When you really begin to love....

"Why would God give us Jimmy and take him so soon?" asked Moose.

He had brought Jimmy home almost two years ago. On Halloween.  And the joke was that most kids brought home candy that night, but my child brought home a kitten.  Fep who wanted no part of cat ownership let it be known for several days that she was not happy that we now had a cat in the house.  But over time, that kitty worked it's way into her heart...and mine...and The Bob's too.  We were dog people....but now, we are cat people as well.

Last week Jimmy became suddenly ill.  So, ill that the vet told us he may not make it.  And Moose asked the question.  Why would God take Jimmy?  I do realize that this is a pet, and not a person.  But he was Moose's fast friend, and he loved him so.  And all I could tell Moose is that sometimes we just don't have answers as to why.  And the answer, although true, seemed to fall short. 

Over the next several days, I remembered a post that I had read by Ann Voskamp. It's a post about spending time with her aging Mom, and she says,  

"When you realize that what you have, you will lose — you win real eyes. You win grateful joy.   It comes across the water and I turn to face it directly: It’s only when you realize everyone you love will one day leave you— that you really begin to love." 

You love your spouse now.  But lose your spouse and your heart will ache with love.  You love your child, but lose that child, and your heart will be crushed by love.  As Ann says, "Envision life without the loveliness of those you love — and you see how much you love." 

And I share it with Moose. Not an answer to his question, but hope in his loss. Jimmy had given us so many happy memories, much laughter, much love. And we feel it so deeply now, because of the loss. But the loss, it's all a gift. The loss is what makes you realize how deep the love is. He was satisfied with that answer.

The Lord took Jimmy today.  And Jimmy's love, even the love of a cat, we count as a gift.

Did you know?

Did you know that yesterday was Flag Day? I didn't until I read Dawn's Blog this morning. Thanks, Dawn :) Even though we didn't know yesterday was Flag Day, it just so happens that we did put up a new American Flag yesterday. What a wonderful coincidence!

Other activities for our Sunday....

Rupert does The Dog...

Granny comes for a visit...

And we take in the Lord's beautiful creation...

The Other Dog

You've met Dixie. You might as well meet this dog, Rupert. I'm a bit miffed at Rupert, because he ran off with Dixie last night and I thought they were gone for good. It was very distressing, and so he's not made it back in my good graces yet. You see, Rupert is a wild man.

He is a wild man, and that is why I could not get him to sit still for one measly picture. His love for roaming the streets and the neighborhood has landed him in a dog pen. We hate it. We really do, but it's for his good and ours. Before his life confined to the pen, he'd roam the area and would pick fights with other dogs. Or neighbors would call and say, "We have your dog." But we take pity on him and let him out to romp from time to time. Dixie loooooves Rupert. She is always up for a good wrestling match with him. It's like the WW Smackdown...not that I watch that stuff....

Is it me, or is Dixie looking like something out of a horror movie in this picture?

Ooooooo. Scary. Anyway, right after this picture was taken Rupert and Dixie made a mad dash around the house, and when Fep and I went to follow them they were gone. Poof. Disappeared. The reason it was so unsettling is that we live in a rural area where any animal can very easily become road kill, and Rupert and Dixie did not come back until after dark. So, I have vowed that it will be a long time before I give Rupert another romp. The Bob has vowed he will work on his obedience training some more. That's probably the better option.

The Magnificent Corgi

Dixie. She's a corgi, and she's magnificent. Really. Just look at her... that tail-less rear, those large pointy ears, those little legs. Magnificent.

Her fox-like appearance. Magnificent.

Her love for people........

simply magnificent.

What's grilling?

The title of this post makes it sound like it would be for some great recipe involving grilling, but it's not. It's not about food at all. It's about our dog, Dixie.
Dixie is a Welsh Pembroke Corgi. She is of English descent, and the Queen has several of this wonderful breed. They are cow herding dogs. Dixie is the second Corgi we've owned. She falls second in line to Ellie, who was the end all of end all in owning a pet. We loved Ellie. I mean LOVED her. When she passed away last February, we all mourned deeply over her passing. But then came along Dixie, all cute in her puppiness and full of life. Dixie has lived in Ellie's shadow for quite sometime. And while I thought she had finally found her own way and her own niche, I think she will always live in Ellie's shadow somewhat...which is kind of sad. But we do love Dixie. There's just too much personality there to not love her. She's the opposite of everything Ellie was. She's hyper, disobedient, jumps on people (a pet peeve of mine), and is a licker (another peeve - can't stand to be licked by a dog). However, the up side of Dixie is that she's got lots of personality. Let me show you....

