To mark the first anniversary of the G-Pup’s passing, I’m throwing back to one of the many Golden Retriever tales that encompassed life with our sweet girl.
Miss her every day.
Say goodnight to her every night.
I’ve never seen her pass up a puddle.
Gracie Allen lived up to her name in every way.
Let’s throw.
Stop the Stink!…
You’re probably thinking this is an educational post about the world garbage crisis. I’m sure there is a post somewhere out there on the intertoobs about that, but this isn’t it. And I’m using the word educational as a nod to my many blog spammers who say, “Thank you for your educational post on…” We all know that when Elen blogs it out!, educational doesn’t factor into it. Just sayin’.
I digress.
Stop the Stink! We did just that today in my neck of sunny Canadaland. The stink is the wintry coat of one Gracie Allen Golden Pup, aka Gracie Lou Freebush at the groomers. By the end of winter, she is one stinksome pup.
I’m pretty sure stinksome is a Viking term I read in a Sandra Hill novel. So no, WordPress, it isn’t misspelled, it’s archaic…, or a Hillism. Whatever. It stays.
We did a coin toss to see who would actually get in the Echo with an 80 lb. pond-scum-smelling Golden. I lost. Next time I’m using my special coin.
Miss Gracie has gone to the same groomer her entire doggy life. She’s comfortable there. They love her. They can clip her nails without her howling like a werewolf.
That actually happened at the vet. The Vet Tech and Gracie disappeared into the back room — both of them all toe-bouncy and cheerful — and Gracie set to howling with every tiny clip. They returned 10 minutes later. Gracie was all that-wasn’t-really-me-acting-like-a-big-puppy-cheerful, and the Vet Tech was all I’d-rather-birth-a-football-red-faced. That’s why I pay them the big bucks.
Golden Pup gets what the groomer calls the Large Long Hair Bath Super Tidy. It takes eleven years to dry her. Super Tidy translates to Golden Buzz Cut. We decided long ago bd — before delivery — that she would not be a pageant dog, so we got pretty practical about that long Golden hair pretty darn quick. With every super tidy our Golden morphs into a lovely short-haired Lab. She has never once looked at me with those liquid brown eyes and said, Mama? Where are my curls? She doesn’t seem to know the difference.
Nope. No siree. She just bounds into the backyard and rolls like a horse and digs a trough through the grass with her face and all is right with her world. She’s blessed that way.
And for a few days, we hold that stink at bay.
Stop the Stink! Just another day in the life a
Golden Retriever mamawriter.(April 2011)
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And that’s how we’re rolling this Throwback Thursday.
Elen
Elen Grey 