A Merry 2009 Christmas

Posted by Greybeard on Dec 28th, 2009 in Days of Old | 2 comments

T’was had by our clan,  hope yours went as well!

While sitting around after our Christmas dinner,   someone suggested we all take turns speaking about one of our personal memorable Christmas’s.   The majority (as should be) spoke of happy Christmas memories.  A few remembered Christmas outdoor play,  that turned into a holiday injury, (nothing to serious).  I , of course, had many Christmas memories (at my age),  some joyous,  some not.   The one that stuck,  was a bit less that joyous,  still now at this later date,  it turns out not to be a bad memory.

Grifter was our Rottweiler.   He came home with us when our kids were teen-agers and he lived past the point where they had both moved out.   On that Christmas eve,   I took Grif out to do his business,  and shovel a light snow off the deck.   Grif,  about 8 and half years old  and still acting like a puppy,  lept off the deck romped in the snow,  the lept back over the stairs onto the deck.   When he landed,  he crumpled with a yeowl,  and laid there in pain.  I ran over and found that his lower front leg was the cause.   I got him up and helped him in the house,  but he couldn’t put weight on it.     We called our Vet,  who said to call an Animal Emergency room.   We called the Emergency room and were told that they were closed until the day after Christmas.   We called our Vet back,  and he told us to bring him in, first thing the next morning.   We could tell he was in great pain,  and tried to make him as comfortable as possible,  aspirin was the strongest pain killer we had in the house.   One of us laid on his blanket with him,  all night long.   When morning came,  I carried him down to the van,   all 140 lbs.   We took him to the Vet’s office,  where he finally got some pain relief and the Doc said, for us to go on home,  and he’d call us when he had made a full diagnosis.

Later that day,  the Vet called and told us that Grif’s foreleg was eaten up with bone cancer.   When he had lept up onto the deck,  the landing had stressed the bone and it had shattered.   There was no repairing it,  and he said that if we took the leg off,  Grif may have had a couple of more years.

We respected our Vet,  and listened when he spoke.  He said,  that in his opinion,  it wouldn’t be worth it, from Grifter’s point of view.  Taking the leg off,  would have been more for our benefit.   Grif had gone through an ACL ligment repair on one of his rear legs at 3 years,and we knew how rough the recovery was from that.  

It was a tough decision on the day after Christmas,   but,  my wife , myself,  and our Vet,  decided it would be best to allow him peace.  I cradled his head and watched the life fade from those dark expressive eyes.

From there,  we carried him home,  and sledded his body up the hill on the ridge in the pines beside the house.  A small fire was built to soften the frozen ground,  and I dug a grave beside that of Zipper,  the Pit-bull mix that our kids grew from toddlers to teens with. (also succumbed to cancer).

It was a not to cold,  but snowy day,  with snowflakes swirling down through the pines. A very pretty, Christmasy day.   After digging the grave and wrapping him in his favorite blanket,  I went back to the house to warm up with the last shot of Glenfiddich from a bottle I kept.   As the wife and I prepared to walk back out the lane on the ridge to complete the burial,  two cars pull up the long driveway.   My Son-in-law and my daughter,  followed by my Son and his wife.    This delayed the burial a brief turn of time,  while we all reminisced about, the big black dog,  then we headed down the lane between the stately red pines.   While we finished the burial process,  the girls scraped the coals a bit away from the grave and added a load of fuel.  There wasn’t a dry eye.   As I padded the mound tighter with a shovel,  my Son-in-Law, pulled out a fresh bottle of Glendiddich.

We stood there watching the big snowflakes flutter down through the pines,  to cover the fresh gravel of the burial mount,  and took big pulls off that bottle of Glenny.   The kids remembered Zipper nearly as much as Grifter,  but both had their stories told again.  When the fire had turned to embers, and the light was starting to fade,  the family made their way back to the house.   I stayed for a few moments,  and cleaned the rock pile over Zippers grave,  then drove the Glenny bottle neck down into the dirt,  to serve as a headstone.   Over the next few days,  a chew bone,  a neck scarf,  a ball, and an old hunting knife(?) found their way out to sit around the base of the bottle.  

