Another one...

3 weeks ago on Saturday, we lost our nephew today we lost his mother. Evelyn was known by most as Mutt, some childhood nickname that stuck for some reason. I couldn't bring myself to call her Mutt, she was a special and Beautiful person. I knew her almost 49 years, and in that time, I cannot remember 1 cross word ever spoken between us. She was a friend, confidant, and a baby sitter on occasion, when I was in need. I tried not to ask often, and she never said no. Dear Friend, Hug David for us, when you see him, I'm sure he is asking questions, and you and Kenny will get to answer a few. Love you and miss you, but I'm hoping to see you one of these days soon.

The Story of Flash the Wonderdog....

July 2006, we had gone to the store and bought frozen items, and our 3 year old grandson was with us. I had him in the back yard, while I was inside the shop putting items in the freezer. He started talking about a puppy, I thought he meant BuddybooWhodini our long haired Dachshund who is an escape artist. I said he better not have gotten out, where is he? JD said no Mimi, this puppy, and brought a little white and red around the side where I could see him. We went to every house in the area and no one was missing a puppy, which here, isn't too unusual, people drop them off, or did back then. Anyway he was hungry, and of course we fed him, and he stayed. He house trained in 10 days, no lie. There was only one problem, as he got older he and my smooth haired Jack Russell had a love hate relationship, Huckleberry Hound could not stand the dog that came to be known as Flash, the wonderdog part came later. You see, Huckleberry had been attacked by a Rottwieler and was deathly afraid of big dogs, and Flash grew fast and got to be pretty big. He was a mix of Lab, Pittie, and we think some Boxer mixed in somewhere. JD told me, Mimi, Flash is my dog, but he has to live with you. So for almost 12 years, he lived here. He was the most protective dog that I've ever seen. He hated the UPS and FedEx guys, they got on our property with those old trucks and came to the door. The mail carrier gave him dog biscuits, and he kind of liked her. The last carrier said he was no problem, so it was just some people he didn't care for at all. He loved food from the table, and was known to steal a biscuit or something off a plate, if you turned away. He kept us in stitches, at times, laughing at his antics. We tried to keep him up and out of the neighbors yards, but if he escaped, there wasn't a steak big enough to draw his attention from taking off down the road. Usually a couple of hours later, he would come back or I would go get him and drag him home. He was an escape artist, he would figure out how to dig under, go through, or over a fence. And of course BuddybooWhodini was right behind him, following in his footsteps, and usually he headed to the cow-lot nexd door, and came back smelling so pretty, he thought. There was no using a leash on Flash, you put it on, and he would promptly sit down, and would not move as long as that leash was attached. And collars, that was another thing he hated. We finally found an old leathr belt, and made him wear that until he managed to get it off and lose it. Nothing stayed on very long. He was a good house dog, except for stealing food, he didn't bother much. He did hate cats, and there is where he and I butted heads. I ended up raising 4 kittens on a bottle after their mother couldn't feed them. I brought the first one in at 6 days old, cold wet and hungry. The other 3 followed shortly, and they lived in my bathtub, until they were 5 or 6 weeks, then we kept 2 and I had no clue how I was going to keep Flash from killing them. But we did, he got scolded a few times, and I guess he figured out that they were staying whether they were wanted or not. He only chased them one time, and he got pitched out the front door, and never to my knowledge, did he ever bother them again. Prettyboy is a white mix between Siamese and Maine Coon, and weighs in at about 20 pounds, Flash would walk up to him, and Prettyboy would slap his nose, Flash would just whine, but he would steal the catfood every chance he got. Oh and he also stole a chocolate cake (yes I know chocolate is poison to dogs, but he did it anyway) he actually didn't eat a lot of it, it didn't have icing on it. These are just some of the antics he pulled, multiply that by almost 12 years, and it was always fun. the wonder dog part came as wonder what he is doing now. He could tell time, at about 10"00pm in the evening, he would go get BuddybooWhodini and tell him it was time to go outside and make their rounds before bedtime. We knew his time was limited, he was showing his age and just not looking like the boy he had been for so many years. He still wanted outside to make his rounds around the property, and would come back and lay in the garage until he was ready to come in for a nap. This morning when we got up, we found him in the floor beside the living room door, There ends the story of Flash, but it will never take away the memories of that goofy boy. RIP Flash, you crossed the bridge.

January 2018 started out

The same way that last year ended. Our nephew died on Saturday. Kenny was my age, and had a massive heart attack, his grandson got him out of his log truck, sitting on the scales ready to unload, but they couldn't revive him. So we start this year going to visitations and funerals. Seems as if that is where we spent most of our time last year, so I guess it is going to continue. Our weather has warmed up, and is above freezing for a few days. January and February are usually our months to dread. Arkansans are not used to cold temps. I will be having surgery, again, at the end of the month. I had hip replacement in January 2014, and the cup that the ball works in, has come loose. I told my doctor that my son in law said he had some glue that would hold it. And as a joke, I'm taking some 3 inch stainless steel screws to the hospital and tell him if he needs to, he can use those to hold it in place. Can you tell I really like my doctor. He hs replaced both my knees and this hip, but the failure is not something he did so we will meet again in the operating room in a few days.