Ode to Spiffy

We had to say good-bye to our doggie, Spiffy. He was getting up there in age, and we know that's especially hard on the big dogs. He was considered a cross between a Border Collie and a Shetland Pony (so you can imagine the personality!), and he was over 100 pounds. He had a bout of something very bad last fall, and he barely pulled through it. Over the winter and early spring, he seemed OK, but he was definitely slowing down. Age will do that, of course - to all of us. His illness came back suddenly. We had to tearfully say good-bye. He bravely went to the light, and he know he's romping now with all our other beloved pets whom we have lost.

Let's think back, via pictures, on life with Spiffy.

As soon as we had moved into the Philomath house and could build a good place for a dog, Mommy & Daddy adopted Spiffy from one of the local humane societies. It was May 2004.

Sidenote: We had many animals join us that year -- Zinky, the goats, and the llama were adopted then. And in 2005 we got Jake. It's likely that we will face many more good-byes in the near term, as all of these critters age and their time with us draws to a close.

His name at the shelter was "Phillip," which we thought was a silly name for a dog. We named him Spiffy, because he looked like he was dressed up in a spiffy tuxedo, ready to go someplace special. His official family name was "Spiffy James Miller," with the middle name a reference to both of his grandfathers, whose first names are also James.

He was estimated to be between 9 and 12 months old when we got him, and there was no information about him or his background. In these beginning days, his ears both folded over. Not long thereafter, however, he developed a very special trait of "one ear up and one ear down."

He quickly learned to give gentle kisses, and he would even take a treat from my mouth.

He also loved to shake hands.

Sunning himself was great fun.

We soon realized that Spiffy had very selective hearing. He did not like to come when called. If there was something more interesting to him out wherever he was headed, there was no way to get his attention and bring him back. One track mind! We tried training him with various methods, and he just wouldn't have it. We even tried having him bond more closely to us by staying in the house, but he was very clearly an outside dog -- happy outside, and a bumbling doofus in the house. We knew we wanted to keep him, but that meant keeping him on a leash or in a pen at all times. So we had to adjust to that style.

He was famous for sticking his head in the cat door when interesting things were happening in the garage.

We had fun with him on a few trips to the beach.

He was very active (and so were we - back then).

Loved to dig-dig-dig, and that was about the only place he was allowed to do this!

He was very hardy and loved to play in the snow.

He had a reputation for bowling over kids. It took a long time to trust him with the girls. We gave him some chances to earn more privileges, and eventually he was allowed to be off-leash when we would make our visits to EO. 

Of course, for Aleaha to take Spiffy for a walk was really more like him taking her for a drag.

Eventually, they became pretty good walking buddies.

When we moved to the new house, we didn't have a good place for Spiffy. For a short time, he had to bunk in the barn with the big animals.

Arby had a special relationship with Spiffy -- he loved the idea of a real, live plaything.

Although Spiffy did love to run and play, he wasn't much interested in being Arby's plaything in the muddy barn paddock.

Running in the snow, though, was a whole other thing!

Cuz that was truly fun!!

He was very tolerant of his lifestyle. One winter the snow was pretty deep. He would stay outside during the day, but at night he would stay in the barn. That was great, because he would protect the hay from mice. And he loved having a job like that!

Frolicking outside was definitely a favorite activity. We had lots of walks together, and lots of romps with the animals.

Whenever possible, he was out and about....

and rolling...

and burning off his energy.

Patrolling the pasture.

Going to give Arby a hard time.

His most important job was at times like this. He's hard to spot, but way out in front of us, as we rode along, he was the "the flusher". His job was to flush out birds and rabbits and even deer, so that as we went by, the horses would not be surprised. 

The girls will always remember him.

He didn't live in the house, but he was a member of the family.

We will miss him dearly.

The girls drew some pictures of him. Above is one by Aleaha.

Here is one by Miri, with lots of hearts and drawings of themselves with him, and an arrow saying "love" and pointing to him.

