Remembering Boonie

We knew this day was eventually arriving, just never quite emotionally prepared for it. Early morning on Sunday, August 16, 2015 we lost our precious Boonie. At 14, the arthritis had progressed badly and was causing nerve and bowel issues. We noticed he was also becoming disoriented and confused at times. Our veterinarian said it's possible for elderly dogs to become senile. The night of August 15th into the 16th was awful and I could hardly sleep because I knew how uncomfortable he was. Finally, as I tried to help him onto his dog bed, he whimpered in agony and growled at me which he has never done. I called T at work around 2:00 am and advised him to return home as Boonie couldn't take anymore. It's heart-wrenching to let our pets go, but it's worse to watch them suffer. Plus, it seems as though they need us to make that decision for them because they are too loyal to expire without our permission.

We adopted Boonie when he was about a year old from T's sister who was studying veterinary medicine. Boonie was a pound puppy who she decided was too cute to return and was "saving" him for someone. We named him after Bret Boone, our favorite former Seattle Mariner baseball player, who the sports announcers sometimes referred to as "Boonie." His manner was gentle, laid back, and all around adaptable. His sweetness seemed to emanate where ever he went and it was not uncommon for strangers to comment: "What a nice dog," "He's good-looking," or "I wish I had a dog like Boonie." I have to admit, we lucked out with him. He was an easy going pooch who was truly compliant and loyal. I have never really considered myself a dog person but am proud to call a soul like Boonie our companion.

Not long after acquiring Boonie, T purchased his first boat. We camped and fished and he immensely enjoyed sharing these experiences with us. One of the funniest memories I recall is a time on the boat where Boonie must've leaned over the side for a drink. There was a giant splash and when we turned our heads, Boonie was gone and only a plume of bubbles lay on the water. He quickly surfaced although a bit traumatized, cold, and shaky. It was pretty comical...to us anyways. He was never really fond of the water after that incident.

Boonie absolutely loved his walks around the neighborhood. There was a nature park near our home in Moscow ID which we would typically walk through. Rabbits lived amongst some of the homes and during each stroll he examined the yards for the little fuzz balls with stick-up ears. He also enjoyed car rides and sometimes even got to romp with doggie friends, depending on who we visited. For whatever reason, he had a prejudice against yellow labs and Asians. We never received a clue as to why.

Shortly after we moved back to Spokane, I became pregnant. Around Thanksgiving, about eights months along and home alone, I experienced an attempted home break-in. There was banging at the front door and Boonie became aggressively defensive. This was the only time I have ever seen him act viciously. He snarled and barked with claws protruded, and all his fur stood out like in a cartoon. After that, no one was allowed in the house without his approval. If the doorbell rang he raced to the door ahead of us to stand guard; he refused to take any chances.

He obviously played a large companion roll for G since he has been around since the day she was born. It's fair to say that all our animals were her first friends. He used to alert us of the need for a diaper change by sniffing her bum! Boonie was ever so patient and withstanding when G didn't know any better and would try to ride him or pull his tail. He enjoyed chasing her outside and then letting her chase him back. The first night without Boonie, G cried and admitted that earlier she had ventured outside calling his name hoping he'd return. Oh boy, did that yank at my already tender heartstrings!

We are all having a rough time emotionally with losing him, but we cherish the memories. It's tough when anyone we dearly care for leaves us, because the love we hold for them can no longer be placed with a physical form. All the little things that remind me of our life with Boonie are like phantom whispers: Hearing his paw-steps shuffling to his dog bed at night; Waking and opening the blinds by the slider door, expecting to see a 65 lb black furry mass by my side waiting to be let out for his morning tinkle; The rattle of his food pouring into his ceramic dog dish. I know it will eventually get easier, but for now, it still hurts...a lot.

All dogs go to heaven. They received the greatest one of all.

"Exercise? I Thought You Said Extra Fries!" Grand Coulee Dam Excursion And Beyond.