A few years passed,  before we sold the house in the woods,  and moved up north to become water people.  One of the last things I did before leaving the house was to walk down the lane and say goodbye to two legendary dogs.  Then scatter the rock piles,  and bury the head stones where they stood.  Finally scattering pine needles over the graves to concealed them from the curious.

We’ve moved on and away from that hideout deep in the woods, likely never to return and walk that ground again.   Now that I’ve wiped my eye’s and am studying a wee dram of Glenny Reserve,  I can remember those days with a sad smile,  and I often feel saddess for a human who’s never experienced the phenomenom of a good dog.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,  to one and all.  Cherish the living,  and repect and remember those that have passed.

Veteran’s Day

Posted by Greybeard on Nov 11th, 2009 in Days of Old, News and weather | Comments Off

Veteran’s Day

A time to reflect on the sacrifice’s made by our veterans,  and to remember the veterans that have touched our lives.  Thank a veteran today.

“Samhain”, AuGres River mini-report

Posted by Greybeard on Oct 30th, 2009 in Days of Old, Local | Comments Off

Well,  the boats are both in storage,  the dock is coming out later this week,  the first batch of falling leaves has been hauled off,  and the fifthwheel is winterized and stored.   Winter preparations are coming along nicely.   Slowing things down a bit, has been the incessant rain.  Today it’s 56 degrees,  with a light wind,  and raining steadily.

Between rain storms,  we’ve tried a bit of shore fishing in the river,  with no luck.  A few minnow sized Perch,  and a few equally sized Gobi’s.   So far we haven’t seen a Salmon.

Good news comig down the pipeline,  is that the AuGres River is scheduled to be dredged again.  Either this fall,  or next spring.  We’re hoping strongly for this fall,    spring sounds like a Walleye repellent.  I’m wondering, after the dredging settles, will there be more fish in the river?

“Samhain” ,  (pronounced:  ’sa win ) also known as All Hallow’s Eve,  or Halloween.

Retrospect

Posted by Greybeard on Aug 25th, 2009 in Days of Old, News and weather | Comments Off

February 2006 (first post of this version of the blog)

http://greybeard.igogg.com/2006/02/28/sign-and-print-your-own-copy-of-the-us-constitution/

Was a link to sign and print your own version of the constitution.

January 2007

http://greybeard.igogg.com/2007/01/31/new-tv/

I was shopping for a new big screen TV.

January 2008

http://greybeard.igogg.com/2008/01/31/augres-river-mini-report/

Doing a little shooting during a winter warm up.

January 2009

http://greybeard.igogg.com/2009/01/

It was COLD,  and I was house bound. 

January 2010,  hopefully yet to come.

Interesting Motorcycle

Posted by Greybeard on Apr 13th, 2009 in Days of Old | Comments Off

First off,  a bit of personal history:  I grew up riding dirt bikes,  and most of that riding was in tightly growing northern Michigan forestlands.    There’s nothing like a tight singletrack though the deep woods.    I also liked cruising back roads (that means dirt,  and often sand or loose gravel).  In my youth I raced a Harley Sportster on  what eventually become moto-cross tracks.   We competed against 650 Triumph’s,  BSA’s,  and an occassional Norton.   Later I tryed road bikes for a while,  but it never held the allure of the woods.  When I traveled the roads,  I often gravitated to the back roads,  and often to two tracks and tighter.

I’ve ocassionally done a bit of shopping looking for a bike that would work for my kind of riding.   Something along the lines of the Harley XR750 TT Scrambler comes to mind, but their pretty much collectors items.   I tried an XL650R Honda,  but it was too top heavy and tall.  My not so fond nick name for it was “the Tank”.     At my somewhat dignified age,  I’ve thought less about that kind of riding.   You just can’t do it with most of today’s offerings.   Today,  I saw the Marines version of a dirt bike,  and learned that a non-diesel version is available to the public.  Now,  this one isn’t a V-twin,   and I’m not really sure how top heavy it is and such,  but with spring on it’s way,   there’s just a  spark of the fever starting to burn.