Oh Happy Happy

It is Mama Pajama's and Fat Charlie's thirteenth birthday. Along with Sammy's mom Jessie, who lives in Maryland.

I'm going to go sit on the porch with them.

Steve Surfman photo

Laurie Erickson photo

Laurie Erickson photo

please hug your sweet old hounds

For Ben: A Special Party

Once upon a time there was a very helpful little boy named Ben. Ben lived with his mommy Heather and his daddy Jason and his whippets, Edgar and Emmett.

One day, Emmett had a birthday! Ben, being a helpful little boy, suggested that Emmett and Emmett's sister Lindy Loo have a Pizza and Pupcakes Party. The big day arrived and Ben helped. He helped his mommy make the Pupcakes and he helped wrap the presents.

It was time! Patience came in the big Whippet Wagon with Lindy Loo. She brought even more presents. Emmett and Lindy Loo don't have thumbs, so it was up to helpful Ben to unwrap the gifts for his friends. Ben has thumbs. And a very cute tongue.


The Pupcakes were very fancy as you can see because Ben helped with the decorations.



Emmett got so excited about his first present - a squeaky stuffie birthday cake - that he got a little googly-eyed.



"Here you go, Mr. Googly-eyed Emmett," said helpful Ben, handing over the toy.




While Emmett enjoyed his gift, helpful Ben opened the next one, being as he still had his thumbs handy.

Emmett said, "Whoa, Ben! You ROCK!!! A squeaky duck for my birthday! Cool beans!"

Ben ducked, too.

"Woo-HOOOOOO!" said Emmett and his sister, Lindy Loo. "We love youooooooo, helpful Ben!"

Ben got right back to business and opened the next gift, ever so helpfully.

"Look, Daddy," said Ben. "It's a sock monkey lead. I like it!"

Then Ben's mommy lit the candles on the Pupcakes which Ben had helped to make and decorate. Ben helped the whippets contain themselves. It was pretty darn exciting, I tell you that!

Lindy Loo and Emmett had a terrible time making their lips blow, so Ben came to the rescue and helped blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Emmett and Lindy Loo.

Happy Birthday to you!

"Yayyyyyyyyy!" sang Ben, helping the grownups remember the words.

Ben helped put the Pupcakes on the plates for the whippets. Emmett did not need any help eating his!

Chomp, glomp, slurp, gulp!

Lindy Loo needed a little help eating hers, but Emmett had learned from Ben how to be helpful, so he pitched right in.

Then it was Ben's turn. He chose a beautiful Pupcake with green sprinkles.

It was delicious and a half!

Emmett and Lindy Loo say

Thank you helpful Ben for our BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

We sure do love youooooooooooo!!

hug your hounds

Happy 12th Birthday, Mama Pajama and Fat Charlie!

Mama Pajama and Fat Charlie, photo by Laurie Erickson in May '09

Two of the most wonderful dogs in the world were twelve years old yesterday.

My long time readers will know that these birthdays are more special to me than one would expect. (How could any dog's twelfth birthday be any more special, you could rightly ask, but hang on ...)

Fat Charlie had a freak accident at a field trial in April of 2000. His Achilles tendon was severed. That he has all four legs is a testament to the veterinary care (including two surgeries) he received. He even got to race one more time. Watching him chase toys as he wears an I-dare-you-to-catch-me smile on his twelfth birthday face, is oh so good for my heart.

Most readers know that Mama Pajama was scheduled to be euthanized on May 12, 2003. She had a horrid autoimmune disease, neutriphilic vasculitis. She lost most of her ears, a lot of her kidney function, and one of her lungs to the illness. After six years of managing the disease with steroids, she has at long last been able to go without prednisone for the past three months.

She is silly again. She now does whippet spins (just picture a top - if you're old enough, or a speeding bicycle tire gone horizontal if you're not) out in the yard, purely for the fun of it. She takes the time to chew her food, no longer feeling starvation brought on by the corticosteroids.

And, after six years, she's continent again.

The little whippet who was once the #1 AKC Lure Coursing whippet in America, who can tell a story with the best of them, and who is the inspiration for the main character in my novel is twelve and she feels great!

To celebrate, I took Mama Pajama and Fat Charlie, and Easy and Spice (both of whom will also be twelve in October) out to the Kennel Club property to run. No young'uns! Just the four old friends. The weather gods were respectful of the importance of the day; they lowered the temperature by eight degrees and the humidity by 40%, and even threw in a cooling breeze to show their magnanimity.

Nice.


There were games of keep away. (Easy, left, Fat Charlie with toy)


Easy: "My toy!"


Fat Charlie: "I got this one!"


Spice: Zooooooooom!!! Too fast for you!!!

