That scholar don’t need no stinkin’ half-glasses!

And is that slime, or silky sheen?

That is one heroic pose.

Lovely Wembley! I vote for silky sheen, and who cares if it’s the washable kind. It will but reveal the underlying silky sheen.

We lost our dear friend, Albert the pug, day before yesterday, at only age 12. He was diabetic, and was well-maintained on his insulin for over 5 years, but the condition made him, as he got older, more susceptible to passing infections. This last weekend he started showing signs of a respiratory bug, we started him on antibiotics, and he seemed to improve.. but it was clear he was in bad shape by Tuesday morning. Off to the vet, where he wore a doggy oxygen mask for a while, patiently sitting like the good fellow he was.

An x-ray showed that his airways were being constricted not only by some fluid in the lungs but by an unidentified mass just visible near his heart. Only 6 weeks ago his heart had been fine… to be brief, he was given penicillin, and my sister Linda took him out to the car while I waited for a raft of anti-congestion antibiotic pills to be dispensed. Lin came in just as I was putting them in my purse, and shook her head. The vet, a tech, and the 2 of us raced out to the car and the Dr. scooped him up in her arms from the front seat, and there was a little response. But he slipped away as she carried him back to the office. She said she felt his last heartbeat as she held him.

He was a splendidly intelligent little guy, strong-minded and confident like most pugs, and able to twist us around his paw pretty much any time, which we enjoyed very much. I miss making his treats, mixing up his meals, even giving him his shots. Miss holding him on my lap, miss cleaning up his poop, miss his champion vocalizing if I wasn’t getting his dinner or breakfast ready fast enough… if we had some music on the background, he was always on key somehow, whether it was Debussy or Bix Beiderbecke.

By his later years he wasn’t seeing or hearing very well, but he was always interested, always ready to stick his nose in the air or down into the undergrowth for an interesting scent trail, his tail curled over his back and his ears alert. He was the best. We’ll get a new pug, very likely a rescue, and he or she will be wonderful too. But not a replacement, because that’s not possible. There’s only one Albert.

I am SO sorry t hear this. Condolences from myself and the boys.

I am so sorry to hear this suedoise. I lost my cat recently and remember how hard it is. Tbogg’s people were very kind to me and I’m sure their good wishes will help sustain you as well.

Albert and you were lucky to have each other.

(In best John Houseman voice) “Did you hand in your assignment, Mister Berg?”

DOGGY!
Oh, my Doggy! Sweet, darling, droolly Doggy.

“For that casual summer look, the collar tag should be worn slightly off center.”

Sue, we are so very sorry for the loss of your dear Albert. We hope he is happy running and playing at the Bridge, until you meet again. Susannah

Wembley’s an intellectual. I love it. Bow tie and glasses monocle, please.

So sorry to hear of your loss. I teared up reading this. In those brief paragraphs you have me wrapped around Albert’s paw, too. :(

Dogs bring so much joy and live too few years. It’s not fair.

Ah yes, doggies. The Richness of Life, indeed.

Sue, so sorry for your loss. A friend of mine lost his Corgi last week, too. The passing of our dogs is so heartbreaking. They are the one true source of unconditional love, asking nothing in return…well, maybe some treats and a scratch behind the ears now and then.

{{{{{{{{{{{{suedoise and Linda}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
My condolence’s to all of Albert’s humans. I am so sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your wonderful Albert with us. Until you all meet again…

My condolences suedoise, and farewell to the never-to-be-forgotten Albert, he of the noble Pack of Musical Pugs.

The slime comment Wembley-rolled me.
I embiggened.

TBogg, you are one lucky meatsack.

C

Bassets schmassets. T, drop everything and go here at once. Tim Tebow arrested in NYC for heckling gays:

http://www.freewoodpost.com/2012/03/25/breaking-news-tim-tebow-arrested-in-new-york-city/

Oops. Ne-ver mind. This is from a satire site. Color me embarrassed.

It’s good you caught that as satire; he is certainly the butt of many a joke!

I don’t follow sports much, but I did see a nice write-up on young Mr. Tebow from someone in the normally cynical NYC media. That writer presented Mr. Tebow’s current efforts in quite a positive light. Bravo, I say! To paraphrase the late, great Old Blue Eyes, if that young man can make it there, he can make it anywhere.*

*excluding Denver, and maybe some other places

Many good thoughts to you, suedoise. My lost friend, Sam the Dog (RIP 2/7/2012) will welcome Albert into Dog Heaven. May the sweet balm of dog love heal your heart.

I am sorry. Sounds like you gave him a very good life and he’s probably above you playing like a two year old doggie. and having all the treats he can have.

I see Wembley is guarding your books. I see you have an ancient Encylopedia set like we used to until we sent them off to Goodwill.

Adding my condolences to the loss of Albert. He sounds like he was quite a dog, indeed.

Suedoise, what a wonderful dog Albert sounds to have been. You were lucky to have him, and he you.

‘wembley is unimpressed with your intellectual posturing’

You can’t fool me; that picture was only meant to show how well read you are.
Naughty Tbogg!

Thanks, everyone — you folks really are humans deserving of both unconditional doggy love and human love, not to mention our gratitude here at our emptier house. From whatever other dimension hosts the etheric essences of beloved animals, Our Albert thanks you with his customary tongue-loll and big grin. All us companions-of-the-fourfooted-creation who’ve been bereaved, either recently or more in the past, know in a bittersweet way that the lines between species, spiritually anyway, are very permeable indeed.

BTW, not that it’s important, but “suedoise” (sway-dwahze) is French for “Swedish woman” (our family being half ethnically Swedish), and like “Beatles with an A” it popped into my head on a flaming pie, way back in 19-ought-90-something when I signed up for my first AOL e-mail account. And I’ve been stuck with it ever since. The only benefit it’s ever conferred is that no one else in the entire world seems to use it — and I once got a sex come-on e-mail in French. From France. Tres glamoureux, I guess — I couldn’t really read it.

Sue’s a very nice name, but I can’t lay claim to it. I’m having a hard enough time thinking of a name for the new puggie we’ll eventually get, because it will have to be the name of a great scientist or thinker. Our late dad started a tradition with Albert Einstein, in recognition of his then new puppy’s intellectual powers.

There’s a bunch out there. We named our dog Linus but it was for Peanuts not Pauling. I’ve always liked Darwin. Here’s a nice list when you’re ready -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates

From one diabetic and his dog, you have our condolences.

Boy, the stuff you don’t know you don’t know… I had no idea that Theodore Roosevelt, of all people, got a Nobel Peace Prize. Or that Eugene O’Neil was a Nobelist.

Loads of juicy names there, warrenterra, thanks! A great resource — very heavy on the German monikers in the early years of the prize, I notice. Max, as in Max Planck, would be a good dog/pug name. Or Ernie, for Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born physicist who researched and postulated the internal structure of atoms.

Thanks again, everybody, for all your kind thoughts.