My Final Post

It's time to say goodbye, Sayōnara, adios, au revoir, happy trails. I've had a great run on this earth for 15 1/2 years, but my time is up. I have been feeling very poorly for quite some time, and haven't really known much about what's been going on around me for several months, except for food...I never forgot about food. Like many humans with old-age memory loss, I can't remember much about yesterday or last week, but I well remember my younger days.

I remember when Michael and Kristen rescued me from the Wake County SPCA, and quite possibly thereby saved my life. They told me they were rescuing me, not for themselves, because they already had two dogs, but for Michael's parents, David and Penny, who had previously suffered the loss of a dog that looked a lot like me. They said his name was Tate, and he was a Blue Healer mix just like me. David and Penny came to Raleigh about a week later and picked me up and took me home to Greensboro. They let me out of the car without a leash, and of course I immediately took off to explore the neighborhood, as was my nature. Fortunately, the neighborhood was a dead-end dirt road with one house and a graveyard for neighbors. Poor David looked for me for hours until he finally found me a half mile from home. Needless to say, that was the last time I was free without a leash for awhile, until I finally learned where my home and food bowl were. After that, I could roam to my heart's content and follow my nose wherever it lead me. But, I never went too far, and I was always home at mealtime. Here I am at home in Greensboro pretending to play with a toy Santa. I actually hated stuffed toys. I was just trying to be a good dog for Christmas to please my humans.

Those were awesome days, and they lasted for a couple of years while my humans were still working. We would travel occasionally, especially to Cary to visit Michael and Kristen and their kids, Rachel and Cameron, and their two dogs, Crash and Alex....I call them my cousins. Here we all are in the back of Michael's car getting ready to go for a ride. That's Crash in the middle and Alex on the right. Unfortunately, Crash and Alex, being older than me, preceded me to Doggie Heaven. I hope I get to see them there.

Here I am playing king of the woodpile in Crash and Alex's backyard, keeping an eye out for chipmunks.

At some point, my humans bought a cabin on Lake Lure, my favourite place on earth. When they finally stopped working, we moved there.  They let me run off the leash for a little while, but I got in too much trouble with the neighbors.  I could not resist walking on their pool cover, and tore holes in it twice. They told me that cost too much money, and I couldn't be off the leash anymore...c'est la vie.

After that, we travelled a lot.  We spent winters in Florida where I met Laci, my BFF.  I would visit her in Florida and she would come visit me in Lake Lure.  Laci got cancer last year and departed this earth just before Christmas. Here we are playing in Florida.  I am going to have a lot of friends to play with in doggie heaven.

I liked my life with  David and Penny. I liked the boat rides, the car rides, the motorcycle rides....just kidding. David tried to get me on his motorcycle once, but I was having none of that...now maybe if he'd had a sidecar.  Anyway, I got to travel a lot.  Down to Florida, up to Michigan, here, there, and everywhere, but I never went to sleep in the car. I never even laid down. I sat up and watched out the window the whole time, just in case I ever got separated from them and had to find my own way back home. 

I met Brandy in Lake Lure, one of my very favorite people. She dogsat for me, and walked me, and brought me treats. She's someone I will never forget.  Also, I will never forget Jackie who would come and stay with me if David and Penny went off on a trip without me. They usually only did that if they were going on an airplane and I couldn't go along, but then Jackie would take good care of me, often for two weeks at a time. She was great. 

Another of my canine friends was Lucy. Lucy was a Boxer, and she and her humans, Tom and Dianna, came and stayed at the house with me when David and Penny went to France in the summer of 2012. We had a great time going on walks and guarding the house together. Tom took a funny picture of us both standing at the front door, looking out, watching for burglars and bears.  I wish I could find it.

I can't complain about anything in my life except the growing old part....when I couldn't do stairs anymore, so I couldn't go for boat rides. That part sucked.  But all in all, it's been a pretty good life for a dog.  So long everybody. It was really nice knowing all of you.

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In loving memory of Daisy Klett   April, 2004 - August 27, 2019

                                                   Flowers and Card From Brandy

Close Encounter Of The Deer Kind

I haven't posted in quite awhile because not much has been going on out of the ordinary in my life. It is just a dog's life after-all.  I get up in the morning, eat, go for a walk with David, do my thing, come back home, get a treat, go back to bed, get up in the afternoon, go for a walk with Penny, come back home, eat, and go to bed.  Not too exciting.  Sometimes I have some pretty exciting dreams where I'm chasing chipmunks or barking at deer, but I don't get to do those things much anymore in real life because ever since I tore holes in the neighbor's pool cover, I don't get to run free anymore.  I'm confined to my two walks a day, and I'm always on a leash.  You don't know how hard it is to see a chipmunk off in the distance and not be able to tear off after him.

