Boston Terriers

Cold Snap – Day 1071

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 2 Comments
Cold Snap – Brutus & Pacha’s First Jackets – Photo: L. Weikel

Cold Snap

Yesterday afternoon’s wild line of storms that barged through our area ushered in an entirely new season. We’re now navigating some deliciously brisk fall weather! In fact, I’d almost go as far as to say we’re enjoying the first cold snap of the season. And let me tell you: there are two short-haired Boston Terrier puppies who take serious umbrage at this turn of events!

Pacha and Brutus are utterly worn out this evening. The sudden change in seasons wears us all out, pups. We humans can relate; at least I know the two-leggeds you’ve chosen to live with can.

Watching their reaction to the sudden shift in temperatures was fascinating. It started last night. Trying to get them to tinkle outside when it was not only raining but the temperature had dropped 30 degrees or so was, umm, frustrating. They obviously wanted no part of that nonsense.

Both of them immediately headed back onto the porch, demanding immediate re-entry into the warm (dry) house. It was a test of wills. Back and forth. Again and again. I have to give it to them (especially Pacha): they are stubborn. Ultimately, I’d say it was a draw, which isn’t exactly the best outcome, but oh well.

Sheila: Mother of a Grand Tradition of Warmth – Photo: L. Weikel

This Shivering

Oh my, let me tell you. The shivering we witnessed today! As it is, they’re tiny and adorable little Beings. But when they start trembling and looking up at you with those irresistible puppy eyes? Putty. You turn to putty. Naturally, lap time was essential.

I was quickly dispatched to locate some appropriate fall weather fashions to keep these sensitive loves warm. Sheila and Spartacus had long since grown out of any puppy-sized sweaters or coats. In fact, we walked so often and so religiously that they wore out most of their clothing. Spartacus was definitely wearing some threadbare ensembles last year.

The other day, Pacha balked at wearing a harness that required her to put her head through a loop. (Brutus couldn’t care less.) I was surprised to find a harness for her that just allows her to step into it. No over-the-head stuff involved. (Wow, these dogs are spoiled. Sheila and Spartacus never had so many options.)

I was wondering, then, how they would react to putting on a ‘coat.’ Suffice it to say, there was no need. In true Boston Terrier fashion, they took to these fleece jackets like ducks to water. Not a single struggle or whimper; indeed, both fell deeply asleep as soon as they got warm and cozy.

Bottom Line

The ultimate take-away from this experience so far is that donning warm fleece jackets may be just the ticket to lulling two little puppies to sleep.

Can you imagine how hard they’re going to fall for the fireplace? I suspect that’s when we’re going to see some major inter-species snuggling (and vying for the best spots in front of the hearth).

Every day holds a new adventure. Thanks for sharing them with us!

 

(T-40)

If a Boston Finds Us – Day 1064

Posted on by Lisa Weikel 8 Comments
Meet PachaPup and Brutus Beefcake – Photo: L. Weikel

If a Boston Finds Us

I had the dream of Spartacus at the first crack of morning light on Monday. While I was diligent and wrote it down as best as I could, I didn’t actually share it with Karl until later that afternoon. It made me too sad to even relate it; the sense of Spartacus being right there beside me was still so acute. When I did read my dream to Karl, though, we agreed to keep an open mind. “If a Boston finds us,” we said to each other, “we’ll pay attention for sure.”

Mind you, maintaining an open mind on this was akin to remaining open to getting struck by lightning twice. Sage and I had stumbled upon Sheila’s litter (only a few miles from our house) when we passed a hand-made sign at the end of a long driveway at the edge of a local road. She was not a kennel-bred dog. She and her litter-mates were raised right there in the living room of the farmhouse they shared with their humans, and where they were born.

We always had a sneaking suspicion that part of the loveliness of Sheila’s personality was due to her having been whelped in a family home. What were the chances  of making such a discovery again, especially since that family had moved away years ago?

Sarah’s Surprise

The very next day, our daughter-in-law Sarah sent me an email about a litter of Bostons she’d discovered in Pennsylvania. I do not think she ever expected me to follow up; I think she was just planting a seed. (She didn’t know about the dream…)

I clicked on the link and couldn’t believe my eyes. Besides the utter adorableness of the puppies themselves, they’d only just turned eight weeks old and become ready to adopt the day before. Yes, the day of my Spartacus dream. And the description of the setting in which they were being raised was exactly what I wanted: a family that loves their Boston Terriers.

I knew I had to at least honor Spart’s message by calling the human mother and discerning more details. Melisa and I spoke for forty-five minutes. The rapport was instantaneous. By the end of our conversation, we’d set up an appointment for Karl and me to meet the litter, as well as both their canine parents and their humans.

Turns out we had to essentially cross the state to get there – but oh my, was the trip worth every single minute.

Brother and Sister

Meet Brutus Beefcake and PachaPup. The ‘runt’ (Brutus’s nickname amongst his humans was “Shrimp”) and the only girl in the litter.

