|
As of the moment this posts at 12:43 UTC on the 16th (5:43 AM Pacific, 8:43 AM Eastern) I will be officially exactly 44 years old, including the complications of leap years and time zones and everything. The years go by quickly these days I guess. Anyway, yay? At the moment this posts… 2015-09-13 03:31 UTC (the 12th at 8:31 PM Pacific, 11:31 PM Eastern)… Alex will be exactly 6 years old accounting for leap years and time zones and all the rest. So… HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!! As I have done on previous birthdays, here is a quick interview with Alex about turning six… well, almost 12 minutes. So maybe not so quick. I thought about editing it down to five minutes or something, but I was too lazy to take the time. As usual, I suspect only close family will watch the whole thing. :-) And now for my usual rundown of things that are different from the last one of these posts (which this time was from when he turned 5).
As usual, I’m sure there is much more, but that is what I could remember off the top of my head just now. I’m sure it is more than enough for most folks reading this. :-) [Edit 14:42 UTC to remove an extraneous space.] [Edit 2016-09-12 07:46 UTC to fix a typo found a year later… “w” -> “few”.] Before:
After:
He did not seem impressed. I asked him if he had a good time. Silence. I asked him what the best thing that happened today was. Silence. I asked him what the worst thing that happened today was. He said, “Everything. Everything that happened today was the worst.” I tried to get more information out of him, but failed. Urgh. Hope it gets better little guy! [We’re going through a chaotic few weeks with regard to school scheduling, and while today was the first day at one school (a brand new one to him), his old school is still in the mix too (it starts tomorrow) and it won’t be clear for a couple more weeks if our original plan of having him do a half day at each school will actually work, or if he will end up full time at one of them… it depends on a lot of factors, some of which aren’t under our control…]
We lost our dog Roscoe in April. We have all felt the emptiness of the house since then. It affected all of us, but I think Alex most of all. He had never known life without a dog in the house. He mostly dealt with it by ignoring it, but he would sometimes talk about it, and it was clear he missed his dog. And wanted a new dog. And to be honest, I think we all did, although it took us a few months to be ready for it. Alex had stopped saying that he wanted to name the new dog Roscoe and paint it to match Roscoe’s coloring so that we could forget Roscoe died. He now just mentioned having a new dog. So we recently agreed that maybe it was time to look. Amy found Miley listed at a local private shelter (homewardpet.org) several weeks ago. The picture above is the one she was listed with. The text said:
Amy fell in love immediately from the listing, and kept bugging us about going to visit Miley. Over the last month, we coincidentally found two separate stray dogs who we took care of as we worked to find and return them to their owners. Both were successfully reunited with their people in less than 12 hours, but I think having them in the house for even a short time convinced us that maybe it was indeed time. So Amy asked again about seeing Miley, who was still there, weeks after Amy initially saw her picture and description. We all agreed it was OK to go visit. Brandy and Amy met her last Friday, and Amy came away even more enthusiastic, with Brandy giving a thumbs up as well. So Alex and I joined Brandy for a second visit on Saturday. Alex was bouncing off the wall with excitement. And Miley PLAYED WITH HIM! They played fetch a bit (sort of) and Miley reacted well to having a crazy bouncing sometimes slightly rough almost six year old running around. She remained calm the whole time, and was even a bit affectionate with us. Alex took a long time to work his way up to actually saying it, but he wanted a dog, and he wanted this dog, now! She is an older dog, and actually has a few minor health issues, requires medication, etc. She had been at the shelter almost six months since having been found as a stray, and nobody had adopted her yet. I honestly probably wouldn’t have even looked at her without Amy’s prodding either. But it seemed she needs us. And we often end up with the pets that need us, rather than the pets we would pick if we wrote up a description of what we thought we wanted. And so far it has always worked out well. So we brought her home Saturday afternoon. Technically we are on a two week trial period. We haven’t officially adopted her yet. So I hadn’t posted. But the trial is going very well. She puts up very well with everything Alex dishes out. She is getting more affectionate with us by the day. She follows us around and is eager to get attention, from just sitting with us to actually playing. (Although she hasn’t yet played as long or as hard as she did when we visited at the shelter… I think she was trying to impress us to get the call to go home.) Most importantly Alex got down on the floor and talked to her in “dog” and Alex says that Miley told him that she loves it here and wants to stay. Which I think really means that Alex really desperately wants her to stay. He is so thrilled and happy to have a dog in the house again. He has been barely containing his joy for days now. So I think absent some shocking event in the next week and a half, Miley is here to stay. So welcome Miley. :-) [Update 2015-09-10 00:40 UTC to add a word that was missing.] You will understand at a little past eighteen years I was called on to take charge of a choir and look up the material. I obtained four ladies who could sing the soprano, two to sing alto and my friend B. H. Bacon came in with four others