Mister Spike

It's not real easy to photograph a black dog without them just showing up as a black blob with totally indistinguishable features.

A little afternoon light coming in a north-facing window will work wonders though.

Mr. Spike is a miniature poodle that is the son of our red poodle, Rosie, that died suddenly two weeks ago. (I wrote about Rosie's death here)

We let our older daughter name him when he was born in February of 2004, and she wanted to name the only boy dog Spike, but always called him Mister Spike. We've long ago gotten into the habit of calling him Mr. Spike too.

He's a sweet and gentle little dog, and this is the best photo I've ever been able to take of him.

Skylight

There's a huge surf shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida, called Ron Jon Surf Shop. It's open 24 hours a day, for all your late night surfing needs.

We don't surf, but we still love going to Ron Jon's.

It's an amazing looking place, both inside and out.

Black and White #32: Gemini Memorial

In Titusville, Florida, about 30 miles north of our home, there's a park along the Indian River Lagoon called Space View Park.

It's one of the best, if not THE best public access place to view a Shuttle launch.

The park also has several sections which honor the various phases of America's early space program.

Today's photo is of a monument to the astronauts and workers who made the Gemini program a success. The Gemini program preceded the Apollo program, and was an important step in putting men on the moon.

If you look at the distant part of the photo after enlarging, you'll see the Vehicle Assembly Building, where rockets were, and shuttles are still put together before being driven to the launch pad. The VAB is the fourth largest building in the world in interior space.

If I Won The Lottery...

Of course, that won't happen because I don't buy lottery tickets, but I'd love to live in this house on the beach.

It's about 15 miles south of where we live and their back yard is the Atlantic Ocean.

Thank You All

We were crushed when our sweet Rosie died last week, and your kind comments meant a lot to me.

Thank you.

Goodbye Sweet Rosie

I took the above photo this past weekend, two days before her death, because I thought she looked cute in her "Everyone Loves A Redhead" t-shirt.

Rosie: July 1999 - October 2008

Monday night, when I got home from work, I found that one of our poodles, Rosie was very sick.

I won't go into detail, but will just say that in a matter of a few hours, she went from normal to dying as I held her for her final breath.

We are all stunned and heartbroken still.


Rosie was a true lap dog. She loved nothing more than being in one of our's lap.

In December of 1999, Lovely Wife found an add for her on the internet. A person in Dothan, Alabama had a red poodle for sale.

I had just sold some camera equipment and bought an acoustic guitar for playing at church, and with the money left, we went to Dothan and bought Rosie.


So when she wanted to be held, I would sweet talk her with the story of how Mama found her on the internet, and we took a trip to Dothan, Alabama to get her.

She was four months old when we got her, and had been in a crate so much that she had no idea how to play like other dogs. She never did learn to like and want to play with squeaky toys and balls like our other dogs do. But if we got on the floor to play with the dogs, she would sometimes get worked up and play tug-o-war with a toy.

But most of the time, as we tried to play with the dogs, she'd come and get right up against you just wanting to be petted instead of playing. So we'd have to love on her with one hand and tug or throw toys with the other and the other dogs.

This hurt is still way too raw to write much right now; her sudden sickness and death has us all still in shock.

The reality is that, when you have a pet, you will most likely outlive them. But nine years is not that old for a miniature poodle. She should have had at least five or six more years and her passing has left a gaping hole in my heart.

I love you Rosie. I always will. And I'll always remember you, to my own dying day. From now on, one of my great desires will be to see you again someday in heaven.

I'll sit and hold you as long as you want, and I'll have little bites of cheese to feed you, I promise.

I miss you so much.

Angel In A Pink MuuMuu

This one of our poodles, Angel, who will be 10 this coming November. Hard to believe.

It's harder to get good pictures of dogs than people, but I finally snagged a good one of Angel.

She's even tilting her head, which she rarely does.

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Sorry about the lack of posts. The past few months at work have been so busy that it has almost killed my blogging. Health issues abound, too, so that even drags on me more.

Black & White #31

A sailboat passes under the Melbourne(FL) Causeway.

The color version of this photo is nice, but I liked the black and white version better, so that's what y'all are getting.

There are still some older bridges in this area that will pivot to allow sailboats and their masts pass by, but most of the later bridges like this one, are just built really tall. Don't have to pay a draw-bridge operator that way.

But I like draw bridges. Especially down here, they force you to stop and look around yourself.