I want to thank everyone who commented in the previous thread for the truly generous things you said about this blog. I am humbled.
And I’ve learned one or two things, including the fact that I’ve been remiss in answering comments. How can I expect people to keep commenting if I don’t respond? An ironic realization given the post that engendered it.
I still have a lot of thinking to do about the role the blog plays in my life. I’m not making any rash decisions — in either direction. A few days in the desert might be break enough. We’ll see. I am taking the comments to heart. I’ve fixed the bloglines feed (see syndication links on right, at bottom of sidebar.)
And as a token of gratitude for your incredible generosity, here’s Zeke.
Ooh, wheee! wheee! wheee! When was that made? How old is Zeke? He looks stiff, so I’m thinking it wasn’t too long ago.
Is that Pinole Creek? It’s gorgeous, wherever it is.
Damn, I’m gonna have to get some video of my dogs on YouTube. That is cool.
Here’s how you know I’m a hard-core dog momma: the whole time I was watching the video I was talking to Zeke too, saying, “Aw, him a good boy! Him a good boy!”
Can someone less technologically challenged explain how YouTube works? When I click on the central play arrow I get the choice to share it or replay it, but never actually get it to play…? I feel as if I am back in the dark ages of beginning to use the computer and being instructed to click ENTER, not knowing it was on the keyboard and not on the screen. Thanks.
Violet, the video was shot two years ago at Point Pinole, which is maybe three or four miles from Pinole Creek.
imr, you got me. Do you have a recent version of Flash installed?
oh, and Zeke’s 15 and a half.
Damn, that makes me wish I had some video of Tito.
Zeke rules
Happy dog. In water. Love the video. Thanks!
I could tell it was shot recently; he has the camel-walk of the old dog. Zeke looks a lot like my old Tober, but Tober hated water. He used to prance around mud puddles and would never have laid down in a creek.
Love the Zeke video! What a good boy. And thanks for updating Bloglines. What a good boy.
Oh, wow. I loved it, and smiled all the way through. Good boy is right, x2!
On the other matter, you don’t always write about things one can comment on. So, I’m left with “good story” “nice post” “here, here” or silence.
zeke is a wonderful pup. thanks for the video!
Do it for you, not for us.
So let it take you where it will.
I stop by with a cup of tea once a month or so and let your words flow over and around me.
Would miss this simple pleasure if you go,
but you need to decide what feels right for you.
Good Boy, Zeke.
*scritch scritch scritch*
He’s a good boy!
I don’t have any video of my hound Gil (doesn’t Gil get a lick?!?). If I did, it wouldn’t be frolicking in water, because he is, for some reason, terrified of water.
However, I can do ambivalent, adorable dog as well as you can, friend:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QYtHLhw0YsXRA
Yes, that is a cat bed into which he’s wedged himself. No, his ribs are no longer so painfully visible, as we’ve been feeding him up like crazy.
Oh, CMD - Gil looks like a doll.
Aren’t adopted dogs great?
Both of mine came from rescues - I’m a great fan of Petfinder!
What sweeties, Jenn!
Adopted pups are quite wonderful. My only regret was that we couldn’t take all of the hounds (we adopted from a hound-specific organization) we met at the foster home. As it was, we very nearly wound up with two, but the other had already been adopted out.
I don’t usually comment because I get tongue-tied around People Who Can Really Write. Sorry. :o
Anyway, if you wanted to just put up a post every few months, I’d try and remember to come and read it. Furuhashi’s Critical Montages is like that. I forget about it for months at a stretch, but am always happy when I rediscover it. 6-12 good-quality posts a year are just fine. Much better for my aging brain cells than more personality tests I’ll never finish and more music lists of stuff I’ll never get around to hearing.
If flattery doesn’t work, maybe we could bribe you with baked goods ?
Chris, you’re a wonderful writer and all :) but I’m hopelessly smitten with your wonderful, ancient Zeke. Our diabetic blind shepherd mix Chris, who is 12 and loves to wade in the river and lay in the water, sends love to Zeke, who has incredible dignity.
Please, let us not hear anymore talk about giving up CRN. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis, and CRN serves as my daily dessert. Even though sometimes it touches me so deeply, I shed tears. I sometimes re-read those posts that so affect me because of their sweet sensitivity. I recently re-read the touching memory piece on your grandfsther and shed a flood again. Thoroughly enjoy your nature pieces and your soft, touching comments about Zeke (and thanks for the video). Breaks my heart to see his halting steps, but I’m gladdened to see he still walks among us. I’ll be dropping in more regularly to reassure you we are all still out here enjoying CRN.
Breaks my heart to see his halting steps
Heh. Whereas I look at this video and think “I remember when he could walk that smoothly.”
I sit here staring at the computer, eyes swelled with tears. I’m reminded of a poem I read somewhere through the years:
TREAT ME KINDLY
Treat me kindly, my beloved friend,
For no heart in all the world is more
rateful for kindness than the loving
heart of me.
Do not break my spirit with a stick,
For though I should lick your hand
between blows, your patience and
understanding will more quickly
teach me the things you would
have me learn.
Speak to me often, For your voice is
the world’s sweetest music, as you must
know by the fierce wagging of my tail
when your footsteps fall upon my ears.
Please take me inside when it is cold
and wet, For I am a domesticated
animal, no longer accustomed to the
bitter elements. I ask no greater glory
than the privilege of sitting at your
feet beside the hearth.
Keep my pan filled with water, for I
cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.
Feed me clean food that I may stay well,
to romp and play and do your bidding,
to walk by your side, and stand ready,
willing and able to protect you with
my life, should your life be in danger.
And, my friend, when I am very old, and
I no longer enjoy good health, hearing
and good sight, do not make heroic
efforts to keep me going.
I am not having fun. Please see that my
trusting life is taken gently. I shall
leave this earth knowing with the last
breath I drew, that my fate was always
safest in your hand.
—- By Beth Norman Harris 1968—-
As I write this, my own sweet bay-dog sits at attention and although her body is giving out, her lungs and heart slowly fading, she stares at me with loving eyes and kisses away my tears. Today, tomorrow or the next may be her final day. But when she goes, I’m sure her spirit will wipe away my pain. That is how it’s always been and be it will remain.