Tuesday, April 13, 2010

the story of holden: a slideshow

here are some of the highlights of holden's 12 years with me.

he was born a poor black child at a fancy kennel in raleigh, nc. there were two left from his litter, and another litter of 7 week old pups available, so he was massively discounted, considered 'old' at 3 months.

i named him skippy. his first dad named him holden, and since he paid for him, i let it go. it wasn't after holden caulfield, or holden oversoul, it was for the redneck place on the nc coast - holden beach.

holden's first dad lived in a fraternity house, so holden lived with me from day 1, and i always knew he was my dog.

when he was a year old his first dad broke into my email and read that i thought a guy at school was cute so he threw my computer in the road and ran it over with his car and moved out of the house we were living in and stole holden. i was in law school, a couple weeks away from my first exams. after some wrangling, and a couple days, i got holden back, and then he was all mine for good.

he ate an indigo girls cd and a 50 yd spool of mint dental floss, and those made it through on their own.

he had his first intestinal surgery at age 2 when he ate a pair of my roomate jill's tights and an underwire bra, and they got tangled up and made him very sick.

he ate 30 lbs. from a 40 lb. bin of kibbles and had to be physically pulled away trying to scarf the rest. he assploded for a week.

he loved doing taste tests when jill would put a cheese ball on one side of the room, and a munch em on the other.

i made him a vest from an old navy doggy raincoat, stenciled on it 'guiding eyes for the blind - dog in training' and he wore that to go to UNC baseball games with me and sat in the grass.

jill and i put him in the vest and went to harris teeter one night wearing sunglasses and holding the white stick from horizontal blinds and let holden off the leash hoping he would go run through the aisles to the meat counter, but he just sat down at the automatic doors and looked at us like we were crazy.

on vacation in charleston, he ate an entire cheese cake off the counter.

he had lots of dog friends, he never humped any of them.

when i was studying for the bar exam i listened to the lectures on a walkman walking around chapel hill for 3 hours at a time, it was so hot in the summer i often went late at night and always felt safe walking with him.

at night, he slept right next to me using me as a bolster.

he moved cross country in a 42-hour non-stop drive, the car was so packed he had to sit the whole time on the passenger's lap.

he was an excellent vintage t-shirt model, especially liked wearing track jackets.

he couldn't believe it when we got nacho. what had he done to deserve such an indignity?

he and nacho crossed garnet st. in pacific beach san diego - a very busy 4 lane highway at rush hour and made it to the safety of a shell station.

they pulled a pyrex dish off the counter, and it shattered and they ate the casserole-crusted shards. the vet suggested feeding them a loaf of white bread soaked in milk to help pass the glass. it worked great. he loved it.

he jumped off a terrace in the backyard and impaled his chest on a metal stake and needed dozens of stitches.

he an nacho got into a case of pop rocks candy and couldn't stop eating them even though the explosions on their whiskers scared them.

he ate socks, socks, and more socks - the little ones made it through, a couple of the bigger ones required surgery, some of the lucky ones required a shot of amorphine to make him throw them up before they got to his intestines.

he ate an entire cow rib bone and needed surgery to get that out.

he ate a giant bowl of trail mix and needed an amorphine shot to throw that up.

he had a few lipoma fat balls removed, one the size of an orange.

he had one myxosarcoma that they didn't remove all the way and was going to grow back.

he loved to go swimming, but wouldn't go in a pool because he was scared he couldn't get out.

he didn't like going up or down wooden stairs because his paws would slip.

he loved running around the yard looking for dead things to eat.

he loved riding in the car with his head out the window.

he loved sitting next people on a couch, curled up in a ball.



here are pictures from his first day on the ride home from the kennel, to 4 days before he died on a hike near the blue ridge parkway.


warning: after kevin watched this he said he wanted to hang himself.




Monday, April 12, 2010

did christ ever shit?



google analytics generates a list of the keywords people have typed to arrive at this blog.

one of them was
did christ ever shit?
(which brought them to this old post "christ did a cow shit in here?")

i think, holy shit of course he did.

what do you think?



happiness is a labrador



when you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight

-kahlil gibran

Saturday, April 10, 2010

R.I.P. holden (June 7, 1998 - April 9, 2010)



holden had to be put to sleep last night, he ate a stick that lodged in his intestines and poked a hole through both sides and became infected. he was his normal happy self yesterday morning, went on a walk jumping around a creek and everything, and then yesterday afternoon threw up and started acting sluggish and by 4pm for the first time in his entire life he wouldn't eat a treat i put next to his nose so we took him to the vet and he could hardly walk and they took xrays and gave him a morphine drip and got him ready for surgery and we went back there with him and petted him and told him he's a good boy and they called a couple hours later while he was on the operating table and said the infection was too bad and i gave permission to put him to sleep and cremate him. he was only in pain for a few hours tops. he was almost 12 and his cancer was growing back and i feel lucky he didn't go through more suffering. i'm okay and nacho is okay, we're all okay. he taught me so much about responsibility and commitment and unconditional love. sorry for the bad news HUG your pets from holdielocks. i love you dog.

Friday, April 09, 2010

banana peel squirrel



you'll feel better next time you throw a banana peel out the window and say 'the squirrels will use it for a nest.'

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

don't touch til november



spring is here and it feels like summer. full sun and low 80s. i want to do cartwheels.

i went to the dentist this morning and i have one baby tooth and in that baby tooth lives a cavity. i was expecting at least 4 cavities, so i'll take one.

no congrats from me to the men's basketball team which shall not be named but rhymes with puke.

in a fun small world situation, my friend michelle is good friends from alaska with jason the mandolin from bearfoot, who will be playing on my friend daniel's radio show in arkansas tonight:

Hello! Wanted to let you know about a live band playing on my radio show tonite (Tuesday) for your calendar and listening enjoyment. Spread the word to anyone who would be interested in a young bluegrass band featuring 3 women and 2 guys, acoustic instruments and vocal harmonies.

Bearfoot 4-6-2010 Honest Tunes Radio Webcast:

http://dgold.info/radio/webcast2010/music519

Bearfoot bluegrass band live in-studio, plus more Honest Tunes 8pm to 10pm Central on KXUA Fayetteville.


Go to
www.dgold.info/radio to listen to the live webcast stream – at Showtime

Sunday, April 04, 2010

easter in asheville



i hope everybody has a spectacular easter.

may all your lambs of god rise from the dead, just as the dead brown and gray branches are rising with pink and green fluorescence.

may you find all the eggs that bunny hid.

may your new shoes not give you blisters and your easter bonnet not mess up your hair.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

prewash



had a fantastic couple days in new york last weekend which involved many things including a baby shower, making a poster, flower arranging, eating meatballs, octopus, and a baby-shaped cupcake, family funtime, playing shufflepuck in the world's smokiest bar and saying 'kisses henry' to my furry brother henry to get him to jump up and lick me on the face.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

treacherous



the only thing more fun than moving is moving during a sleetstorm up and down crumbing stairs on the second day of spring


hooray it's over! hooray i'm not moving for another year! at the least! the very very least!

Monday, March 22, 2010

morning has broken



sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
like the first dewfall, on the first grass

Saturday, March 20, 2010

holdenfur



nachappy



spring is springing around here. have a great weekend!