What is beauty, but Spring?


Today is such a gorgeous day
I feel like I could fly away…

There!  Rhyming couplet.  I told you I would!

I, Maezi, had my usual breakfast, tried to steal some coffee but was unsuccessful – I don’t know – it seems like Mom & Dad are on to my plotting.  I pretended that I didn’t care about the coffee & tried to fake them out with my favorite rattle-y Santa toy to get them to chase me – then I ditched it & circled back at full gallop to the table with the unguarded coffee. Darn! just as I was going in for the lick, they got to the cup.

Yesterday we threw a bunch of lemon scones down the hill for those riff-raff possums. & I saw a squirrel carrying away a little bit. The birds got in on the act, too, so everybody wins.  I like to watch the birds watch us while we play in the yard.  Those pesky birds sit on top of my agility jump hurdles sometimes.  I like doing the jumps with my parents – it’s so fun, but every once in a while, I just like to feint & then swerve at the last moment – you should see them try to keep up. Hilarious!

But I know something’s up. Mom & Dad are a little bit tense. I know they’re trying to distract me & pretending everything’s normal, AND, so I’m told, I get some special chicken treats today.  Oh, & Mom promised to peel my apples.  But really, I still know.

I have a thyroid tumor & surgery comes tomorrow. But today we’re spending a happy day kissing & playing.

Tomorrow is another day – I wish that I could fly away.

Today…

… would have been Auggie’s 15th birthday.

It’s all about the pillows

Let me re-introduce myself.  I’m Maezi, Auggie’s sister.  You may remember me from such famous posts as “Isn’t She Lovely?”, August, 2011 & many more.   Augster always enjoyed doing the limerick thing, blogging,  running around the agility jumps, exploring the yard, giving kisses.  He was my playmate, mentor, care-taker & sometimes, he was the bane of my existence, because, you know what?  Sometimes he actually tattled!   Then I would have to summon all my “puppy-dog eyes” skills to appear innocent.   Not that that worked very often.

Mostly, he was just fun to hang out with.  We spent a lot of time snuggling, tugging on toys.  I’m reminiscing about how closely intertwined our lives are/were, but I can’t bring myself to sit on his ottoman alone & am reminded just how much has transpired since he wrote his last post.  I’ll fill in some of the blanks later, although I’m not sure I can “poet-ize” as well as he did.  Maybe I’ll try my paw at some rhyming couplets.  But for right now, I just want to say, “Happy Birthday, Auggie.  I miss chewing on your hair.”

Auggie – A Love Story

 

Valentine’s Day 2012

Augustine Francis Charles McGillicuddy

March 5, 2003 – January 21, 2018

Here’s what you need to know about Auggie:

He kissed us awake in the morning.  He kissed us to sleep at night.

This is Jaci, Auggie’s Mom.  He was, without doubt, the sweetest, most loving little dog ever.  Gregg & I are bereft.  Maezi is a bit lost & sad.  The house just isn’t the same – coming home & not hearing his “happy sass bark” – how can the perpetrator of that noisy funny greeting be gone?

Auggie was curious, friendly, funny, sassy, bright & not really afraid of anyone or anything.  So trusting & glad to meet someone new, no matter the species.  Always happy to meet a new critter in the yard, always wanted to know what was going on with us & he loved Maezi, even though he was a little bit possessive about some of his toys – but really, only because everyone else tried to steal them!

But then, he & Maezi often shared their toys, if only for a little while… the better to distract & then make off with the favorite.  Call it a “fair” trade.  And yet, they  were inseparable.  When he trotted down the hall, she had to be right with him, sides touching, rather like an 8-legged race – pacing matched step for step.  When they had down time, they snuggled & often napped together.  Out in the yard they zoomed around chasing one another with glee.

Gregg & I fell in love with him at first sight, in 2003, when we first saw him, he was the size of a tribble, with an attitude big enough for a Great Dane.  Or a Wookie.  Melted our hearts.  He entertained us – made us laugh, sometimes cry.  Smart – intuitive – charming – just dog-gone sweet to a fault & his timing was impeccable.  Some years back, I’d had a very stressful day, he went off & got his pink XOXO heart toy, plopped it down right at my feet, letters facing me, with a very expectantly happy expression.  How could I help but laugh?!

Laughing or crying? You be the judge. Maezi’s birthday, Auggie’s guarding the toys.

Auggie was very much the kisser-in-chief & he exercised that skill to ensure we didn’t stay in bed too long.  If I dallied, he would pull the covers off of my feet, in order to ‘help’ me get out of bed.  At that point he would ‘sassy bark’ to encourage me to get the heck out of bed to fix his & Maezi’s breakfast.  Meanwhile, once they were eating, I could sit down to have coffee & read the newspaper, only to have him leap up on the chair to burst through the paper like a circus dog, so that he could spread a little affection & always with a mischeivous grin.   He was just so darned happy about it.  He was happy all the time.  & charming.  Auggie figured out on his own how to actually hug.  On my lap, he’d stretch himself out & put both front paws around my neck.  It was his thing.  A huggy-kissy morning ritual.  Our morning ritual.  That’s what I miss most of all.

Isn’t She Lovely?

Ahhhh...mine...all mine!

Ahh, mine...all mine!

A twentieth fine August earth day
Occasioned a comical mirth day
…..I played with my sister
…..So happy…I kissed her.
Sweet Maezi – you’re FOUR – Happy Birthday!

Hatch this!