to take the bass, the tenor I reserved for myself. My friend’s father, “Benjamin Bacon”, being a fine player on the clarinet offered his services, Mr. Bacon played mostly the soprano, but if I wished and alto absent he would play that. The choir was a success. Our choir seats were conspicuous being at one side, and at right angles with the pulpit. The floor of the house was level only raised at the pulpit. As I went to take my seat which was the outer end to the congregation only one seat left for me, the soprano occupying the balance, the ladies had insisted that Miss Smith should be seated next to me “the leader”. This close sitting made myself and Miss Smith in a short time familiar as the business of the choir was concerned. It to me was a position of care, anxious to have good music, sung with reverence, proper time, try to express the language of each line and verse, giving quick movement when called for – then medium to slow as required to express the grandeur of “Watts” Hymns, which were marked in the Congregational Hymnal. When winter set in I was requested to have a singing school and Miss Smith intimated to me that I might stop for her which willing act naturally gave me a chance to return with her, and somehow I was requested to rehearse a tune, that might be improved, so a little time was spent at her home. I had a fine sounding melodeon that could be placed on a stand and furnish the wind with the left elbow, which came finally to be left there on which was practiced many pieces, evidently we enjoyed each others society when together; but occasionally some of these stylish people from Middlebury would be present; when I knew that my room was better than my company. I assure you I was not in the way. I will now tell of one instance of embarrassment that occurred the first summer that I lead the choir. It was a fine summer day, I think we had sung the first hymn, when two girls walked in, there being no usher, they came up to the singers seat, as the soprano were not all present and I somehow had left a little vacancy, one of them seated herself in front that scarcely seated any one except a child, they were dressed in some gorgeous print, the one next to me was large, probably one hundred and fifty pounds. Their name as far as I ever knew were Mial Hier’s daughters, blue eyes, very red cheeks, said to be Dutch. The one next to me had a large bunch of caraway in her hand, and it was not long before she proffered me a sprig. I fixed my eyes on the communion table in front of the pulpit! She mad several attempts to induce me to accept which I ignored. Mind you the whole congregation could observe every movement. Mrs. Smith, Sorelle’s mother set where she could observe all. When she had a chance she spoke to me about it, saying, “my cheeks looked like the blood would bust through.” But said, “I acted like a gentleman.” These girls had walked up the mountain more than two miles, probably had never attended chuch anywhere but a few times. But you put yourself in my place – for after singing the second time as I took my seat, on the girl sitting down I was nearly covered with the stiff new print! To continue the account of the love or friendship with Miss Smith this state of things when on for quite a while. I considered that I had no just grounds for it and when I was at Weybridge one day found a select-school for advanced scholars v??? to be opened for three months made arrangement to attend, I was half past nineteen years, not quite heart broken, but I had endeavored to sift out my thoughts and find where I took, then when school commenced dropped all this romantic imagery as to try my best to improve in learning. The teacher Edwin Evarts had been several years in the South teaching advanced scholars. He advised me on textbooks, says he, “Take studies being used here and Mental Philosophy”. It was a success, I became stronger minded, little things worthless to worry over disappeared, and I was ready for what n??? happen. A Miss Mary Foot came to this school with her sister younger, they drove their own team, a one horse rig, a young man Alfred Sturtevant perhaps two years more senior pushed himself forward, taking Mary’s horse to its hitching place, and exerting himself disagreeably in being first to get the team at close of afternoon session. Miss Foote was well known to my cousin Loeazer Robbins, and confided to her that she did not want Alfred to meddle with her horse, and wished Loeazer would intimate to me to get it. Well I guess! When anything of this kind came across my pathway, I was on hand, I just made it my business – and no one made any protest. The boys had found by experience that I was hard to handle. There were some of the older young men joked Alfred, that he was cut by that Green Mountain chap; Alfred was very sullen in his looks. I mistrusted him but how o??? when he would pitch on I could not tell. But one day we were playing base ball – and the rule was, to knock the ball over the fence, the side that got it first was to take the game. One day it was knocked over the fence in quite a plat of Canada thistles well grown, I was nearest and I sprang for it. I got the ball when Alfred jumped on me to take it away, he was the heavier weight, and he bore me to the ground, but I turned him down, and held him down till he begged to be let up. The rail fence was lined with the scholars seeing the fracas. But I guess his black suit looked as if it was aged in a short time. Alfred made no more attempts – and the years have come and gone, and we have never met. Note: This is an excerpt from the memoirs of Hiram Harvey Hurlburt Jr (1827-1910). He was my mother’s mother’s father’s father. The full diary is available here, with chapters transcribed from the scanned PDF of the manuscript into more easily read text as I have time.
