The Passing of a Dog

It is with sadness that I register here the passing of the dog Ellie. Some of you may have fond memories of her from Winthrop, where she routinely disrupted moving watching and hanging out with hysterical barking fits. Others may recall her from trips to St Philips and other locales.

She was an old dog: at 14, she had a stroke and her tongue started to hang out of her mouth though it denied predictions by never drying out; by 15, her fat-to-skeleton ration bottomed out at an alarming 0:100; by 16, her last year, she had difficulty living. But we all know that life was never the same for her since her male companion, Smithers, was put down. Smithers first met Ellie when she entered a room he was in and her tried to rape her. Although humans interceded on her behalf then, we will never know what carnal delights these two rambunctious canines enjoyed when home alone. In addition to her noted thinness, Ellie was easily recognizable by the large cists on her back and by the ever-decreasing number of teeth in her head. She had all the joie-de-vivre of a syphilitic nun, and was similarly clad in stylish black and white.

She was put down by my mother on my mother's birthday, sadly for all involved.

RIP Smithers Brake

As those of you here know, Smithers Brake, aka Smithers Crosbie, aka "Bumdarts" (to Nick's friends) was put down Friday. Jill and I just picked up his ashes with Mom, who plans to keep them at St Philips until eventually they will be buried with Bob (not for a long time we hope!).

He had a very quick decline over the last week-- when I got here, he was in great shape except for some problems with his back legs, and everyone was worried about Ellie. Anyway, he suddenly stopped eating and drinking, and we barely got a wag out of him during Nick's birthday party (where the pictures were taken). He was still wanting to join the party though, and had his wits about him. But a few days later, he could barely move, so Mom made the big decision.

He will no doubt be missed by those who had the chance to live with him particularly (Jill and Sue) and remembered fondly for his love of unlikely foods (lettuce, for example), his love of being held in strange positions, and his unrelenting good humour.

He was as happy a dog as Abby was an unhappy cat!