Ok, so one of the fun things about Easter, is that we get to go on a hunt…AND our eggs hatched…

I just love soft fluffy little things when they come out of their shells…

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But the really mysterious puzzle has been the alien pod & what it was going to become.  Some mutant moth?  A beastly butterfly?  We couldn’t figure it out – we’ve never seen anything like it before & after checking it every day for months – really – months – since we discovered it in November…what a surprise on Mother’s Day.

A face only a mother could love

Observing the rituals of Mother’s Day

Maezi & I are very mindful of the rituals in our lives…we have things we do every morning – if we don’t do it, it feels like we’re missing something.  But occasionally, we like to mix it up, so yesterday, we let Mom sleep in – until 7:01 am.  & today – till 7:23 am.  Which, really, was long enough, because we eat breakfast at 7:00 am.  Sharp.

We didn’t want her to miss our usual morning project of checking the yard for possums, searching for lizards under the ivy & looking at the alien pod to see if it has hatched yet.  Also, we need to peer down the hill into the neighbor’s yard & see if the labs down there have gotten into any mischief.

Plus, she needed to turn on the coffee pot & go out & fetch the newspaper.  It’s tradition.  Then, she settles in to have a cuppa & read.  Only then, can we start our circus act, where we wait till she’s completely engrossed in a story, & not paying any attention to us, so in tandem, we burst thrjough the pages of the paper & land in her lap.  Mayhem & general hilarity ensue.  It’s our little Mother’s Day gift to her every morning.   It’s a tradition.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!

Auggie & Maezi

(Tomorrow, see what hatched on Mother’s Day)

Happy Barkin’ Easter

A beautiful, bright sunny day,
I just wanted to frolic and play.
…..But I’m stuck on my keester
…..Just waiting for Easter…
Those are BIG eggs for Bunny to lay!
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Maezi & I are going to have fun opening those…& when she’s not looking, or even when she is…I’m going to sneak hers away…

Spring Fling continued – Maezi, guest blogger

My superior tracking abilities & keen powers of deduction gave me the edge I needed to discover Auggie’s trail. 

What to do?  We are NOT allowed down the hill…however, the steps of doom beckoned me.  I had to find my brother.  I tracked the prints down, down, down – what I determined is….

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…Auggie has stinky feet.

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Then, I heard something rustling from afar.  I could see him in the distance.  I yelled.  I barked.  I gave him “what for!”  I inhaled a bug.

Which made him laugh to hear me cough.   He came running.  Sauntering, really, to see what was up.  He was completely unconcerned.  The problem was, those stupid yellow spiky weeds are evil.  Evil, I tell you!   They have a small  spiral burr on them – they get in your hair, your ears, between the toes.   We were going to be in for it if we were caught down here.

Oops!  Busted!  & Auggie had the evidence all over him – dust, dirt, smudges, water…

Now, I don’t know about your house, but here, it seems like when one of us gets in trouble, so does the other one.  & really, I was the innocent party here.  I was just trying to find Auggie.  HE started it.  HE ran off & went way out on the hill.  He could have been lost.  I should’ve been the heroine.  I should have received a reward.  But NO!  We were sent to a “time out”.

I blame Auggie.

Spring Fling – Maezi, guest blogger

…so…we’re not supposed to head down the hill.  In fact, it is expressly forbidden.  I don’t know what got into Auggie.  Or me, for that matter.  All I know is that it was a glorious day & there were tasty aromas in the air.  The rain had finally ended & there was a scintillating breeze ruffling my hairs – nose & otherwise.  We were just taking it all in.So there we were.

And then we weren’t.That Auggie can move when he wants to.  And I looked high & low.  Couldn’t find him.  Had he been scooped up by the Cooper’s Hawk that sits in the neighboring pine tree?  I was getting stressed…Where was he?

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Who is Rube Goldberg?

And…..what is he doing at my house?  OK, so it’s been raining cats & dogs.  Well, actually, fat, florid, giant, heavy, smattering wet drops.  I haven’t noticed any of the cats, possums, birds, raccoons…anybody, really…  ‘Cuz it’s too darned wet to go outside.  In fact, I refused.  We won’t discuss the ramifications of that, except to say, that one should be mindful of walking near the outer dog door in the garage.  I believe I was fully in within my rights as a fastidious hedonist, to refuse to wade through flooding water just to go outside to perform bodily functions, when I could so conveniently just stop at the doggie door inside the garage & take care of my needs.  It seemed like a win-win to me.  Not everyone saw it that way, though.

Maezi, the intrepid Maezi, waded through an inch of really cold water, to go outside to do her business, in the predator preserve.  What a trouper.  Although I will say, the sight of the little wet dog tracks trailing throughout the house was rather charming.  The funny thing was our parents running after her with a towel.  (They had only been running after me with paper towels & some choice words I don’t usually hear all that often).

Anyway, the even more hilarious part was watching them, & their friend Rube Goldberg, in the pouring rain building some strange contraption that they claimed would prevent the garage & predator preserve from flooding.  Yeah.  I wanted to run up & down the “ramps”.  That would have been fun.  I might even have deigned to do it in the rain.

Weird, though.  Cobbled together with an olio of odds & ends, “the invention” was uncannily efficient.  The overflowing gutter water ran down the roof, funneled into the extra gutter troughs, leading right to the drains.  The flooding stopped, the garage stayed dry & I acquiesced to the demands that I “go outside”.  In more ways that one.  Ugly, that thing was, but ingenious.  I just hope the next contraption has more panache.