Dixie does The Dog impersonations...

Dixie loves to dig...and it makes for a great walk through the yard!...

Dixie loves to get her belly rubbed....Dixie loves spending time with the kids...

Dixie loves to wrestle with Sadie....

And Dixie loves to sun on the grill.... "What are you lookin' at?"
So, what's on the grill at your house?

Where there's smoke...

there's fire. We had a backyard bonfire Sunday. It was done after a long afternoon of yard work, so pardon how my family is dressed, okay? It was really smokey. Can you tell? I have no idea what Fep is doing (Indian Fire Dance?), and that is Dixie in the back with the glowing eyes. Gives a nice creepy effect, don't you think? Anyway, if I didn't mention it, it was really smokey.


But Moose braved the smoke to get to the yummy bonfire food. Hot dogs. Marshmallows. Graham Crackers. Chocolate. Oh yeah! We had us some S'mores.

It appears Moose is trying to impress Fep with his roasting abilities. Although from what I can tell, whatever is on the end of that skewer thingy is over roasted. Burnt. So, I'm not sure he impressed her. Then there's the Bob impressing us with his fire building abilities.

Notice The Bob has sunglasses on top of his head. He wears his sunglasses at night. He's cool that way.

Sadie

This is Sadie. She's my Mom's dog, and I love her. She is the sweetest, kindest, calmest little dog. Calm is important, because my dog, Dixie, she's not calm so much. I love Sadie so much, in fact, that I like for her to visit us from time to time. Just because we are not dogs on the furniture type people, she's very considerate and waits for me to put down a blanket for her before jumping up on the furniture. She likes to join in when Fep has a sleep over with her girlfriends. She snuggles in nicely, don't you think?

Sadie does have a little bit of a feisty side that she only exerts when necessary. Like when she has to go in her kennel. She hates that. Hates it. Despises it. Loathes it. Anyway, she was becoming quite the escape artist, so my Mom tried keeping it secured with a sock (or stocking?) tied around the latch. She was able to chew that up. Now she has a little pad lock on it so Sadie can no longer escape. Who has to put a pad lock on the dog's kennel? My Mom says it's the German in her. She also gets feisty when she has to deal with Dixie.

I'd get feisty, too, if a dog were trying to eat my head.

The Hammies

Sometime in late November, Moose went to the shop with The Bob one Saturday. The Bob called me on the way home to let me know that he and Moose had caught a mouse. Like I would be thrilled with that? Anyway, they were brininging it home. I repeat - they were bringing it home! At this point, Fep is having a major meltdown as she is quite germaphobic. And I've told them many, many a time how much I hate rodents because they a little germy, disease carrying vermin. While Fep is melting down, The Bob and I have a phone conversation that reads something like this:

ME: You cannot bring that mouse home!

The Bob: But Moose really kind of fell it love with it. He thinks it's cute. {ME: Whatever.}

ME: You cannot bring that mouse in this house.

The Bob: We'll let it go outside. I just can't kill it. Moose likes it too much.

ME: If you let it go outside, it will just find it's way INSIDE!

The Bob: Well, I've got to go now.

ME: Don't you bring that mouse home. Don't you bring that mouse home. Don't you (click).

I get off the phone, and Fep has gotten her science book out to show me all the dangers of mice. My sister-in-law is at my house finding everything quite amusing. Shortly, The Bob and Moose come through the door.

ME: Did you bring the mouse?

The Bob: No. We let it out in the parking lot at the church up the road. It can be a church mouse.

Me: (giggling at his pun...)

So, Fep and I are happy, but Moose is NOT. Somehow it gets brought to his attention that maybe he could get a hamster for Christmas. He's all over that. All over it. So, Moose did indeed get a hamster for Christmas. Not one hamster, but two. The Bob...he usually goes above and beyond like that. I thought the new would wear off like when we got ducks. Like when we got rabbits. Like when we got Rupert. But, nope. Here we are weeks and weeks out, and Moose still loves those hammies. I call them The Hammies. He doesn't argue or complain when it's time to clean their cage. And I've about supervised doing it enough that he can do it all by himself. Fep, she doesn't love the The Hammies so much. The germaphobe in her just won't let her. Me, I think they are quite cute. I, too, find them a little germy, but a little wash of the hands or a little hand sanitizer after messing with them and I'm fine. I guess it's obvious where Fep gets her germaphobia :) So, without further adeiu, I give you The Hammies: