The day after ...

 When a pet gives you his heart ... it is hard to not return the affection.

This is Grimace.  

He is my son's dog and Grimace loves his "papa" very very much.

He came into our lives as a rescue at the age of 3.  He made such a difference in our lives.

Such unqualified love and devotion he shared with all his family.

At some point he discovered he had a grandma.  

That discovery led to 11 years of a loving relationship that grew and grew and grew.

There was nothing I wouldn't do for my soul mate.

Towards the end of his life we became so close.

Yesterday, at the age of 14 1/2 my dear Grimmy's life came to an end.

 I was at his side.

He struggled and struggled until the very end.

I kissed his dear face, rubbed his floppy ears and gave him a last hug.

It was my last loving gift to him - letting go!

Today is the day after.

I am lost without him.

Road Trip

Hello folks, Grimace here.

Today my grandma took me on a road trip with my cousin Milo.  Meathead wasn't interested in going.

First of all there wasn't a couch where we are going.  Secondly, Meathead just didn't want to go.  His attitude?  Why would anyone want to go anywhere that doesn't have a couch!

I never know where we are going on these trips.  I just hop in the front seat and sit to watch Grandma drive.  This time Milo was with us and he insisted on sitting in the front seat with me.  Whatever! I can share.

"uhh, Grandma, Milo here.  Grimace is touching me! Make him stop."

"Seriously Grandma, squeezing me."

"Geezy-peezy,
 he is fine!"
Whatever!"

"Yeah!  We are here ... wherever here is!"

"Smells like Great Grandma's place."

"Hey, Grimace, Great Grandma gives the best pets."

"She loves me more than you, Milo!"

Grandma's perspective?

Another road trip completed without blood shed!

  Life would be a little less complicated if one of them would sit in the back seat! 

Whatever!

:-) 

Grandma is so ...

... Grand!!

She adores us!  

So a little introduction.

From left to right, 

I am Meathead, the English BullDog.  I am the senior member of this family even though Grimace is a year older than me.  You see I was here first as a puppy.  Grimace was rescued at the age of 3 - so I have seniority.  I am 10 years old.  I am magnificent!

Next in the center is Milo, the French Bull Dog.  He belongs to my Aunt Kris and he is 2 - a young, energetic, egotistic,  pushy, overly alert, and exceedingly cute dog.  The last quality saves his butt more times than you could imagine.  We remind him frequently when he is being a "yo-yo brain" (something that happens frequently), that his mom was shopping for a blond female French Bull Dog when she got him!  Blond!  Female! How she got side tracked by a brown male (even if he has melty bedroom eyes), we will never know!

Lastly on the right is Grimace, the Pug, who is my adopted brother and a pretty good friend to everyone.  He is 11 years old.  But he loves Grandma with an intensity that would be considered stalking in the human world!  

Anyway,  here are The liver cookies our Grandmother bakes for us every Christmas.  They are cut in the shapes of hearts and bones. And she doubles the quantity of liver listed in the recipe.  She knows her boys!!

Shapes are very important. 

Like

very,

 very

important!

Making these cookies in simple circles is a bad idea.  When Grandma made these last year they were in circles.  They were cooling on the kitchen counter ... she was busy in the living room.  Then Grandpa came into the living room chewing and chewing away, asking ... "These aren't chocolate chip cookies, are they!"

:-)

Since we don't like sharing our liver cookies, (and Grandpa doesn't like liver), the shapes save our treats for us.

New followers ... Welcome to Grandma's blog.

An introduction to Grandma can be found here.  Information on Grandma's first Give-Away (it isn't liver cookies), can be found here.

Sincerely,
Meathead

My Soul Mate

When you love a dog, like I love this one,

seeing him in pain puts pain in your own heart.

Grimace had a fatty tumor removed from his chest last Friday.  So grandma when into "nurse" mode Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

He did fine!

But his grandma saw every change in his face, every painful move of his body, every change in his normally sunny personality, and smothered that dear pooch with love and affection all weekend.  That included sleeping on the floor with him for 2 nights, carrying him up and down my front steps so he could pee, feeding him by hand when he couldn't reach the bowl, and putting ice compresses on is "boo-boo."  And he responded by sticking by my side - following me to whatever room I was in the whole darn weekend.  He couldn't be talked out of that!!

