TheBanyanTree: Fwd: no comment needed

[Tobie Shapiro]

May 8, 200000007


Dear Paul and throng of dawgs,

	Standing by, watching while your dog makes his last climb up 
the hill is torture.  We are currently on a death watch for Feyna's 
Mint, a tuxedo cat who never quite got her brain fastened into the 
engine mount.  Her liver is enlarged, she's jaundiced and she won't 
eat.  All day, I keep thinking about her, keep checking on her. 
We're basically helpless.  I could feel that grief filled resignation 
in your post.  You loved Fred so much.  And you'll keep loving him. 
So celebrate Fred.  Plant some flowers, get an emu pregnant (by 
proxy, Paul, by proxy), pour champaign on his grave.  And of course, 
write about him, which you did, beautifully.  I hope Mint makes it. 
I know Fred had a good, rich, loving life.  People keep saying, "What 
a lucky dog!"  He was.  He didn't have to sit around in a small 
apartment, listening to the traffic out in the street, waiting for 
you to come home from work every day.  He ran, he chased, he barked, 
he reveled in attention, he followed you around, admiring the cuffs 
of your jeans.  You provided well for him.  He was happy.  I send you 
all my sympathies and a kiss on the cheek.

	Love,

	Tobie

>Between sentences, I'm typing this and checking Fred.  He's in the 
>DFZ.  He's shutting down.  Just a matter of hours...
>
>The other dogs know.  Wilma is hovering.  Dino and BamBam know 
>something bad is happening.  Stupid and the collie are subdued, too.
>
>
>In the space of a double garage and six people, who gets followed by 
>the puppy.  All day?  Of course, stuffing him into my t-shirt might 
>have helped the following.  :)  He was little.
>
>Me and dogs go together like stink on shinolea.  :)  Especially  me 
>and Fred since first sight/sniff.  And Wilma, too.  Always.  Love at 
>first sight does happen.
>
I bought Fred early March, 1993.  Yeah, I actually paid for a dog. 
Never did get his papers, never really cared anyway.

>And I had a shadow following me around while I'm building bird pens 
>and clearing brush.  A 200 MPH shadow.  Fred loves to run.
>
>
>Brittany Spaniels are said to live 10-12 years and be 35 to 45 
>pounds. At his peak, Fred weighed 68 pounds.  Pure muscle.  Fred is 
>close enough to being 15 to just say he is 15.  Six weeks shy from 
>birth is close enough.
>
>
>He's been getting pretty slow lately.  Getting skinny.  Food doesn't 
>taste good.  Has bad days and sleeps all day, has good days and 
>barks at buzzards and does his FOP.  Fred On Patrol around the 
>fence.  He's been getting really slow for the last week.
>
>Today, well.  Since this morning he's hardly trying to get up.  Jaw 
>sorta locked shut.  But he laps up water from my hand.  Eyes open 
>and blinking and seeming to see, and The Nose seems to still work. 
>The shallow panting isn't a good sign.
>
>
>
>And, on May 7, 2007, at 2 PM, he's gone.
>
>
>Best spent $50 no matter how long any of us live.
>
>
>I better hit Send before I short out a keyboard.
>
>
>
>"I'm gonna miss him" is an understatement.
>
>e~e
>--
>_____________________________________
>    http://remsset.com

-- 




Tobie Helene Shapiro
Berkeley, California   USA

tobie at shpilchas.net