The Delights and Wonders of Having Dogs in One's Family!

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:           The Delights and Wonders of Having Dogs in One's Family!

Nickie!  Quite adept at
piano, she was!!

"Snickers" was the given name, that is, the moniker conferred upon a certain "CockaPoo" of our acquaintance.  Her original family called her "Nickie."  She was a canine of the feminine persuasion.  Following our adoption of said doggie, we, ever after, called her Nickie as well!  (Snickers seemed to us unkind and inappropriate, sort of...  like equating her to an edible thing...   a commodity!!)

(Cockapoo:  An amalgam of cocker spaniel and poodle, not a rooster and a chubby, honey-obsessed literary cartoon creature!)

The adoption was accomplished following the death of his original master, a much-loved family member whom we continue to miss, even some 40 years or more after the fact.  Prior to her passing, she "bequeathed" Nickie to us, fearful that her remaining family members might tend to forget their dog-connected duties, given work, school and personal commitments and preferences!  Understandable, of course, and we were happy to take the dog into our care! 

She was unique, a kind of "First Edition," One-of-a-Kind...  A fuzzy, highly energetic and sort of manic package with a comic and an antic disposition.  A bundle all together repulsive, maddening, unruly, laughable and lovable!

On one occasion, while trotting about in our neighborhood -- a daily routine designed to

The Blog's Perpetrator
in peculiar joggling
apparel, compelling his
"Best Friend" to
bite his leg!

keep one fit -- glad in goggles, knit cap, scarf, logo'ed leg warmers and other odd apparel, she bit me.  Probably didn't mean to bite her deputy master, possibly a case of mistaken identity...  (or fear of lunacy ?!) -- SweetHeart being the principal or Chief of Masters -- she seemed to apologize after I showed Nickie the bite mark and blood on my lower leg!  Nickie, of course, feigned ignorance!

She even bit our lawyer.  Thank goodness he was a dear friend of long standing!  All taken in good humor, even as he hopped in one-legged pain, quizzing us as to why we were present with a strange beast at a cut-rate salvage yard!  (We might have been sued had she bit a member of the legal profession unknown to us!) 

Nickie barked at everything and anything, including insects, doors, the postman, the UPS and other commercial delivery drivers, other dogs, passersby in the neighborhood, birds, visiting children, dignitaries, collection agents, a mean-looking repossession emissary...

Splendor in the Grass...  
Prior to Burial Ceremony!

***************************

When Nickie became quite old and ill, she had to be carried      upstairs to our bed where she'd spend the night in peaceful slumber.  Hearing morning noises, she emit strident barking, waking the household if not the entire neighborhood, tumble out of bed and mostly fall down the stairs, crash into a closet door at the bottom of said stairs, and commence barking fiercely at the offending door!

When Nickie finally succumbed to illness and old age, we took her to the capacious property of our dear friends, Sue and Rob, and buried her near a fruit tree.  As part of the burial ceremony, I sang the plaintive tune, "Old Blue," and we lowered her into the grave...  "I dug her grave with a silver spade, and let her down with a golden chain, singin' 'Go on Blue (Nickie,) I'm a comin' too..." A truly lovely send-off that those of us participating, and no doubt listening from the road, found to be quite haunting, beautiful and memorable!  (Really??!!)

***************************************************************************

She, Kody,  really did have large Black Spots
on her fuselage, or torso!  You'll have to 
take our word!

And then Dakota arrived, or Kody as we came to call her, a mainly white and black-spotted greyhound acquired from a shelter, or humane society canine care center in the county in which we lived at the time.  Our sweet little daughter felt we could not live without a "canine cousin" in our family grouping.  Kody cuddled up to Bethie, our daughter...   and that was that!

As greyhounds do, Kody loved to run, but only the sprint portion of the exercise, and then we practically had to drag her back home as she felt she had done all that was necessary in the running game.  (I think we heard her speak occasionally -- "Leave me alone here on the soft grass...  I'm resting!") 

Our daughter, she who desperately wanted a doggie companion, moved out shortly after the Kody acquisition, leaving her parents with the permanent care and feeding responsibilities for Dog Kody!  

Kody (center, Mostly) with Family Members.  
SweetHeart is at top.  That's Bethie at left!

    Kody had a Houdini-like proclivity of     escaping her collar and lead, frequently.  On     one occasion we found the escapee climbing up  on the body and shoulders of an elderly     woman!  "Git him off, Git him off," the woman  shrieked repeatedly.  We ran to the poor old     dear and extricated Kody from her terrified     person, comically scolding Kody in the     process.  The elderly woman scowled at and     rebuked us, "He should be on a rope or some other means of restraint for pity sake..."  