Alex likes to play with this exercise ball in the driveway. I saw it behind my car. I kicked it out of the way. I got in my car. The ball rolled back. I did not see this. I backed up. Squashing noise. I rolled forward. Crunching noise. The car had tried to eat the ball. The car failed. I pulled the ball out. It will be fine. Barely a scratch. My car on the other hand is not happy. Sigh! The winter I was 17 years old I went to school most two miles from where I lived to Arnon A. Atwood. At that time it was called the “Hollow”. There was the post office, layer, town clerks office, gristmill and tannery. There was but few scholars. This school was kept in part of the tannery, and the scholars were the most queer set I ever remember of. Some young girls that were about my age, appearing very lady like, they put on no airs, seemed natural, and the studies, algebra, philosophy, chemistry and geology were attended to. There was Sorelle Smith, Amelia Cook, Eliza Sanford, of boys of any size I can remember but one, B. Henry Bacon, somewhat more than a year my senior. I did not make his acquaintance very quickly it seemed to be several weeks before we saw fit to make approaches in that light. But we finally come to acquaintance that lasted without break for ten years. Henry really was the only boy or young man strictly acquaintance I ever had, after some months we became confidential all but in regard to the one girl I had placed my best thoughts on, the loveliest most bewitching creature, worshiped at a distance, and continued in that manner, as by something then carelessly said one day, I was sure that this young lady was his intended. At what stage of courtship I could not know. He was a near neighbor, and perhaps more advanced than myself in art at appearing at easy in company of a young lady. So I smothered all hopes, and kept my mind on my studies. This young lady Miss Sorelle Smith was the only child of Landlord Smith of the hotel. So this young lady had the opportunity of meeting tourists who traveled and stopped off at this tavern already a summer resort. She had been sent to the Middleburg Seminary several terms, and was especially attractive young lady at balls, dances and parties; had made acquaintance at Middleburg with the “Jeweler” John Dyer only child “Hattie” also with Mary May of a fine family. Miss Dyer afterwards married Sattler Phelps, son of John Phelps quite noted in Vermont. Now really, as I had set my choicest thoughts on Miss Smith, I kept it all to myself, I seemed to have perception enough for that. The winter passed away and my acquaintance at school did not become any closer, though I was in studies, being somewhat advanced beyond all the rest either older or younger and the teacher “Atwood” who was an uncle of Miss Smith seemed to acknowledge he carried me through our studies as far as he knew. I went after school was out, back to the saw-mill and kept studying ever while running the mill. Especially music, so I became familiar with many songs in use at that time. As I had but one object of adoration, I was living to improve all my abilities to become advanced to be qual to the class of people I imagined Miss Smith belonged to. I attended the Congregational Church, was urged into the choir. I was then singing under a leader, name Norman Lewis, one of the deacons. But Lewis had a difference with Rev. Asa Hemenway, one of the finest gentlemen ever permitted to stay on this earth awhile. Deacon Lewis undertook to drive the minister away, left the choir, so as to obstruct the service. But one member of the church with Mr. Hemenway came to see me, and to my great astonishment, wished me to take the leadership of the choir. It seemed to me I was not advanced enough, and I hesitated, but the two cleared all obstacles, I finally consented, And when the Rev gentlemen clasped with me at parting at fathers saw mill, the tears were coursing down his cheeks. I never knew just what the trouble was, but always concluded Dea. Lewis had been exasperating in his conduct, that Mr Hemenway could not bear any more. Mr. Hemenway’s last words at that time were “I shall always remember this of you.” Mr. Hemenway came to Ripton to take charge of the church there from the City of Bankok, Siam. Besides his labors there as a missionary he taught the English language to the prince of Siam, and they were in correspondence at this time. I think that prince is now the present Emperor. Note: This is an excerpt from the memoirs of Hiram Harvey Hurlburt Jr (1827-1910). He was my mother’s mother’s father’s father. The full diary is available here, with chapters transcribed from the scanned PDF of the manuscript into more easily read text as I have time. The spring I was fifteen years old my father moved to Ripton, on the Green Mountains. He built a sawmill, it was thirty by forty feet. He finished off the part intended for a shingle mill and lived in it. The damn was built in range with the upper end of the mill; so the pond of water was near a slide or rather an inclined plane was from the floor of the mill into the water, and the logs were drawn from the water as wen by the mill power of a sash sawmill. The lumber from the saw, made from the logs that came out of the water were excessively heavy. I remember to carry them away took my whole strength. When winter came the logs were brought to the mill in front on the logway. As I attended to the mill a good deal, I kept a level (Handspike) made from a small spruce tree about two and a half inches think, neatly shaved and convenient to handle the logs. A neighbor by the name of Martin Powers took this lever and used it in place of a skid to pile logs up on the pile front of the mill, and when he had used it I would find it broken. I made another and told Powers I did not wish him to use it for a skid. But Powers was a wrestler and won at times at elections and raising of buildings. He was a married man, probably twenty three years old. The next day he came with a load of logs, came in the mill and grasped my lever. I took it away from him, father being present cautioned Powers to let me alone, for one of us would get hurt. But Powers clinching me side hold and I flung him to the floor as quick as thought! He was badly hurt. Anyway he kept running down. He sent for me one day and told the wrestling would end his life, and he told me I was not to blame, that he had wrestled with many and never one so quick as I was. I was a good deal affected to think he was going to die, and I went to father with the fact. Father said, “I was not to blame. Powers begun by clinching