In Memoriam: Uncle Ren

This is a picture of Uncle Ren from years ago, with Aunt Nancy holding him.

Uncle Ren went on this weekend.

He was 14 in thumb-haver years. He didn't like to play very much at all. The Alpha says he used to love to jump up high, and roll over, and shake hands, and go after members of a certain political party, and catch peanuts, and even kill a gopher or two out in the garden. But that was back before The Boy and I got to know him. Lately he'd just been tired, and deaf, and nearly blind. His smeller still worked great, though. He could always find where the food was.

Ren was our Pop's buddy, and his pardner, too. I hope Pop does okay without him.

According to Martin Luther and Rowan, Ren now has "a little golden tail." We were wondering, is that a stump-tail like he had here, or does he get his full tail back in heaven? Because "a little golden stump" just seems kinda funny.

Either way, it's golden.

Rest well, Ren.

Dear Cub: How did you find out about Egg Love?

In the comments to my previous post, Grendel writes:
Wow, Eggs are Love, too?
How do you eat them? Raw? Boiled? Fried? Poached? Scrammeled? Deviled?
And how did you find out about Egg Love?
I need to know!!!

Yes, Grendel, Eggs are Love. I eat them scrammeled. Here's how I found out about Egg Love...

A few days before Christmas, I had decided I didn't want to eat because my tummy felt bad. And so The Alpha and The Typist took me to the vet for needles, and then back to the vet the next morning for an all-day needle called fluids. The vet gave the thumb-havers some pills for me, and special smelly wet chow for me, and I ate it all up. For a few days.

But while we were at Christmas, I started getting a little more picky. I wasn't sure I liked the wet chow any more. The thumb-havers were all talking about how it's better to keep a dog eating, and the next thing I knew, my grandma was cooking eggs to mix in with my wet chow. My grandma loves her granddogs, especially me, her granddogter. (All the other granddogs are boys, and sometimes she calls me one, too, but I don't really mind.)

I've kept not liking my wet chow, and so I get more eggs, even now that we're back in Texas. The Alpha and The Typist keep trying to get me to eat my wet chow, but I won't eat it mixed in with the eggs anymore. Now we're making a game out of it, and I like playing Catch the Treat. They're obviously having great fun making the smelly wet chow into little treat-sized bites to throw in the air for me to catch.

So, Grendel, if you want Egg Love, I think you have to get your thumb-havers all worried about you. But maybe, if you're really, really good, you could get one anyway.

Blog-Blessed!

Scout has a blog of her own now, and she blessed me over there! Thank you, Scout!

Here is the big explanation so I don't have to re-type it, and I can hurry up and get to the blessing!

The idea… it’s a game of tag with a difference, rather than looking inwardly, we look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for one blog friend. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to. If you recieve a bloggin’ blessin’ please leave a comment on this thread so that we can rejoice in just how many blessings have been sent around the world!

Okay... here are the three I'm blessing and praying for today:

I bless Whistle and everybody over at his place (Fish, Sister, Dubby, Andy, thumb-havers). They have had a really big year, and I pray that with Fish's leg all healed, everybody stays healthy and happy.

I bless Molly, too. She and I both have had not-feeling-good times this year, and I pray she keeps feeling better. Also I pray that Sam quits eating stuff he ought not eat.

And, I bless Zorra. I know Scout already blessed Amie through Zorra's blog, but I want to bless Zorra herself, too, because she helps The Typist pray for me and they have big email discussions about me and Amie. I pray that Amie's raw spot where she likes to lick her paw gets all better so Zorra doesn't have to keep worrying about it.

And please keep praying for me, everybody. I had another test yesterday (too many rides with needles at the other end lately!), and I think something else is coming up soon.

Love and poppy kisses,
Cub

p.s. to Grendel -- Over Christmas, I learned from my grandma that, like Gravy, Eggs are Love. You might want to check them out.

Christ Candle Aglow: The Peak of Liturgical Yard Art

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Merry Christmas!

Advent 4: Liturgical Yard Art continues

In Which I Get The Boy

I'm pretty pleased with this video. As you'll see, even when I'm not at the top of my game, I can still catch The Boy. And if there's any question as to whether I really got him, notice who has the Kong at the beginning, and who has it at the end.

I'm home!

Thanks for all the praying! I'm home now, and feeling decent. I think I still need more praying, though.

Here I am after I got home, but before supper. See my pretty wrap with the stars on it?


They really like me at the vet. If they have to shave me and leave a needle in me all day, at least they put pretty stars on the spot when they're done.