"He's a girl dog," SweetHeart responded!

In the midst of our old and sagging front porch reconstruction, Kody clawed her way out of the temporary doorway in order to follow her immediate family and other relatives who were embarking on a walk to the local coffee emporium.  She raced after us, crossing a somewhat busy road only to be struck by a large pickup truck.  No fault of the driver's, as he could not stop in time to prevent striking the racing hound.  The poor man wept as we tried to console him, while at the same time assessing the considerable damage to our poor canine.

She was obviously badly wounded in the encounter.  Shocked and limping, belly sagging and filled with blood and other fluid, we rushed Kody to an animal emergency clinic.  Throughout the ordeal, various veterinarians continued to consult with us, halting our continuous circumnavigations as we nervously paced the waiting area.  "She'll need more treatment," a vet doctor told us.  "Um, she'll need this kind of treatment...  and these sorts

of medicines..."  $3000.00 later we carried her to our auto, and then into the house.  SweetHeart fed her by hand.  Soft foods.  Oatmeal, cottage cheese, soft-boiled eggs....  Kody became the Cleopatra of wounded animals, dedicated servants at her bidding!!

At various times in her life with us, Kody -- food obsessed and thieving like no dog before or since --  ate an entire complement of chocolates, regurgitating and depositing offal everywhere in the house, not a spot of carpeting was spared!  On another occasion, SweetHeart having baked one of her famous cheesecakes promised for a function we were to attend, Kody devoured damn near the entire cake!  Kody was a master food thief.  We were not always happy with her, particularly when she consumed our dinners!  

Our fault, I suppose.  We should have concealed all manner of food stuffs, placing them well out of her reach or ability to sniff out and devour!!  

Pete (left), Yoshi (right) and
Alie (Center)....  Walkies!!

On one of her escapes, she fled into nearby Lake Park and encountered a not-too-friendly skunk.  Our neighbor used his roommate's new convertible, rescued Kody who resultantly,        permanently deposited and impregnated skunk aroma in the    upholstery and carpeting of the gorgeous new automobile.  The roommate was not pleased, perhaps needless to add.  But, Kody was rescued, safe...  That must count for something, eh?

Kody lived 13 years.  We did not have a chance to offer her a burial ceremony, as a local humane animal clinic put her to sleep.  Kody had cancer, couldn't eat, couldn't digest food.  She was positively skeletal.  Very sad.  We miss them both, loved them both.  Wonderful companions.  Wonderful, fun and often challenging family members.  

************************

     Pete with Lucy!        

    There is, however, a kind of compensation.  Both of our beautiful          daughters have dogs -- Pete (Peter, Petey...) and Yoshi, both males         of the species, the former a rescued street dog, a tan-colored mix of     beagle and no one really knows what else, but with a sweet
    disposition.   The latter is all black, another mixture of breeds, a         small "Labra-Doodle"sort of creation!  

Yoshi, après bath!

    He, Yoshi (or Yo Yo, his sort of nom de plume!)      has a bark that seems as though he may have         swallowed an amplifier with no volume control!  Both are interesting, delightful creatures.  We are happy to spend time with them, and that helps to mitigate the loss of those former pals, their memories etched in our heads and hearts, their adventuresome stories a frequent source of merriment! 

(Dedicated to Dog Lovers Everywhere, particularly those who took possibly unwanted  shelter-bound dogs into their hearts and homes.  We are of course kindred spirits, are we not?  Indeed we are!  Thank You!) 

(Humbly Submitted 04-29-2025 -- By Joel K.)   

 

 

 

  

  

Loss... The Wounded Heart!

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:             Loss...  The Wounded Heart!

It is of course inevitable, if sadly so, damn!  We're not designed for permanence.  We are not rocks or water or earth...   or carbon, perhaps?  Doesn't matter.  In the hazy milieu

of GeezerHood, we experience the loss of those we love and cherish!  It's a rotten business!  We usually don't care to think of it, or dwell on it, or wallow in misery as if figuratively, morosely standing at the "terminal bus stop," pondering the inexorable end of life!    

Most recently, our dear friend, Susie, drifted away after 15 months of illness, much of it in agony and suffering, but through all of it she exhibited extraordinary courage and strength.  In much of that time her attitude was laced with remarkable optimism, even hope, a quality her family and friends shared with prayer and bold attempts at a kind of sanguine bouyancy, a hopeful positivism, even cheerfulness, if a bit naive, knowing in our hearts that nothing could save her.  