School started on Wednesday. G has more of a year-round schedule, therefore, she starts earlier than the mainstream schools. We had no big summer plans nor took a vacation. We didn't even go camping, but we've done a variety of little things. One of which was a quick side trip to Grand Coulee Dam. If you aren't familiar, it is the largest concrete structure in the world! It's massive. Have you ever seen Hoover Dam, the one that gets all the attention? It's tiny compared to Grand Coulee. Several years ago, T and I took a tour bus through Hoover Dam and all the other tourists were oohing and aahing over it. We looked at each other and laughed in slight disappointment: "That's it? It's SMALL!"

Back in the 80's, there used to be a laser light show and the dam served as the screen backdrop. The show ceased for a while but recently it was brought back. With only a couple days left of summer we decided to jump in the car and drive over. The show, titled One River Many Voices, was a documentary of the history and creation of Grand Coulee Dam that started at 9:30 pm. By the time we got there the sun was setting. We made a pit stop at the visitor's center which has several hands-on displays and is pretty awesome. By the time we were done, it was dark and I didn't get any photos of the Dam itself this time. (Use the link the first paragraph if you'd like to see pictures of Grand Coulee Dam.)

My photo at the top shows the empty jugs that contained water from each state which was poured over Grand Coulee Dam. The photo in the center describes: "On June 14, 1951, fifty princesses and the queen of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival participated in a symbolic pouring ceremony. Standing at the top of the canal wall, they emptied gallon jugs of water from all 48 states, the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and the District of Columbia into the newly completed feeder canal. The ceremony symbolized the entire country's contribution to the project, and the benefit the project would have to the county's economy when irrigation started the following spring." The photo of me is a jack-hammer tool such that the workers used. I squeezed it and felt the vibration, although the sign stated the intensity was 100x that! G is reluctantly standing behind a diving suit. Somehow T evaded the camera!

This place is sorta special to us. G's very first overnight trip away from home was at Grand Coulee Dam when she was five months old. I bet you can guess why we came here. Hint: There is a river, and think of a rhyming word that would complete this sentence: "Wishing I were _______."

Alrighty, I need to back up a bit because part of this experience was the journey there. I spotted so many funny and interesting things, I felt it was writing worthy. First I'll start with signs. In order to get to Grand Coulee, one must pass through a more rural area of Washington State. Two-lane, unlit, windy highways through small towns to be exact. I chuckled at many of the signs we passed. Who says small towns are boring? The first one was a road sign:

Private Road

No Warning Signs

Ummm. Okay, except for that one I guess??

This one was a mattress business' sign:

Don't Give Up On Your Dreams

Just Go Back To Sleep

Pizza Parlor:

Of Course I'm An Organ Donor

Who Wouldn't Want A Pizza This!

And my personal favorite was advertising a burger joint:

Exercise? I Thought You Said Extra Fries!

Driving through rural areas is incredible fun. You see all sorts of crazy things. However, some not so pleasant. A few miles east of Creston we watched a thunderstorm. While it was raining quite hard at the time, it's otherwise been extremely hot and dry this summer. Lightening, while thrilling to watch, isn't necessarily welcoming. The bolts streaked down the sand colored sky with tall trees and thirsty sagebrush surrounding the landscape. We got through the brunt of the storm and then it hit us: The unmistakable smell of a forest ablaze! We couldn't see the source of the smoke, but the strong smell encompassed the car.

As we approach the town of Creston, four emergency fire vehicles pass us in the opposite direction, presumably towards the brush fire. Remember in the movie Planes Fire And Rescue there was the fire truck who had a hard time extinguishing the fire in time because he was old and rickety? Those were the type of vehicles that passed us! An antique parade on wheels out to save the day! Support your rural firefighters folks. Seriously, if that's what these men and women use to work a volunteer position, I can only imagine what their gear is like. I said a little prayer for them as they scooted by.