first.” But there was always a feeling, like, I wish it had not happened. I noticed father and mother made a quite a number of donations to the widow after his death. The next winter I went to school to a lady teacher “Ann Maria Leavette.” My senior by one year, she was an excellent teacher, and I went on in my studies of grammar and arithmetic to the end of the text books. The evening spelling schools were of great importance to us, there would be a houseful coming from other districts. In my seat at school a young man two years older than myself sat with me. He became desperately in love with the teacher, and he studied the dictionary to find words he considered appropriate to compose a note to the teacher for her company to her boarding house. His name was Reuben A. Damon. He finally with much effort made the following: “To Miss Leavette. May I have the superiority of going home with you from spelling school?” Signed, “Reuben A. Damon.” This he showed me, and I supposed it was all proper. Reuben studied on it quite a while when he exerted himself again to improve it. This was the result. “Miss A. M. Leavette may I have the exquisite felicity of going home with you from spelling school” signed ‘R. A. Damon.” I was completely astonished at this; for I was very bashful; still I just worshiped the beautiful Miss Leavette well knowing she was unreachable but very careful not to let it be known. So Reuben had the whole field. Sometime in the calm of the recess at spelling school Miss Leavette came to me and whispered “If I would kindly walk with her to Mr. Cook’s where she boarded after spelling school.” But how I must have looked? How my ears did burn for I was in a surprised state of earthly bliss! But I was punctual to be on hand at the moment wanted. I never knew whether Miss Leavette was given the note, but I noticed that Reuben changed his love in a few weeks, as he came to me for advice. “He wished to know and tell him which I thought would be the best girl for him of three?” naming Miss Joan Fletcher, Miss Jane Downer or Miss Sorelle Smith? In my youthful wisdom I surmised that Miss Fletcher being the first name would be the one, I named her, Damon visited her a number of times, wioth no result as known, perhaps he called on the others, but was never known to me. Damon several years after married Eunice Lovett, she died in a few years, when he married her sister Dolly Lovett, that account ends the history of R. A. Ramon in this narration. Note: This is an excerpt from the memoirs of Hiram Harvey Hurlburt Jr (1827-1910). He was my mother’s mother’s father’s father. The full diary is available here, with chapters transcribed from the scanned PDF of the manuscript into more easily read text as I have time.
As is true of most people, every few months I completely change the method I use to keep track of and manage the various things I need to get done. Right? Most people do this, right? No? OK, well, whatever. This is something I experiment with. The general pattern is that at some point I realize that whatever method I am using isn’t working for me. Then I scrap the whole thing and come up with a new mechanism/algorithm to try and see how it goes. Typically, it will do better at making sure some of the things I was feeling got neglected get done, but at the expense of something else that had been getting more attention, but now doesn’t. (Because fundamentally, there is never time to do everything I want to do, so no matter what system I choose, SOMETHING gets shafted, the question is which things, and am I happy with the result.) Anyway, in the last couple weeks, I’ve started a new one of these cycles, so I figured I’d talk about it a little bit. Requirements In this iteration, the problem I was having was that a handful of high priority items that I do regularly were getting all my attention, and some lower priority items (that never the less I would like to get to SOMETIMES) were just never happening. So I wanted some method that would encourage me to mix it up a bit. I wanted something that would take into account that I want to do certain tasks repeatedly, while others were one offs. It also needed to take into account the fact that some items do indeed have higher priority than others. Also, and most importantly, it should take into account how close the deadline is for each item. (Or realistically, since this is me, how late it is.) This last factor makes the prioritization dynamic. If it has been 5 days since the last time I did something that is supposed to happen once a day, that’s one thing. If it has been 20 days since I did that thing, the priority should be much higher. I also didn’t want a todo list that just showed me a list, or what the current “most important” thing was. If the most important thing is a big time consuming thing, it doesn’t mean I want to spend 100% of my time on it until it gets done. (Not usually anyway.) So I wanted something probabilistic, where each item had a dynamically calculated “current priority” which would translate into a probability. Each time I want to sit down to work on something, I want to roll the metaphorical dice, and have one of the items come up based on those probabilities. So the “most important” item has a higher chance of coming up than everything else, but not a 100% chance. Meanwhile, low priority items may have a low chance of coming up, but not a 0% chance. And as time goes by without those low priority items being picked, their priority slowly rises. If ignored long enough, even the lowest priority item will become high priority. So, looking at specifics: Recurring Items To start with, I figured I would have a “default priority” for these that started at 0 when the item had just been done, and rises linearly to some constant value (I picked 1.00) at the moment the thing is due to happen again. Then because some things are more important than others, I allow a multiplier. So we end up with (multiplier)*(1-(((time due next)-(now))/(recurrence)). Notice this keeps going up after something is due, at a rate that depends on the recurrence. So a weekly item that has gone two weeks ends up with the same priority as a daily item that has gone two days (if they have the same multiplier). One off Items I wanted these to basically work the same way and be included in the same system as the recurring items, so I mapped them into the same pattern. I did this by also tracking a “start date”. A one off item just gets treated the same as a recurring item with the recurrence being the amount of time between the start date and the due date. Putting