Fritz at 5 Months

Seems like yesterday that we brought home a 10 lb puppy from a farm in Audubon, Iowa.  We could hold him with one hand and did not need to guard our food when we ate.  Nor did we need to protect the food of the cats when they ate.  And he grew and grew.  January 1, 2014, he weighed in at 71 lb.  I recommend Solid Gold Wolf Cub Large Breed Puppy Food for canines of this size.  He goes through a 15 lb bag in less than 2 weeks.  His growth appears balanced and healthy.  Boulevard Sports in Des Moines, Iowa, is a great small business to purchase Wolf Cub and other healthy and holistic dag and cat food.

The day we brought him home.  Fritz at 5 weeks.

He has grown mentally as well.  He now understands our sleep cycle and habits.  For his first month or so he would sleep in the kitchen, mainly because we blocked him in there.  But He was rather nocturnal and demanded to go outside 2 or 3 times per night.  If we had to get up at night we had to do it very quietly as not to wake him.  No joy.  Eventually he grew big enough to climb over whatever we used to fence him in.  Then he'd sleep where he crashed, literally.  Eventually, he realized that Mary and I have a bedroom and so he moved into that room, ready at a moment's notice to wake up when we woke up.

Couch hog!

Today he can sleep on the bed if he likes.  Not always so.  We tried getting him on the bed when he was little but that never worked out.  Too playful and then teething set in.  Much later he learned how to climb up on the bed himself.  He likes to sleep between us.  His large paws smashing into us like clubs.  He still on occasion will chew on our skulls.  His stay on top is never very long.  And if Mary and I do not leave him a space between us for him, Fritz will walk up to the headboard and make a space.  Painfully make us give him room.

He's discovered human food.  Still immature about it.  Instead quietly sneaking under the table and waiting for something to fall or hand outs, Fritz will whine and beg and bark and be a nuisance.  He is getting better.  For Thanksgiving and Christmas we got him large bones from B&B Supermarket and tied him outside with them.  Distraction at its finest.  Win/win.  But his size and lack of maturity is the issue.  Now he can get his front legs firmly on the table or countertop or stovetop and reach whatever he sees and smells.  We must guard food.

For example, he ate 2 bananas last week.  Two days ago on Taco Monday he got the container of sour cream and cleaned it out.  Right before Christmas Dora and Mary chased him around the house because he had a raw potato in his mouth.  I keep the lid on the grill whenever I cook with it but he loves to stick his snout in the ash bucket.  One time, right before Thanksgiving he singed the fur on his head going through the ashes.  Had some grease on his head too!

His food thievery is not limited to food.  Over the holiday break he ate Timmy's toothbrush 4 times!  You think that Timmy would not store it in his bedroom but he continues to do this and Fritz finds it.

The second snow of the season.  Dora used Fritz to pull a sled.

We take Fritz for a counter clockwise walk around the block.  I am amazed that he seems to reserve enough urine to mark the same spots over and over again.  He always stares at the same dogs that bark at him, wagging his tail and wanting to be released so he can play with them.  Friendly dog he is.  Never mean.  I think we socialized him well.  His eyes light up whenever we grab his leash and he is very disappointed if we do not leave the yard or curtail the walk short.

 In our backyard Fritz has his areas.  One area is scattered with dog toys and things to chew on.  This is where we occasionally chain him up.  Yes, we do that.  We cannot always get the gate closed and especially during winter have little desire to be outside.  We are not double coated.  I usually give him 20 minutes of playtime when I return from work plus a walk.  Our favorite game is soccer.  We have a flat soccer ball that he can pick up and run with.  I kick it and he chases it.  Fritz also has a game which is like basketball without a ball.  He acts like a defender, lowers his head and growls and jumps up.  I have to encroach on him and herd him to the door.  To strangers this looks dangerous but it's his way of playing outside.

Another year of growth I suspect.  I think we have a possible 150 lb dog on our hands.  Last night as he laid under the Christmas tree we thought that he grew greatly in the month after Thanksgiving.  He weighs now what Heidi weighed on the day she passed away.  If he gets the long coat he will look absolutely huge.  As it is now, at 5 months, he is the size of a labrador.   Another year of growth.  He will mellow and mature.  We have seen that.  Eventually his pleasant demeanor will change a bit and his natural guarding instincts will kick in.  I can already hear the barking that will ensue when there is a knock on our door or a stranger outside or an argument 5 houses down that human ears cannot detect or a low flying satellite flying overhead.  That is what the breed is known and loved for.  Big size, big bark, big heart and big protection.

December 22, 2013.  The truck has large mudders for tires and I am 5'4" on a good day.

Eulogy

dear Lands, near Afton, New York 1984

I remember the phone call.  I was in the dorm at UNI.  Yellow walls in the hallway on the first floor.  Such an ugly color in the darkness of an autumn evening.  My grandmother had passed away.  This was 1985. 

She was my father's mother.  And as such I did not get to spend much time with her for she lived in New York.  Dad choose to move away from NYC shortly after graduating from high school.  In fact, all but one of his siblings fled the Empire State. 

