I’m moving away from politics for today. Today I want to introduce you to four very special members of my family - our pets. And I am dedicating today’s post to my new friend Jody at iowageekonline.com. Jody lost her pet cat yesterday, and reading about her lost made me realize just how lucky I am to have the wonderful pets I do.
My pet world started 22 years ago last August as my wife Cindy and I (actually at that time she was my fiancé Cindy) got Jessica, our first dog. We found Jessica through the Penny Saver, and when we went to Pasadena to get her we were greeted at the door by her mother, one of the ugliest dogs I’d ever seen. As her owner went out back to get the puppy, Cindy and I were trying to figure out how to back out of the transaction when in ran the cutest puppy we had ever seen, and when she pee’d all over Cindy, we knew she was meant to be.
Jessica was soon to be a big sister, as the following spring we decided to add ano
ther puppy to our new home in Phoenix. Alas, that puppy – Molly – was not destined to stay a part of our home as she and Jess couldn’t get along at all. And even though we only had Molly a couple of days, Cindy and I both cried our eyes out when we handed her over to her new family. But we were still destined to expand our family, so after we returned to California we started talking again about finding a new pet for Jessica, and that new pet came in the form of Rylee, a cute Schnauzer mix puppy that we rescued from the pound (Rylee is the tan colored dog at the right, Jessica is the black dog. Rylee was an accepted addition, but about a week later she took a turn for the worse. We took her into the vet and learned she had Parvo, a nearly always fatal disease. However, the doctor felt confident that she could save Rylee. One week and $800 later, Rylee was back home where she belonged. It didn’t matter that we were broke and didn’t have $800, we arranged with the doctor to make installment payments. It was the best $800 we ever spent (so much for saving money by going to the pound).
We lost Jessica unexpectedly the day after Thanksgiving in 1998. While she had slowed down at 13, we didn’t think our time with her was coming to an end so soon. Jessie took ill that day and we took her into the vets prior to driving up to Paso Robles so that my son Blake could walk in the Christmas Parade with his Cub Scout Group. We got the call just as the parade was ending that we need to get to the vets quickly. We were fortunate that we got to spend Jessica’s last moments with her, and I don’t remember a sadder time in our house than the following days.
Shortly after Jessica left us, Rylee started taking a turn for the worse. At first we thought she was just lonely. In all the years they were together, Jessica could take or leave having a little sister, but Rylee adored her big sister. And not having her around was taking it’s toll. As Rylee started to slide, it was hard on the rest of the family as well, but none so much as our daughter Madison. At two years old, to say Madison loved her dog was a huge understatement.
Once we knew that Rylee was going to be leaving us, and given Madison’s love for her dog, we knew that it was time to add another pet to our family. However, given Rylee’s frail condition, we didn’t think introducing a bouncing puppy into the home would be fair, and that’s where Hazel came in. Although Cindy or myself had never had a cat before (short of a poor decision to adopt a cat in college that lasted a couple of days), we felt a kitten would be good for both Madison AND Rylee.
Hazel, a pu
re white kitten, came into our lives on Memorial Day in 1999. I named
her after the Shirley Booth character from the T.V. show “Hazel”, one of the favorite shows of my youth. . She was a perfect companion for Madison, and generally ignored Rylee. And Rylee returned the favor by ignoring Hazel. While we had never been “cat people”, Hazel earned a place in our hearts immediately. She was and continues to be a very sweet creature.
And she was a huge comfort to Madison when Rylee left us in September of that year. For the first time since before Cindy and I were married, we didn’t have the love of a dog in our home. But that wasn’t to be for long. Tomorrow, I’ll share with you the story of Audrey, Chloe and Meg.
My pet world started 22 years ago last August as my wife Cindy and I (actually at that time she was my fiancé Cindy) got Jessica, our first dog. We found Jessica through the Penny Saver, and when we went to Pasadena to get her we were greeted at the door by her mother, one of the ugliest dogs I’d ever seen. As her owner went out back to get the puppy, Cindy and I were trying to figure out how to back out of the transaction when in ran the cutest puppy we had ever seen, and when she pee’d all over Cindy, we knew she was meant to be.