Critters, critters, everywhere

This is such a wonderful time of year, when the animals really can take advantage of the grass.

Jake was sunning himself.

This is a very grainy collage of Cheddar, the feral. He is very skittish around us, so this was taken through a glass and screen door. However, the girls have been telling us that they can pet him. We doubted it and figured it was just a story they were weaving. Then just the other day, Daddy challenged Miri to live up to the story, and she walked right up to him and patted his head. Most cats are leery of kids to begin with, but we seem to have a feral who prefers kids to adults.

He needs to be reminded who buys the cat food around here! 

Juice grabbed Daddy's lap, and Miri loaned her blanket to make it especially cozy.

Sisters Update

 A mish-mash of a posting...lots happening around here lately....

Their school had a "crazy hair day" recently, as a reward for good behavior of all the students. We made up Miri in the style of Pippi Longstocking. She had to be careful going through the doorways!

And Aleaha made up her own hairstyle -- "The Bearded Lady," she called it!

The girls absconded a large cardboard box that was used to ship a piece of shop equipment, and they made a "house" out of it. After this giant thing had been in the family room for a couple of weeks, and then out on the back patio for a couple more weeks, Mommy was tired of it and it was recycled.

We enjoyed a visit to some friends' house one afternoon, and they loved getting into the very cool lego set.

Do you know what this is? Lots of elementary school girls can tell you...

It's a fairy house! It even has a hinged door (made with elastic pieces). Our enterprising eldest even made and laminated a "for rent" sign...they are still awaiting a fairy family to come take up residence. 

Aleaha has been watching (read: obsessed with) the foodie show called Cupcake Wars. It's very competitive and overly dramatic, and they force people to use weird ingredients and themes. But she is very inspired by it. So they begged to make cupcakes one recent weekday afternoon. I agreed, but it had to be with a boxed mix - needs to be quick and less-mess! Aleaha insisted on homemade frosting, and I agreed on that front. So we found a recipe for a very simple, 2-ingredient frosting. 

Each kid had to be supplied with her own baggie of frosting to decorate her own dozen cakes. Ay yi yi, this whole equal-and-fair thing is exhausting! (and frankly, it doesn't always happen that way,  either!!)

OK, Mommy was the first to point this out - and you, internet, surely see this too....what comes to mind when you look at the frosting on these cupakes???

Prize to the first one to shout out "Dog Doo!!!"

So we called them Dog Doo Cupcakes. Like, who wouldn't want to eat those, right?

Thank heavens the crew in shop, where we quickly schlepped over a dozen, were not a bit queezy with that moniker.

Sprinkles helped, just a tad.

Aleaha had Mommy's phone and snapped a few shots of Miri playing in the pink petals of the cherry tree.

We took a walk at Peavy Arboretum recently. They were souped-up on sugar (must have been those doggone cupcakes), so it wasn't the in-touch-with-nature experience Mommy was hoping for. 

Oh well, they were out in the woods, walking and exercising and burning off the sugar.

We made a stop at the Oregon Ag Fest in Salem one day. Miri wanted a picture of herself on the fire truck.

And we took a ride in the wagon being pulled by a tractor. (There was also a wagon being pulled by draft horses, but there was a sign noting a $40 fee, so we didn't do that. Nor did we do the pony rides, which had a line a mile long.)

There was a cool interactive display with a covered wagon. Aleaha put on the yoke for how the kids moved water. She noted it was not exactly comfortable!

They did love this!

There was also a cool display of chicks that were hatching. Many kids cramming to see it, so we didn't get all that great of a look-see, but it was pretty neat.

And of course we had to seek out the face painting. Miri asked for a butterfly. There was quite a bit of paint involved, and as it dried, it was itchy. So it didn't last long before she was begging to take it off. 

Aleaha asked for a fly, and she got a very cute version!

Bathing beauty! (shot taken after her cast was completely off)

They still get into bed together a lot.