it Together Although eventually I’d like to set all this up in a web app for me to be able to easily access my list from anywhere, I started by modeling it in Excel. You list all the times, you calculate the dynamic priorities, from that you sum things up and calculate the probabilities. I added some additional stuff for Excel to show a bar graph of the probabilities, to have a macro to refresh all the probabilities, resort the list, and then pick an item based on the probabilities, etc. Although I may flip on this later, I also decided on a minimum recurrence of 24 hours for practical purposes. (Theoretically, having much shorter time frames is fine, but for my use case it didn’t make sense…) Results Too soon to tell. I’ve been using this for maybe two weeks so far. I am indeed seeing a mix that has the higher priority items come up slightly less often, but still a decent amount, while lower priority items are getting attention they haven’t gotten in a long time. I’m happy about that. But of course the question is if the higher priority items will get ENOUGH attention, or if this ends up being a solution where they don’t get what they need, and being high priority, that causes problems. Of course, if that happens, I can always increase the multiplier on those items. But I’m not sure yet if that would just set up an arms race on multipliers, or if things would come to a stable equilibrium that is acceptable. I’ll report back after a few months. :-) Oh, and if anybody wants to also try this, let me know and I’d be happy to send you a copy of a skeleton spreadsheet with this logic. Almost exactly three days ago as I post this, we lost our dog Roscoe. He was an old dog for his size, so we knew we didn’t have too long, but he didn’t have any obvious health problems, so we thought we had a little while longer. He had gotten slower with age, and in the last few weeks he had gotten a little bit grumpier, but otherwise he was acting normally up through Sunday afternoon. After dinner we realized we hadn’t seen him in a little bit, and he hadn’t come in from the backyard to beg for the last bites of our food like he usually does. We found him curled up in a hole he dug under his favorite bush, unwilling to move. With some effort we got our old 100 pound dog into the car to an emergency vet. The news was not good. He was bleeding internally from a previously unknown tumor. There were no good treatment options and an impossible prognosis, with very little chance of meaningful recovery. They made a strong recommendation that we end it right away rather than let him suffer. Brandy and I had a little time to say goodbye before we let Roscoe go. We pet him and told him we loved him and that he was a good dog, and then he was gone. It has been a rough three days. Roscoe has been an important part of our family for nearly a decade. He was a funny dog, very smart in many ways, seeming to sometimes understand full sentences and do various clever things, but still running to the door to bark whenever a doorbell rang on TV. The early days we had him were very rough. He was a bit wild, and very anxious. He was a rescue dog, and his experiences before us apparently were not the best. And he caused our family some pain at the beginning. By the time Alex came, he had calmed down a lot, but we were still a little worried. Our fears dissipated quickly though, as he seemed to know what he had to do, and he became an incredibly patient dog, tolerating an unruly small child better than we could ever have hoped. Alex has never known life without Roscoe, and they were often inseparable. Alex’s first word was “dog”. Roscoe was his brother and best friend. Roscoe’s job was to take care of this little guy, and Roscoe knew it from the start. Since a few hours after Roscoe died, I have wanted to do this post, including sharing some of the best pictures and videos of Roscoe. But narrowing down the many hundreds of pictures we had was extremely emotional, and I could only do it for a few minutes at a time. I wanted to get it down to just 40 or so, about the size of the monthly family pictures posts I sometimes do. But after getting it down to 100, I decided I was done. This post is mainly for family and friends who knew Roscoe, and a few extra pictures are OK. So here are 89 pictures, 10 videos, and 1 picture with audio, in chronological order. This is Roscoe’s life with us. We miss you so much buddy. 2006
2006-09-15 04:33 UTC: This was the picture Brandy found online when looking for a rescue dog to adopt. Brandy knew this was the right dog almost immediately, and we went to the shelter looking specifically for Roscoe, which was the name that had already been given to him by the people where he was. He had been found wandering alone and no family came to look for him. He had already moved a couple of times between shelters. They said they guessed he was probably about 2 years old at the time, although based on behavior, he might have been a little younger. We visited him, and he ran around in circles and barked, without interacting with us all that much. We picked him anyway. He hopped right in the car to head home. The rest of 2006 was a bit rough honestly. There were some very hard times with him. One time in particular. But we stuck with it, and with him. 2007
2007-10-14 14:43 UTC – In fact, he was pretty sure he was a lap dog. He never had any idea how big he was.
2007-10-26 17:15 UTC – He would just sit near you and stare up at you with those big brown eyes, looking for attention and love.
2007-12-14 18:35 UTC – And if he could sit between two of us, so much the better. 2008
2008-08-14 23:43 UTC – Almost two years in, and he still thinks this is an awesome way to sit with us.
2008-11-21 06:48 UTC – There is audio that goes with this picture! Be sure to hit play on the audio player right below the picture! One of the things that Roscoe would do is “sing” with us. Sort of a moan, howl, yodel, mooing sort of thing. It wasn’t every day, every week, or even every month, but every once in awhile he would respond to one of us talking or saying something, then before you know it, we all doing it together. Sometimes we would start it, sometimes he would start it. This isn’t the best example, but is the first one of these we managed to get a recording of. There is a lot of Amy and I making noises too. 2009
2009-02-02 01:01 UTC – Roscoe didn’t do many tricks, but he occasionally would engage in fun poses. (Later on, Amy did have him sitting and rolling over for food, but I’m not sure I ever got any good pictures or videos of that.)
