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 We had a loss in the family.
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I adopted a 6 month old Sam from the humane society in 1997, when I was in 10th grade. I wanted a cute little Beagle and when I seen her running around with the other dogs, I knew she was the dog for me. Oddly enough, when I first pet Sam, she seem to know I was the right human for her. When she was handed to me for the first time, I sat down Indian style and she sat on my lap burying her head into my torso while I was petting her back.
This photo was taken by my mom. The last years of Sam's life was with my mom. I wanted to bring her home to live with us but she was so happy on the farm, I didn't have the heart to take her from her domain. She loved running around in all the open acres, discovering all different smells, chasing all the different small wild animals, and playing with the other dogs on the farm.
Before I left home for college, I promised her she would be living with me again at some point. That promise was unfulfilled. I think she understood she would be much happier where she was. She also seem to know I was happy and taken care of (by Merita) so she could think about her own happiness....retire in a way.
This photo really illustrates the kind of spirit Sam had. She was very happy; as you can see, she's actually grinning in this photo. I take solace in the fact she was happy and she knew she was loved. And the fact, in her remaining years, she couldn't be happier.
Ultimately, she died having fun on November 10th, 2008. She loved that farm, but it was the dangers of living on the farm which led to her death. Nonetheless, there was no better place for her than on that farm.
I will always remember Sam, how she would sit next to me while watching TV and how she would sleep against my leg to keep warm at night. I will remember how she would look up at me with concern and compassion when I was sad, and she would be playful with her tail wagging when I was happy. I will always remember how she would sit at the front window when I would leave and I will not be able to forget her cries not wanting me to leave.
I will always remember how she would play with my mom's dog, Lady. She would steal her ball and tease her with it. I will remember the practical jokes she would play on her. I will remember no matter how much Lady bugged her - and how much Sam bugged Lady - they were like sisters. When Lady died, Sam would constantly run around looking for Lady. When she finely realized Lady was gone and she wasn't coming back, she followed my mom around the same way Lady would; my mom feels Sam was watching over her for Lady.
I will always remember her barking at and chasing after the birds trying to catch them. I will always remember how she would give me a gift when she caught a bird. The pride she had when she caught a bird or some other animal; she would have a bright glimmer in her eyes and her tail will be pointing straight up with such dignity.
I will always remember, when she was younger, she would run like mad around the house after she was given a bath. Her legs seem to rarely hit the floor. She had a horizontal leap of 10'. I will remember how she would put her ear to the ground trying to rub it dry. When drying her left ear, she would run leftwards, when drying her right, she would ease to the right. She would go back and forth until she ran out of room and had to stop to go in a different direction.
I remember when we lived in the country. We had chickens and Sam had an addiction of eating their poop. Every time she would finish her 'meal' she always wanted to give everyone a BIG kiss. She wouldn't just eat it, she would also roll around in the muck. We knew every time she had "lunch" because she would come back smelling like the chicken pin. Even such digesting memories were good memories.
There are far too many memories to list. The greatest memory about Sam is how sweet and loving she was. She had two goals in life: enjoy every day, and give joy to everyone every day. She achieved her goals without any question. All she needed to do to give a person joy, was to look at them with her big Beagle eyes. Every time I looked into her big Beagle eyes, I had to give her a huge hug and a kiss on the head.
Sam was approx. 12 years old when she died. She had a long, full, love-filled life. I knew eventually this day would come, but that knowledge doesn't make things much easier. Sam was there with me during the good times to share the joy, and she was there during the bad to supply comfort. Now that Sam is gone, it feels as though a piece of me has died with her. She will always have a place in my heart.
My little Sammie will truly be missed.
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Tuesday, November 11 2008
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Website modification....CMS
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After talking with JimmerSD, I decided to replace the CMS on this website. The one I have been using since 2000 works great, but I think I'm ready for one a little more powerful.
The new one is called joomla. It's very web 2.0 and it's so technical its actually labeled "Open Source".
This new change will take a while. I'm still hung up on the template building part of the thing. It's purely based in PHP, MYSQL, and XML. Since I'm fairly new in dealing with XML, this will be one of those learning experiences I keep hearing about.
When I'm done, my website shouldn't look any different (hopefully). There will be some small differences, that will be part of the ease of the whole CMS, but you know, bath tub on the upper right, links on the upper left, and my mug in the videos.
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Oh yeah, I forgot!!! I have a website.
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I've been a little neglectful of my website lately. So, in the next few days I'm going to be working on updating everything, syncing things up to what actually matter to me, and hopefully add a few things in the Tings section.
If you have any ideas on what I should do to improve my website, please give me some input. The odds are if you know about this website, you know me so you'd know how to get into contact with me.
I have been thinking about trying the whole message board thing again, but honestly, I really rather not try that again. Every time I try, it fails because no one ever swings by to post. Also, I have the whole bandwidth issue.
Speaking of bandwidth, I decided to phase out my self-hosted photos because it just ran too slow. I have, however, made easy access to my flickr page and the albums I have on that site. Depending on if I have any, I'll upload a few new albums.
I have left the video section just as it has been since it works quicker than the photo section did, since the videos themselves are hosted by YouTube or Revver.
Anyway, yeah, let me know if you have any thoughts.
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