dual personalities

Tag: Dogs

November 21, 2025

Goals

by chuckofish

But we urge you, brothers…to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. (I Thessalonians 4: 10-12)

It’s finally Friday! I picked up Mr. Smith yesterday without any drama and he slept the afternoon away after his busy stay at the kennel. We had some lap time and watched Fox News for awhile before dinner. (He loves Tyrus.)

I went to my community group in the evening where we started a new study on Matthew, so he had a quiet night.

Daughter #1 made it home and I will leave it to her to tell you about her latest foray out West, but she did send this picture:

FYI Devils Tower National Monument was the first U.S. national monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. She and one of her co-workers hiked around it and luckily did not encounter any bears on the trail.

This Sunday the boy and the twins are formally joining our church during the morning service, so I am excited about that. We will probably celebrate afterwards at the Sunny Street Cafe. Now all three of my “kids” will be members of PCA churches. (Daughter #1’s church is actually OPC, but I won’t quibble.) Praise the Lord.

Have a good weekend!

3 Comments
November 20, 2025

How’s it goin’?

by chuckofish

Bonjour chers lecteurs, how’s it goin’?

My busy week proceeds, but I will stop to note that yesterday was the birthday of writer Jack Schaefer (1907-1991) who, as you know, wrote the novel Shane, published in 1949. The book ends differently than the movie…

Out of the heart of the great glowing West…Good stuff.

Speaking of Wyoming, daughter #1 returns from a business trip to Gillette today. However, she will not be home in time to pick up Mr. Smith at the kennel, so I will do that. It is supposed to rain all day and Mr. Smith has a thing about windshield wipers, so pray that he doesn’t go all Westie on me and tear up my car or force me to drive off the road. I kid you not.

Well, it’s all good. Have a good day!

4 Comments
October 23, 2025

Barking through the moonlight

by chuckofish

Well, I went to the dentist yesterday for my semi-annual cleaning. This is always somewhat stressful as one always expects the worst. But as usual I got an A+ for my dental hygiene, and I left feeling good about myself. ⭐ 🙌 I also felt very mellow as the music which had been playing in the background during my visit was all late sixties hits–“House of the Rising Sun”, “Mellow Yellow”, “Daydream Believer”, “I’ve Got You, Babe”, and even “Like a Rolling Stone”. I do not expect to be jamming to Bob Dylan at the dentist, and I’m not complaining. But, yes, a bit surreal.

I finished My Beloved by Jan Karon and thoroughly enjoyed it. It may not be Middlemarch (another study of provincial life), but these days I could not handle that. I am quite satisfied with Jan Karon.

In other news, the boy came over and gassed up my car, so I am ready to head to the prairie today for a few days with daughter #2 and the prairie girls. It has been very blustery of late 💨💨 so let’s hope I don’t blow off the highway.

And here’s a poem about dogs by Billy Collins:

The neighbors’ dog will not stop barking.
He is barking at the fence, barking at nothing,
barking at the mosquitos settling on his fur.
He is barking through the moonlight,
barking at distant sirens,
barking at squirrels he can’t see.

(“Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”)

2 Comments
September 4, 2025

This and that

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of Syd Hoff (September 4, 1912 – May 12, 2004)–American cartoonist and children’s book author. Hoff was known for his cartoons in The New Yorker depicting tenements and lower-middle class life in the city. He was a Communist, although he was never blacklisted.

Today is also the anniversary of the day American actress Irene Dunne died in 1990. She was nominated five times for a Best Actress Oscar, but never won. She was no Communist, but a lifelong Republican. She starred with Skippy, the Wire Fox Terrier, in several movies, including The Awful Truth (1937) which features Skippy as Mr. Smith, after whom you-know-who was named.

So a toast to Syd Hoff, Irene Dunne and Skippy…watch an Irene Dunne movie, pet a nice dog, laugh at a cartoon!

2 Comments
March 24, 2025

Embrace awkwardness

by chuckofish

How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one mostly spent recovering from a stressful week full of trips to MoBap, semi-annual and annual checkups and infusions etc. It has been five years since I ended chemo/radiation, but once you’ve had cancer, dark thoughts are always at the back of your mind. All you can do is trust God and live your life.

