Another Anniversary

It’s been TWELVE (12)!!! years??! Holy cow. In spite of all the special dogs (Feargal, Fergus, Fred, Roux, Sascha, Bosco, Goose, Tessa and now Charlie) we’ve had since Bayley crossed the Rainbow Bridge, the first dog who enters your life always leaves the most special imprint on your heart. And Bayley was indeed a special first one. So much so that we remember him and his anniversaries all the time. Here’s the post from 12 years ago, maudlin and sentimental and all that.

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 and hugs and kisses. Thank you for curling up against us on cold, winter nights. Thank you being the touchstone of our lives. Thank you for being you.

We tried hard to give you a good life, full of all the things that good dogs such as you deserve. From the time of your puppyhood until today, you tried so hard to be good and please us, and you always did. We are richer for having had you in our lives, much, much poorer for your passing. Your suffering is over, now it’s time to run baying through the fields, chasing rabbits, rolling in squirrel pee, and lying under a tree gnawing a never-ending supply of beagle bagels.

Rest and sleep well, pookus. You leave a very large hole in our hearts and our lives.

Love,
Dad, Unca Frankie, and Unca David.

Steve Pollock

Anniversaries … so bittersweet. Sigh.

Puppy Bayley, Plano, October 1994.
Young Bayley being dignified, Plano, 1995.
Bayley napping in the sun, San Francisco, 2001.
Bayley and Frank in Ann Arbor, Autumn 2003.
Me and Bayley, Ann Arbor, Autumn 2003.

Puppie Hood

From April 2007: While the boys were still living at home with mommy. Ginger occasionally thought they were playthings and got a little rough. Here, Fergus gets very angry with Mom for rough play. However, he did learn skills which he now employs readily against the Bassets in the house. Ferga Beagle can hold his own, thanks to mom. (They were four or five weeks old at this point.)

Posted by Steve Pollock on Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Anniversary of Bittersweet Proportions

Aug. 20 is always bittersweet now; not only is it Bayley’s birthday, but we also lost Fred on this day two years ago. Time always plays with my head; Bayley’s 20 years seems a very long time, but so does the last two years. An aggressive, fast-moving cancer robbed us of Fred-Fred, who was just 5. That was a Very. Bad. Day.

Strange how the furry, messy, loud, attention-hogging, walking stomachs get under your skin. Yes, “only” dogs. But they have a very special power to enrich and bless your life. Difficult and silly to explain and it’s different with people and all that but there it is.

We miss Fred and Bayley … lots, especially on this double anniversary. Still, no rest for the wicked—Fred’s brothers, Feargal and Fergus, are still going Beagle strong at 7-and-a-half and of course His Majesty The Roux has thoroughly Basset-ized the place. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Four Years On

Four years ago this afternoon, we lost our beloved Bayley Murphey Beagle. It still hurts and I cried. We miss him loads still; even though the three beagle brothers do fill up the space, there will probably always remain an empty hole in our lives that used to be occupied by Bayley. He does continue to fill our hearts, so that’s at least something.

Nothing to See Here

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, high winds, but no tornadoes or thunder. Oklahoma City hit; Lone Grove smacked, with eight dead.

That is all.

Future Beagles

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 not. I’ve been through the stages of grief as usual: first was denial; I kept hearing his sniffing/snorking and on more than one occasions, when Frank poked his head or foot around a corner, for a split second, I thought it was the beagle. I’ve also been royally angry, mostly at his kidneys.

Coming home from work is the worst; David is now back at work in San Francisco. He doesn’t get home until 6 p.m., and Frank doesn’t come home until 7 p.m. So, from pretty much 3:30 or so when I get home until 6, the house is empty and quiet and it’s a weird, sort of creepy feeling to come home to after 12 years. I don’t like it at all.

There are always two schools of thoughts about what happens after a beloved pet dies. One school says there’s only one Rover and he can’t be replaced so we won’t try. Another school says get a new puppy immediately. I lean more towards the latter. The emptiness of the house, the couch, the bed, etc., is just too big of a hole for me. I’d far rather Bayley still be here and he can’t be replaced, but I have to be in the next phase of grief, acceptance, and then move on.

So, a student of mine, a very sweet girl, told me while Bayley was in the hospital that her female beagle was about to have puppies and that I was welcome to the puppies if I wanted one. Or two. Or three. Well, her beagle delivered Friday five new beagle puppies. They’ll be about ready to leave mommy about when we’d be ready for them here, towards the end of school on June 7. I personally want three beagles. One is too lonely and unsocialized. Two would be good, three is better. I need to e-mail the student’s mother and find out more about them.

I wasn’t sure if I could raise puppies from scratch again. But since this situation came up and these puppies will need good homes/rescuing, it’s an option. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be looking to go through the rescue adoption process. The problem with that is it’s expensive. Two rescue beagles could be around $500 in adoption fees. Ouch. I know the expenses of foster care are great, but if these rescue groups are looking to find owners, it looks like they’d make it more affordable.

At any rate, we’ll have beagles back in the house by the summer. Have to. The hole left by Bayley Murphy is just WAY too big.

Farewell, Pookus.

BayleyChewingABone

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 and hugs and kisses. Thank you for curling up against us on cold, winter nights. Thank you being the touchstone of our lives. Thank you for being you.

We tried hard to give you a good life, full of all the things that good dogs such as you deserve. From the time of your puppyhood until today, you tried so hard to be good and please us, and you always did. We are richer for having had you in our lives, much, much poorer for your passing. Your suffering is over, now it’s time to run baying through the fields, chasing rabbits, rolling in squirrel pee, and lying under a tree gnawing a never-ending supply of beagle bagels.

Rest and sleep well, pookus. You leave a very large hole in our hearts and our lives.

Love,
Dad, Unca Frankie, and Unca David.

First Day of Spring

It was a little chilly and blustery, but not bad. The best part was all the bright sunshine, which came after early morning thunderstorms which woke me up around 4:30 a.m. with two big loud thunderclaps.

We took the dog to check out Bird Hill Park, which is supposedly the largest in AA, but parking areas were muddy and trails were dirt, which meant more mud. We found one parking area off Newport Road, but an unleashed Doberman was being allowed full use, so we scrubbed that.

We ended up at Barton Dam Park, where there were lots of dogs, but it wasn’t too bad. We explored the area, which is really kinda nice, wore out the dog and then I drove through the Country Club area, which has a ‘private road’ posted with very obnoxious signs that might as well have said ‘you’re not a rich bitch in an SUV so you have no bidness up in here with us rich white folk. We got some stares, but I drove on through anyway. At one point, some snooty woman in a Suburban on her cell phone pulled out of the country club parking lot and followed us all the way out and through town. I thought she might use her phone to report that riff-raff were trying to drive through her snot town.

We scored many mega videos at the Mallett’s Creek branch library and came home.

Today is cold, blustery and not as sunny. Frank went to the store, dropped a bag and broke a jar of jelly and some eggs. Didn’t have a good trip. He made breakfast and now I’m going to take a long bath and then work on the konacasa.com site while watching movies.