The chemo and drugs and therapy did little to mitigate the experience, while it devoured her time and her energy.  She was far too good, loving and generous to have been

That's her with her friend, or
was it her pet...  bald eagle!  Such a good
time, one of many travel adventures!

subjected to an end of life so damned undeserved.  Her family and friends benefitted enormously from her kindness, emotional strength and loving spirit.  She was a treasure among those of us who could never hope to compare!

**************************************

In early August of last year, 2024, my brother, Kris, succumbed to enough cancer to spread among those far less important and valued, far less valuable to the human species.  He was another treasure, with a tremendous degree of talent and skill and loving generosity.  His gifts endure and will long be remembered and cherished by everyone who knew him and were lucky enough to bask in the remarkable force and richness of his personality.

My sister's first-born of three sons died recently, nearly a continent away from his home in California.  Too young!  We weren't close, emotionally or physically.  He was a good man; he looked after his grandfather, my father, during the latter's long hospice care.  My nephew did so with love and generous kindness, temporarily minimizing  his own academic and other more desirable, personal pursuits, the kind that would normally occupy the minds and physical activities of most vital young men.   

That's him with Bride, Jaynie.  
It's an old picture, 1965
probably!  

I guess the point is, loss and death are crap!!  I know, I know...  No one, not one of us escapes.  We're all doomed.  Our only hope is that we can endure long enough to spread some light, benefit our families and our best chums, our colleagues and comrades!  

I'm told there's such a thing as a peaceful passing, one that is not that sort of lethal dagger such as cancer and other horrific diseases, the kind that linger...  I've known a couple, maybe a few, who died peacefully in sleep!  Too bad we can't all book in advance such a ticket to the inevitable grave! 

The eminent psychiatrist / philosopher, Carl Jung once said, or wrote, "Life behaves as if it were going on (forever)..."  We all seem to harbor the illusion of immortality, suggested often in literature, including one of the writings of Jean Paul Sartre.  The protagonist in one of the author's tales "surrenders that illusion..." and, his death sentence delayed, possibly reversed (I can't readily recall...), feels he is or may as well be dead, having given up, surrendered to it, admitting dully that nothing mattered any longer.  

I don't know why the hell those bits of existential musings come to mind...   Perhaps I'm  getting a bit maudlin!  I didn't mean to dwell on that topic, as in, where the hell did that come from...!  Apologies...        

****************************************************************************

It seems a bit strange, maybe a little wrong, to introduce a topic that is perhaps an inappropriate digression...  not nearly as heart wrenching or sad, but loss nonetheless...   The subject is relocation...    Moving!  In summer of last year, we sold our house of something in the neighborhood of 28, approaching, maybe, 30 years, and moved west from our east side Milwaukee home to a large suburb.  We loved living east, near the city's vibrant downtown area, near the big lake.  

It was a difficult move, physically, of course, but emotionally as well, but one we regarded as timely and necessary.  Many can  

The old house!

and will empathize, I'm certain.  Getting rid of years of "stuff" is also a tricky and difficult undertaking.  For some, sentiment presents a major obstacle.  For others a pleasing relief to be rid of the often useless and unwanted clutter accumulated over the space of so many years.  I hoarded several old telephone books, for example, often a subject of ridicule!  (You know...   important numbers circled and saved in case of need!)  

Well, gosh -- realizing I should put an end to this morose business -- everything we value is eventually lost when we finally meet, in the words of the incomparable W.C. Fields, "The Fellow in the Bright Nightgown."  Meantime, for those of us still standing, we are best advised to savor the joys of life and its many adventures, its good, and bad times too, thankful for all we have, particularly for its real and enduring diamonds, namely, our loving family members and our cherished good friends!  

So long Susie, Kris and Keith.  We loved you!  We'll miss all of you terribly.  We hope, if those with religion and spiritualism in their hearts are right, you're in a better place, waiting for the rest of us to arrive, all of us bathed in the bright auras of joyful rebirth!! 

(Humbly Submitted 02-28-2025...  by Joel K.) 

     

A Moving Experience!

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:      A Moving Experience!

    In 1995, or it may have been 1997 (I should check some documents, maybe...), we lived in a western suburban community.  We were eager to leave it behind and move eastward.  Even in GeezerHood, we, SweetHeart and I, were sentient enough to realize we didn't belong anywhere but in a city of a certain size and population, not to mention one having a political and social climate more conducive to our own

beliefs, values and attitudes.

The old House!  128 Yrs. Old!

    We landed on the east side of Milwaukee, a block from Lake Park, in a beautiful neighborhood.  Even the wild life seemed to enjoy the ambiance...  wild turkeys, coyotes, deer, strange humanoids, vultures...

