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My mom sent this out to family this morning, and I think it sums it all up. I'll miss my little dog.

Our beloved cocker spaniel, Spoodac, came into our family after I read an ad on Thanksgiving in 1994 for cocker spaniel puppies and Bud and I agreed that maybe it was time for a dog. Stephen had just turned 5, and we felt we were ready for the added responsibility. The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the family/breeder that had the puppies and picked out our little ball of black fur. We decided to surprise the kids on Christmas with the dog…and the breeder agreed to keep him until Christmas afternoon.

Uncle Stephen was there that Christmas and joined the fun when the kids discovered the “one more present,” a box of dog stuff hidden behind the sofa. It was immediate love at first sight. Uncle Stephen kept the puppy on his lap for most of his visit that year and we’ll always treasure the memories we have of him sharing in a favorite family Christmas.

As you can probably surmise, we had to say good-bye to Spoo today. The last couple of nights Spoodac has been waking me up around three which I thought was because he needed to go out. This morning, I woke up to him sounding very anxious and agitated. When I put on the light, he was stumbling around in circles and his head was twitching. He did not calm down…after an hour I gave him some of Katy’s Phenobarbital to see if it would calm him. It did enough to stop the pacing, but he still did not have good balance. Stephen and I were committed to making and baking my biscuits for the 100 expected at the Waynesboro soup kitchen, so Bud came over at 8:30 and stayed with the dogs, while we kept that part of the commitment. When we got home, we took Spoodac to the emergency vets…his first visit unlike our other dog and cat! The vet advised that given the age, the neurological symptoms, etc., that it was most likely a brain tumor. We did not want Spoo to continue to be so distraught though he did not seem to be in physical pain. We made the decision to let him go and permanently rest. It was very quiet and peaceful ending, after we said our goodbyes.

Spoodac was truly a faithful dog. The name came from the kids wanting to call him Spooky because he was born on Halloween. Bud and I had watched Washington Week in Review many a Friday night and had decided we would name our first dog “Dudac” which was the last name of a producer of the show. Hence, Spoodac. Spoodac was very smart; he loved playing catch above all else. Even with heavy cataract eyes, he still would jump and make a mid air catch of the ball or his favorite toy newspaper. Just a couple of days ago, I found the newspaper hidden away because dog toys are a no in a staged for sale house. I played catch with Spoodac and was amazed that he still had such a spirited response. He has been showing his age by sleeping a lot, getting hard of sight and hearing, but he could still catch, fetch and give the squirrels a good chase.

So we have come to an end of the 14 wonderful years of having Spoodac present in our family. I love you, Spoo, my ever faithful, smart, beautiful, compassionate, companion. I will miss you terribly, but I am so THANKFUL for your wonderful, long, healthy life.

Blessings this Thanksgiving,

Jeanne

I figured before time slips away from me I should update this blog again! I have been up to a LOT the last few weeks....Phew! My second semester of school is officially over!!! I'm still tying up some loose ends - namely the proposal for my dissertation. Once that's in I'm free as a bird till March! So...here's what else I've been up to, in reverse order!

me, Jody, Amani, and Amanda

Last weekend was a busy one...Sunday my friend and classmate Amanda (another Canadian!) had a little pool party at her place. She and her boyfriend Rich have been house-sitting for family friends in Logan, which is a suburb of Brisbane and about 40 minutes away on a bus. I went over with Jody and her friend Leigh who is visiting Brisbane. Amanda and Rich had an awesome spread of food ready for us, and since the weather was cloudy and actually a bit cold, we skipped the pool and hung out inside! The highlight of the day - by far - was when Rich gave us a lesson in sabering champagne...the art of popping the top off with a saber (or in our case...any metal instrument!).

all the yummy food and freshly baked bread!

we brought strawberry shortcake :o)

Jody got the sabrage lesson first, and used an axe to get the job done...

(for those of you with young viewers or sensitive ears, Rich is British and there are a few curse words in this video...if you can understand them!)


The pop!



I was given a choice of three tools...pliers, a wrench, or a wood shaver thing.

I went with the wrench.



The Saturday before the 'pool' party us public health girls had attempted to plan a little farewell trip since several of us are returning home over the next few weeks. Those plans fell through, but I still had a car reserved for the day and decided to head off to the Gold Coast Hinterland with Jess to do a little hiking. It was supposed to rain on and off all day, which turned out to be a positive because it's soooo hot here right now that any amount of sun would have fried us! We drove down to Binna Burra, which is part of Lamington National Park. Lamington is right next door to Springbrook, where I did some exploring with Jeremy.

The views of the mountains are always so pretty! Once you get out of the city and off the motorway the roads curl their way up the mountains and through really lush eucalyptus forests. I had the window down and one point and started to wonder why it smelled like kitchen cleaner...then I realized it was the eucalyptus I was whiffing!

The hike we went on was about 2 hours and went through rainforest and eucalyptus forest, with a stop at Kweebani Cave, which was an important refuge for the Yugambeh people who inhabited the area for thousands of years.



This is Jess coming down the steps with the cave in the background...it was pretty huge and looked seriously unstable! There were all kinds of warnings that said things like "rock falls may occur" and "remain on the track and avoid stopping for the next 100 meters" and "your safety is our concern, but not our responsibility."


On the way we had to keep our eyes peeled for these guys!! Didn't see any though...


Our hike ended a kilometer or so away from where the car was parked, so we had to walk back along the road. On the way we happened upon a bird who was calling back and forth with his friend (or enemy?). It was the weirdest sounding bird I have EVER heard! Check it out...



Just before we got to the car I also caught this pretty King Parrot calling out to some friends...he's much cuter sounding!



For Halloween Jody hosted a party at her house that was a ton of fun. I just thought I'd include my costume - a sunburned Aussie touriest! I even had on Australia thongs that you can't see in the picture. (that's flip flops people!) The funniest thing about it was that most people ACTUALLY thought the sunburn was real! Lipstick sure did the trick....



Last, I thought I'd include a picture of some of my mates from school! Jody's house is right around the corner from our campus, so we got in the habit this semester of having lunches at her place after class. One day we had pizza...one day the Indian girls cooked amazing food for us...and one day we had schnitzel made by an Austrian! It was a great idea and I'm so happy we all made the time to hang out and share food. I love this picture of all of us, because it gives you a sense of how multi-cultural my classes are - there are 7 nations represented here!

(from left to right, top to bottom: Amanda (Canada), Etelvina (Mozambique), Jody (Canada), Nayantara (India), Shalomi (India), Me, Amani (Australia), Christa (Austria), Shari (Sri Lanka), Nancy (India), and Anita (India))

Just the Other Day...

Elise walks in to a local shop just down the street from her apartment to buy some items she's run out of.

Man behind counter

G'day, how're ya going?

Elise
(grabbing what she needs)
Great. How are you?

Man
Not too bad.

Elise approaches the counter and sets her items down. The man eyes Elise over and decides she is indeed an American. He begins to ring her items up.

Man
(looking Elise in the eye)
You voted yet?

Elise
(caught slightly off-guard)
Oh yeah, for Obama a couple weeks ago.

Man smiles, rests both hands on the counter, and leans forward towards Elise.

Man
Does anyone in America realize how much the rest of the world wants him to win?

(end scene)

Annnnnnd, that pretty much sums up my experiences abroad.