Getting Loose

World's Smartest Dog

You will not believe how smart this dog is!

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Ike Strike--14

There is still no electricity or phones at church. I will go tomorrow to join some people to help do some more clean-up of the grounds.

I worked outside some today hauling broken limbs to the curb side, and walked the dog twice. The second time we got to see a couple of bucket trucks work on some high voltage lines. That would petrify me. There cannot be even a pin hole in the gloves they wear to work on those lines, plus the bucket has to be in phase with the voltage line.

When the man finally descended from his bucket, I asked him if he ever got scared working on those lines, and he grinned with the whitest teeth and said, "Only when I’m drunk."

I thanked him for a job well done and how appreciative Houston was for his coming over to help us out (he was from Tulsa).

The weather has held out well, and will be in the 60's tonight. I’m keeping the windows open and am saving on the utilities.

I visited some with my wife on the phone and she talked some about our granddaughter. She said to me, "You sound sad."

I didn’t think I was. I guess it is just a swirl of things that have been going on in life. Maybe the hurricane that came roaring down our pike set off a whirl of things and disarray that it is difficult to get back to normal.

But then, maybe normal has moved.

The Ton-Bon

   We got some terrible news tonight.  Tahnee has had a seizure.   Her current owners called us in a state of panic.  We had never witnessed that behavior in Tahnee, and it must have been very upsetting.  My wife and I both agreed, that if her new owners came to the conclusion that Tahnee needed to be put down, we'd offer to take her back and nurse her and do what we could for her.  There is no doubt in my mind that she is loved by her new family.  Their children play and play and play with her.  She never has had a lot of sense to know when she should stop and rest.  She lives life intensely, to put it mildly.  We've asked to be kept up to date on her condition.

Tahnee

   Her name is Tahnee. The Ton-Bon. And I miss her.

   No, she is not dead, but we gave her away. I think she was about 4 or so.

   We got her at the pound in Texarkana, Arkansas. We just fell in love with her at nearly first sight. She was so full of energy, such a live wire, such a good guard dog. She was the best Frisbee dog I personally had ever seen. She could almost effortlessly jump 3 ½ feet into the air and catch it, and she would come back to have you throw it to her again and again and again and . . . But after reading the Dog Whisperer, I realized that we needed to walk her far more than I would ever be able to do. And it wasn’t fair to leave it all the exercising and disciplining up to my wife. So she found a loving family out somewhere in the La Porte area with a bigger house than ours, lots of kids, a bigger yard than ours. They had recently lost their own dog, and from the last I heard they have fallen in love with her. There probably isn’t a kid alive who wouldn’t fall in love with her when they see how she can chase that Frisbee so well.

   My wife said, "We can always go visit if you want . . . " But I don’t want to do that to her. I don’t want to divide her loyalties. She has new masters and mistresses. She is the object of a lot of affection. I am sure the day will come, when my presence to her would only be a faint memory of a day long gone. But I miss her. I know she is being provided for and cared for and loved for. And that gives me solace. And I know I will get over it someday; but right now I miss her. It’s the second time in my life I’ve had to do this.

   The first time was much harder. I was only 9. It killed me to do so. We had to give away our reddish brown Dachshund, Spritzie to my aunt and uncle when we moved from Pennsylvania to Texas. And I did get to see her several more times after that. I think initially she may have remembered me . . . she for sure remembered my dad, but as time moves on, I figure the memories and smells will fade.

    Now Tahnee, you be a good girl for your new family!