At least today my morning walk was kind of interesting.  As we rounded the bend in the road at the top of the hill a young doe stepped out of the trees to greet me.  I think it might have been Myra, the baby deer that Rachel and Kim rescued from the water in the book Rachel And The Wizard Of Lake Lure that you can see here.  David reads me that story sometimes at night before I go to sleep.  Anyway it looked like her.

She wasn't afraid of me.  She seemed to sense that I wanted to be her friend.

She slowly approached me, getting ever closer and closer.

Until we were finally almost nose to nose.

I tried to tell her how beautiful I thought she was and how glad I was that she didn't drown that day. I don't know if she understood or not, but eventually I had to get on with my walk and do my thing, so we said goodbye.  It was a good walk.

In Trouble Again

   I'm in deep doo-doo again, but I swear it's not my fault.  My owners need to "own-up" to their responsibility. They know I can't resist the temptation to walk all over the neighbor's pool cover, and yet they have persisted in letting me run free all summer here at Lake Lure, ever since the neighbors removed the cover from the pool sometime in late April.  I don't go near their pool all summer, when there's no cover on it, because I don't like water, and I don't like getting wet.  I absolutely hate it when they decide I'm getting a little too fragrant and it's time for a bath.

   Well, the pool cover went back on last week, and again the temptation was too much for my canine brain to resist.   They should have known that, and they should have started walking me on the leash again.  After all, we only have a few more days here at the lake, before heading down to Florida for the winter.  What's the big deal?

   As soon as I saw that cover, I had to go check it out again.  Unfortunately, the neighbor man caught me in the act (AGAIN) and fired a paint ball gun in the air.  That got my attention, I kid you not.  I got off of there as fast as I could.  I guess I have super-sharp toenails because I tore some pretty good  holes in that cover.  

   Come on...this thing is supposed to be able to support an elephant for cripe's sake.  I guess elephants don't have sharp nails.  I don't really know since I've never met one.  Anyway, the damage was done, and the holes are too big, and too near the seams, to do a patch job like they did last year. A new cover is definitely in order, and I'm in the doghouse big time.  I'm back on the leash, and my master is giving me the silent treatment.  It's just not fair.  Like I said, in my mind it's mostly his fault.  I don't know what it's going to cost, but it doesn't matter because I don't have any money anyway,  and no way to get any.  My master just needs to man-up and take care of it, and not be so lax in the future.

   I'm not going to worry about it...life's too short for that.  In a couple of days I'll be out of here and on my way to Florida to see my best friend, Lacy.  Can't wait.

Scary, Scary Night

I haven't posted in awhile and there's a reason.  We're in Florida now, where we've been spending our winters for several years.  I love going to Florida for the winter. The weather is much warmer and I have some good friends who live here.  Laci is my bff.  She lives just around the corner, and we get together almost every afternoon, either at my house or her's, and we get to play while our dads drink Ruskova and talk about politics and motorcycles.  Here we are playing at my house.

She's a good friend, and she has even come to visit me in North Carolina a few times.  Thursday we spent the whole day together at my place while her human mom and dad went to the other side of the state to see a doctor.  Her mom doesn't feel good and has to see a lot of doctors. I don't like it when her mom doesn't feel well, because then Laci doesn't feel good either. She gets kind of depressed. I hope her mom gets better soon.

Now the reason I haven't posted for awhile is that I had a big health scare myself.  On our way to Florida, we stopped in Cary, NC so my folks could see the grand kids and I could visit my cousins, Crash and Alex.  Here we all are in the back of Uncle Michael's car. That's Crash in the middle and Alex on the right.

We got there the day before Haloween.  That evening, just before dinner-time, I suffered a seizure.  Nothing like that has ever happened to me before and I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't stand up, and I was shaking uncontrollably, and my folks said my eyes rolled up in my head. I thought I was dying, and I guess they did too.  Well, they rushed me to an emergency animal hospital that just happened to be nearby. By the time we got there, I stopped convulsing, but they carried me in anyway and as soon as we went inside it started all over again.