2009-02-25 03:14 UTC – Nothing is better than snuggling with your people.
2009-03-27 07:09 UTC – Roscoe wasn’t the kind of dog who “played” all the time. But every one in awhile he got into a really playful mood and would want to run and chase and be chased. This was one of those times, as he was getting poised for dashing up and down the hallway… and out of the hallway, round and round the living room, always followed by a final mad dash into the back yard.
2009-04-02 01:35 UTC – We didn’t do it often, but when we did, Roscoe liked his car rides, and wanted to always watch everything going on outside. As long as we didn’t go on bridges over bodies of water. Water kind of scared him.
2009-04-11 02:00 – Something else we didn’t do nearly enough. Go off to a nice park with Roscoe. He liked it. We liked it. But we rarely seemed to find the time.
2009-08-14 01:50 UTC – Both at our old house (shown here) and our new house, Roscoe would sometimes just spend hours hanging out on the back porch, checking out whatever was going on. Or looking at the door asking to be let back in.
2009-08-22 00:51 UTC – Look at those eyes! He often looked so concerned or worried. Brandy always would say “He’s a hound! That is how he is supposed to look!”
2009-09-09 07:29 UTC – Here he is sitting like a person again. Sometimes he’d just do that.
2009-09-09 15:27 UTC – He loved the big back yard in our old place. He probably spent almost as much time outside as inside. But sometimes he would just sit and stare at the fence. Could never tell what exactly was going on in his head.
2009-09-15 04:17 UTC – And then there was Alex! We had told Roscoe that Brandy was going to have a puppy, and he had become very protective of her while she was pregnant, so we think he understood and knew what to expect. This is the first picture i have of Roscoe and Alex together.
2009-09-26 22:15 UTC – “I’m just going to sit in my favorite chair. Hey, why is it so lumpy? Oh well, who cares, still comfy!”
2009-10-23 05:25 UTC – The whole family together. Alex is clearly not quite sure what to think of Roscoe. 2010
2010-01-03 21:12 UTC – Alex still pretty suspicious here. Roscoe tolerating.
2010-04-25 19:48 UTC – Caught while tramping through the back yard. He must have been up to something!
2010-05-13 01:25 UTC – Roscoe wants to be let in. Alex wants to help. But Alex isn’t quite able to operate the door quite yet.
2010-05-23 23:00 UTC – Alex’s curiosity and desire to play with Roscoe is overwhelming. Roscoe allows it. 2010-11-19 ??:?? UTC – The first video I’ve included here. Be sure to press play. Alex thinks Roscoe needs some tissue. 2011
2011-04-24 00:13 UTC – Just chilling together on the back steps.
2011-04-29 16:28 UTC – Alex is about to head down the slide. Roscoe watching out for him as usual.
2011-05-08 22:21 UTC – They would often explore the backyard together.
2011-05-22 00:51 UTC – Partners in crime. This was the bin where all the dry dog food was kept. Alex’s job that he did almost every night was give Roscoe two scoops from the bin. Into roscoe’s bowl. But this night, they conspired together and opened and knocked over the bin so Roscoe could have as much as he wanted. 2011-07-25 01:30 UTC – The first of several videos in a row now. Roscoe and Alex play together in the grass. Well… Alex tries to play with Roscoe. Roscoe remains aloof and eventually walks away. 2011-08-05 19:40 UTC – Alex discovers the hose. Which Roscoe loves to attack. Which is just so funny! 2011-09-24 15:18 UTC – Now at our new (current) house, Roscoe gets to walk the dog for the first time. At first, and for a long time, we used two leashes. One for Alex to hold, and one that I or another adult would hold. This worked very well and Alex loved it. Roscoe was fine with it too. He didn’t care, he got his walk! From this point for quite a long time, one of Alex’s favorite activities was walking Roscoe. Since Roscoe had a fenced back yard, he often just did his business there, so walks were not as regular or as often as they should have been. But when we did walk, everybody enjoyed it. 2012 2012-01-17 17:12 UTC – Playing in the snow would soon become one of the favorite things Alex and Roscoe would do together. In the first of these in our new house, Roscoe and Alex started out in the back yard checking everything out. But Roscoe was done before Alex was.
2012-01-19 20:25 UTC – On a quiet snowy day, with everything shut down, Alex takes charge of BOTH leashes!
2012-05-13 17:35 UTC – A few months later in the Spring, he would sometimes even go solo with just one leash! Under close supervision of course. But Roscoe was almost always very good and followed Alex’s lead and didn’t pull or run. Uh, unless he saw another dog. Then Daddy would insist on taking over.
2012-07-18 04:24 UTC – Oooh! Grandma Ruth visiting! Roscoe’s favorite person who didn’t live with us!
2012-07-24 21:24 UTC – Roscoe would stick close to Alex, even when Alex was busy playing with his trains.
