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Showing posts with label Barry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barry. Show all posts

Saturday, August 02, 2014

Barry - May 20, 2003 - July 31,2014

Barry - a long-hared Dachshund, became a part of our family in 2003. He was just a stinking cute pup that you could hold in two cupped hands. 

He was a beautiful redhead - his parents were both long-haired AKA registered Dachshunds, one also red and the other cream colored.  



Barry learned at a very early age to offer his hand to shake at the snap of my fingers. He became so proficient at it he would later often come to me and offer it on his own. He especially liked to come ou on the bed beside me when I was putting on shoes and socks in the morning and initiate the hand shake ritual - perpetually offering it even as I had already shaken it. I think he must have believed he could keep me from leaving for work by doing so.


To the left is a younger Barry in Jammies.  He really did not like clothing on - I don't recall how we managed to get this picture. I look at his face on this picture and I can almost hear him saying, "this shit ain't funny."


He slept in our bed at night - sometimes sleeping on top of the blanket between my wife's extended legs. At other times, especially towards morning would come over an burrow under the blanket next to me or if I was on my side he would sometimes sleep resting his front paws and his head on top of my legs,.

If one of us was home sick in bed, he always would come and lay with is as if he was obligated to make sure we were ok. He was a great caretaker.  Below he is seen napping with Mo.



From time to time he would come and sit in my writing studio as I worked. But when I came home from my day job he was always hyper-jubilant and could not wait for me to acknowledge that I knew he was at my feet.

In winter, Barry would move through snow by sort of hopping with his little legs over the white stiff as opposed to walking through it.  The sight reminded me of bunny hops. 




As seen above, with age, Barry would trade some of his red face hair for a cream  or whiter hair.  During the past year he was failing in health - losing weight badly  and we discovered that he had developed Exocraine Pancreatic Insufficiency.  This was a life threatening condition but with an enzyme additive to everything he ate it was manageable. This however resulted in something that would break my heart routinely and the other dogs would get treats he would not be able to. He ate canned food that required to sit with the enzymes while they cultured in the dog foot before feeding. 

Thursday evening - he simply crawled into a kennel in my writing studio where normally Silas would sleep or be crated when necessary. That is where he passed away. 

Berry was survived by two adoptive brothers Klaus and more recently adopted Silas.  He joins Mo another brothers who passed away this past year. 

There is a tremendous hole left in my heart. 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Happy birthday Barry

Barry turns 11 years old today! Go Barry, go Barry it's your birthday!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Hey Dad.... let's go for a walk?

The humidity is pretty overwhelming here today. Barry and I went for a walk a while ago and I was jealous of the people at the Disk Golf course playing. I've never seen so many in spite of the fact that it's I'm a killer day to go walking up some of those greens. Still, I haven't played for a while and I had been thinking about it several weeks ago so of course it brings it back to the forefront of my mind. 

I've been doing some office work I brought home and was ready to take a break and write some, but the idea of some exercise won over. I do need to write after while.

Kudos to Kelli Agodon for yet another award for her book Letters from The Emily Dickinson Room. I knew when I read this book that it was no ordinary book of poetry.

This is just a quickie - I've got to pick up my wife. I have several other things to blog about today but they will have to wait till later.


Thursday, January 10, 2008

Saturday, December 22, 2007





This morning from my bedroom I heard rain beating against the windows. Considering the temperature I knew this was not a good thing. Tonight the ball field across the street looks larger then life in massive white.

In the picture above, my bud Barry, maintains a stern view of things.

Started reading Pushkin's Eugene Onegin which my daughter brought home with her from school for the Christmas break. Considering her distaste of poetry I am intrigued that she enjoyed the book so much.

Haven't shared any journal bits for a few days so I'll throw some in this post...

  • portions of the night are tattered/comfort estranged/rest could only be a figment of active imagination
  • I looked at my left hand/traced the lines deep/into the country side/until I could not recall /how I got there
  • strung together, we are popcorn/and cranberries- differences/flashing red lights do not exclude
  • night is lax on standards/makes no effort to screen/leaving the door ajar
  • there is one non sequitur/that echoes in your head/and loosens the bindings/of Webster's unabridged/joins the others as the new word for the year/the binding restitched all tidy

Thursday, December 06, 2007

A poet & his companion...


It's cold here tonight. Snow came to the Kansas City area today. Driving home tonight was treacherous.

To the left you see my little tuckered out buddy that was banished to the room with the poet at work for tormenting one of the cats. Sort of like sending him to Siberia I guess.

He's a good boy most of the time... but he has his weak moments. But don't we all?

Worked on some rewrites tonight and also sent off three poems in search of homes. I feel compelled to find these orphans homes for the holiday.

Monday, October 29, 2007

A Dog's World

Deep in thought Barry rests upon my lap while I snap this picture. The thoughts... maybe when is he going to feed me, how long do I have to sit here and amuse him, or perhaps he was reworking the lines of a poem in his head. Yeah, I'm sure that must be it.

Worked on a new personal website this weekend. Hopefully it will be up before long.

Got some writing accomplished as well. Nothing sent off. Sill hope to get a few more poems off before the month ends need to sit down and see what I've still got available at the moment.

Watched the World Series games without much satisfaction. The post season over now it is truly into the saddest time of the year. Of course spring comes and with it perhaps a better season for my favorite team.

Spent some time contemplating Eliot's assertion that poets live "...in what is not merely the present, but the present moment of the past" and what this means both to awareness and of course poems that we create. Maybe that's what Barry had going on in his head too. Hee-he.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Barry is four!

Yesterday, I was out of the house almost all day long. Attended the Kansas City Literary Festival during the day. The weather here was awesome for the event. Lots of booths with exhibitors. Tons of give-a-ways. A poet's stage that was ongoing. While I can't speak for the organizers, from my vantage point this was a big success.

The evening was rounded out with a pig-roast we were invited to. I ate more than I wanted to... but I planned on eating light and overall I didn't do too badly. That pretty much killed the first half of the weekend. I have a few chores selected for today and already some are completed.

Was looking around at some of the blogs I read and found an interesting post on First Draft. A poetry writing exercise for pop culture poetry. Something I'll start working on after while and see how it goes.

Today is Barry's fourth birthday! There will be doggy celebrating later today!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Meet Mo


Mo is a rescue dog that came to live with us a few weeks ago. He was left abandoned in a backyard of a vacant house. He was malnourished and has a few other medical issues but he has a great disposition and has very easily come to trust us. He is simply a delight and we all love him!
Barry and Klaus have been for the most part accepting of him. Barry is not real fond of sharing his toys but that is pretty much a part of his whole daschund personality and nothing personal against Mo. He is on the other hand, quite willing to play with Mo's toys.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

Even Barry is ready for the New Year. He handed me his New Years Resolution list this morning. It reads as follows:

1. I will exclude the cats from my diet.

2. I will not slobber on my toys I bring to you to play fetch with.

3. I will not covet the cat's food.

4. I will not steel your witting and publish it, but if I do, I'll split the royalties 80-20. 70-30? Ok, 60-40.

5. I will not use my cute look when being scolded or redirected.