Miss Cherrie came by to see me and told me there are lots of prayers for me all over the place. I gave her poppy kisses.

I kept my breakfast in me all day. And I've kept my supper tonight, too...they're still giving me extra-special soft chow.

I did have a little bit of a seizure after supper. It wasn't too bad. But I never do like them, and neither do the thumb-havers. And they're looking at me a lot lately, even without the seizure.

Tomorrow I don't have to go out anywhere! After this week, it'll be nice to lie like a dog around the house. 'Cause I am one.

Not So Hot

Well, I haven't been eating for a couple of days, and it really got The Alpha and The Typist all worked up. So they took me to the vet today for some needles and stuff, and rumor has it they're taking me again tomorrow for something called "fluids." And then at some point there will be something called a "specialist." They were frowning at some piece of paper the vet showed them. But I got sent home with some really good soft chow from a can, so that helped me eat my supper tonight. I didn't even try to give it back the way it came in -- which I think had something to do with getting that stinging needle. Because after it, my tummy started not feeling so bad, so that was nice.

I'm pretty sure they want y'all to pray for me, so will you please do that?

Dog Hero Profile: Boe and Budge

Meet Boe and Budge.

Boe and Budge are trained to work with combat stress units, which I think means they help thumb-havers who have had a rough time of things start to feel better. That's a very heroic kind of thing to do.

Read more about them and learn about the big plans they have. If my Uncle Kevin starts to feel bad or needs special help from dogs when he's far away from his own dogs next year, I hope that Boe and Budge will be there for him. But mostly I hope they all come home safe.

Dog theology

My dogblog friend Rowan has been doing some very nice thinking this weekend. In particular, about big theological thoughts. He even writes about Martin Luther, a very famous dog person who happened to be a theologian.

Liturgical Yard Art: Advent 3

This week, observers may notice a slight modification.

The candle flames now enjoy the protection of clear 16-oz. party cups, secured by clear packing tape. We are always learning.

(It rained this week. The candles threw a breaker. All is well.)

Also, we are glad to report that the cups aren't as visible from the sidewalk as they are in this photograph.

For those of you wondering, "Why didn't they light the pink candle on the third week?" this site offers explanations of various Advent wreath practices, including: "With the shift to blue for Advent in most non-Catholic churches, there is also a tendency to move pink to the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It still remains associated with Joy, but is increasingly used as the climax of the Advent Season on the last Sunday before Christmas."

The Alpha, as further justification, wishes this blog to transmit the following message: "So there. Nerts to everyone else."

Advent 2: Liturgically Correct Yard Art, Continued

Here we are, second Sunday in Advent:


Okay, confession time: the paint on the pink candle is actually red. But the lights are pink.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

I Got Blessed!

Today The Typist took me on a ride! to go get blessed! (It was just us girls. The Alpha stayed home with The Boy, because the thumb-havers thought it might be too much for all of us if The Boy went.)

We rode for a while, and when we got to the church I helped by unbuckling my harness myself. It wasn't our church, it was another church a little further away, where The Typist knows some thumb-havers. She said hi to people while I said hi to people and dogs.

After a while we all got quiet and sat in a circle in the parking lot. Pastor Katherine read a Bible story about how it isn't good for thumb-havers to be alone, and that's why God made me and all the other dogs (and cats!) who were there. After that, the thumb-havers all said a prayer together and Pastor Katherine went around the circle and blessed every one of us by name! She also asked God to heal my liver.

Then I got to sniff some more dogs and thumb-havers before we got back in the car for another ride. (I've noticed that rides usually come two at a time.)

I was very, very good when I went to get blessed. I didn't show my teeth to any of the other dogs (and The Typist didn't let me get close enough to the cats to even try). I politely sniffed other dogs and less-politely jumped up and kissed lots of thumb-havers. And there was this one miniature hot dog who freaked me out a little bit, but I was even nice to her.

I highly recommend going to get blessed! Maybe next time they'll take The Boy, too. Though The Alpha says he may need an exorcism instead of a blessing. (I'm not sure what that means.)

Meet Charlie

Charlie is a real coyote who lives with a thumb-haver. He was an orphan, and she took him in when he was wee tiny. Go see him!

Liturgically Appropriate Yard Art

Most of my RevGal friends share my dislike of inflatable yard decor, as we learned from this week's Friday Five.

But what do y'all think of this custom creation from The Alpha?


It's hard to see the pink candle this week, but it's on the far right in this photo. If you like, I'll post a pic each week of Advent... let me know...