Goodnight My Sweet Stinky Angel

It has been years since this blog has been updated. The numerous passings of so many old friends was too much to bear. And with this post I bring more sad news. Many changes have happened in our lives, and with time comes aging. Ike was a few months past 13 when he succumbed to a brain tumor yesterday. His decline was mercifully short, beginning with some cognitive dysfunction that lasted a few months and only seemed a minor concern, normal aging. Twelve days ago, he had a seizure in my arms and another the following morning. My fabulous work colleagues were quick to consult a neurologist and get him on a drug program to stop the seizures and decrease the swelling in his brain. Thankfully, he only had those two seizures. But as it often goes with older dogs, the decline is swift and death is greedy. We released him from his body-prison surrounded by friends, and I watched the last flicker in his dimming candle go out.
Ike was a giant soul. He was funny and adorable and endlessly cuddly and sweet. He loved road trips and hotels and pepperoni pizza. He would happily ride on my lap for 6 hour stretches and endure a shower of kisses. He loved sitting on chairs in restaurants like a little gentlemen waiting for his meal. He hated snow and rain and celery and most other dogs. He loved his big white cat, Odin, and his grandma and his mama and papa.
Even the day before his death, people stopped us on the street to meet him and tell him how cute he was.
His gas was noxious and he snored like an eighty year old alcoholic, but I wouldn't trade one moment I had with him. He is embedded in my soul; my sweet Ikenstein, my Steiner, my Buttface, my Snorey, my Buddyface. There will never be another you, but I know there are many of your descendants out there. I see their faces on Pinterest and You Tube. And I hope to encounter one who needs a home. Or, you can come back to me, my sweet, just jump into new body and find your way home. I will be watching for you.

Just vote!

Crickets.

So I guess you guys have been hearing a lot of crickets when you come to my blog because it's been 16 months since I've done anything with it! A lot has happened since I last blogged - my dad got a new job in CALIFORNIA and then my mom got a new job too. My dad traded in my ancient car and got a new car and then we had a garage sale and sold a bunch of stuff and then loaded the rest of our crap into a huge truck and I rode shotgun with my dad and we drove down the coast. Then we stayed with our friend Mildred and her two white schnauzers Milo and Niko who I tried to beat up all the time. It took us a month to find a place to live because you pretty much have to be the first person at the open house to get an apartment. I picked this place in Oakland in a super cool neighborhood with an Art Deco movie theater and tons of restaurants and shops. The house has lots of windows so I can sleep in the sun which is pretty awesome because in Bellingham, there is only sun for like a minute a year. But here in California, it's sunny almost every day but they say that this is the rainy season and it won't be sunny all the time anymore. I have a huge palm tree in my backyard and the grass is starting to come up outside which is really weird because it's November and I grew up in a place where the grass dies in November.
I don't know if you remember this, but there are cats who live with me, and my good friend Odin, the big white one, turned 18 over the summer but he's still doing great. Saffron, the orange one who has never really liked me, is 14 and we found out that she has cancer but she's doing ok because she is taking a pill that is making her get fat again and they say that she could still live another couple of years with this pill because it tells the cancer to stop. She had a different kind of cancer on her tail a couple of years ago but it got hacked off and she was fine. Even though we don't get along, I would appreciate some healing vibes for her because she will have blood work done next week to see if her liver is tolerating the pill that is stopping the cancer, and if her liver doesn't like the pill, she needs to stop taking it and that would be really bad.
My mom's new job is at a veterinary specialty clinic and she works in internal medicine where they see all the weird diseases and lots of sad stuff. She misses her old friends at The Cat Clinic, but she likes working with dogs again even though they kick her ass a lot.
Now it's time for some pictures.

Here's a picture of me in my Halloween costume which is a  velociraptor. Totally scary, huh?

 Here's a picture of me and Odin in the sun today. When did my face start turning white?

And here's a picture of my mom and my Auntie Kathryn and David Gray! They met him right before we moved
and my mom and Auntie were the happiest ever because they totes loves David Gray.

Lola needs your help!

Hey everybody, my cousin dog Lola severed her achilles tendon and had surgery to fix it and the surgery failed and now she needs another surgery for two thousand dollars (the first surgery was a grand) and my uncle needs your help to finance it. If he can't come up with enough, they will have to amputate otherwise she will be dragging a useless leg. And the worst thing is she's only 5 months old. My uncle rescued Lola from abusive and neglectful neighbors who were starving her. She was out having a good time with their other dog, Boo, when she ran under the deck to their house and there was some metal sticking out that they didn't know about and she sliced her leg. So please, please, please help Lola save her leg so she can have a normal life. Please repost this or link to my blog!

Barf-o-rama!

Ok, so today my grandma was doing laundry, and the pantry door was kind of open so I opened it the rest of the way and found all the containers of cat food and dog food. And I sort of chased the containers all over the floor until my kibble container opened and I totally ate a ton of it until my belly was bulging. And my mom got home for lunch and I jumped on the couch and burped in her face and then my grandma spilled the beans to her! I pretty much ate about 3 cups of kibble which is like a few days worth for me so I had to go work with my mom where they made me eat hydrogen peroxide. Then I barfed all over the floor which was pretty awesome, especially because there were strawberry tops in it which looked like huge blood clots! Then I had to sit in the cage for a few hours while my grandma went to Costco because she didn't want me barfing in her car again. So I barfed in my cage - a cat cage! - and no one saw it so I ate it. So, if you ever get into the pantry and eat tons of food, don't get caught!

This is a picture of my fatness - I sort of had a waist still, but it's gone now!

Steeeeeeve!

