Tag Archives: dogs

Photo Friday: Classic Ceaser and Samantha

I dug deep into the vault for these two photos today. Both are from August 1967. The first is a photo of our dog Ceaser. He was our second dog after a St. Bernard named Bruno. If you read “Identity Crisis” you will know I borrowed the name and used it for a police dog.

Next is a photo of my sister Holly and me with Samantha, another basset hound that we got after Ceaser.

Unfortunately, it is the only photo I have of Samantha. We didn’t have her long when we came home one evening and discovered the door was not closed properly and both dogs escaped the house. Ceaser came back and was waiting for us by the front door. We never saw Samantha again. I like to think a nice person found her and gave her a home.

There are Haters Everywhere

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I was outside with Frankie in our backyard a couple of weeks ago. We were at the south end of our property while the man who lives two houses south of us stood outside at the north end of his property. I don’t remember all that was said, but he did tell me he was allergic to cat pee. It was his subtle way of telling me to keep my cat off his property.

I wanted to ask him, “How do you know that? Did a cat pee on you?” Instead, I took the high road and told him Frankie has a litterbox and just likes to come outside sometimes. The truth is, Frankie does feel the need to “mark” some of the bushes he comes across, including the ones in front of the man’s house. Since then, I encourage Frankie to move along when we pass his house. “C’mon, Frankie. A cat hater lives here.”

We have other haters in the neighborhood too. These two signs are from houses across the street from each other.

I understand not wanting poop in your yard, but people here are very good about picking up after their dogs. I’m sure these people are just miserable, and I feel a bit sorry for them.

The problem is there are many miserable people in this world, and that is one of the reasons I am reluctant to just let Frankie come and go as he pleases. Many years ago my sister-in-law cared for some stray cats near her home and someone poisoned one of them. It cost her over $500 to have a vet treat the cat. Fortunately, he survived.

Most people are good, but the bad sure do keep us on our toes.

Ceaser and Samantha

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My mother brought a couple of big boxes of photos with her when she visited recently and I have been slowly scanning many of them. Recently I came across pictures of our basset hound Ceaser.

Several months ago I bought a film scanner and scanned in this video of Ceaser.

We got Ceaser in 1966 when I was three years old. Here is my sister, Holly and me with him in July of ’67.

I then came across this photo from August of that year.

I assumed it was Ceaser until I looked closer.

After we had Ceaser for a while, we then got a female basset hound named Samatha. We didn’t have her for very long and I didn’t realize a photo even existed. To be honest, I had forgotten what she looked like.

At the time, both my parents worked in Chicago so we would leave early in the morning to go to my grandparents. By the time we returned home it was evening. One evening we returned home and found Ceaser sitting outside at the front door. Someone must have not closed the door all the way and the dogs got out. We looked for Samantha but never found her and she never returned. Hopefully some nice person found her and adopted her.

Almost three years later my parents had a house built in a growing area of what was called the far north suburbs. Not long after we moved in, the police were called because Ceaser was disturbing the peace with his howling (basset hounds are known for that). We were told that we would have to git rid of Ceaser. For some reason that I don’t remember, we were convinced that it was the neighbor across and one house over who had two german shepards that barked all the time. We tried to convince my parents to fight it but they ened up giving Ceaser to my grandparents. Ceaser lived with them for several more years before passing away. I believe I was in high school when that happened.

Looking throught these photos has brought back many good memories and some not-so-good.

The Dog Days are Back

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Our Friends from Virginia came to visit us late Thursday and they brought their dogs. Just like the last time, the cats were not happy about it.

Check out the look on Frankie’s face when he realized we had company.

The bigger dag was curious about Frankie and barked at him a couple of times. Frankie responded by hissing and trying to whap him.

Like last time, it became a house devided with the cats upstairs and the dogs downstairs.

We are looking forward to a nice weekend with friends but I do feel bad for the cats who are stuck upstairs and can’t enjoy the new catio we just had built.