My God, I love that dog and he loves me.

In fact, he loves me like no other being on the face of this earth.

I should be as wonderful as he thinks I am!

Just a Normal Day at Grandma's House

Meathead
Ahh.  Sleeping on Grandma's lap!  Heaven.

Grimace
Sawing out some ZZZZZZZ at Grandma's feet.

Milo
Sleep?  Really?
 I did that last night!  Looking for action!

Oh crap!  He is at it again!

But Grandma I WANT TO PLAY!!
Pleeeaaasse.

Grandma, this is Meaty speaking.
You know, your first born grandchild.
I have "rank" here.  I am the Meaty!
Can you please make Milo stop?

OK, Grandma, you owe me big time for this!

I'll give him 5 minutes, then I am done.
Done!!

The couch is the only safe place for me!

A Cherished Little Face

Don't you wish you had this wall paper picture on your computer?

  This is my Grimace, one of my grand dogs.
He is the dearest pug ever.
When he is with me, he is always at my foot.
Always.

  The eyes are so earnest,

 the expression so sweet,

 and his little toofies showing. 

 I smile every time I open my lap top!

And as I sit here typing
he is laying at my feet on the rug.

I don't deserve such devotion.

The Grimace Walk

Grimace Robert Geronimo Shanks

Grimmy, or Pug-a-pot-0-mous, or Grimples, or Grimple-stilt-skin ... for short.

Be Warned!

This posting shows a lot of pictures of my Grand-dog, Grimace, taking a leak!

If you stood still long enough, you would be marked by his ever full bladder.

I once apologized to a little girl's mother for Grimmy doing exactly that to her child.

I still remember Grimace's look when I scolded him.

"Really, Gram, she was sitting there so quietly. I thought she was a Red Wood."

You were warned!

Grimace is my "middle" grand dog. His place in the pack is ahead of Milo, but behind Meathead. Technically he is the oldest of the three dogs ... but dogs don't rank themselves by age.

Grimace is a Pug. A very large Pug by Pug standards. He was 3 years old when my son adopted him from Pug Rescue. The little we know of his background goes like this: he and his brother were having problems getting along, the couple that owned them were expecting a baby, and they decided to give up both dogs.

Grimace is not complicated. He lives his life by two simple principles:

• Be devoted. And he is. We joke that Grimmy thinks that I own him and he just visits with his papa. It is probably more truth than joke.
• Leave your mark on the world. Leave it on this tree, this blade of grass, this chair, this wall, this person, this fence, this dog (Meathead doesn't seem to mind an occasional sprinkle on his head. Go figure.), this car, this trash, this ... anything you can name. That is why he is the proud owner of "pooch pants", or dog diapers ... or, as my son likes to call them, "camp trousers."

So today I thought I would take you on our walk together. Every sleep over night, Grimace and Grandma go for a long morning walk together. Sometimes Milo comes, but on this day it was just Grimmy and Gram ("the way it is meant to be" says Grimmy).

On morning walks Grimace gets to chose the direction.

He is in charge.

Which way to go?

Which way to go?

So here we are checking out this tree.

And this tree.

And this tree.

I swear they are different trees. They may look exactly the same to you, but if you had a dog's nose, you would know they are as different as horses and pumpkins.

We are lucky to have a small park near by.

The entrance is a stopping place for all the dogs of the neighborhood.

Walking by this fence without stopping to sniff would be like

taking this 40 minute walk without breathing.

Impossible.

"Grandma, I love our morning walks."

Sometimes I make him stop for a rest. He is getting up in years.

Look at the dear gray face.

Even the tips of his ears are gray.

It makes me sad because it reminds me that our years together are becoming shorter!

Time to be moving on.

Usually the walk back up the stairs to the house is a slow climb.

And getting back in the house for a drink, breakfast,

and some couch time is a priority.

After all, the bladder is empty.

No sense staying out.

Grandma and Grimace are BFFs ... but I have said that before!

