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Merlin (pictured above in 1993) was my brother Rob's dog a half Carin terrior half Springer Spaniel, was
born on the "Ides of March" in 1982. Merlie was the funniest dog you ever met. Watching TV he'd sit next to you
on his hind legs with one paw on your shoulder like a "human" would sit. When he played fetch he would run
and jump like Pepe Le Pew in the cartoon. He went everywhere with Rob, and minded very well. Merlin was
usually seen with a bandana around his neck for "added color". Merlin loved to romp and play, but had this odd habit of calling the game "over". Now, that would be alright if he was playing, but he would call it over for Angus also. All of the sudden Merlin would grab Angus' toy or ball and take it and basically lay down on it. Then he would "dare" anyone to try to take it. That was it - game was over! Angus had this habit of "hiding" his chew bones (when say "hide" I mean, they were in plain site, but he felt he had hidden them well) and Merlin would go right behind him and eat them up. Days later Angus would go looking for his chews and could never figure out where whey went. Merlin just knew to follow Angus around and he'd get twice the treats. Merlin started his life with Rob and then MacGregor and our folks in Dallas. Then Angus, Ti & Pooh joined in the group and he did just fine. Rob moved back out on his own again and Merlin went everywhere with Rob. When Rob & Terri got married they also got Jake, a part-Lab. Then they moved to Houston and miss Khola, the cat came along. None of these seemed to bother Merlin in the least. Jake would even take Merlin's leash in his mouth to take him for a walk. Merlin had a terrible time with the fleas in Houston and was rather bald on his back half most of the time from scratching and chewing at the bites. Terri used all kinds of medications and shampoos to try and keep him comfortable, but since it never got cold there the fleas just never stopped. Merlin passed on to the Rainbow Bridge and waits for his family there. |
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Georgie (pictured above in November, 1995) was a sweet cat who wandered into Rob and Terri's yard in
Houston one spring and decided to make this her home. Terri was convinced that she had run away from a home
with small children, as she had a rather "strange" haircut. She was really Terri's cat, and loved to sit in her lap.
She and Khola would sit around in the yard with Jake and enjoy the sun. Georgie developed a growth on one of her nipples which turned out to be cancerous. She had the surgery and seemed to be doing fine, but a few months later the cancer returned in another duct. Rob and Terri lost her to the disease about a year and a half after she came into their lives. Terri misses her sweet cat who was truly her girl. She now waits with her brother Merlin at the Rainbow Bridg | |
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Miss Sylvia (pictured above from September 2003) passed on to the Rainbow Bridge on the morning of May 5, 2004 - she was about 5 years old.
This was a devestating blow to Robert & Terri . She was Terri's baby girl and Robert's run/wrestle/play buddy. She seems to have followed Terri
out back and then decided to run along the shrubs. One of the employees saw her and said she was on the building side by the tree on the treelawn. A
loud noise spooked her and in her startlement she jumped forward in to the side of a car that was driving down the street. The only
good thing about it was that Terri knows she never suffered, she was dead on impact. She was so good for Jake, he's 14 now
and has lived this long because of Sylvia. This is the e-mail that Terri sent out about her little girl:
Sylvia wound up at the door of Houston Bumper (Terri's family's company) around the fall of 1999
and worked her way in to the hearts of Rob and Terri. When found she appeared to be around four months
old and part terrier (Tibetian). Khola, Kyle and Jake got along with her, so she stayed. Rob and
Terri named her Sylvia after a character in a play they saw. Something about a human woman playing the
role of Sylvia the dog and her "talks" were supposed to be voice overs of what goes on in a dogs mind when
they think.
Sylvia found her way in/out of the Houston Bumper site under a section of fence and they had a time teaching her
to stay where she belonged. She had been on her own, but she learned to be a family dog. Little Miss Sylvia would
follow Terri everywhere. To train her they used an electric fence which kept stimulating the collar until they returned to the
safe area to teach her the boundries. Once, she ran across the street and in to the yard of a big dog who promptly bit her.
She came running back home and that had her behave much better.
In September 2003 I got the chance to meet Miss Sylvia - who was cleaned, primped and ready for show. She was such
a sweetie. She was a food hound - loved to catch the variety of lunch times in the
lunch room at the plant - all the guys thought she was sweet and would share some of their food with her. She liked to go
out in the back of the plant and wander around the bumpers in the sun. When I was there she would follow me around to
see what I was up to.
Bath time was always "fun" with Sylvia. Terri would corner her in the shower stall and wash then both. Lots of towels to get
her "not so wet" and then the long wait to dry. When I came to visit she had been freshly bathed and had a barrett on her head
so I could see her pretty eyes. Terri always called her her the wooly mammoth - she appeared to be mostly Tibetian Terrier, and
they are very furry.
She loved to get up on the bed with Terri, and would hide under the bed as her "safe spot" during storms or when she was
scared. She loved to chase light - especially the flashlight around the room. From the time she was little she was a fun
companion for Terri's nephew Chase, who spent hours playing the light game with her. When I was in Houston she actually
took the flashlight and moved it around herself and then would chase after the spot where the beam landed.
Sylvia was a talker - always having something to say. When I would call Terri, Sylvia would be in the background telling her
to get off the phone and pay attention to her! She had a sweet personality and loved people and other animals.
