Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Doghouse

Well, before I start putting photos on Flickr and posting videos of our trip, I wanted to post the "treat time" video that I made right before we left. The chance of our having seven dogs in the house again at one time are probably slight and these guys were all so cute.

When we left we had seven dogs here: the puppies, Itsy and Bitsy; the new puppy Basil (named for St. Basil Cathedral in Moscow!); Emmy, the dog who hated Walt; Polly, our anti-social foster dog, and our own two. Ashley was moving in with Lord only knows how many dogs. She said that during her time here, the house became a chihuahua sanctuary.

But by the time we got home, Emmy, Itsy, Bitsy and Basil had all been moved to new homes. Polly was still here and then there is the little guy, whom I have named Cappuccino, because he reminds me of a Jelly Belly cappuccino flavored jellybean.

Cappaccino.jpg (44674 bytes)

The dogs were ecstatic to see us. It's one of the nice things about being gone for an extended period of time--you really find out how much they love you. Lizzie got in my lap and just rolled over and over and over again, lcking my face while I rubbed her tummy. Sheila went back and forth between Walt and me, patting us with her paw and burying her head in our laps. Polly cuddled right back in her spot in my armpit and kept alternately staring at me in disbelief ("You came back!") and licking my nose.

As for Cappuccino (or "Cappy," as I will probably call him) he was very confused by all the excitement. He obviously wanted to be a part of it, but was also very skitish. I just let him work it out for himself. By early evening, he was sleeping in my lap and he slept there for some of the time through the night as well.

I divided my time between the recliner and the couch last night. Sheila really wanted me on the couch and I really wanted to be in the recliner, but when I woke up to use the facilities, I moved to the couch, and she happily stood at my side until I started dozing off, then she lay down on the floor beside me with a happy sigh.

Polly followed us to the couch as well and stretched out along my side. It's not exactly the most comfortable sleeping position for me, but she is lightweight and once I go to sleep, I don't notice her. Lizzie took up her position on the table behind the couch, where she could watch over everything.

It was nice to have the world back in order again...and I think the dogs felt that too.


TomJI.jpg (35487 bytes)One of the sad things about coming home again was receiving the word that a friend of ours had finally lost his battle with cancer. Juan Ignacio Vergara was a physician from Chile who led our first group of Chilean students, and who stayed with us during their 3 week homestay. He was very quiet and kind of embarrassed with us, but we developed a nice friendship, I think. We used to hear from him regularly as he completed his residency in Chile and then when he married and started raising a family.

There was a gap of many years when we had no news of him, but when people started finding each other on Facebook, some of the people in his group joined and friended me. Through them, I was able to get news of Juan Ignacio, who had been the head of Santiago's military hospital and, in that capacity, had been the spokesperson to the media for information about the health (and ultimate death) of former Chilean leader, Augusto Pinochet.

Then I had the sad news of his cancer, and now of his death. In the 10 years we had people from other countries living with us -- 70 from 14 countries -- there were fewer than ten whom I called "special ones." Juan Ignacio was one of the "special ones."

Rest in peace, my friend.

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