    From the start, we both professed most adamantly that this -- a fine old duplex built in 1896 -- was fated to be our last place of residence.  We would never move again!  Never!  We'd be carted to the curb in green refuse carts with our feet pointed upwards in case someone needed shoes!  

    We inherited a tenant, a professor at a nearby university.  When she left us two delightful professors with their young child moved into the vacated upstairs flat.  We occupied the downstairs.  They departed after a couple of years to accept professorial positions in California.  He, the child, left a colorful kite for me!  Sweet lad that he was,

probably still is!

    Next a young couple moved in, but they wanted children and a larger home.  Then came Joan.  She remained with us for some 23 years.  We became great friends, and the friendship has endured, though she moved out a couple of years ago, having had increasing difficulty with stairs, being in her 90s!  

    The new tenant was with us for approximately two years, a kind and generous woman who has three children and a boyfriend.  He, the gentleman friend, is in residence occasionally when not plying his trade a a master electrician with a career based on the west coast.  He commutes, of course, frequently!

    The aforementioned tenant greatly admired the old house.   It, the house, in 2024 having reached 128 years in stable existence, remained a most handsome and admirable structure and place of residence.  She offered to purchase the home and we agreed to sell, abandoning our previous oath of "Never Moving Again."  

    What the hell!  Getting older, dealing with frequent breakdowns, repairs, purchases of new appliances for upstairs and down, paint, plaster, filling cracks, more paint, replacement of wood-burning fireplaces with gas fireplaces, new furnaces, installation of whole-house air conditioning, a new roof, a new porch (to replace a sinking one), concrete footings, new concrete stairways leading to the front porch and doors, interior stripping of ancient paint and wallpaper, new paint, new lighting fixtures, new sinks, re-tiling of both kitchen floors, installation of electrical breakers to replace ancient fuses...  most of the upgrades and improvements, beautifications thanks to the extraordinary Rob C.!  

    The above is a  partial listing of home-ownership duties and chores.  It tires me to enumerate, and listing more will only send me back to bed, I'm afraid!!  I'm already yawning and my eyelids are drooping...     

    We decided the time had come to move.  We explored condominiums, many of them.  Then we remembered the above, the litany of requirements of home ownership, ladders, painting, pounding things, snaking drains, mopping, cleaning sinks, toilets, Q-tips for crud that accumulated in sink overflow ports...  

    The moving project was a lengthy and arduous process!  (This is unlikely to be a revelation to those city denizens who have moved just once or many times!).  The wonderful daughter of our long-standing upstairs tenant, neighbor and friend engaged a Junk
Removal team that off-loaded and unloaded much of her mother's, along with our own

third floor (attic?) overflow, and then the subterranean (basement)  junk as well.  We all thought removal of the aforementioned stuff would never cease!!  (I believe it was quite dark when the parade of outgoing stuff finally subsided!!...  Sorta-like Aliens!) 👽

    It was certainly a purposeful start.  Extraordinary how much material (junk, unwanted stuff!) we all accumulate.  When we commenced the actual move, the big and permanent move, that is, we had already, previously, commandeered several vehicles of friends, daughters, grandsons and others to move to the new place of residence (an apartment) several thousand cartons and boxes filled with "treasures."  (Minor hyperbole!!). Our older daughter was a tremendous inspiration and help!  Her mantra:   "No one wants it; no one needs it; It's going...  Get rid of it!!"  

    We are now firmly ensconced in the new place of residence, a rental, that is, a rented apartment.  It's quite nice.  Two bedrooms, two full baths, a storage locker, an open

balconied porch that overlooks a very attractive courtyard...  flowers, trees, a seating area, a gas grill...  One can almost feel the presence of Frederick (Freddy, I like to call him!) Law Olmstead, ("Father of Landscape Architecture," I believe!?).  Everything is so darn "Becoming."  Freddy's descriptor, not the author's / perpetrator's of this writing!

    Quite an adventure.  We'll never move again until we're dead...  We've sworn a new oath of allegiance to "ultimate and immovable stability"!!  Not going anywhere!  Never!  If you see us many years hence walking along the nearby parkway, and we're still among the living, in or near our new place of residence, give us an acknowledging wave!!!

[Special Note of Dedication:    To SweetHeart and to our dearest and best-loved non-relative friends, Rob and his muse, Susie (if one may call her such!) and our Sweet Wonderful Alie, the master decorator / hanger of art -- to  all of them, for their unwavering love, friendship and companionship!  Thank you!]

 

    

Volunteering / Participating at The School...!!...

