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| The 2013 Good “Stuff” Jar. Censored for sensitive readers.* You know who you are. |
Food Lady! Micron yells from the kitchen. Bodine has his litter box feet on the counter again!
[random scurrying sounds] And he’s taking a bite out of every apple in the fruit bowl!, he says.
Ok, I say. Thanks, buddy.
Who does that anyway? says Micron. Every apple? Like the next one will taste different?
Don’t worry about it, Mikey, I say. I’ll take care of it in a minute.
Hey, that’s a sign of insanity, right? Micron says, walking into the family room. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting …hey, are you ok, Food Lady? You haven’t hollered at the cat even once today.
Yeah, I’m good. I say to my card carryin’ certified pet therapy dog.
Micron jumps onto the sofa to snuggle and I stroke his noggin until he closes his eyes.
I’m just getting a little melancholy. I say.
Micron’s eyes pop back open and he looks at me with brows furrowed into worry lines. You’re getting a what? Nuh uh. Is that really a good idea, Food Lady? he asks. I mean, don’t you always tell people that you’re just four paws away from being an animal hoarder? Even a little dog needs a lot of attention and chew bones and they still poop a lot and stuff.
Well, you know how moody I get around the holiday season, I say. And …what? Little dog? Oh, I get it. A little Melon Collie. [eye roll] That’s an old joke, my love.
I wasn’t joking, says Micron, closing his eyes again. So anyway isn’t it time to open the Good “Stuff” Jar? That might cheer you up a little.
Micron, you sweet thing, I say. You’re smarter than I look. That’s a stellar idea and I’m glad you reminded me of it.
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| Read my lips, says Micron. No more puppies! |
My sensitive dog remembers that I started the Good “Stuff” Jar at the end of last year while immersed in my annual post-holiday funkitude. And it’s a lofty goal, this project. What with keeping up with the burden of writing down the occasional happy events that we encounter throughout our days. That, and the challenge of remembering to do it.
It’s oh too easy to plod along our daily paths and never give another thought to the bright moments once their shine has faded. And next thing you know, you’re going about with heavy sighs and enigmatic lamentations of cantaloupes and Lassies.
So this year on December 31 we’ll open the Good “Stuff” Jar in celebration of a year well spent. I imagine a bright ray of light to escape the mouth of this former sauerkraut jar. Perhaps some angelic singing as we lefty loosie the lid of the thing. Yeah, I know, I know. Best not to set the bar too high lest we face the disappointment of reality mingled with vague sauerkraut fumes. But really, at the very least, I think there’s a smile or two awaiting us in there.
I’m counting on it, actually.
And with the end of year looming on the horizon of our Gregorian calendar, this seems a fine time to take a look back at our last few months of dog inspired adventures here on Raising a Super Dog.
This post aglow before you is the final of 2013. I’ve challenged myself with a minimum of two posts weekly, with Story Sunday and Wordless Wednesday being the feature stories. Although sorely tempted to slack off, I can stand (yeah, I’m sitting) before you and say that I never wavered even once. I totally met this goal and then took it out for drinks. I’m jazzed to tell you that we slapped out a full 110 blog posts intended for your entertainment.
And I’ve enjoyed sharing every story and photo with you, my faithful readers and fans of all things Dog. Thanks for hanging with us on our life’s journey with our canine heartmates Euka, Micron and Jager. Y’all are great.
I spent some time going through our dog adventures this morning, which turned out to be a mood lifter for my weary soul. The Blog Archive in the panel to your right will take you through each story month by month. I invite you to lose yourself there for a while, should you find yourself wanting to wax nostalgic for the dogs’ derring-do of yore. But as ain’t nobody got time for that, allow me to throw you a bone, so to speak, and I’ll highlight my personal favorites of 2013.
Donna’s Top 20 of 2013
Euka II
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| Um, Food Lady? Don’t look behind you. (Micron is playing yellow submarine in a mud bank. True story) |
We started things off in January with our New Year Goals for Miss Euka. At a three months old, we had a lot on our plate to get this little girl ready for her Advanced Training at Canine Companions for Independence. And we’re almost there, people. Less than five months to go now, can you believe it?
After starting life as a celebrity, being on the Eukanuba livestream for her first eight weeks of life, Euka uses her star status to rub hocks with other well known folk. We had the pleasure of meeting Temple Grandin and author Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess). Photo ops included, of course. So we got proof that I didn’t just make this stuff up.
The extraordinary E litter celebrated their first birthday in September. We got the Ohio E’s back together for a photo shoot. Cute, cute, cute. And cute. There’s four of them, you know.
Aaargh, this puppy! Not the best of timing, yet a true adventure trying to get a Halloween photo of this puppy before she went off to The Spa at CCI. It’s a Then this happened kinda story.
The Mighty Micron
In Pet-it Jury Trial Micron serves as judge and jury. And witness, counsel and defendant, too. But not well. Something about jack of all trades but master of none.
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| They’re all guilty. Don’t ask. |
I’m thwarted in a yet another warm and fuzzy photo session with the mighty Micron at That ain’t chocolate. Never turn your back on a water dog.
Micron masters the art of being a literacy tutor at Tutelage in relaxation and Time flies at the library. He also falls in love with a pair of boots, so there’s that.
Not to be outdone by Euka’s infamy, Micron stars in his own short Indie film of Mutiny of the Bounty. That title is not a typo. The paper towels fought back.
We ran Micron through a series of canine cognition games with Dognition. Prior to each session, I tried to guess his results. That didn’t work out well for me. His three stories are Here, and Here, and final profile results are Here. Spoiler alert: the goober dog is more clever than I gave him credit for. Again, don’t turn your back on him.
What is this word fixation? And why are you looking at me and not Micron? A special project was in the works at Fishin’ balm. And it’s not lowering my standards, people. It’s dialing down to realistic goals, that’s all.
Jager
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| I’m kinda of a big deal. |
We give Jager his moment in the spotlight with Master of the Hunt Part I and Part II. I’d intended to stir up some intrigue with an unsolved mystery in Part I, but really it’s more just a curiosity of the style of an itch that can’t be scratched.
More profound thoughts from our little knobby headed friend is found at Jager’s dog nose wisdom.
Volunteer Puppy Raising
Five things I stopped doing was a popular post of the past and so was put out as a rerun in May. This takes you into the life of a volunteer puppy raiser just a bit.
Then for a slightly darker look, we gotcha some cautionary tales on Not all sunshine and rainbows. Poop walking is involved here.
And the random stuff
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| Let the wookiee win. |
I won a new dog in a raffle! Kind of. Well, I won it. But it’s not really a dog. She just looks like one. Pretty much, anyway. Introducing Cap’n Windy on Raffle me this. Pfft to the naysayers. Everybody was just jealous of my good fortune.
This one just makes me laugh. It’s the last photo in the post that gets you, actually. You may not see it coming at Pareidolia has landed.
Wait … is that twenty one? Gads, I’m not good with numbers. I’ve counted three or four times and come up with a different number of links each time. See, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve tallied these up.
But no matter. I hope you find something enjoyable on the ride.
Any other favorites from you all? Please do let me know. Feedback is the fuel that keeps a blogger’s life blood pumping, after all.
All of us at Raising a Super Dog wish you and yours a blessed, fortuitous and Happy New Year. One that is filled with adventures and stories to share. So glad you’re hanging out with us for ours.
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*The Good Shit Jar. Because good shit happens too, you know. Easy to make your own for this upcoming year. You need an empty jar, some scraps of paper and a pen well secured so nobody walks off with the damned thing again. Depressive state of mind optional.
Go. Do. Be Dog. 