I ran across this poem, In Case I Die Unexpectedly, and I think it is really good. We should all write our own version.

for Hildegaard

Always salt your pasta water.
Watch how he treats his mother.
Ask people how you can pray for them,
then stop and pray for them
right then and there,
in a crowded restaurant,
in the grocery aisle,
during donuts before or after church.
Embrace awkwardness, or else
you will miss out on so much.
Don’t chew your nails (like I do).
Don’t open everything with your teeth (like I do).
Don’t always fill the silence. It can be a gift.
Carry the pocket knife your dad will give you,
but don’t forget to take it out of your backpack
before you go to the airport.
Wash your darks and lights separately.
If you find a good peach, give thanks to God.
If you find a good mango, get down on your knees and worship.
Give things away as often as possible. Hold everything
with open hands. Nothing is our own.
Don’t fall for fad diets. Try to eat healthy, but
don’t feel guilty for going to McDonald’s.
There is no such thing as “get rich quick,”
there is only hard work. Go to bed tired.
Put your feet in the water as often as possible:
touch, taste, and see that God is good.
Wake up with hope. Jesus is the same
yesterday, today and forever. 

–Rachel Joy Welcher

Well, daughter #1 and Mr. Smith made it home after a fun-filled visit in Mahomet.

I gather that Mr. Smith was quite a hit with the young ladies. They have gotten over their fear and pet him freely now.

Onward and upward!

3 Comments
May 8, 2024

Lift your head weary sinner

by chuckofish

The tornado sirens went off at 4:00 a.m. and then I couldn’t get back to sleep. It rained and thundered, but there were no tornadoes (thankfully) in our neck of the woods. A popular local pub in Sullivan, “known for its karaoke and friendly bartenders,” was demolished by a random twister, but that was all. Spring weather–always turbulent! And you can be sure there’s more on the way.

In other news, today marks the 147th anniversary of the Westminster Dog Show. The first Westminster show took place on May 8, 1877, making it second only to the Kentucky Derby, in terms of continuously held sporting events in the United States. (Both events were held despite the Great Depression, the two World Wars, and pandemic years.)  It has been on TV each year since 1948. This year the Westminster Dog Show will run from May 11 to May 14. In case you were wondering, a Westie hasn’t won Best in Show since 1962, although terriers in general have been very successful. But is this a Westie?

Yikes. This is a Westie:

He has ears.

A new statue of Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled in Rutland, England on what would have been her 98th birthday.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. She kind of looks like a Disney princess.

And once again Anne articulates EXACTLY how I feel: “And the faithful Christian, who has finally unshackled himself [from a mainline denomination], for the first time in a long time, basks in the astonishing grace of being with other real Christians. I remember the first time I recited the Nicene Creed in the company of a room full of other people who all believed it without crossing their fingers, and how I began to cry, and bite my lip, because I didn’t even know it was a thing that could be.” I know that feeling!

So if you’re lost and wandering, come stumbling in like a prodigal child…

4 Comments
September 18, 2023

Just as I am

by chuckofish

The Greentree Festival was this weekend in our hometown, so, of course, we went to the parade. Per usual, there were bagpipers, army trucks, the KHS band, Shriners, floats, old cars, and more:

The twins had a great time–they couldn’t believe people were throwing candy at them…

…and Mr. Smith had fun being out and about too!

After church on Sunday we went to watch the wee bud’s soccer game. We have now officially entered the grandparents going to their grandchildrens’ sporting events phase of our lives–I am not complaining.

It was a beautiful day to sit outside and we had a lot fun. Once when the ball went out of bounds right in front of us, Lottie picked it up and threw it back in and all the boys yelled, “Lottieeeee, what are you doing?” It was pretty funny. She just laughed and gave them a fiddle-de-dee look.

The boy’s team won the game and they are 2 and 0 now. They have a couple of boys who can actually dribble and they score all the goals. The rest run up and down the field and try not to fall down.