The vet had a British accent, and she was real nice.  She ran lots of tests and kept me there all night and kept an eye on me, but I didn't have any more seizures.  She never did figure out what caused it. She said I could be epileptic, but I'm a little old for that to start showing up. The vet told my folks that I might have another seizure at any time, or I might not have any more at all. We just have to wait and see. In any event, it was a scary night, and I hope it never happens again.  In the meantime, I'm happy to be in Florida again and playing with my good friend Laci.

Meaning Of Life

Some times I wonder who I am.  Why was I put here?  What is my purpose? Am I here just to please my owners and make them happy? Am I really real, or is all this just a dream?  And then I remember...oh yeah, chipmunks.  I'm here to chase chipmunks and make their lives a little more exciting and interesting.

My owner-dad wrote a book about chipmunks awhile back, but he didn't even put me in it, if you can believe that. I mean, come on, I'm the best chipmunk chaser of all time, and I didn't deserve a place in his stupid story?  He wrote about chipmunks riding motorcycles for Cripe's sake.  Everybody knows chipmunks can't ride motorcycles.  All they can do is dig burrows in the ground and fill them up with nuts.  Their lives would be sad and pathetic if it weren't for me keeping them on their toes and giving them an occasional adrenaline rush.  It's a high calling, but one I was made for, and one I'm pleased to fulfill.

Caught In The Act

I was a bad dog today.  I walked on the neighbor's pool cover again.  I don't know why I find this pool cover so irresistible, maybe it's because it gives me the chance to walk on water. I need to explain that I normally get to roam free and explore the neighborhood a couple of times a day, usually first thing in the morning and then again late in the afternoon. That way I can do my business and my owners don't have to get out the leash and take me for a walk, which is no fun for any of us.

The neighbors put in the pool last year and installed a cover that cost a couple grand and is supposed to support an elephant. Well, I went up to look at it, and what I saw looked like a rug where there used to be water, so I walked out on it to check it out.  Well, by the time I got to the middle, the rug felt like it was sinking and water was coming up through it fast and my feet were getting wet. Now, I hate water and I hate getting wet and I felt like I was going to drown, so I sort of panicked, and I clawed my way off of that thing as fast as I could. The holes that my claws made were pretty small, and I didn't think it was any big deal...but the neighbor did. He definitely didn't appreciate a bunch of claw holes in his brand new pool cover. After some lengthy discussion about my owners buying a new cover, the neighbor decided to investigate patching the holes, and that's what he did, and he didn't even make my owner pay for the patches.  I got off easy on that one.

The pool was uncovered all summer and I didn't go near it because, like I said, I don't like water. But then yesterday, the cover magically reappeared where there was once only open water. The temptation to explore it came over me again and I couldn't help myself.  I had just started out across the cover when the neighbor came to his door and hollered at me, "hey you stupid mutt, get off of there".  I hightailed it for home, but it was too late, I'd been caught in the act...red-pawed so to speak.  

Well, my free-roaming days are over for the foreseeable future. I've been grounded, or at least put on a leash, until the pool cover comes off again next summer. C'est la vie.

Hi, I'm Daisy

This is my first post as a new blogger.  I guess I should introduce myself.  My name is Daisy.  I live with David and Penny.  They adopted me from the Wake County SPCA, and probably saved my life, so now I try to protect theirs from all sources of danger...human or animal.  Like this morning, for example.  I took David out for his morning walk, leading him around like a puppy on a string. It had been raining all night and the ground was all wet, and it was cloudy, and damp, and foggy.  We had no sooner left the house when we encountered a large herd of deer, or maybe I should say a herd of large deer.

 We walked right up to them and they just stood there giving us the evil eye, until I woofed and chased them away. They ran like a bunch of scared rabbits...well, maybe more like a bunch of scared deer...but at least they ran.  You never know when a crazed deer might attack.  I don't think David appreciated how much danger he was in, but I knew.  We went on about our business, and after I did my business, we walked back to the house...me being ever vigilant for danger.

You can read my profile for a better idea of who I am, but basically I'm a mutt, part Australian Blue Heeler and part who-knows-what.  I don't mind being a mutt because I like to think that I possess the best traits of several breeds.  And, besides, people tell me I have a cute face.

I just heard somebody put something in my bowl. I gotta go. Talk to you later.