daisy, daisy....

daisy is 8 years old today!  what fun we've had since mr. mckee called to let us know that pine, daisy's mom, had just had 11 puppies!!  we couldn't wait to go to old lyme, ct. and meet our little girl puppy.....which one would be ours?   biff, grace and t.j. and i arrived at mr. mckee's big barn to see hunter, daisy's big burly english.white.golden......with pine,the traditional gold. golden....nursing lots of puppies. pine looked exhausted!  no wonder!

that was the day that we saw our puppy!  love at first sight!  from the moment, mr. mckee called, the timing was just right.  we had thought about getting a puppy for a few years.   i had never had my own dog....ever.  oh sure, there were alot of rentals....friends had wonderful dogs.  there was poochie, timmy, monroe, matty, heidi and even my brother timmy's black lab, humphrey....and tippy...and jenna.....

poochie, a gentle german shepherd, was afraid of fireworks...if they lit fireworks, that would get him home.

timmy was another sweet german shepherd but he didn't like men very much....when the pizza man delivered a pizza, he ran for the door...put his paws through the window, the pizza man dropped the box and ran back to the car!  free pizza and the word "canine" written on the map at their address forever!  no more deliveries.

monroe, shared by our very close family friends, was the first golden retriever in my life and my dream come true!  beautiful, well trained and perfectly charming with a ten year old girl...... he was quite the ladies man, arriving at the front door to greet visitors with random pairs of boxer shorts from the laundry basket....L-O-V-E.  that was that.  i was sure i would have my own golden retriever....someday.

mattie was a city dog....the first little dog in my life ...a hot dog!  funny and cute, he was a cool new york city guy!  he had a swagger, he had and attitude and he knew his way around the big apple....just like some guys i dated. great guy, nice memories...not my style.

there was heidi, an adorable honey toned mutt with gigantic brown eyes, who was always glad to greet me at the door when i went to visit a friend....heidi was sweet, silly and always excited to see me!  she had a bubbly effervescence about her....specially while she pee'd  all over the feet of her newest, latest, best friend.

humphrey may have been one of the coolest dogs ever ...and he was practically related!  tim took that black lab everywhere...he lived in stowe, he traveled in a red pick up truck, he summered on nantucket, he knew the folks on the nantucket ferry...he traveled to new york to visit his gramma, who worked at saks fifth avenue!  he waited in tim's truck, in saks' parking lot, while his master and his gramma had lunch!  one very cool dog.  too many humphrey stories to tell.... at christmas, i always gave him a new bandana...accessories matter ....to everyone in our family!

after christmas,humphrey went back to stowe with tim. tim continued running his business.  humphrey went about his stowe routine...visiting all of the restaurants up along the mountain road....welcomed and served through their kitchen doors. he was well bred with finer tastes...back at tim's shop, humphrey mosied on in....tim noticed that humphrey's red bandana was looking rather worn.  it was time to replace it.....time to take out his fine green bandana, his christmas present.

tim cleaned up the boy nicely, wrapped his handsome green bandana around humphrey's neck....and got back to work. just then, the door to his shop opened.  it was a local.  the local paused and looked a bit perplexed....he shook his head....tim asked what was up.....the local told tim,"it's amazing!  i just saw a dog that looked just like yours....he was running up the mountain road....he had a side of beef in his mouth! that dog looked just like humphrey.....only the other dog had on a red bandana....and humphrey has a GREEN bandana!"

then there was tipperary.  "tippy" was a beagle...a regal beagle....with a hint of kooky.  he was loving.  he was my friend's first baby....you know dogs like tippy....at first, he was an only child....he loved everyone he met....the family....friends...other dogs...and company.

 tippy was one cool dog. he lived in the hamptons with my good friend. it was the late 80's...there were many weekends in the summer that our friends would gather at tippy's house, sit by the pool, walk to the beach, have barbeques and sleep overs with friends.

one delightful summer saturday, while lounging at the beach, talking about our night time adventures with the girls.....i mentioned my sleep the night before...or lack of it...i started, "i dozed off quickly....it was great sleeping weather....i slept like a baby....until TIPPY got into bed with me...there was plenty of room...but, you know how he pushes his way under the comforter?  same old story!  you know how he likes to nuzzle up really close?  REALLY close.  and it was hot.  i kept trying to push him back...just so he's stop breathing on me!  he just pushed back!  HE is SO persistent!"

that was when our friend kathy burst in,"shhhhh! all of the people around us are staring!  it sounds like tippy's your preppy boyfriend! and you're a bit loose!" 

we howled....louder than a beagle!

years later, biff, the kids and i moved to our house.  the dream was getting closer....we would get a dog....a golden!

first, we would be able to handle the kitties.  then, we would get our dog. grace and t.j. were little...it wasn't time...YET.

we lived through the summer. we waited.  we wanted it to be at the right time.  our day would come.  i walked grace and t.j. to the pound. i told stories about all of the "time-out" pups!  we knew our animal control woman on a first name basis!

one october day, i walked to the garage door, i opened it...from inside our house....and who sat wagging at me?

jenna, a golden retriever!  i fell in love.  it was my dream. did biff bring this sweet dog to me? where was she from? so many questions needed to be answered. i called the number on her tag.  they answered the phone. i told my story.  they asked if we wanted her!  i did. i did.

biff loved her too.  he said she would wander.  that's how she got to us.  he was worried that she would break my heart....wandering away. she never did.  she was ours. from that day forward. her family still left their garage door open for jenna.  they still fed her.  they threw the ball for her. 

when there was thunder and lightning, she came to us.  when one of our small kids had a tantrum, she was here...to calm us all.  when my piano arrived...the piano from home...from my mom....the movers trudged along our path to the front door.....jenna dropped her tenns ball!

they picked it up and threw it!  when we had friends with minivan doors left open, jenna would fill up the seats and floor with tennis balls.  if we were raking the lawn, jenna would drop her tennis ball in front of the lawn mower....so we'd have to toss it.  when the u.p.s. truck arrived, she'd drop her tennis balls in the truck.  joe, the u.p.s. man, would have to throw it out of the truck.  the kids would play wiffle ball....jenna would arrive....and dash off with the ball.  when she seemed cold, we'd bring her in by the fire.  one night, t.j. was about 4.....he called to me."mom. mom....a little help please." i said,"t.j., i'll be right there.  i walked up the stairs....to t.j......he was in his room.  i turned to look at him.....he was standing with jenna...in his room.  she had let herself in!"  she knew where the love was.  an intuitive dog!  we loved her....she went everywhere with us.  sometimes uninvited.  people would call out to us,"excuse me...you SHOULD put that dog on a leash!"

now. we've had daisy for 8 years! she was worth the wait! a dog like daisy is all i ever hoped for....and i had no idea she'd be even better. she is the sweetest.  we all love daisy! daisy, daisy.

this is the puppy face she's had since we first met our daisy!!