So it’s Monday again and September is half over. May the God of every grace be with you today.

4 Comments
September 15, 2023

A simple walk in the park

by chuckofish

Friday again–where did the week go? I did the usual: reading, grocery shopping, lunch with a friend, preparing for Bible Study, going to Bible Study…and the unusual–having Mr. Smith as a house guest while daughter #1 was in Indiana working in the field.

Mr. Smith was pretty stressed because he was left again with us. I tried my best to reassure him. I read him a poem.

Dogs will also lick your face if you let them.

Their bodies will shiver with happiness.

A simple walk in the park is just about

the height of contentment for them, followed

by a bowl of food, a bowl of water,

a place to curl up and sleep. Someone

to scratch them where they can’t reach

and smooth their foreheads and talk to them.

Dogs also have a natural dislike of mailmen

and other bringers of bad news and will

bite them on your behalf. Dogs can smell

fear and also love with perfect accuracy.

There is no use pretending with them.

Nor do they pretend. If a dog is happy

or sad or nervous or bored or ashamed

or sunk in contemplation, everybody knows it.

They make no secret of themselves.

You can even tell what they’re dreaming about

by the way their legs jerk and try to run

on the slippery ground of sleep.

Nor are they given to pretentious self-importance.

They don’t try to impress you with how serious

or sensitive they are. They just feel everything

full blast. Everything is off the charts

with them. More than once I’ve seen a dog

waiting for its owner outside a café

practically implode with worry. “Oh, God,

what if she doesn’t come back this time?

What will I do? Who will take care of me?

I loved her so much and now she’s gone

and I’m tied to a post surrounded by people

who don’t look or smell or sound like her at all.”

And when she does come, what a flurry

of commotion, what a chorus of yelping

and cooing and leaps straight up into the air!

It’s almost unbearable, this sudden

fullness after such total loss, to see

the world made whole again by a hand

on the shoulder and a voice like no other.

(John Brehm, “If Feeling Isn’t In It”)

Meanwhile the babes in Maryland are redefining precious.

C’est la vie. Have a good weekend.

4 Comments
September 13, 2023

What are you reading?

by chuckofish

As usual I am reading a lot of different things. I have a new book We Believe, which includes all the reformed creeds, catechisms, and confessions of faith.

Woohoo–it’s all here–even the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church which they now view as a quaint, antique document to ignore.

I am also doing the reading for my Bible Study group. The homework takes up a lot of time!

Also, Craig Johnson’s latest Longmire book was released last week, so I have been reading The Longmire Defense. After last year’s not-so-great entry in the Walt Longmire oeuvre, Johnson has thankfully gone back to his tried-and-true formula and this one is a winner (so far anyway).

Now that I have gotten through my deluge of doctor appointments which comes every six months, it’s time to start working on the next edition of the Kirkwood Historical Review.

And did I mention that we’re dog-sittin’ with Mr. Smith while daughter #1 travels for work? Well, yes we are.

Good dog!

2 Comments
April 11, 2023

The shape of the world

by chuckofish

Today we celebrate the crowning in 1689 of William III and Mary II in London as King and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Huzzah! This occasion inspires me to want to watch Captain Blood (1938) with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.

We all cheer, “Aye”.

It is interesting that in 1938 they could make a movie about Monmouth’s Rebellion and the Bloody Assizes and the Glorious Revolution and people could actually follow the story line. I doubt that is the case nowadays or at least Hollywood no longer makes that assumption. Well, what ho, c’est la vie.

You will recall that a few years later in their reign on February 8, 1693, King William III and Queen Mary II of England signed the charter for a “perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and other good Arts and Sciences” to be established in the Virginia Colony as “The College of William and Mary in Virginia.” The first chancellor was, of course, Henry Compton, Bishop of London, who had crowned them.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Mr. Smith got very dirty cavorting on the driveway on Sunday…

…and was quite a mess. He had to have a bath–always a two-person job–so the OM was shanghaied into helping with that.

So a toast to William and Mary, Captain Blood, Henry Compton, current Comptons, and dirty dogs everywhere.

And this made me laugh:

3 Comments