Adios Barney... And a Funny Incident

Today we said goodbye to Barney. Before we could mail him on his way, I had to fix him up. Here he is after I tended to his wounds:

I thought he might appreciate the Tylenol PM--hopefully keep him knocked out for the long ride to his next stop (which has to remain a secret for now as per the official Kill Barney Tour rules... Yes, there are actual rules for this thing, and I am nothing if not a rule follower.)

I wanted to also take a picture of him with his mementos from the zoo that we added to his box of treasures. While I was preoccupied with the camera, you can just see a little fuzzy head sneak up into the picture and make one last attempt at him.

Abby certainly did try to live up to the name of the Kill Barney Tour. She definitely had the spirit of the thing, but, poor her, her mom wouldn't let her really kill him.

I also thought I'd tell you about a stupid/funny thing that I did yesterday.

Abby does so well on three legs that (unless I hear her hopping along) I sometimes forget that she is missing that leg. Sometimes I'll come around the corner and see her standing there and just go, "Oh man." You sort of forget, for like half a second. Well, yesterday when we got back from the beach, we went to the front yard to rinse the sand off her feet like we always do. I was on her "good side" hosing her feet off, and I did the back two and then the front - and then I hosed the space where her other leg ought to have been. Yeah. Felt a little stupid about that. I've heard of phantom limb pain, but never phantom limb washing. It's been almost 10 months, so you'd think I'd really get it by now! But I guess that is just a testament to our fuzzy little girl, who sure doesn't act like she is missing anything!

Gosh. Don't know what I'll blog about in the future, now that Barney's gone. Hopefully I'll think of something! Thanks for reading.

Abby: Bringing the Hurt on Barney

Abby finally got her chance to kill barney. It took us a week to get him fully lulled into a false sense of security. There was the spa day, the trip to the zoo, and then Abby and I took him to her favorite spot - Fiesta Island. I confess I was worried about taking him there, lest some OTHER dog grab him and run off and get the joy of killing him (tragedy!) but it was a fairly quiet day there and I mostly kept him hidden in my backpack (which he didn't seem to mind, but remember - he's a total moron.)

He played lifeguard

First, he enjoyed the view

Personally, I think Abby makes a cuter lifeguard, but Barney wanted to give it a go. (He said he wanted to pretend he was David Hasselhoff in Bay Watch. He made us call him "The Hoff" the rest of the day. Moron.)


Then the time finally came to sit Barney down and clue him in:

Admittedly, she was a little slow to get into it. But after a few more nibbles on him, she really started to develop a taste for him. She chewed:

His nose...

His side

The spots on his back

His hand

His hiney (she's actually chewing his tag off here...)

His tail

His stinky feet

 She got so into chewing him that I decided to video a bit more:

And then it was time to save Barney so that some other Tripawd could try to kill him.

"I'm not done with that!"

"Hey, where you going with that thing??"

 I documented his wounds.

Small hole in left butt cheek

Big hole in mouth, small hole in left big toe

I now have to sew him up good and get him looking presentable to go off to the next Tripawd home. Abby is very sad to see him go... but we ordered her her very own used Barney from Amazon yesterday. She can't wait for it to get here so she can kill it!

Why the Dino?? (& Abby Stuff)

Thought I would take a short break from the actual events of this stop on the Kill Barney Tour (KBT) to 'splain a little bit more about Barney and what the KBT is all about. I explained it a bit a while ago, but folks may have missed that, and also I didn't explain what I think Barney means to the Tripawds community.

The very same Barney that we are now hosting once belonged to Jerry, who is now known on the Tripawds site as Spirit Jerry since he's no longer with us in the flesh. Jerry was the Original Tripawd--the dog that inspired his pawrents to start the Tripawds site. Jerry has been gone since 2008, but his spirit lives on in the Tripawds community, which has been a really amazing place to go for support and answers during all of this. Everyone on there is very nice and very helpful - and some of them are damn funny.

Which brings us back to the KBT. If I'm counting stops correctly on the KBT map, we are the 25th house to host Barney. Barney travels with a journal and everyone who has hosted him writes about their tripawd pooch and a little bit about Barney's visit. Here is what one woman wrote, which I think sums up nicely why we are all spending time doing silly things with a stinky purple dinosaur:

"I cannot begin to express my gratitude over this Barney. I believe he carries strength from all the tripawd and quad-pawds he's visited. He has been a great source of comfort to us during his visit."

Here's what I'm planning to write in his journal:

"It’s been an honor to host Barney. The Tripawds family has been so great and supportive and it’s nice to have something tangible we can all share that brings a good laugh along with it. Barney is a great symbol for sharing our strengths, our hopes and even a laugh in the face of tough times."

So hopefully that explains why a grown woman is playing with a stuffed dino. It's nice to bring a little silliness to the sucky roller coaster ride that is canine osteosarcoma. I mean, really, how can you not look at something like this and at least crack a smile?

In other news (many of you will already know this from Facebook)... remember this drawing I did of Abby?

Well, the Tripawds folks are putting it on T-shirts and gifts and such, and you can customize the items with your own caption. I ordered a bunch of stuff today, most of it with the caption: Tri to relax. Can't wait to get it!

It's All Happening At the Zoo...

...including carrying around a stinky stuffed dino in a backpack and whipping him out every few minutes for a photo op. My sister, Kathy, went with me to help me take the pictures. We had a good time, giggling as we set up our shots. I think Barney had a good time too - even though we kept stuffing him back in the bag and were generally embarrassed to be seen with him. He seemed oblivious to all that though. (I think because he is a few fluff balls shy of a full bag of stuffing!) 