2012-07-31 15:12 UTC – Another ride in the car! He was going into the vet for a little bit of surgery, but he came out just fine!
2012-08-26 22:28 UTC – Roscoe very rarely played with toys, but this was one of those times. Alex would throw the squeaky bone and Roscoe would go get it. He never learned the bring it back part of fetch, but would give up the bone when someone kept to take it. Sometimes after a little playful keep away. Alex and Roscoe tossed around the bone for several minutes. Then Roscoe was done.
2012-08-28 06:57 UTC – Excited that Grandma Leslie is visiting and paying attention to him.
2012-09-02 19:32 UTC – Um… Alex decided that when Roscoe licked him, the right thing to do was lick back. After all, that is how dogs kiss. And he was going to pretend he was a dog too. He also extended this to be how he tried to greet people. This was not always appreciated. “Daddy, lick our tongues together like I do with Roscoe!” Uh, no. No thanks. Really.
2012-09-20 06:12 UTC – I don’t know exactly what was going on here when I caught them, but they were clearly up to no good!
2012-12-05 02:48 UTC – When Amy sits down to work on her computer, Roscoe decides that would be a good time to cuddle on her hand.
2012-12-19 05:46 UTC – Sometimes Roscoe wanted to get just a bit TOO involved in playing with trains. Alex complained Roscoe wouldn’t play right and would try to shoo him away, or put obstacles in the way so Roscoe couldn’t walk over and lie down on top of the trains. But Roscoe often did anyway. 2013
2013-03-26 03:43 UTC – Squishy dog face. Alex and Roscoe both comfy on Mommy’s lap.
2013-03-26 17:09 UTC – “What? Why are you looking at me?”
2013-03-26 17:11 UTC – “I’m just lying here relaxing.”
2013-04-06 21:47 UTC – “I’ll just lie here with you. you don’t mind if I poke your eye do you?”
2013-04-06 22:41 UTC – “Is this picture going online?”
2013-06-04 02:57 UTC – A boy and his dog. You can’t even see their faces, but I think this is my favorite picture of the whole bunch. It just captures the closeness of Roscoe and Alex’s relationship perfectly. In one of their good moments. They really were best friends.
2013-08-05 05:23 UTC – Of course, seeming them being friends from the front is nice too.
2013-09-12 06:36 UTC – I have a lot fewer pictures of Roscoe and me together. But when he got a chance, he really liked to cuddle with me too.
2013-10-26 21:15 UTC – Sometimes walking the dog is less exciting than others.
2013-12-20 17:17 UTC – More snow! One of Roscoe’s absolute favorite things was rolling in the snow. The deeper the better! He would just jump in and roll, roll, roll! Alex would talk all summer about how important it was that we get snow and walk Roscoe in the snow. To the point where in years where it looked like we might not get real snow, we started to make plans to take Roscoe up to the mountains for that walk. We never had to do that, but a couple years it came close! 2013-12-20 17:19 UTC – A video this time, of a nice walk in the snow!
2013-12-29 06:49 UTC – “What, this Thomas couch thing wasn’t supposed to be my bed?” 2014
2014-02-09 17:49 UTC – Sometimes when you are walking the dog, you drop the leash and have to run to catch it! Roscoe hadn’t made a run for it in a dropped leash situation since 2006 though, and even when he’d occasionally let himself out for a walk, we’d find him idly walking nearby, almost always on one of our usual walking routes, and he’d come running when called.
2014-02-22 01:12 UTC – “This footrest is for my head, right?”
2014-02-22 18:25 UTC – “I gotcha covered buddy.”
2014-03-12 00:15 UTC – Just a nice pic.
2014-03-16 20:47 UTC – Sharing Ducky. 2014-04-09 01:14 UTC – Forget about WALKING the dog, it is time to RUN!
2014-04-12 07:39 UTC – This one time, I was heading to bed, only to discover that Alex had spilled something on the bed. It was late, I didn’t want to deal with it beyond throwing a towel over it, and I went to lie down on the floor of my office. Roscoe almost immediately lay down beside me, put his arm around me, and fell asleep. Awww…
2014-04-27 23:47 UTC – More running with the dog!
2014-05-13 20:06 UTC – Big hug!
2014-05-27 03:07 UTC – Looking cool wearing those sunglasses!
2015-06-07 18:09 UTC – “Hey kid, that iPad thing is boring, but I’ll still sit with you, cause you’re my boy.”
2015-06-23 01:11 UTC – Limbo!!
2014-06-29 23:31 UTC – Alex was pretty sure washing the dog would be great fun. Roscoe was pretty sure it would not be.
2014-07-20 00:20 UTC – A nice lick on the mouth for his boy. 2014-07-25 19:57 UTC – Alex sings with Roscoe for awhile, then leaves and fetches the leash to invite Roscoe for a walk… upstairs… to get me. We went for a walk immediately after I stopped recording.
2014-08-02 03:06 UTC – Friends trotting down the street together barefoot.