My Best Friend

(Here is Grimace with his best friend, me.)

Everyone has a "best friend". My best friend is a Pug named

Grimace Roberto Geronimo Shanks.

He also happens to be one of my grand-dogs.

(Here he is in his "Hawaiian Guy" costume.)

Grimace came to our family at the age of 3,

being adopted from a Pug rescue group.

He came with the name of "Bud",

but who wouldn't change that to a more substantial name like

Grimace Robert Geronimo Shanks.

We know very little of his history before lucking out by going to our family.

But an individual that could give up that face,

didn't deserve to own it in the first place.

And now he has a papa, a mama-to-be, a grandma and an aunt as well as a very grand name.

And that is just part of his extended family.

How do I know that he is my best friend?

That is easy.

Of my 3 grand dogs,

Meathead loves me dearly, but he would choose his papa over me.

Milo loves me dearly, but he would choose his mama over me.

Grimace ... hands down!

He would choose me over anyone else in the whole world.

(Here I am sharing a very interesting and engrossing topic.

Here he is waiting for me to say words like "dinner", "walk", or "cookie".)

:-)

Grandmas should love all their grand-dogs equally.

I do.

But sometimes one raises to the level of a Best Friend Forever!

Grimace and I are clearly BFFs!!!

3 Dog - 2 Cat Weekend - Day 3

Now you might have noticed that the cats seem to be absent. They weren't. You just have to know where to look.

Max and Wally have a favorite place. It is our bathroom, which is located as far as you can get from the living room where the dogs hang out.

This spot is a favorite for several reasons: it is quiet there, it is far from the dogs, it is the space where Max gets his fluid treatments for his degenerative kidney disease (behind him is a medical sharps container for his needles) - which means many many treats are despensed here, and it is where they can hang out together. They also have a litter box here and you might notice a white mug on the counter. That is their bathroom water bowl. They like their water out of a mug! :-)

But they aren't always hidden away. In the morning, they enjoy sitting in the kitchen watching the birds on the balcony. Max found a special place where he could hang out in the kitchen, but still be above the fray.

He enjoys sitting on one of the kitchen chairs. Here he is hanging out with Grimace nearby.

All is cool.

We can relax, stretch out our neck, be superior!

He also enjoys sitting there with Meathead nearby.

Yes, these mutts are OK, reasonable, companionable!

And here is Max with ... oh, guess not.

A shot of Milo's ears.

Epilogue

These weekends now are pretty tame compared to last year when Milo was an uncontrolled baby. Last year there was much chasing around and nipping and cat hissing and dog barking. This year those behaviors are much reduced. He knows the rules and follows them about 70% of the time. Huge improvement, really.

Now he is pretty much just one of the pack. Enjoys eating his meals with his cousins, taking long morning walks with Grimace and Grandma and afternoon naps with everyone.

He is a dear little soul.

3 Dog - 2 Cat Weekend - Day 2

So the weekend starts with a nice calm walk with Grandma - Meaty and Grimace, enjoying their senior stroll to check all the various pee spots in the neighborhood since their last visit.

Then there is the meeting between Meaty and Milo. It starts out as play, and evolves to overheated fatigue for Meaty and frustration that Meaty has pooped out for Milo. Meathead is an old guys and Milo is a young teen, so it is an admirable effort on his part to humor Milo.

Night time typically looks like this - blow up mattresses across the living room floor for my daughter and I with each dog settling where they are most comfortable. Getting settled for sleep takes time due to shuffling of sleeping positions. In the early morning (3:00 am seems like a good time) Meaty decides he needs to step outside for a short visit to empty his bladder. It becomes a group visit with all 5 of us going outside. As we stand in the quiet of the neighborhood when most normal people and animals (wild and domestic) are tucked into dream-land and the street sounds have totally disappeared, we wait for 3 pooches to do their business.

Day time typically looks like this - napping all around! After all, we need to rest up for the nights!!

And there are the walks to the "necessary".

And occasional visits with the neighbors.

Milo (right) with Cleo, one of the neighbors

"Wow, girl, what happened to your legs?"

Meathead making a point.

"I don't know about you, grandma, but I am done here!"