Scruffy the Legend was published about 2 years ago. It is nothing more than a simple true story about a dog and the man who loved him. When Scruffy died, I felt compelled to write about what his death meant to me. I had never planned to write any books - about Scruffy or anything else. At first I was writing only about his death, I guess as some sort of catharisis for me. Eventually a short story about Srcuffy’s death and my reaction to it emerged. I kept rewriting it, fine tuning it, if you will, until I felt that anyone reading it would have exactly the same emotional experience that I had. It really was not meant to be read by anyone but me; I just wanted to be able to return to that experience years down the road, assuming that my memories of Scruffy would dim over many years. When I had finished with all the rewriting and fine tuning, the story seemed so overwhelmingly sad, that I decided that, indeed, it should be only for my eyes, to perhaps be put away in a drawer for a much later time.
Sebastian is a 9-year-old neutered male Keeshond. He is the victim of divorce and is now living in a rather dysfunctional situation. Sebastian has been with the same Dad since he was purchased as a puppy. It is sad, but it may ultimately be the best thing for him to have a new start with a stable, loving family.
Sebastian is in good health, is an active Keeshond, up-to-date on all vaccinations, neutered, walks well on lead, and is housebroken. I have always loved Sebastian. I first met him about 7 or 8 years ago, so I do know much of his history. Sebastian is a rather large Keeshond, 50 lbs. +; he gets along well with other Kees and has lived in a pack of 7 or 8 at one time in his family. He will chase cats.
I’d love to be able to find at least a foster home for Sebastian, without cats, and with maybe another Keeshond for him. He needs a stable environment without young children, since he is large and could appear to be intimidating to a small child. If you know someone who may be able to foster or adopt Sebastian, or if you think you have room in your home and heart for him, please let me know. His financial needs will be cared for in entirety (veterinary, grooming, food) until adoption.
So, please let me know if you have any leads. Time is of the essence. He needs to be out of his current home by the end of October.
Leo and Jade are asking their mom when their real Halloween costumes will arrive; they are not impressed with the towel.They wanted to know if Charlie will be wearing Scruffy’s hand-me-down costumes. Truth is, we don’t know yet if eitiher charlie or Ruby will enjoy costume wearing - but we will find out.
I decided to determine scientifically whether the Beagle or the Keeshond has the sharper sense of smell. While Ruby (Beagle) and Charlie (Keeshond) were told to stay in the living room (which they amazingly did), I hid two rawhide strips in the dining room. Both strips were placed on a lip that is on the bottom of a cabinet. They were both in plain sight but above the height of both dogs’ eye level (3 ft or so). The strips were about 2 feet apart. I called the dogs. Both ran in and began sniffing wildly. Fromt the start Ruby was up on hind legs, having noticed that the scent was coming from higher than the floor. Charlie was confused and ran to the kitchen and sat by the refrigerator (The dogs know that the strips are normally kept on the top of the fridge). Ruby soon found and got one of the strips. Charlie saw this and immediately ran in and found the other strip.
Based on the results of this carefully run clinical study, I would say thet the Beagle nose is better than that of the Keeshond. However, I would also say that the Keeshond is very good at surveying a situation and learning from what he sees.
Leo and Jade are our Keeshind cousins from Japan. One of the brothers, Jade is having some problems with abnormal stools. His mom (see Keesmom’s blog link) is concerned that his health is OK. Charlie, Ruby and me wish Jade a speedy recovery, and that he feel better soon.
A couple of posts below this one is me drivng my 2002 Mustang GT. The car in this post is Karen’s ‘66 Mustang that we have completely redone. The video is my first visit to the shop after the new V8 motor was tested. The mechanic only wanted to run it for a few seconds. More testing and hookup to the exhaust pipes will be done before it’s ready to run. This is a small block v8 with a 2 bbl carburator. I am not going for real power here - just wanted a step up form the original 6 cyl motor. It will look more like a performance car than it really is becaue of the external exhaust pipes below each door. The exhaust pipes, although now in place, were not connected to the exhaust headers, so this thing was really, really loud. For some reason, the camera could not accurately record the sound, and it sounds pretty crappy, and not all that loud. The car was also quite dirty so the only thing that appears shiny in this video is my head. Scrool back multiple posts to see earlier pictures of this car. Of course you can learn more about both cars in Scruffy the Legend. In fact, its amazing (if I must say so myself) the number of things that one can learn about in the book.
My job (which I do from home) involves compiling and writing parts of scientific documents. I have been doing this so long that I can remember when I had a secretary who would do all the typing (in the old days, when I worked at the office). Once I reviewed the typed document I would make changes by cutting up the paper and taping in yellow paper slips with hand-written changes (real cutting and pasting). No one had a computer. Eventually the secretaries got memory typewriters, and we were all amazed at how this simplified our work.
Now I can’t even imagine how I could manage the documents I do today without a PC.
I told you previously on this blog that Charlie likes to always have me in veiw and frequently is under or near the desk I am working at.
Lately I have had much more work to do than usual. I am feeling quite stressed while trying to get it all done within the deadlines.
Now Charlie spends the whole time I am working sitting right next to me with his head lightly resting on my left thigh. He is staring up at me everytime I look down. I honestly think he knows I am stressed and wants to help.
Having a Keeshond head on my thigh seems to greatly reduce the stress of working. It has gotten to the point where I expect him to be there so I can rest my hand on his head while I am thinking what to type next. I am starting to wonder how I ever got along without a Keeshond at my side while working.
I see the lead news story on my Yahoo home page this morning says “retire with over $1 million even if you have’nt started saving yet”. It goes on to say that if you put away only $100 per month and earn 10% on the investment and save for 20 years –
Wait a second! If I could have earned 10% on my investments over 20 years, I would be rich. You can’t earn more than a few measily percent over the real long term - Safely!!. Ask those people who invested with Madoff if I am right or not.
I find that I can’t even out earn inflation - particularly real inflation. What is real inflation? The amount your cost of living goes up every year - probably something like 8%. How is this possible when the CPI is more like 2- 3% per yr over the past several years. The CPI, like every number you hear, whether from the government or not - is a total lie. Ask yourself how much your property taxes, fuel costs, food costs, have gone up per year lately. Sure the cost of a refigerator (and other similar items) has probably only gone up 2% - but how often do you buy one of these?
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention - OK maybe I am wrong and you can save $ 1 millon over the next 20 years. Do you know what 1 million will be worth after 20 years of 8% inflation? Its already not enough to retire on (unless you have a cost of living indexed pension as well). In fact if you have a pension indexed to cost of living, you are golden - I wish I could be one of you.
Ok, I’ll try to make my next post more relevant to Charlie and Ruby. Someday, however,you will probably hear more form me on numbers that are lies - like all study results reportred to you on the news or in pharma company ads - yes - each and every number a lie (or at least very misleading) - trust me.
Here I am driving one of the cars mentioned in the “Cars” chapter of Scruffy the Legend. This was supposed to be fast and exciting. Unfortunately, there was a lot of very slow traffic in the way. Considering how slow they drive, they must all be well over 100 years old.
My wife, Karen, is walking for the 4th year in the 2 day, 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Help her reach her goal of $3,000 and support the fight against breast cancer. Make a secure online donation http://tinyurl.com/kar2009
My wife, Karen, is walking for the 4th year in the 2 day, 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Help her reach her goal of $3,000 and support the fight against breast cancer. Make a secure online donation 