They came to visit us a few times.  We went there a handful of times.  My sister and I spent a week there, at Dear Lands, my grandparents property in upstate New York.  Yes, DEAR not DEER, it was named so out of her love for those 50 acres.  But it was the effort of my parents to visit them it seemed.  Sometimes by plane, once by train but I remember long journeys by car.  My first time behind the wheel on a freeway was en route to The City.  Rumor had it that my grandfather did all the flying he wanted to do during WWII.  Now knowing all the blood and guts littered all over C-47s and all the airmen that he knew that never made it home from Europe, I don't blame him for remaining terrestrial bound.  I think I last saw her in 1984.

So I never got to know her like I would have if we were closer geographically.  That's the real shame.  It seems to me that now that I am much older those that I'd to talk to have been dust for decades.  I think she would get a kick out of her great grandchildren.  I know they would love her as I did.

Friday I was at my mother's house, my family home in Ottumwa.  I found a notebook with a hand written eulogy for my grandmother.  She was only 60 years old at the time of her death.  Young, to damn young.

I was unable to attend her funeral.  After my grandfather moved to Ottumwa I had no reason ever to travel that way to visit her grave.  Dad went out alone to take charge and see to it that everything was in order.  The only thing I remember was how he related that his sister wanted to bring her cat into the house and he said no.  "Cats have fur for a reason, it stays in your car."  That was Dad.  He also is the purported author of the eulogy that I will present.  Full of cliches and cheesey at times but heart felt.  I never have known my father to be a writer.  This must have been a challenge.  Then again he was an avid reader which helps one write.

To know Dorothy, you knew her smile.  She was a very loving wife, and mother in sense of the word.  Always striving to bring more joy and happiness into her home.

If you drive up Tracy Road  today, and come to the first house on the right, you'll be greeted by a large jack-o-lantern, with the largest of smiles.  One knows of course, this has to be the home of Dorothy Guevara.

Rarely if ever did she not have a friendly smile on her face, and a personality full of good cheer to go along with the smile.

She was the loving wife, mother and friend, that if The Lord sent her lemons in short order she would turn them into lemonade.

If one is assigned a mission in life, Dorothy's was to bring more love and joy into this world.

Not only will she be greatly missed by her husband Robert, and her family, but by all those who she touched with her smile and love.

I know Dorothy is up in heaven at this very moment preparing a joyful loving welcome for all.

Above used by Rev Robert Heinle during Dorothy's service at Osterhoudt Funeral Home on Monday October 28th, 1985, 2 pm

Written by Bob W Guevara

Senior Bunny

Easter is upon us once again.  Soon the first Sunday after the new moon after the Spring Equinox will be here.  As a child I look forward to this day.  If we do anything in Iowa we certainly make holidays about children.

The Easter of my childhood involved 1 hour at church, a large family meal with my mother's family and 2 to 3 sets of Easter baskets.  But my favorite thing about Easter was the large chocolate rabbit that my great grandmother Angela would send me from New York.  Senior Bunny.

My paternal grandfather's family left Cuba when he was 5 and they wound up in NYC.  Too bad, I was told they were aiming for Canada.  Angela never lost the accent.Although my sister and I were her 2nd and 3rd great grandchildren and the fact that we were born and raised half a continent away, perhaps only seeing each other maybe a half dozen times, we'd get a package around every Easter with the fabled chocolate bunny.  Not just any chocolate but high quality stuff from NYC.  All other bunnies never tasted quite as good.  This ended maybe about 1982.  It was a good run and every Easter I miss it.

Easter today is a busy holiday for me.  Since September I have been part of the RCIA team helping anywhere from 10 to 21 people come into full communion with the Catholic Church.  Easter Vigil on Saturday is D-Day.  It starts out in the morning with breakfast and practice at the church.  I've learned my lesson about showing up hung over.  No fun.  Around noon we go our separate ways until about 7pm, Easter Vigil.

Easter Vigil is perhaps the longest Catholic liturgical service.  The church is dark and then they light the Easter candle and from that candle everyone lights their candles.  I've seen people accidentally set fire to the hair of the person in front of them.  Then the readings, up to 6 or more, Old Testament through the Gospel.  People are baptised.  Some are confirmed.  Some receive their first Eucharist.  It ends about 10 pm.

Sometimes I have the distinct honor of being the lector on Easter Sunday proper.  Once again, I will do the readings on Sunday.

Then we focus on the family.  In years past we would load everyone up and travel to Ottumwa.  Most often we would stay at my parents' house.  My kids would have a variety of Easter baskets waiting for them.  Easter egg hunts were common.  In recent years the dinner and basket presentation would be at our home or my sister's.  but Being the only one with children I prefer to establish our own traditions.  it won't be long until the older children leave the nest.  Besides, it makes little sense for the 7 of us to travel across town when less people can come over here.  This year my non-nuclear family is one person less.  Possibly there will be at max two people that will be able to come over.  I merely want a meal and have some of the weekend to myself.  I have no desire to travel across or out of town.  Dora is the only one that is young enough to get a basket.  Perhaps I will dye eggs with her Friday night.

Now a week later,  my mother is still in town.  We had a meal here but Quin had to work.  Mom would later remark to him that she'd rather have had ham.  Too bad.  I can do more with left over pork than I can do with ham.  Less sodium anyway.  One can always fix ham.  Pork loins are less common.  Besides, I bought it from one of the few remaining family owned meat counters in the nation.