Feargal, Fergus and Fredrik turned three years old today.

Beagles. Doing what they do naturally.

We got them back in the house after much loud scolding and door-slamming.

It would be great to have all kinds of observations about Nashville here, just as we did in Ann Arbor, but … well, we’re older and tired-er than we were in Ann Arbor.

The waiting, as opposed to doing the same things every day, is what’s hard … Ain’t life grand sometimes?

All pointless, but these are the thoughts you have.

Finally posted some «new pics on Flickr» of the boys. Whatta buncha beagles!

News in this neck of the woods is pretty mundane:
More beagle escapes (fifth, I think), necessitating the expenditure and labor of putting up a new chain link fence to isolate half of the backyard.
Application almost complete for Vanderbilt’s special ed master’s program.
Storm front moved through today; several thousand people just south of us without power, [...]

It’s looking like Bayley was the victim of «rat poison»:

‘Rat poison was found in the pet food suspected of causing kidney failure that killed at least 16 cats and dogs, but scientists still don’t know how it got there, state officials said Friday. The toxin was identified as aminopterin, which is used to kill rats [...]

Sad moments today: Bayley Murphey Beagle came home for the last time. I picked up his cremains at 11:30 this morning. Whoever did the work did a very nice job (except that they spelled his name, “Bailey” as usual). There is a paw print in plaster, and the cremains are in a very nice cedar [...]

Not only was Bayley’s passing painful, but I was also in the middle of the last two weeks of the quarter, getting ready for and in the middle of finals, as well as the evaluations for our school becoming a California Distinguished School (which we did accomplish), a very intense time.
And now comes this weekend’s [...]

It’s been just over a week since Bayley left us. My heart still aches, but I’m pretty resigned. Dogs get old. And when they get old, their parts wear out. His kidneys were gone. I wish it weren’t true and that he was lying here on the couch next to me as usual, but he’s [...]

I received a call this evening from a nurse at the emergency hospital where we took Bayley when he had his seizure last week, the start of our horrifying ordeal. Seems his blood work revealed no evidence of bacterial infection.
Which means that his kidneys failed from old age, most likely, according to the nurse and [...]

Bayley Murphey Beagle
20-Aug-1994 — 2-Mar-2007
Dear Bayley Murphey,
Thank you for being such a wonderful and good dog, a loving companion, for keeping us sane, for loving us unconditionally, for being such an incredibly important part of our lives for 12-and-a-half years. Thank you for putting up with all the picture-taking, ear rubbing, nail clipping, bathing, teefs-brushing [...]

It is with tremendous sorrow that Frank and I (and Unca David) must tell you that our beloved beagle, Bayley Murphey, passed away this evening, at 5:35 p.m. PST, Friday, 2-March-07, age 12 years and 6 months.
Bayley had been slowing down considerably in the last six months, but we chalked that up to advancing age [...]