She was their sweet little girl and will sorely be missed! |
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Jake (pictured above in September, 2003) passed to the
Rainbow Bridge on May 14, 2005 with
the help of Rob & Terri and the vet. Jake was a part lab who lived to be almost 16 years old - very old for such a
big guy. His heart was in it, but his skeletal structure was getting weaker. He wasn't in any pain (well, except for
his hip arthritis), but they were afraid that he would fall and break something soon then be in severe pain. It was
time, he wasn't wagging his tail any more and would just rest. Hard decision to make, but they could not make him
suffer just to keep him around. Jake came to live with Rob and Terri in Dallas around 1990 when he was about a year old. Merlin had been an only dog, so the little guy "told" Jake what to do. Jake would "take himself for a walk" holding his own leash. He would really have liked to be a lap dog, but Lab's just aren't meant for that (you know what I mean?). Rob remembers once when they first moved to Houston that he was looking for his box turtle in the bushes of the back yard. It was dark and he heard some noise in the bushes to he went to put his hand in to get the turtle out. Jake went right passed him and shoved his head in to the bush, coming out with a huge rat. He swung it around and snapped its neck then threw it down. Rob had thought his turtle was there, so Jake really saved him from being bit by a huge, ugly rat. Jake used to crack me up when I would visit them in Houston. When the old guest room had the twin bed you had to share it with Jake. Now he was rather tall and weighed around 90 pounds and liked to stretch out when he was sleeping. That would leave me pinned against the wall (thank goodness for the wall, otherwise I'd have ended up on the floor). He had this giant bowl for his dry food that he would drag around if it's empty. If it was full he would lay there with his paws on either side of the dish and his head dropped in the bowl. Now that was one lazy eater! And, he didn't share well, heaven help the cats if they tried to take food out of his dish, even if he didn't like what he's eating. Another of his fun times was dragging all my brother Rob's clothes around the house. I came in one time to find clothes everywhere, a pair of seatpants draped around his dish, and one of my brother's old tennis shoes inside the bowl. He'd just push the shoe out of the way when he wanted to eat in that spot. If it's because of scent or just the plain fact that my brother tends to drop his clothes all over the bedroom floor is up for discussion! Terri says that he would take clothes out of the hamper and drag them around. There's nothing quite like having company come over and finding your underware all over the house - such a helpful child. Jake lived a good full life. He was about 10 when Sylvia came mto live with them, and that made his much more active again. He'd been slowing down, but when the little girl came along he would play and let her steal toys and food without a fight. There was definately a big difference from Merlin to Sylvia in interactions with Jake. For some time Terri has been giving him the medicine for arthritic joints in dogs and he was much more active. With Miss Sylvia passing to the Rainbow Bridge last May, Jake lost his reason for staying active. He spent more time around the office and would lay at Terri's feet or in front of the desk. Everyone just stepped over him. Now Jake is running free once more with his angel siblings Sylvia, Georgie & Merlin. I'm sure he is "top dog" again. All his cousins are there - Pooh, Maxie, Angus & MacGregor to help him be in the family again. He was a sweet dog (who could be protective when needed) who will be terribly missed. You had a good long run there Jake, sweet dreams Big Guy! |
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Khola, (pictured above in September, 2003) passed
to the Rainbow Bridge on November 11, 2005 at the age of 12. She was
Rob and Terri's "fat cat" who wandered into their yard and stayed as a young "svelt" cat in 1994.
A short while with food, milk, Rob and Terri and she went into the "tick look" stage where her head was way too
small for her belly. With progressive years she seemed to be evening out - plain old fat everywhere. She loved
her food and her milk. She would sit at her little crock and scream for her milk until she got it. When she was younger she had quite the temper and would swat at you with those razor sharp claws and chew with those pointly little teeth. She was origingally the lone cat with Jake and Merlin. Once Georgie came along she began to mellow some. After Georgie died Kyle came to stay and she appeared to have gotten a better personality for meeting the challenge of a new sibling. In the last year little Teddy Bear came in to the family, so she was once again the "ruling queen" of the castle. Khola's big problem was that she had to be spaded twice and has some major belly size issues. Her size is quite large (very wide) and she moves slow, but even her diet with restricted amounts of food (since she couldn't jump up to get at Kyle or Teddy's food she only got what was put down for her) and her weight just didn't change. Terri says her "idol" was Garfield the Cat. Khola had the most beautiful face and eyes - isn't she just pretty in the picture above! She was very large - I mean very wide indeed. Her poor little legs just didn't stand and so straight anymore. She had to be spaded twice and the multiple abdominal surgeries took their toll. The older Khola got the more mellow she became - she was definately Terri's girl. She liked to be petted, and wouldn't bite your finger any more. A few months ago she became ill and the vet put her on antibiotics. She seemed to respond to them and was back to her old self. Terri's grandmother had heart surgery so she has been back and forth to Dallas in the past weeks. While she was away Robert noted that on Thursday she went in to the shower and didn't want to come out. Friday morning she was underneath the bed in her hiding spot when Robert left for work. She didn't want to come out and eat, just be there. When Robert got home from work he looked for her. He found her in the same spot under the bed - she had died during the day. Exactly what was wrong with her no-one will ever know. She was a stray who came to the "right house" as a small cat and had 12 wonderful years in a loving family. Teddy will not know what to do anymore - he would go behind her in the litterbox to cover her mess. Now he will have to deal with just his and Kyle's. Kohla is now at the Bridge, skinny and running around with Merlin, Georgie, Sylvia and Jake again. I'm sure that she is once again "queen of the castle" once more. She was momma's girl who will be greatly missed. |
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