I've stopped by the office on my way to be conflict counsel at the YSC. There are loads of reasons I would rather not do this with the two major ones being that I am still mourning for Honey and I want to be with Laci. The best tribute to Honey would have been to have taken a long walk with Laci the way I used to walk with Honey. Unfortunately, the weather was too stinking hot to do that. Better yet, a trip to Jockey Hollow for a long walk would have really done the trick for remembering Honey.
One of my memories was when Honey nipped me because we weren't getting into a park where she would chase squirrels as quickly as she wanted. Actually, there were two gates to the park and I made her walk by one to go to another and she nipped me. I did grab her nose and chew her out for that, which was as physical as I got with her. I did spoil Honey.
Honey was an ex-show dog. Virginia liked to boast that Honey was one point short of her championship. Show dogs don't have much of a life. Honey didn't play, hike, or chase squirrels until she met me. The thing was that Honey trained me to do those things by doing her "thing" in the house. So, regular walks became routine. That was prior to my having West Nile and her being "Nurse Honey" and I kind of resented having to walk her. After she nursed me: well, that as they say is history. Rather well known in fact. The sort of thing that got me national attention with Laci. Honey was the first dog I began to spoil rotten, but she was low maintenance as far as that went: clothes, harnesses, leashes, food, and treats. Honey wasn't into playing as much as she was into chasing squirrels. I bought Honey Baa Baa Que treats that she really loved.
I bought Honey as harness, the first of many, because she would pull on the lead as she chased squirrels. You can see how she walked in the Youtube posts of us at Jockey Hollow (search JCMB1 videos or use "Honey Virginia Chinese crested Jockey Hollow" on youtube or google videos). she was an eager hiker walking long trails. Honey used to do the longest trail at Jockey Hollow in Morristown, which is a pretty tough trail. Honey was a real trooper when it came to hiking.
It probably isn't a good idea for me to write this prior to going to work since I am beginning to tear up at the memories. I will work on this later...
Later that day...
It's hard being a "hardened criminal defense attorney on Philadelphia's mean streets" when your eyes are puffy from crying, which writing this was beginning to do to me. I didn't start wailing the way I did yesterday. The really bad thing was that my mind was thinking more about Honey and the adventures we had than what was going on in court.
My mind kept remembering the store in Flemington, NJ called the "Bee Happy Honey House" since Honey's real name was Escapades Sweet Honey B. I remembered how we joked about going in and telling them her name and seeing what they would do. Also, I always thought Honey was pretty happy being with me. She was very happy on our jaunts, especially the weekend ones where we went someplace far from home. What a dumb thing to think about at work.
Honey loved going with us. That was the major reason for getting the sherpa bag: she could go with us most places provided there wasn't security and a prohibition against dogs coming in. Honey would see us getting ready to leave and hope in the sherpa tote. You could tell she wanted to go with us. And, she did go most places with me.
The funniest event was when we were in Nawab Indian Restaurant in Bethlehem. Honey managed to escape from the sherpa bag. She was walking around the restaurant and the owner saw her and gave a startled look. We put her back in the bag, but the owner never said anything. In fact, one of the people who worked there thought it was great that we brought our dog in with us and would ask if we had her. It was sort of a well kept secret that we brought the dog into the restaurant. That was one of the reasons I liked going there. The other was that it was "on our way back" from Morristown--the scenic route.
If you've seen the videos, you know that we loved hiking there as mentioned above. Loads of memories of Jockey Hollow at Morristown. But there were other places we loved to hike: Stover Park/High Rocks, the Delaware Canal, The Raritan and Delaware, Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, and Valley Forge. We used to bike with Honey carried by me in a backpack.
The thing is that I wonder how many of these memories were done with Honey and how many with Laci? The only place I know that Laci hasn't gone to is Morristown: at least to hike. The real thing has come down to all the fun adventures I had with Honey, and by extension: Virginia. My wife is not as adventurous as Virginia was, and I miss the day trips. Alayne talks about doing them, but she is too much of a homebody to leave the house for errands let alone adventures.
Honey was a very special dog. Most people who didn't know her thought she had no personality, but she was a very private dog. I felt very special to be loved by Honey. Chinese Cresteds are kind of like wild dogs. Virginia liked to point out they were aloof with strangers. I found they are very into dog etiquette. They don't like being rushed by strange dogs. Honey was also very alpha in her behaviour. I remember Honey making calming signs (yawning) the day when Virginia left.
My mom shared the memory of when we were in the Design Centre and I had gone out of Honey's sight. She was looking around and trying to find me. Then she realised that I was in the restroom and she stood outside the door waiting for me. Honey and I had bonded pretty tightly. Virginia used to come in on Honey and me napping. We would both be on our backs with Honey in my arms and we would be snoring away!
Also, the best way to bathe a hairless crested was to just take her into the shower with me. I used to joke about taking showers with a cute blonde: too bad she was a dog.
One thing I don't miss was all the dumb comments you get when you have a hairless dog: the usual "that's what they look like when they have a haircut" thing. The worst were the world's ugliest dog type comments. Dave Pearson had a good retort which was that they were magic dogs and what you thought about them was your opinion of yourself. Anyway, Honey had real inner beauty in my opinion. A beauty which could only be known by truly knowing her.
Anyway, I miss my pals and the adventures we had. I hope to one day be able to do them again. But until then, here is Honey and Virginia to say goodbye!