Anyway, here he is at the zoo. 

First stop: the flamingos

Barney loved the hippos. (Same body type.)

The leopard totally ignored Barney...

...but I'm pretty sure the polar bear wanted to eat him.

Barney thought the polar bear wanted to eat him too and attempted to flee the scene

Later he found solace with this sloth

...and found a little something with this elephant statue as well...

He needed some water after that.

And he demanded another massage. (Spoiled!)

A giant eagle tried to fly off with him!!

But Kath intervened just in time and saved him. Phew!

 

The irony of the dino skeleton on this little Ranger Rick guy's jacket was lost on Barney. (Is it any surprise that Barney doesn't get irony? I don't think so... He's basically a complete moron.)

We also stopped at the gift shop and let Barney pick out some items for the box that he travels in. (There are lots of mementos from his other visits.) He selected a nice picture frame and a panda bear pin. He saw these guys while we were shopping and had to stop for a moment; he said they were his "peeps":

We had such a good time at the zoo that afterwards we took him to Balboa Park as well.

Hanging at the Lily Pond

Chillin' by the fountain

"Look, I'm Godzilla! I'm going to knock down the Bell Tower!" (He thought that was hilarious. Such a tourist.)

Up next: the beach - and Abby brings the hurt.

He's Heeeeere!

...which she immediately started to destroy

Last time I posted it was the day before Abby's 2nd birthday. Before we get to the Big News, here's a quick run down of her extended birthday celebrations in photos:

On her bday, she got a new toy...

The next day, she got ANOTHER new toy - this one from her Aunt Terry...

...and she did not want to give it up!

The *next* day, she got a new bone.

Have to be creative when chewing these!

 

THEN... she got a box full of goodies...

...including Barney!

Yes! The Kill Barney Tour has arrived in San Diego! A shout out to the Oaktown Pack for sending Barney our way, and especially to Codie Rae (who is a star tripawd and seen in a real live music video. She is kinda a Big Deal and is Abby's idol.) You may recall I blogged back in June about how we were Begging for Barney, [and if you don't recall, you may want to check that post out because it explains all this Barney stuff...) and now he's here!

Barney has been to see a lot of Tripawds and he's getting a bit...odiferous. Abby gave him a very thorough sniffing.

She sniffed him ALL over.

And then she started to eat him.

 Now, it is the KILL Barney Tour, but I have plans for him first... so I had to get him away from her:

 Then I had to put him up where she couldn't get him:

He travels with a box full of goodies - some memorabilia from all the places he's been, plus a diary that journals his travels. There is also a stamp pad to add your tripawd's paw print into the journal. Haven't done that yet.... Should be interesting. Anyway, the stuff he travels with is getting pretty stinky too, so here is Abby looking for Barney - in vain - amongst his accoutrement:

Here's the thing... I don't think we should just leap right in and kill him. I think we should lull him into a false sense of security. And THEN kill him. Remember that scene in Marathon Man when Dustin Hoffman THINKS he's being rescued by William Devane... but then William Devane just drives him right back to Laurence Olivier for more torture?? Well, think of me as William Devane, Abby as Sir Laurence, and Barney of course will be playing the Dustin Hoffman roll. Is it safe, Barney? Oh yes... he thinks it is!

Here he is having a recovery nap after the Oaktown Pack had their way with him.

Here he is unwinding with a nice massage

And the ultimate in relaxation: a nice long steam shower

He's resting comfortably in the other room right now. Next: we continue to lull him into relaxing and completely letting his guard down with a trip to the zoo. (Heehee. He thinks he's just here to unwind in San Diego; see the sites! Little does he suspect...)

Whaddya think, Barney, is it safe?

Happy Birthday Abby!!!!

It is Abby's 2nd birthday on August 1 (hooray Abby!) so we started celebrating today. 

It didn't start out all that great, however, but it improved afterwards. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.

First, Abby ran to get the paper to check the contest results...

Then she got depressed, cuz she didn't make it in!

She stayed depressed until...

... we got to Fiesta Island. Big smiles then!

We met a silken windhound (which I'd never heard of before...)

I decided to take a video of her playing, to show that Boris & Natasha are not slowing her down one bit! [As for the pic above of the "windhound" I'm not sure I get the name. Should be the "canthandlethewindhound" cuz the thing was cold in the breeze so they buried it in the sand, where it was completely content to remain. Abby clearly thought that was a weird idea.]

On the way home, Mike and I stopped at this little cafe we'd never been to before to grab something to bring home. While we were waiting for our order, we got Abby out of the car and were sitting in front of the cafe. The pretty French gal who works there came out and gave Abby a half a slice of bacon, which Abby found to be an awesome birthday present. We will definitely be going back there again!  

Once home, she got a Frosty Paw!

...which she very much enjoyed!

Good to the last drop!

We are going to stretch her birthday celebrations out over a few days. Up next, a trip to PetSmart to pick out a new toy. Oh, and we are canceling our subscription to the stupid newspaper. We really appreciate the support and the votes, but we only made it to the web site under the "Top 25 vote getters." The stupid editors obviously don't know a gorgeous special pooch when they see one. And they also did not appear to understand their own contest, since the "editor's picks" included some photos with absolutely no relevance to the "dog days of summer." Oy.