Oh my…what have we done? Details – and lots of photos – to follow. If nothing else, this should make the last stretch of the 1111 Devotion more fun for all of us, hmm?

Sibling Snuggles – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-47)

Hunker Down – Day 998

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Arf! – Photo: L. Weikel

Hunker Down

Is it just me? Or are you guys feeling it too? Lately I can’t even walk into the grocery store without feeling an edginess in the air that’s unlike anything I’ve felt before (especially in the grocery store!). Even when the pandemic was first starting to rear its ugly head back in March and April 2020, I didn’t feel this level of anxiety in the general populace. If you ask me it’s time to hunker down again.

OK, I’ll admit it. That’s coming from a person who probably would choose ‘Hunkering Down for $200, Alex.” In all honesty, I’d choose it for free.

The last thing I feel like doing is getting into a discussion with someone in the produce aisle who’s on a hair trigger over the fact that I’m wearing a mask. And believe it or not, I felt the possibility of that happening twice this week. I nearly fell over.

No to the Boston

And then another time this week, I saw a person walking across the parking lot I’d just entered with a cute little Boston Terrier on a leash. Well. You can all imagine how I swooned. Ooooh, how this puppy reminded me of Sheila when she was just a girl.

I jumped out of my car, whipped my debit card in and out of the meter to throw some money on it and turned to speak to the Boston and her daddy. “Your Boston is adorable!” I called out with a big smile. “I have two!” (never fully admitting to myself that Sheila is really gone).

Neither of us were wearing masks (we were in the great outdoors), and I asked if I could pet his pup. “Aren’t you concerned with…” he asked, waving his free hand in the air.

I stopped in my tracks. We were a good 20 feet away from each other. “What?” I was genuinely puzzled. Surely he knew I had no intention of getting anywhere near him. I just wanted to say hi to his pup.

“Covid,” he responded. I was taken aback. Honestly, it had never even occurred to me that I wouldn’t be permitted to pet a dog on a 10’ leash. You don’t get Covid from pet fur. Or even from surfaces. You get it from aerosols in the air; hence why it’s wise to wear masks when indoors.

“Oh,” I replied. “Would it bother you…?”

“Yes, it would, as a matter of fact.” Ugh. His tone. It had turned so…icy.

Backed Off

Whoa. OK. Of course I immediately stopped in my tracks (still about 15 feet away from the dog dad and five feet away from the Boston, which had of course had immediately responded to my high pitched hello to it and headed my way). I felt like I’d been smacked.

My reaction was silly, I suppose. But his abrupt attitude took me by such surprise.

It’s hard to know where anyone stands anymore. Or how they will react to many of the circumstances we used to consider mundane.

Makes me just want to hunker down in my own safe place. I haven’t a clue as to how people feel about anything anymore. And the enormity of that almost brought me to tears.

Spartacus in Repose – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-113)

Sheila Speaks For Me – Day 431

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Sheila Reacting to the State of the World – Photo: L. Weikel

Sheila Speaks For Me

The wind is howling outside, banging and clattering our wind chimes, making our window panes rattle back and forth and our front door occasionally burst open, not unlike Kramer making an entrance on Seinfeld.

Both the melodic clanging and the <<kloop kloop>> of our bamboo chimes outside sound so wild and undisciplined, I wish I could just stand on the edge of my porch and allow all the garbage of the world to whisk itself into the ethers.

If only it were so easy to clear away the old away.

Cleaning Out

Beginning during the days between Christmas and New Year’s, I’ve been sporadically binge-cleaning. I’ve donated a lot to charity, given away a fair share to family, sent some off to recycling, and thrown a bunch of stuff away entirely because it’s old, out of date, practically in tatters, or just astonishingly dumb to allow it to keep circulating in my inventory.

When I listen to that roaring wind blowing down the 611 corridor and into my living room, I’m hoping it will serve to further clean me up, clear me out, and coalesce The Tower’s presence and utterly necessary process in my life.

Everything is Changing

Beyond my personal needs and experience, today, with the official opening of the Senate Trial and the concurrent revelation and exposure of new evidence of – and rulings on – the impropriety (if not outright illegality) of certain behaviors of DT, it feels like these whipping winds are arriving just in time.

They’re stirring up, clearing out, sweeping away the lies upon lies we’ve been told for years now – the denials and demands that we not believe our own eyes and ears – by a myriad of actors, a tragic number of whom have taken oaths to act on behalf of the good of our country. And I wonder, if you look around in your own life: are there people or situations about which you’ve been told lies or, perhaps worse, have been lying about to yourself?

Have the north winds arrived with sudden, sweeping gusts, blowing away the unnaturally warm air of obfuscations to bring the cold clarity of truth?

It can be chilling on many levels to realize trust has been broken. That our faith in what we believed was true was, in fact, misplaced.

If any of these thoughts or feelings, worries or suspicions ring true for you during these tumultuous times, then perhaps you, too, feel like Sheila speaks for us all.

(T-680)