 

Memoirs of a Geezer

  

Reflections and Observations -- A Bright Passage from the Fantasies of Youth to Illuminations of Advanced Maturity!

This Episode:          Volunteering / Participating at The School...!!.....

    Now when was it?  Maybe two, three years ago?!  Maybe?...  Just to be clear, GeezerHood had already made its presence known in my being...  Had already appeared, to put it another way!  Our friend, Cathy, telephoned with a "remarkable" offer!  (I use the adjective sort of "Tongue in Cheek" style!...)   

(But wait, there's more, and it's all really positive and uplifting too!!)

Apparently people caught a lot of White
Fish here throughout the community's
history*...  Maybe still do!  And cafes 
serve whitefish dishes too, we told!
(* Meaning, of course, in the Big
Lake that forms its Eastern Border!)

    "Hi," said she, "You two would be a perfect fit for North Shore School for Seniors!  Ever hear of it?  The school is headquartered at a church nearby, United Methodist Church of Whitefish Bay, at the head, sort of, of downtown Whitefish bay...  where Lake Drive apparently ends, but then turns right at a traffic light...  go straight at the light and you're in the heart of downtown..."  

(Our friend is the Executive Director of NSS4S!)

"Not interested," said I.

"Yes we are," said SweetHeart.

We began as Volunteers, quickly becoming "Chief (and, dare one say) Executive" Volunteer Coordinators.  

"You've been unanimously selected as our principal Volunteer Coordinators," said Cathy, enthusiasm, like gold leaf, embellishing her words of pure delight (not to mention clever conscription strategy!).  "And, oh yes, the existing board voted for you as well!  You are also our newest Members of the Board of Directors"!  

"Gosh," we gushed in unison, "Board Members too!!  Great leaping anacondas!  Imagine..."  She failed to mention that only if we hadn't been actually breathing beings we might have been turned down for the latter superb honor that was (un-?) ceremoniously heaped upon us!!

Perhaps I'm being a bit sarcastic, or should the correct word be...   sardonic?  Truth is, we blended into the role with delight, perhaps not as far down the road to the destination...   BLISS!  Not right away, anyway!

In time, however, now some time and experience having passed, we, SweetHeart and I, have indeed embraced the roles we were offered, or should I say, thrust, co-op'ted, um...   "forced" into out of friendship, sense of duty, nothing we could do about it...  too timid to say NO...  (See Paragraph Three!)...  

In truth, we have come to enjoy the school, our 

NSS4S welcomes students / 
participants of any and all age
groups!  Register Today...
at:   www.nss4s.org!

roles, the wonderful people we've met -- including students, of course -- and the overall adventures of Learning, Having Fun, Making New Friends!!!  Our fellow volunteers are quite wonderful, and committed (or should be??...  A bit of humor thrown in to lighten the mood, of course!!  We mustn't get too serious around here!!) 

The school (and its class sessions, needless to add...!) occurs every Monday and every Tuesday for four consecutive weeks (Term One), then continues for four more weeks (Term Two).  There's a Fall session, and then a Spring session, the latter also consisting of Two Terms!  Classes are held -- some 60 of them -- on Mondays and Tuesdays, September through dates in October, and then comes "Term Two" that begins and ends on dates in November!  The Spring Sessions?...  (To Be Announced!  Stay Tuned, Stay Current, you Lucky Students!!  And we do mean Lucky, as the classes offered are truly diverse and...

NSS4S Instructors are
not so intimidating...
They are kind, intelligent and 
committed to offering our 
wonderful students / 
participants outstanding
and enlightening 
experiences!  

We don't usually offer 
obscure languages, but if
requested...  One never knows!

...outstanding, with equally Outstanding Instructors personally on hand, that is, personally present to edify, enthrall and often fascinate!!)...   

Examples of Classes Offered:    Learning Cribbage, America's Founding Documents, Exercise Classes, Poetry, Art, History, Milwaukee's Outstanding Art Museum and the Exhibits it Offers, Thomas Jefferson's Wisconsin Connection, Writing Family Stories, Knitting, Languages for Beginners, and So Much More...  It's True!!  

And, NSS4S has an excellent web site -- www.nss4s.org -- visit the site today, now, right away...  What are you waiting for, for Pete's Sake??!!  You can register for classes right there, OnLine...  Thank you for your kind attention to this introduction to North Shore School for Seniors!  Are you registered yet??!!  

(Special Note of Dedication:    ...For our Instructors, many of whom are well know in educational and professional Circles, our Outstanding and Devoted Volunteers, and, of course, our equally Outstanding and Committed Student / Participants! We thank you all profusely and most sincerely!!)

Submitted 09-26-2024 -- Joel K