Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sweet Duke


Saturday afternoon, Josh and I lost our sweet bulldog Duke. Putting him down - I don't like that phrase by the way - was one of the hardest things we've ever done. Coming to the decision was the worst part of the process; let's face it, choosing to end the life of someone you love is never easy.  Honestly, I don't think Josh nor I expected to respond to the situation like we did, but as I found out Tuesday loosing a pet is much like losing a member of your family. You remember sweet things and miss their presence.
When Josh and I got married, we were going through a rough time ( that is a gross understatement). His mom was battling melanoma and just 6 weeks after our wedding the Lord called her home. Just a few weeks after that, we had to move back to Knoxville so I could finish college. Understandably we were broken, sad, and missing home more than ever. Josh mentioned to me about getting a puppy, specifically an English Bulldog to help alleviate some of those lonely feelings and to give us something to focus on other than being away from our families. I was unsure at first because I wasn't really an animal person, if you know what I mean. Anyway, he talked me into "looking" at English Bulldogs, so we found a breeder and made an appointment to go meet these little guys. When we got there, we sat down and about 6 rollie pollie ollie bulldogs come running toward us! They were so precious and immediately I fell in love! Duke crawled in my lap and fell asleep while we were playing with the others and that's how Josh and I knew he was ours! He was comfortable with us from the first moment. We loved him so much even though he did eat everything in that apartment! He helped make that transition so much easier and when I reflect on his life, I think about those first months when he was wider than he was long and we had to carry him down the stairs so he didn't roll down. :)
Duke was such a good puppy. He lived a great life and enjoyed having our huge yard to run in. I love that he stayed at home without being pinned in a cage or fence, even when we were gone, and how he'd jump in the back of my car when I came home from the grocery searching for a bone. He turned me from a person who didn't care for animals into a person who loves them. It's crazy how one little dog can change you as a person. There is a lot of guilt that comes with this situation for me. I think could I have done something different or better or spent more time with him, etc, but we made sure in those last few moments that he knew we loved him very much and that we didn't want him to suffer any longer.  I appreciate his faithfulness to us; he will always be remembered as such a special dog for Josh and I because of the initial meaning behind the reason we got him.  Just before his last breaths he licked my face, then Josh's and I think that was his way of saying bye to us and perhaps thanking us for ending all the pain he was feeling. It's hard looking in the backyard and knowing that he's buried there, but at the same time, it is comforting to know that he is no longer sick. We sure will miss our Dukie-boy. 

Here are some pics of Major growing up with Duke. 
Classic Lazy Bulldog! :)
We love him!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

You can not imagine how bad this thing smells

When Major was about 18 months old he formed an attachment to a particular blanket. He loves this blanket and for about the first year it was cute. The problem is that he shoves it into his mouth and sucks on it. It is the nastiest thing you have ever seen or smelled in all your life. Josh calls it the hazmat blanket. We have been good about not letting him be too Linus-like. I mean, he wasn't allowed to drag it anywhere and we didn't let him take it to school. He was allowed to have it at home and if he went to sleep over at his grandparents house and that was pretty much it. Well anyway, Josh has been begging me to get rid of the thing. My argument was that it was the only thing that Major really ever formed an attachment to and he was only allowed to have it at home. So here we are getting close to his third birthday and I, too, agree that it is time to let go of the blankey. It is so gross and will literally make you gag when you smell it, even though I wash it everyday. So Josh's solution is just every few days cutting the blanket into smaller pieces. We've cut it twice and it is now down to a third of what it was, but Major hasn't seemed to notice a bit. He just shoves what's left of it into his mouth.
Anyway, what prompted me to write this little blog is when I went to add the second cut piece to a baggie that we were going to save the shreds in, I literally almost passed out. There was moisture in the bag, even though the "clean" blanket came from the dryer straight into the bag and the little note that I had written to him describing his love for his blanket was completely soaked and the ink had smeared. NASTY!!!!!! And it smelled horrific...like something had died in that bag. Serious ewwww! So now more than ever I know that I am going to have to take that thing away, but for the first time in over 2 and a half years I feel like I don't really know how to do it. He loves it so and it is going to break his heart when it is finally gone. Guess a sad boy is much better than one who is contaminated with God knows what. Here are a few pictures of Major and his beloved blanket.

On vacation in the mountains
On vacation in Gulf Shores
Lounging
Sleeping

Notice the silkie too? Well before his blanket habit formed, he did the same thing with the silkie. I just cut the corner that he was sucking on off and he started with the blanket. Anyway, out goes the blanket. It seriously has to be a health hazard. I'm not sure what to do about the silkie. If he wants it just at bedtime that will be ok as long as it stays out of his mouth.
Parts one and two of the blanket
Have you ever in all your life seen something so nasty?!?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

A weekend getaway

Last weekend Josh and I went to the mountains for a little getaway. We had an amazing weekend! We needed to get away just the 2 of us so bad! On our way up Friday night we stopped at Super Target in Knoxville, Score! I love that place!!!! We stayed up til 3 am playing scrabble and I got beat so bad it was embarrassing! Saturday we went to the river and tubed all day! I wish I had pictures but I was afraid my camera would get wet or lost, so I didn't take it. We tubed all the way down from the park to the bottom (about 10 times)!  It was fun and exciting and relaxing. Just what we needed! Saturday night we had a great dinner, then played Monopoly. Again, I lost so bad, I had to sell all my property to Josh :) He was a Monopoly Millionaire and I ended with $3! Hahaha! So fun! Then on Sunday, we went to Dollywood and rode all the roller coasters that we can't ride when we have Major along with us. It was kinda a rushed weekend, but so fun! We laughed and just enjoyed the time together. I love when we get to do things like that together, so thanks Pappy and Nona for keeping Monkey so we could get away!

Could it be any hotter?

Trying to brave this miserable heat.

My Boy

My Major-man is all boy! He is a rough and tough, busy, mischievous, dirty, snakes and snails kinda boy! I love that about him! Just recently, Josh got an old bee bee gun out, took it into the backyard and let Major "shoot birds"! Well of course he loved having a gun like daddy and kept saying this is for hunting. I can tell already that Major will be a hunting and fishing guy like his daddy. Anyway, they were so cute out there on the back of the truck, just being boys.

Thanks for being so sweet to me

I always like to give Major's teachers a small appreciation gift at the end of the semester. For Christmas and for the end of the year I always do a nice gift, but because it was summer school I just wanted to do a small, but thoughtful, yet inexpensive gift. So on one of my favorite blogs I ran across these....
I loved them and thought they were perfect. Of course mine didn't turn out as cute, but they were delicious and I think his teacher's appreciated them.

UH OH

I was mowing the front yard the other day and Major was riding his tractor in the back and after about 5 minutes I noticed I hadn't seen him riding around so I went to check on him and wouldn't ya know the kid was in the garden, in the middle of the corn, with ALL THE TOMATOES pulled off the vines, corn shucked having himself a nice little treat! Well, I had to keep myself from laughing because he was covered in dirt, eating a raw piece of corn, but because of his little shenanigans we haven't had one red tomato all season :( I wish I had my camera when I caught him, but this is a picture of the tomatoes that he deemed good enough to put in his tractor.