Puppy Life

I have learned to raise puppies from end to beginning — not the other way around.

This means her life exists in the context of her eventual leaving.

Does that seem morbid?

It isn’t.

Rather, knowing how this story will end makes me appreciate every single minute with her.

It means I raise puppies in regret-free ways. I do not want to look back and feel guilty for anything I did or said or was…

I want the ending to be the completion of a life well-loved, with the only regret being that it wasn’t long enough. I know well that is part of the story that is Pozy Clarkia — it won’t be long enough.

I do not waste time being annoyed, disappointed, frustrated, upset — her life is too precious and short for that kind of negativity.

So is yours. Please have a regret-free day.

Pandemic Life

Yesterday I rented a lawn aerator. In spite of a mask mandate, only one other person was wearing a mask at the hardware store.

Pandemic Life is hard in so many ways but the category of Tribe is the one that challenges me most.

As I stood there in my Berner mask at the rental counter with maskless people hither and yonder, I felt a profound sense of aloneness.

These are not my people and this is not my place, I thought to myself.

Where, I wondered as I drove home, are my people? My place? My tribe?

Where, I wondered, is SAFETY?

And the voice that tries so hard to be kind, balanced, and inclusive was scolding me for thinking so poorly of these people, and trying to create a narrative that makes these policy-breaking, maskless people something other than selfish, horrible, stupid, careless idiots.

That voice, that scolding voice, is mine.

It is exhausting.

I am trying not to judge. I am trying so hard not to think terrible things. I am trying to see differences as deserving of at least respect, and to acknowledge that I do not have the corner on Truth.

But the reality is that I fail constantly.

188,000 Americans are dead because of Covid-19. That is Truth.

And masks and social distancing and other simple measures would have saved so many of those people.

I am exhausted arguing with myself about how and what to think about the actions of others in the face of a deadly virus. And I am tired of being exhausted by this effort.

My math looks like this: No mask = dead people.

There is nothing I can put into that equation that changes it for me. I try — but all I see are dead people and the broken hearts left in the wake of careless, maskless so-called freedom.

I yearn for people I can trust — people who care.

I miss my Tribe.

So much.

Celebration with Queen Maddie Update

It is an amazing birthday. This little, beloved puppy is Maddie from the F Litter…

And Miss Maddie is TWELVE today. Barb shares this Birthday Report:

Miss Maddie had a wonderful day today.  In fact, Maddie would tell you that she has a wonderful day EVERY day!  Maddie sensibly takes no notice of the calendar, so she didn’t realize that it was, in fact, her TWELFTH birthday.  We humans, who obsess over the passage of time, did appreciate this remarkable achievement, made bittersweet with the memory of Maddie’s littermates who are no longer with us today.  We marked the day with a socially isolated celebration, highlighted by a special, dog bone shaped, peanut butter, yoghurt and carrot birthday cake, made by Maddie’s Bestie Baxter the Newfie’s Mom.  While Maddie may not have realized why she got the special goodies, she wasted no time in snurfling it down.  And she enjoyed all the other delights of her usual day, including walks at the Park and lounging in the yard and barking at passersby.

We stopped by Café Tenby for tea for the humans and cookies for the dogs. 

Yum!  Love that Greek yoghurt frosting!  Thanks Aunt Kathy!

I am Queen of all I survey.

I love my Mommy (and my Daddy too…but he’s taking the picture).

And thank you, Mary-Ann, once again and always, for sending me this vibrant, smart, and feisty girl, my constant companion!

Thank you, Barb, for the update and for Maddie’s amazingly awesome life. Okay, Miss Maddie — thirteen is next! You got this!

Maddie is the littermate of the Wildflowers’ grandfather, Zed — that makes her an especially great-great Auntie to Buttercup and they even live relatively close to each other. Therefore, it is a perfect day for Georgia to answer our favorite question: What’s Up, Buttercup?

"Buttercup has had a busy week....

…and it hasn't been all play either.  She's been "boning up" on her competition obedience.  She's rock solid on 'sit', 'come' 'down' and 'stand' and she's improving on "stay" (we just work on stay for a few seconds, mostly emphasizing the release cue).

We had our first swimming lesson this week (with more to come).   It was a splashing good time but a little scary for Buttercup who thought she was floating in a giant water dish. 

Buttercup thought her instructor was pretty nice (she is!!) but I think it was a little bit of "any port in a storm".

We went to a local park that had a big dragon.  I was surprised to find that the Native Indians in this area had a legend about the dragon (and thus why there was a dragon in the park :-).

I had long thought that the area we lived in looked like a dragon on the map of Washington state.  We live in the "Heart of the Dragon",  Caleb, Penny & Zeus live in the wing and Barbara & Maddie live by the eye of the dragon.

I have been involved with a therapy dog group (with many of my dogs going back fifteen years when we first moved here) and I hope to have Buttercup pass the therapy dog test in the near future.  I volunteer with two programs: Read to Rover (where 2nd grade children who are reading below grade level get to read to dogs) and Pets to People (where dogs visit the residents of a Senior home).  Right now we're not able to do either of these two things because of Covid.  Today the director of the program (who also happens to be the AKC Evaluator for Buttercup's CGC title) emailed to ask if we would be willing to do a virtual reading program with the school.  She said that she wanted Buttercup to be the guest of honor. I told her not to tell Buttercup because it will just go to her head and her head is big enough as it is! 

Buttercup thinks she's a Rock Star.

A Rock Star indeed!

Thank you so much to Georgia for the update and all the photos — including of Maddie as a puppy. What a grand life Buttercup is having with Patty, Georgia, and the rest of the gang.

Please have a happy day in honor of Maddie, and in memory of the F Litter who are celebrated always in our hearts.