June 13, 2003
Saying Goodbye to Ernie

We have had some very busy and sad events happening at our house. Sam was in a wedding for a friend of his on the 7th. He looked so nice in his tuxedo. Mike had to work for him so he could have the day off. Jim had a good time at the wedding - someone spiked his coke and he was flying on the dance floor. I had to take him home at 10 pm. When I got home I had to put him to bed.

Bert & Wrangler were waiting for us when we came home(our dogs) But Ernie was gone. I waited up most of the night for him to come home. Sam went to work at 6 am and Mike was going to feed the Heifer around 7 am he came back home and woke me up and said Ernie got hit by a car. I was getting up to take him to the vet when Mike came out of the bathroom and he was crying. That's when it hit me that Ernie was dead. Mike told me that he found him on the side of the rode in front of our friend's house (quite a ways from our house) He was now in the back of the pickup. He made me call Sam and tell him his dog was DEAD. Poor Sam; the line went quiet and I realized he was crying he said he will call back. Now what to do with Ernie. We decided to bury him in the backyard. Sooo Mike sets out to dig a hole in the yard. Now Ernie is a big dog so he had to dig a hole 5 feet wide 4 feet high and 5 feet deep. We were all crying during this time. We only had Ernie for 4 years but he was the best dog you can have. His personality was unbelievable. The dog had buck teeth so it always looked like he was smiling. He understood everything you said. If he wanted to go with you he would tell you. He kept the other dogs in line. Even mom cried. Well the time came to wake up Jim (I was sure he had a hangover) to let him know about Ernie. He was beside himself. It broke my heart to see my baby hugging this dead half stiff dog crying his eyes out. Then we let the other two dogs out to say goodbye to Ernie. Bert was scared at first then he came close to Ernie and licked his nose then ran back to the house. Wrangler on the other hand, had no clue what was going on (the dog is a BLONDE cocker). He also fell in the hole Mike dug.

After the dogs said goodbye it was our turn. We then placed him in the hole (with 2 of my good blankets and a chew toy) His head facing the house so he could keep an eye on us, we buried him. Mike was the worst one; he cried all day Sunday & Monday and if you mention his name he will start to cry now. Sam is ok he will go out to the "grave site" stare at it for several minutes then come back into the house. Jim: this is really hard for him since he is still not over Kathy (A young girl who died in a car accident). He didn't come out of his room the rest of the day. If he did it was to go to the bathroom or blow his nose.

Monday Mike went to work with Sam; he wanted to make sure he was going to be OK and Jim stayed home with me. ( I didn't go to work either ) Scarlett is sad because Sam and Jim took it so hard but like she said it's just a DOG. I keep telling myself Scarlett is right: it's only a dog but what a great dog he was. Monday afternoon I got tired of Jim crying so we went to Boomers to play putt putt golf, ride the go carts and water bumper boats (we got soaked) plus we spent big bucks in the arcade. Jim did remember the last time we were there was with Kathy. But it was a happy time. We were there 7 hours (boy was I tired and broke). We stopped at Home Depot to buy flowers to plant on Ernie. This made Jim feel good, he stopped crying when he walks into the house and we can now talk about the dog without crying. Mike watered the backyard and forgot he left the hose on and flooded Ernies grave. His comment was, that poor Ernie didn't like the water much and now he is probably swimming. Our sense of humor or at least mine is coming back. Sam is trying to make friends with Bert the stupid dog but he is still afraid to go into Sam's room because Ernie would always beat him up if he set foot in there. Wrangler (the BLONDE) is still stupid. You tell him to go get the birdie and he thinks you say Bertie and beats up on the bigger dog. The good thing about it is Bert thinks Wrangler is playing even when he is serious. Well we are hoping that things get back to normal soon. In our household WHAT IS NORMAL?

Well Scarlett does have a new Boyfriend his name is Rand. This kid is a kick. He brings a 12 pack of Coors light every time he comes over drinks 2 or 3 beers and leaves the rest on the table. Mike & I are gathering quite a collection of beer so the next party that we have we won't have to buy any. He visits with Mom every time he comes over (which is every day) When Scarlett has her friends over I usually go into my room and watch TV to stay out of there way (Mike usually is working so he is gone) Rand will go to the bathroom stop by my room and his famous line is "hey, How YOU doin" He will come in and ask what ya watching and the next thing you know it we are both sitting on the bed watching TV. After about 10 minutes Scarlett will come down the hall and say RAND what are you doing in bed with my mother? Then Scarlett will yell at everyone else in the living room that Mom's having a TV party in her room. Then I have at least 6 people on the bed and we are all watching TV. So then I leave to go to the living room for some peace & quiet. These kids are a lot of fun. Why they spend time with an old - grumpy woman like me I don't understand. They know I don't like kids.

I have been looking for normal families just to find out WHAT IS NORMAL. I know my family isn't. If you find one let me know. I was watching TV and the Osbornes came on at someone's house. I said that they make our family look normal. So if my family is normal we are in trouble. Every morning when I get up I look in Sam's room and wake him up to make sure he gets up for work, then wake up Jim for school. Look in Scarlett's room ( do this last because I never know what I will find). Sometimes Scarlett is in there, sometimes Scarlett and one of her Girlfriends are in there. Some times no one is in there. and one time Sam's friend Don was in there (Scarlett was not there). This morning when I walked in her room Scarlett was gone, but her car was in the driveway. Well I did check the pool. I'm thinking someone picked her up. I know no one in their right mind would take her: she would kill them. She will show up around 30 minutes before work.

One morning Mike got up to go to work at 5 am and Rand was coming out of Scarlett's room. He looked at Mike and said Hi - Then his face turned red and said Mike this isn't what you think it is. I left my cell phone here last night and I came to get it before work. Mike gave him the glare and didn't say anything (Rand drives a truck so he goes to work early in the morning). Rand left and later he called Scarlett to tell Mike what had happened. Scarlett, Dad is going to kill you, he doesn't believe me. We really had him going that day. He was afraid to come over. When he came over that night it just so happened that Mike was helping Jim clean his shot gun. You should have seen the look on Rand's face. We all had a good laugh. Well I guess I'm long winded today. I hope I'm not boring you.

This weekend I will be at the Tractor pull. Lucky me. Jim is in first place so we have to get him to the pulls so he can stay in first. I am such a good mother. I can even drink beer at this pull because it's at a school. Then I have to listen to the ladies yak yak yak all day. Good thing my friend is there or I would have to kill someone.

Say hi to everyone for me
Love Denise