happen today. Nope, this morning she was going to pee in my front lawn no matter what.

So after my shower I go to get dressed and realized all my clothes are downstairs on the dryer. But that is okay because I am not walking outside today. My dog is going to pee on my lawn and I was only going to have to stand at my front door. So I wrapped a towel around me, threw my robe over that for a little extra modesty, and headed down stairs.

I got to my front door and clipped on Freya’s leash and let her out. Sure enough, she sat on the front step and waited. But I wasn’t going to give in. I closed my screen door and attached her leash handle to the knob so she couldn’t get away. She was going to sit out there and do her business. So I walked into my kitchen and got her breakfast ready. I peeked at the front door and could tell she was still sitting there so I went on my way. I got myself a bowl of cereal and some juice and headed to the table. …that’s when I heard it.

SCREECH…SCRAPE…CLUNK…

I whip around to see Freya’s leash handle lying on the floor. I run to the front door and look out my screen. She is across the road peeing on the lawn. Her leash is older and it broke months ago so Ryan tied a big knot in it to hold it together. Apparently this did not go unnoticed by my dog. And from the looks of it, she chewed the knot lose and ran free across the road.

Now I panic. My dog is a runner and if she gets lose, she takes off. So without thinking I dart out the front door after her. She sees me coming and knows she is in trouble. So mid-pee she starts running. I catch up to her only to get dog pee on my foot. Gross! I grab the little bit of leash still attached to her collar and began to drag her back to my front door when I feel something…slipping.

Then it hits me, I am still in my bathrobe with a towel wrapped around me. And that slipping, well that’s the towel. So now I am hunched over hanging onto my dog with one hand and trying to keep my robe closed tight with my other and trying not to let me towel fall completely off. I get back across the road and to my front door, but right as I am about to enter, the towel slips to the ground.

I shove my dog inside and try to close the screen door but it’s still open a crack. I bend down to pick up my towel while checking to see if any of my neighbors are dying from laughter in their front room windows, when through the crack in the door my dog licks my face. I glare at her and she cocks her head to one side and wags her tail as if to say, “I win. Let’s play again.” Tomorrow we will play by her rules.

So Much...

I haven’t been blogging for the last couple months. Period. Life has been crazy and I have had many other things to do. I am however going to take a moment now to update.

Yes, Ryan is gone. I drove to Mississippi with him April 1st to April 5th and then with many tears and much sadness, left him there. Saying goodbye is never easy. But saying goodbye for six months to the father of your unborn child is much harder than I expected. I cried my whole flight from Gulfport Mississippi to Denver Colorado. I was sitting on the very last row with my hood up on my black jacket, sunglasses on, quietly sniffling and wiping away my tears. People probably thought I was a terrorist. I am sure the flight attendant with nervous about asking me if I wanted anything to drink because who knows what chain of events he might set off. Instead, I ordered water with extra napkins. He kindly brought me extra tissues instead.

Since that day, things have been okay. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss Ryan. He is my better half and it sucks not having him here. But I survive and so does he and we both know that what he is doing is important for the future of our family.

Right around my birthday, Ryan was very sweet and got me a new dog. Her name is Freya and we got her from the Utah Humane Society. We aren’t 100% sure what kind of dog she is. She must have some beagle in her and who knows what else. We have heard everything from Collie to Pit Bull to Jack Russell terrier. All I know is that I love her. She is a great dog. Well…she is a great dog with the exception that she is Houdini Dog. And when she escapes from her kennel, she makes a mess. A VERY BIG MESS! HUGE!

At first Ryan and I had her in a smaller wire kennel. Her escape from this was partly our fault. She was too big for this kennel and simply pushed on the back of it and popped the side open. From there she got into the garbage and used our hallway as a restroom. I think she also ate a pair of my socks.

So we upgraded. We bought a larger enclosed plastic kennel. She did fine in this kennel for almost 3 months. That is, she did until a couple weeks ago. I get home from a long day of work to be greeted at the door by my little escapee. I am also greeted my a massive mess including with little was left in my garbage can since I had taken it out the day before as well as a box of cereal that she had gotten out of my cupboard.

Upon inspection I discovered that she escaped by chewing a hole in the side of her kennel. No, I am not kidding. When I left for work, there was no hole. When I came home there was a hole, a dog on the loose, and very large mess. Don’t believe me? I have a picture. In one day, this dog chewed a hole in her kennel!

So now I am mad…mad at myself for being out-smarted by my dog. So I go to Petsmart and buy another wire kennel, but this one is much bigger. While there I tell a couple members of the Petsmart staff what my dog has done and they are amazed. Amazed by my escape-artist dog. I would go so far as to say they were impressed by her breakout skills.

But I can’t just leave it at the wire kennel now. She has already proven that she can pop the side open with these so I enlist the help on my Dad who uses nylon zip-ties to secure the kennel. Now I am sure she can’t get out.

