Shaun 2002 - Feb. 28, 2020

 

Shaun

After an hour of tests at the vet’s

you sat on my lap so quietly 

waiting for the verdict.

They said you were in great shape for a dog so old,

and with a bit of attitude. 

I was so proud of you,

you were so patient and good

so content to sit there.

A few weeks later you were gone

The last week I made your favourite, spaghetti 

to be sure you would have some,

then let you finish mine.

Going for a walk

two days after

I turned down a side street.

Because I could not face the curve of Northmount drive

where you liked to stop and lift you leg against every other poplar,

as we waited impatient to get home.

I wonder now, as we walk the neighbourhood whether

the other dogs will unexpectedly smell you against this tree,

that rock and find,

as I do while standing at the kitchen counter

or rolling over in bed,

some happy memory of you.

First Draft (it took a year)

Remembering

The next two photos are Wendolene and Shaun's mugshots 

from the Calgary Humane Society.

Gardners World (Nigel) and some beautiful trail camera photos. (Photo Shaun and Whateley at the cabin)

"I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief." 

Wendell Berry

Helen and I love to watch Monty Don on Gardeners' World. One of the highlights are the segments from his garden Long Meadow, which often feature his dogs Nigel, Nellie, and a new dog Pattie, a Yorkshire terrier. We were quite sad to learn that Nigel had died, a lost made more poignant with the loss of our dog Shaun in February.

"Nigel has died.

He was 12 and had a good life and his end was quick and painless and came after a very happy day when he walked and ate and played - gently - seemingly without a care. But it was a great shock and sadness.

He is now buried in the garden with many of his beloved tennis balls to accompany him on his journey."

https://www.montydon.com/tips-and-advice/may-2020

With all that is going on it seems that we will not be staying at the cabin for an extended period this summer. While this allows us to catch up on work here, we will miss the chance to watch the animals that surround the cabin, so I am providing a link to what I think is some of the best trail camera footage I have ever seen. It is also nice that most of the animals are species found around our cabin.

https://www.cbc.ca/life/hellospring/springscenes/adorable-animals-discover-spy-camera-in-quebec-wilderness-it-s-awesome-1.5566328

A trail camera photo of a moose on the lane to our cabin.

Dogs, April 2017, Good Times

"These are the stories that the Dogs tell when the fires burn high and the wind is from the north. Then each family circle gathers at the hearthstone and the pups sit silently and listen and when the story's done they ask many questions:

What is Man?' they'll ask.

Or perhaps: 'What is a city?'

Or: 'What is a war?'"

from City by Clifford Simak

http://veneziablog.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-rialto-bridge-unpeopled-thursday.html

House Sparrows

  Still a bit sad here. I think the other dogs seem a bit subdued as well. We are still coming to appreciate what a towering presence and forceful personality Shaun had, despite his size. Our weather as been quite good, especially by comparison with the rest of the country and world. We have been around zero without a lot of snow. It is snowing today however and it made for a slippery walk where it covered the ice. I took these photos a couple of weeks ago when we had blue skies and a lot of sun. We have been getting lots of sparrows, drawn by the seed, suet and water. At one point it seemed that there were fewer sparrows and more house finches but the ration seems to have changed again. Although they are common, oft overlooked birds, a close look in good light does reveal their beautiful colours and delicate markings. 

'The only sparrows I heard

I was told were the ones

other people had brought"

"the sparrows said one thing

but only to themselves

and each other"

"over and over they said

here here 

yes here"

from Only Sparrows

by W.S. Merwin

Shaun 2002 - Feb. 28, 2020

"I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief." Wendell Berry

Shaun and Wendolene came into our lives in May of 2006 from the Calgary Humane Society. Wendolene would have been around 7 and Shaun 4. They had to be taken as a pair which is something we wanted anyway. We lost Wendolene in Oct of 2012.

https://thatsjustthewildwood.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-may-2006-we-wanted-to-adopt-couple.html

https://sunisaxeman.blogspot.com/2012/11/blog-post.html

Today we had to say goodbye to Shaun. He had been coughing for 3 weeks but was good enough to go for a walk around the nearby cresent Sunday. But time caught up with him this week and this morning we had to make a difficult decision.

 

He was very old for a Shih Tzu but in very good shape and able to keep up with the younger dogs on walks. Last night at the vets may have been the first night he spent without either Wendolene or Whateley by his side. He was a black hole for blankets pulling them all into his orbit and then shuttling either Helen or I uncovered to the edge of the bed. Most days on the couch he would come for a chest rub, first licking (once or twice) nipping my nose and then sneezing in my face before growling ferociously the entire time. As we both grew older and greyer I used to joke that if we wore hats you could not tell us apart.  He loved pasta appearing in the kitchen whenever he suspected it was on the menu often eating spaghetti like an unnamed movie icon. 

He normally accepted the changes in his life stoically whether it was his new friend Max...,

or the younger more energetic playmate Whateley who would keep Shaun's face clean for the rest of  his life. And they could both rock the sweaters Rigmor made them.

Although he generally was not one for outfits

.


This walk did inspire a poem.
https://sunisaxeman.blogspot.com/2011/04/ice-once-you-folded-entire-continents.html

Shaun's reaction to the cabin was funny. The first year we stayed two weeks. We had a couple lawn chairs and some cheap lanterns. He was quite put out. When the somewhat tacky Brick sofa showed up he was somewhat mollified. He also hated that nettles grew on the newly plowed lane. Even in Calgary a fairly soft spruce needle was cause to be carried some distance. But eventually he became quite the explorer although the couch was best. In the last few years I have begun to suffer from insomnia and so get up at night to read or putz around. But eventually Shaun would appear, if the bedroom door was closed he would demand that it be opened so he could find me and bring me back to bed to unite the family. Because family was everything to him. You will always be loved, always be missed little man.

Shaun feels I have gone on long enough so let's end with something short.

https://sunisaxeman.blogspot.com/2011/08/summers-hot-breath-small-dog-pants.html

First lesson – stick them with the pointy end. Jon Snow, Game of Thrones

Winter is coming (Shaun) 

A Visit from St. Nicholas BY CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”"

Shaun's snow day.

"White are the far-off plains, and white

The fading forests grow;

The wind dies out along the height,

And denser still the snow,

A gathering weight on roof and tree,

Falls down scarce audibly."

from Snow

by Archibald Lampman

There was a bit more snow on the weekend and 

Shaun is bored of winter.

Dowg gone, thats a lot of snow.

"Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea."

from Northwest Passage
as performed by the great Stan Rogers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVY8LoM47xI

Or we could go in.

I mentioned we went to the park with the dogs last week.

Shaun, Nina, and Whateley not only saw the ducks but

they made a new friend.

"If we had a keen vision of all that is ordinary in human life, 

it would be like hearing the grass grow or the squirrel's heart beat, 

and we should die of that roar which is the other side of silence. "

George Eliot

"When you wake to the dream of now

from night and its other dream,

you carry day out of the dark

like a flame."

                      from The Dream of Now

                             by William Stafford

Still no current photos so I found some from a
Sept. walk to the pond in the Research Park. 
Leaves on water, a theme I have loved since I
received Eliot Porter's book In Wildness is the
Preservation of the World.

There have been evenings when the light

has turning everything silver, and like you

I have stopped at a corner and suddenly

staggered with the grace if it all.

                        from Waiting in Line

                           by William Stafford

And every walk, a happy dog.