Finally, around 8:15 pm we enter the Grand Coulee area. Driving down the hill through Lake Roosevelt Recreational Area towards the Visitor's Center gives us a glimpse of the dam. There's a bridge at top that spans the width of the river. Way back when, you were once permitted to drive your car over it. I remember taking a middle school trip doing this very thing. Our bus stopped in the center of the bridge and we got out and looked over the edge of the dam. Once on the other side, we toured the underworkings of Grand Coulee by riding an elevator down to the turbines and such. Unfortunately, after September 11th that all changed. Terrorism isn't just life threatening, it takes away our fun, DAMmit!

As we prepared to leave, I noticed bats feasting around a stadium-style flood lamp. They dashed and flapped using their radar to hone in on insects. G thought they were interesting as we don't come across them all that often. Public Service Announcement: If you stand too close to their feeding ground, you could be mistaken for food and they'll dive at you.

Finally, we are back in the car ready to head home down the same darkened, windy roads. The sky is clear now, and sparkling with stars. I will admit the best part of this trip was witnessing not one, but two shooting stars! The Perseid Meteor Shower was arriving a couple days later and I wondered if these were the group leaders. They were like little laser lights on a infinite black backdrop.

Fishing Princess & Funny Fish Tales

We like to fish. If you know us, then this comes as no surprise. G has been on a boat since she was four months old and has naturally been exposed to the hobby along with the great outdoors. We mostly fish for crappie as they are relatively easy to catch and fillet and they taste marvelous! Bake 'em, fry 'em, sushi 'em; all good. Okay, maybe not the sushi part. Don't want a tapeworm or other parasitical manifestation.

Typically we troll at our favorite Local Lake. It's easier than casting and reeling all the time and covers a larger area to determine the hot spots. But when you're six, that can get boring real quick. Even with the portable movie player and toys, after approximately 17.36 minutes it's simply not entertaining. G gets antsy for some action so she will pick up her kiddie pole and practice casting. Notice I said practice? Kids her age are still uncoordinated which makes this task seem complicated. Holding down a button, throwing the rod backwards and then forwards, and letting go of the button at the precise moment while continuing to grasp hold of the rod, probably appears to be the equivalent of ninja mastering. Boredom overcomes inability so away she goes and gives it her best. One day, her best was a treble-hook crawdad crankbait that nearly hooked my eye. Luckily, I was paying attention. Most days could be considered successful if the lure landed a couple feet from the boat. Her practice is paying off and she can cast far away enough to catch fish now. This makes the fishing excursions much more interesting. If only those finned creatures would bite and hang on every single time. She has also become a bit of a celebrity. The second and third photos above are displayed at the Post Falls Cabela's store brag board. (I figured Cabela's wouldn't appreciate the sported Bass Pro Shops t-shirt in the first photo!) The employees were thrilled to see more photos of kids, especially girls, with their prized catches.

We have recently lost more equipment. Local Lake has now swallowed two princess poles, a no-hook fishing net, and probably a pair of sunglasses. The first princess pole was "accidentally" dropped in the lake. I continue to believe it was a rouse disguised as an excuse for Daddy to make another desired trip to Cabela's. The second pole was drug into the water by, supposedly, "a really big fish." You see, we only have two rod holders so her kiddie pole gets placed in the unused seat pedestal hole. One day it snagged on thick seaweed, I mean hooked onto a monster, and was sucked under the abyss before anyone could react. After raising the water level with her shed tears, G picked out a green spinning reel combo, an upgraded replacement compared to the princess set-up. As an additional insurance policy, we now use three rod holders.

The net. How the heck does one loose a fishing net? When not in use, the net is placed on top of the boat's bimini cover. It's a fairly easy place to reach and it stays out of the way. This act is usually accompanied by a faint female voice traveling through the Captain's first ear known to repeat the phrase "dumb place," which, unfortunately, quickly exits out the opposite ear. When one night fishes, it's easy to forget the temporary storage location in the darkness and, well, you know which way the warning went. Pack up, fasten imaginary seat belts, throttle in forward gear....clank crack SPLASH!! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done.