Summer time, and the livin' is Easy

Easy and Spice stop for a drink

When Mama Pajama was very ill, she wrote this:

My human Patience is a terrible worrier. She worries that she’s not doing enough to make me comfortable. They tried another new medicine, but it started to mess up my kidneys like the one that almost killed me, so they stopped it right away. I have Patience lift me into her lap – I can’t jump even into her lap anymore – and I try so hard to make her listen. I tell her it’s not the length of a life that’s important; it’s the living of it. I tell her how much I have loved every moment of my life, even now. I tell her that those of us souls who are highly evolved enough to have been dogs, know that worry is a sinful waste of energy and life.
And I tell her, as best I can, the Good Universe gave her to me and that I love her, and that I know she loves me, and that is enough. The rest we must simply accept as it comes, with courage and dignity, as all the worrying in the world won’t change a thing.

And then I lick her leaky face.

Mama Pajama: Was there not some mention of steak and ice cream?


Hug your hounds

A Party for a Great Lady

We have the best Kennel Club in the world right here in Paducah. And one of the reasons it's the best Kennel Club in the world, is because we have the Best President in the world. Mrs. Mary Lee King has been the President of the Paducah Kennel Club since 1991. She says this is her last year, but we don't want to believe it.

We threw a little surprise party at our regularly scheduled monthly meeting to celebrate her eightieth birthday. It takes some serious planning to surprise Lee. But we pulled it off.

My job was to get her there late. I am a specialist at being late, but Lee and Dee are always oh so prompt. They get to the club early to make the coffee, turn the heat up, get their papers copied, welcome members as they arrive. I called early during the day and asked if I could hitch a ride.

"The only thing," I lied, "is that I've been having some intestinal issues. I hope I can go. I'm going to take some Pepto Bismal."

I was setting the stage for my Grand Plan.

Newsletter editor Martha had sneakily notified the membership. Lee and Dee's issue had one glaring omission. Alice decorated the meeting room. Ginia ordered and brought the gorgeous cake. (And it wasn't only pretty, it was delicious!) And our awesome members all brought food.

We picked up Carol, another member who lives in town, and she was a little late coming out her door, as planned.

Lee was just itching. We had a very important meeting scheduled, with lots of crucial issues to discuss. I had been out in the yard with Very Old Dog when they arrived for me, (I'm so devious as you'll soon read), and I had slowly sauntered back in the house, put him away, and fumbled with my keys as I locked the door.

About half way to the Kennel Club, I said, "Uh-oh. My stomach is a little... We might have to stop." Carol worried that I had Spastic Colon.

As we approached the BP station, I said, "Oh, please. I do have to stop here. I'm so sorry."

Lee, who was by now freaking out over the time, kindly sympathised, "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

It's amazing what you can do to amuse yourself, sitting alone in a BP station rest room stall with nothing to do for ten minutes. La la la.




SURPRISE!!!!



Okay, who put the poop candle on the pretty cake?




Dru is going to be a responsible dog owner and pick up the pooh????




We are serious about our snacking!!! That's Alice on the left who decorated.




Newsletter editor Martha checks with her beautiful agility star, Jamie, to see if the snacks she got are acceptable to him.




Kitchen queens, Debbie, Ginia (who got the marvellous cake) and Carol (a different one, not the Carol we picked up).




Sisters Ruby and Tina got their plaque for doing such a great job organizing our first Responsible Dog Ownership Fair. (This doesn't have anything to do with the surprise, but I wanted to show you how much fun we have.)

And I admitted that there was nothing wrong with my intestines.




Lee got a basketful of fun birthday cards, and we all got a chance to show how much we appreciate this good soul.

Happy Birthday Lee!!!


hug your hounds

Happy Birthday to YOUUUUUUUUUUU!

Dearest Elijah, Simmer, Katie, Topper, Emmett, Rexie, Nearly, and Lindy Loo

I can't believe you are already two!

I hope you enjoy your special day,

Your family and I just want to say:





hug your hounds and give them some ice cream to celebrate!

Just Some Photos

Apologies if you were coming here looking for a literary gem. Today I am sharing the pictures of the Birthdays, and I hope you enjoy them.

The Birthday Dogs at the Kennel Club Property, worshipping the Sun.

Sam I Am squeaks.

Very Old Dog remembers.

Lindy Loo exalts.

There were gifts from our friends Karen and Steve. Is that not the coolest lamb in the world?

The HUGE pot of beef and rice and carrots.

There was folderol and excitation.

I cut up the beef and added the veggies.

Had to have a little celebratory Bowser Beer with dinner!

Very Old Birthday Dog approved.

So did Sam I Am.

And for dessert, there were naps all around.

Hug your hounds