What happened next is all my fault. I underestimated my dog. I should have known. The new kennel made it one day with no jail breaks. By day two, she had formulated a plan. At some point during the day, my dog got the bottom lock on the kennel door open and was able to then push the door open enough to squeeze through the bottom. And the reward for my mistake? The biggest mess she had yet to create. Not only did she crap on my floor, shred every bit of garbage she could get her teeth on, empty the bottom to shelves of my bookcase onto the floor, and tear open a box of potato flakes and bag of flour, but she also destroyed the plastic blinds in my kitchen and chewed 2 of the slats of my wood blinds in my living room. She wasn’t just upset she was in the kennel, she must have been furious and I paid the price for my ignorance and over-confidence. I once again was out-smarted by a 25 pound dog!

So now she is back in the kennel and I am having to padlock the door shut. It has held up for three days but I am no longer going to be arrogant about it. She has gotten the best of me three times now and I am not going to let that happen again. Hopefully this one will hold, but I am not going to hold my breath. My dog should be in a circus freak show. This is why she ended up at the Humane Society…she got the best of her last owners. But not me! I am determined to win this war!

Other than all of that, things are going just fine. The baby seems to be doing well and developing great. I am now about 23 weeks pregnant. And I am feeling all 23 weeks now. My first trimester was so easy that my second has been much harder. My OBGYN says this should be my “honeymoon period” but I am not feeling it. I didn’t have a hellish first trimester so all the changes I am experiencing now seem much worse than they may have for other women.

I have hip pain, bloating, fatigue, heartburn, and hunger. LOTS OF HUNGER! I can eat a meal and 60 minutes later, I am feeling hungry again. It is nuts! And my pants….I am wearing pants that have a stretchy panel in the front to accommodate my ever-growing belly. I feel like a damn Chia pet! All I can do the water myself and watch me grow. My weight gain has been perfectly normal but still, I feel like I have gained 20 pounds in this last month instead of only 4.

But I am happy with my development. Things are normal and I could not be any more grateful. I know life with my new baby will not always be this easy or normal but I can only count my blessing and continue to pray that things continue in this direction for the rest of my pregnancy.

Thanks to everyone who has kept in touch. I am always thankful for your love and support. I will keep you updated and hopefully my next blog won’t take so long that it’s title will be “IT’S A BOY!”

Strut Your What?

Last Saturday on May 31st, Ryan, Sera, and I took Barney to Sugarhouse Park for the 13th annual Strut Your Mutt. Strut Your Mutt is a walk for charity where all the proceeds go to the No More Homeless Pets Foundation. It is a great cause and I was so excited that we were able to participate.

We had to be at the park at freaking 8 am to get registered. I was not so happy about that but it was okay. Once we got there and got checked in, we had a few minutes to kill so we wandered around and look at all the different dogs. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been over 2000 people there with their dogs. Barney, who has a tendency to be a chicken, seemed to be pretty good with all the other dogs. I was worried he would spend the entire walk trying to escape from all the other dogs.

The walk itself was great. Sugarhouse Park is the perfect place to hold such an event. The walk itself is mile and a half and it took us about 45 minutes to complete. Sera wanted to stop and pet the other dogs. Barney had to keep stopping to take a drink or to try and scratch off the orange bandana that we tied around his neck. (He had to wear it! It was his Strut Your Mutt uniform!)

After we finished the walk there were a bunch of booths set up you could walk around and look at. Most of them involved doggy daycare or grooming services. There was a cute little booth for a place called Pupcakes. (I cannot find their contact info anywhere or else I would put it up.) It is this bakery that makes all sorts of adorable dog treats! They look so good. We bought some carob-covered dog bones for Barney and my sister and my cousin both almost ate one, thinking they were cookies. There were also these cute little cupcake that Sera wanted to eat as well but they were bacon-cheddar flavored so…we didn’t go there.

I think that everyone had a great time and it was a really fun way to start off our summer with Sera. Everyone was really tired by the time we left, even Barney. He fell asleep as soon as we got in the car! I am glad that the three of us we able to support such a great cause and I look forward to participating again next year!

Barney Brunswick Beagle

Ryan and mine’s new favorite thing to do, in the evenings and on weekends, is to take my Mom’s beagle Barney to Tanner Dog Park. (We are going to kidnap that dog when we leave!) Most Utah locals know this place. It is a little ravine just at the mouth of Parley’s Canyon. It has all these fantastic dirt trails and a stream. It is the best place to take your dogs for a good off-leash run! Barney loves it!

At first Barney was unsure. He is not a pure bred beagle I have decided. He is one-third beagle, one-third chicken, and one-third goat. He acts tough, runs scared, and eats everything. (Yes I mean everything! Tin cans, doormats, the vent for dryer….EVERYTHING!) So being at the dog park surrounded by all these crazy dogs made him stay so close to us, he was literally under our feet!

We have now been with him enough that Ry and I are comfortable taking him off-leash. This was scary at first. Almost like a small child, when they are more than 5 feet from you, you get anxious and call them back. But eventually it gets to the point that you quit paying attention because you are okay with them wandering off and then they chase after quail into a big bush and you have to stand there, screaming their name, until they come out.

So now Barney loves the dog park. He still is afraid of other dogs, and the creek, and anything that blows by him like a leaf or some garbage, but he loves it. And Ryan and I love taking him. It gives us a chance to be outside together and we can’t get enough of that! Being outside in the sunshine and getting to play with all the puppies is our favorite part. Barney’s favorite part? Getting to sit in Sera’s car seat on the ride to and from.