2014-09-20 23:22 UTC – When we got him, Roscoe was afraid of water. Especially lakes and streams. Later he would tolerate going near them if he had to. But he would never PLAY in the water. Until we went on a hike to a nearby lake and Alex asked him to play. “Come on Roscoe, come in!” Alex and Roscoe frolicked in the water together at the edge of the lake for a couple minutes. I was so shocked that I didn’t manage to get a picture until Roscoe was done and jumping out.
2014-10-05 00:23 UTC – Time for another bath for Roscoe! Uh, sorry. Shower. Alex was very particular that this was a shower and not a bath.
2014-10-14 06:39 UTC – We would find them like this SO often.
2014-11-08 20:23 UTC – “What? What are you looking at? I’m just sitting here!”
2014-11-24 04:44 UTC – Just hanging on the cough with Brandy and Alex.
2014-11-29 18:14 UTC – Lick, lick, lick.
2014-12-07 20:32 UTC – Sitting with Daddy.
2014-12-07 20:38 UTC – Alex wanted in on the picture too, but Roscoe was getting tired. 2014-12-08 16:49 UTC – Alex, Roscoe and I “sing” together for a little bit. i started taking snapshots for the last bit of the video, not realizing it would interrupt the video itself. Sorry about that…
2014-12-31 06:33 UTC – More just hanging out on the couch. This happened a lot. It was always cute. 2015
2015-01-06 04:19 UTC – Just more Alex/Roscoe cuddling
2015-01-12 05:29 UTC – “Maybe these iPad things are OK after all.”
2015-01-12 05:54 UTC – Amy gets couch time with Alex and Roscoe too.
2015-01-12 21:09 UTC – Years later, this was STILL Roscoe’s favorite chair. But as he got older, it was harder for him to jump up into it, so I gave it to him as a bed.
2015-01-22 09:33 UTC – Amy caught this middle of the night picture of Roscoe, Alex and me all fast asleep in a big puppy pile. Just the way Roscoe liked it. 2015-01-29 00:29 UTC – In this video Alex talks to Roscoe about how much Roscoe loves him. That Roscoe loves Alex more than Amy, more than anyone else does. This is all about how important they were to each other. Not too long after this video, a couple weeks maybe, I was having a conversation with Alex and mentioned that Roscoe was an old dog, and we wouldn’t have him forever. Alex told me: “Roscoe can’t die. Roscoe loves me SO MUCH, he would never leave me! So he can’t die.” Oh, Alex, I can’t express how much I wish things worked that way. But they don’t. Breaks my heart.
2015-01-30 05:06 UTC – Roscoe was also very attentive when Alex was playing Minecraft. He presumably wanted to learn how to play himself. Uh, or maybe it was the slice of pizza on the desk next to Alex. Nah…
2015-02-02 23:15 UTC – Just more Alex and Roscoe being loving.
2015-02-02 23:16 UTC – You can tell Roscoe is getting to be an old man, and that he really just wanted to rest most of the time. But even when Alex was being noisy and rough, Roscoe would always come back to be with him.
2015-02-03 07:16 UTC – Just more family cuddling on the couch.
2015-02-16 19:57 UTC – Um, you know that cushion from the chair that I gave Roscoe as a bed? Well, he made it his own. Ripped the cover to shreds, pulled out the stuffing, made a nest. We let him keep using it as a bed of course. It was his to do with as he pleased, and if that made it more comfortable for him, so be it.
2015-02-16 20:56 UTC – Always, always, on the alert for potential dropped food, or an opportunity to beg. He KNEW that both Alex and I were suckers and would feed him almost any time. Unless we were eating chocolate. He knew the word “chocolate”. It meant the same thing as “no”. (Since chocolate is bad for dogs.)
2015-03-01 04:24 UTC – Just another shot cuddling with me.
2015-03-18 04:46 UTC – Just Roscoe giving one of his looks. 2015-03-18 04:46 UTC – Oh, it is THAT look. Begging for food again…
2015-03-22 19:02 UTC – Mommy is good to cuddle with.
2015-04-17 04:51 UTC – We’re near the end now. About 10 days. Of course nobody knows this. Except maybe Roscoe. Meanwhile, Alex just looks into Roscoe’s eyes with obvious affection and adoration. Best friends for life. 2015-04-20 00:00 UTC – At the end of the weekend before Roscoe died, we were doing some work in the front of the house. I had my timelapse camera set up to catch some of it. We got a few moments of Roscoe hanging around with us while we went about our business.
2015-04-26 19:01 UTC – This is not a great picture of Roscoe. You can see part of him there. But my timelapse camera in my office caught just a short bit as I came up to my office for something, did it, and left again. This was the last photographic glimpse of Roscoe before he was clearly not doing well. In those few short minutes in real life, just a second or two on the timelapse, Roscoe followed me in and lay down at my feet. When I left, he left with me. Very often when I was home, especially when Alex was otherwise occupied, Roscoe would follow me, and sit with me wherever I happened to go. He didn’t start out that way, but he became extremely loyal and loving, and always wanted to be with us. He would do anything for his people, especially Alex. He was a good dog. A great dog. We miss him so much. Goodbye Roscoe. Good dog! We love you. |
||