Jessica was soon to be a big sister, as the following spring we decided to add ano
ther puppy to our new home in Phoenix. Alas, that puppy – Molly – was not destined to stay a part of our home as she and Jess couldn’t get along at all. And even though we only had Molly a couple of days, Cindy and I both cried our eyes out when we handed her over to her new family. But we were still destined to expand our family, so after we returned to California we started talking again about finding a new pet for Jessica, and that new pet came in the form of Rylee, a cute Schnauzer mix puppy that we rescued from the pound (Rylee is the tan colored dog at the right, Jessica is the black dog. Rylee was an accepted addition, but about a week later she took a turn for the worse. We took her into the vet and learned she had Parvo, a nearly always fatal disease. However, the doctor felt confident that she could save Rylee. One week and $800 later, Rylee was back home where she belonged. It didn’t matter that we were broke and didn’t have $800, we arranged with the doctor to make installment payments. It was the best $800 we ever spent (so much for saving money by going to the pound).We lost Jessica unexpectedly the day after Thanksgiving in 1998. While she had slowed down at 13, we didn’t think our time with her was coming to an end so soon. Jessie took ill that day and we took her into the vets prior to driving up to Paso Robles so that my son Blake could walk in the Christmas Parade with his Cub Scout Group. We got the call just as the parade was ending that we need to get to the vets quickly. We were fortunate that we got to spend Jessica’s last moments with her, and I don’t remember a sadder time in our house than the following days.
Shortly after Jessica left us, Rylee started taking a turn for the worse. At first we thought she was just lonely. In all the years they were together, Jessica could take or leave having a little sister, but Rylee adored her big sister. And not having her around was taking it’s toll. As Rylee started to slide, it was hard on the rest of the family as well, but none so much as our daughter Madison. At two years old, to say Madison loved her dog was a huge understatement.
Once we knew that Rylee was going to be leaving us, and given Madison’s love for her dog, we knew that it was time to add another pet to our family. However, given Rylee’s frail condition, we didn’t think introducing a bouncing puppy into the home would be fair, and that’s where Hazel came in. Although Cindy or myself had never had a cat before (short of a poor decision to adopt a cat in college that lasted a couple of days), we felt a kitten would be good for both Madison AND Rylee.
Hazel, a pu
re white kitten, came into our lives on Memorial Day in 1999. I named
her after the Shirley Booth character from the T.V. show “Hazel”, one of the favorite shows of my youth. . She was a perfect companion for Madison, and generally ignored Rylee. And Rylee returned the favor by ignoring Hazel. While we had never been “cat people”, Hazel earned a place in our hearts immediately. She was and continues to be a very sweet creature.And she was a huge comfort to Madison when Rylee left us in September of that year. For the first time since before Cindy and I were married, we didn’t have the love of a dog in our home. But that wasn’t to be for long. Tomorrow, I’ll share with you the story of Audrey, Chloe and Meg.
4 comments:
I'm trying to keep this tender story in mind as I look back at my morning dealing with the 10 month old chewing monster that we recently adopted into our home. Running potentially late for work I reacted only fractions of a second too slowly as I saw "Jaws" swoop past and steal the socks that I had laid out. For the next 5 minutes it was all fun and games for the dog but I began my day cussing under my breath. Looking back...that damn dog just loves to play and I think with a little more training it will all be good! Happy Hump day Bob
I'm trying to keep this tender story in mind as I look back at my morning dealing with the 10 month old chewing monster that we recently adopted into our home. Running potentially late for work I reacted only fractions of a second too slowly as I saw "Jaws" swoop past and steal the socks that I had laid out. For the next 5 minutes it was all fun and games for the dog but I began my day cussing under my breath. Looking back...that damn dog just loves to play and I think with a little more training it will all be good! Happy Hump day Bob
Doh! Sorry bout the double post.
Thanks for that. It's never easy...
BTW- I have a bribery contest every month. I think you may be interested in this month's- a subscription to Our Iowa magazine. You can find the link to the contest at the top of Iowa Geek.
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