So I want to officially welcome Steeeeve to the blogosphere - you got your work cut out for you, buddy. You have big shoes to fill and a real Doofus to endure, but welcome, welcome, welcome - I can't wait to get to know you better - that is if the power hasn't gone to Tanner's head and he lets you use the blog.


Also, the super secret project is still underway and hasn't been forgotten. It's gonna be great!

For My Homey.

Thanks for the cheeseburger, Joe Stains!

RIP, buddy - you're already so very missed.

RIP to my BFF

I am devastated, and I can't stop burying my head in my paws. My BFF Joe passed on today. Life will never be the same again. He was the king of the blogosphere, a hilarious friend and the Master of Stains. Rest in peace, my friend. I will always remember you and love you for making me laugh when I really didn't feel like it and for understanding my need for making Stains. You made me proud to Stain, and I will always treasure my Stain Award. You pulled Staining from dark back alleys into our living rooms and kitchens and curbed discrimination for Staining dogs across the world. We will continue to fight the power with our poopers. I love you man - you will be forever remembered and desperately missed.

Visitor!

Ok, so I know we have all been down in the dumps lately with sick friends and broken parents and people losing jobs and other crappy stuff. But I have some great news - my cousin is going to be visiting for a little while.
Meet my cousin Harry - Harry Kiester!
(Pee S - he's very sensitive about his short arms.)

Shifting gears.

Ok, so my mom's back doesn't work anymore, and she pretty much can't stand or sit or lay down or do anything for any period of time. This changes things for the project which wasn't going well anyway. Soooooooooooooooooooooooo, I have moved on to Plan B which is going to be pawesome, and I'm really excited about it! So don't worry guys, I'm putting your donations to good use, just running into a few bumps in the road. I'll update when there is more news. You can email me if you want to know what is going on if you are not Joe Stains!

Plugging away!

Ok, so my mom has solved the hiccup and it now plugging away at the secret project. Barring any unforeseen problems, it should be done relatively soon. (She only says relatively because she won't commit to a timeline! That lady...

Pee S - she would love to take some of you up on your offers to help, but it can't be done that way :(

Set backs.

Ok, so my mom has been working on the project but she's running into some problems, but she promises to work it out somehow. I'll keep you up to date with the progress. Thanks so much to all who donated!

And here's a cute old picture of me, just because.

Progress Report.

Ok, so my mom and dad went to Hawaii forever and then they got home and then they had to go back to stupid work, so my mom has been thinking about the secret project a lot, but not working on it a lot. I just want to let you know that we haven't forgotten and will be putting some time into it this weekend (even though my mom has to go to stupid work Saturday and Sunday) but we hope to have it ready to go within the next week or two. I'll keep you updated.

Here's a picture of my mom and dad having a great time without me!


But they did give me a lei when I picked them up at the airport, but it smelled terrible. As you can see from the photo, I was a little confused.

Donations!

So the donations are coming in - 3 figures already! Please re-post on your blog if you are not Joe Stains and want to participate in this super good idea fund raiser. Email me at emilyhthompson @ yahoo.com if you are not Joe Stains for details!

Super good idea that will make everyone feel better.

Ok, so I have a super good idea that will make everyone feel better, but I'm gonna need a little help with this, and by help, I mean donations. So if you are not Joe Stains, and want to help, please email me at emilyhthompson @ yahoo.com and I'll let you in on it. And if you can't help, don't feel bad at all but pass it on to the other dog bloggers because Joe Stains brings a lot of love laughter into our lives and we are going to CELEBRATE all that he is!

All this BAD STUFF!

Ok, so I'm pretty upset about some stuff going on: Nuclear meltdown, tsunamis, earthquakes, and my buddy Joe Stains is sick. I'm kind of speechless about the last one. But Joe said I'm not supposed to be upset because he's feeling pretty good. So I'm not gonna be upset, ok, Joe?
But I'm still sending some healing vibes.

Guess who's not invited to Hawaii!

So my mom and dad are preparing for vacation which is totally exciting because I love vacation, but then they explained to me that I CAN'T GO!!!! because they don't want to stick me in cargo because I'm 22lbs now and Hawaii doesn't have rabies but neither do I. And I guess there is tons of crazy paperwork and rabies titers and all that crap, so I have to stay home alone, all by myself, just me and the cats and the fish, fending for ourselves and starving to death. (Ike's mom here: his grandma will be here the whole time. She's retired and hangs out with him all day. If she goes shopping, he goes shopping. Drama.)
Ok, so my mom spilled the beans about my grandma being here, but get this - she doesn't let me sleep in her bed! I have this scrap of pillow on the hard cold floor where I curl up and try to keep warm. (Ike's mom here: he has a large pillow on a carpeted floor and his grandma put another pillow against the wall so he doesn't ever have to touch a cold wall.)
And the worst part is my mom and dad are meeting my Auntie Kat and Uncle Ansel who I haven't seen in ages and ages! All they talk about is Hawaii, this and Hawaii that and what are they gonna bring and what do they want to see without me. Sob.
Please take me with you!

Where have you been, Ike?

Ok, so blogging seems to have gone out of fashion in these parts. My mom got an Android phone and it's like the most important thing in the world to her. It's obviously more important than blogging or looking at dog blogs or anything else. It seems like we are only going to do holiday posts from now on. Sheesh! I've just been laying around getting fat because I hate the rain and won't do walkies in it. So here are some pics from my mom's cool new phone.
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Merry X-mas Everypup!

So my dad designed this picture of me to have silk-screened on a sweatshirt for my mom. How cool is that?!? (He will take the x-mas part off.)

It's Christmas!

Hope your Christmas is worth roaching about!