Dog Days

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The day after we arrived at our new house in West Virginia, our friends, Julie and Tim, came with a dining room set that they got from us several years ago. When they moved from Florida to Virginia they no longer had room for it and had it in storage.

They arrived on a Saturday with their two dogs, Harley and Link. Harley is an older Shih Tzu and Link is a young Poodle mix that Julie found wandering on the side of the road.

For the three days they were here, the house was separated into a dog zone and a cat zone. The cat zone was upstairs and the dog zone was downstairs. The divider was the bottom of the stairs and very often there was a staredown between Frankie and Link.

The dogs were kept in the bedroom at night and several times during the day which allowed our cats to come downstairs to eat and visit with us. I’m sure after that long drive here they didn’t need the stress of dealing with dogs but cats are resilient and once the dogs were gone it was like nothing happened. They were out and running through the house without a care in the world.

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

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Today is Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day so I thought I would remember the pets that have come before.

This is our St. Bernard, Bruno, and I believe that is me in the chair. My parents gave Bruno away when I was very young. I remember being very sad when the station wagon drove away with him. Years later I was told they worried about having him around small children but, what they didn’t know, was that my sister and I would get on his back like a horse and he didn’t seem to mind. Although, being 2 years old, perhaps I wasn’t seeing it correctly.

Our next dog was a Basset Hound named Caesar. He was a great dog but he would howl during the day when nobody was home. One day, shortly after moving to a new house, the police showed up at our door because of a complaint from a neighbor. So we had to say goodbye to another pet. Cesar went to live with my grandparents. We also had another Basset Hound named Samantha. Her and Cesar escaped one day while we were not home. Cesar came back but Samantha did not.

Around 1976, a friend of my dad’s had a stray Doberman hanging around his neighborhood. They captured her and Dad brought her home. I’m not sure who named her Natasha but we just called her Tasha. She took to me right away and was with me for ten years before she died. She was the best dog ever.

This is not a good picture of her but it is the oldest. Check out the ancient microwave.

Tasha was all about the food as this next picture (from around 1982) shows in more than one way.

When I met my wife, Rose, in 1999, her son, Nick, had a cat named Sneakers. He got his name because he was found behind a bar called Sneakers. He loved Nick but he could be “bipolar” when it came to other people.

Vinny was a stray that came looking for food around Thanksgiving. It was unusually cold at that time so we decided to take him in. Except for Chris, Vinny was the friendlies cat ever. He was known for lying on the feet of strangers.

Princess was a feral kitten around 2002. Her mother disappeared, and a neighbor of my mother-in-law had all these kittens they were trying to home. My wife felt bad for for the kitten that was missing most of her tail, so we adopted her along with about a hundred fleas.

Abbey and Alex came to us in 2005. We adopted them from Petsmart. We chose Alex but couldn’t leave his sister Abbey behind. I’m glad we took both. Alex was very friendly and Abbey was shy but very affection to me.

Abbey

Alex

Tigger was adopted by my Mother-in-law in 2006 but the shelter wanted him back because his brother was too dependent on him. We tried to talk her into taking his brother but she was not ready for two cats at that time. We took them both instead.

Tigger was another very friendly cat. His brother, Flash, was the opposite. He wasn’t mean but he was very shy. He would come to me for attention, and surprisingly my mother too when she came to visit, but he was not very people friendly. When we first got them, Tigger would suck on Flash’s belly like he was nursing. After awhile, Flash put a stop to it.

Tigger and brother Flash

Princess, Tigger, Abbey and Flash, Jan 28, 2007

Clockwise from left: Abbey, Flash, Alex and Tigger

We miss all of them but at least we have happy memories.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this day was started by Deborah Barnes from The Chronicles of Zee and Zoey in memory her Mr. Jazz.

Bad Cat Chris

The Baddest Cat You'll Ever Love