...On the way to Zoe's passing.
*Photo by the talented Hud Andrews on the day Zoe came to be our baby.
Sorry I upset so many people yesterday. I thought I'd tell you a few funny stories about Zoe today to make up for it. She was quite the rodeo clown.
We started to rename her, "Bonk". She would tumble out of the van, down the stairs, off the couch. It all ended the same way. Flat on her head. She'd hop up, shake it off and be on to the next adventure. Zoe was one tough puppy. Just a rub-some-dirt-on-it-and-go girl.
Zoe was HARD to train. I think it was all that little girl on the playground squealing that went on in her head. She just couldn't hear me over it. So you can imagine what a joy it was for her to greet people at the door. The little girls in her head would scream, "COMPANY!!!" and Zoe would fly at the door, bonking people in the crotch. Sigh. I swear I wanted to put a basket filled with football players protective cups by the front door with a sign that read, "Put one on and ring bell at your own risk."
Our neighbor, Maryann, loves labs, but Zoe was always knocking her around. One day, Maryann popped over. I restrained the exuberant Zoe and she said for me to let her go. We were going to ignor her and chat so that Zoe could get used to being around her. So there we were, talking about nothing in particular, when Maryann's eyes popped open wide and she exclaimed, "OOOOpps!" We looked down. Maryann had on t-shirt knit shorts. Zoe had cramed her head into the left side and out the right leg. Her body was wriggling and her face beamed. The two of us burst into peals of laughter! Everytime we tried to extract the dog's mug from her pants, the pants came down and the harder we laughed. Oh, that dog. Marley was an obedience school five star cadet compared to Zoe.
One Summer, when Zoe was young, we all went out to the pool on a sunny Summer afternoon. Hud and I got in to swim. Zoe wouldn't go unless you forced her. Despite the fact that she swam like a paddlewheeler, she hated to get in. She loved to be splashed in the face like a ten year old boy, but no way were you putting her all the way in there. Needless to say, Hud and I weren't paying attention and as we went back to get our bourbon and cokes, saw that they were completely empty! Barely an ice cube left in the glasses. Yes, Zoe had drained them both. We were more careful after that.
But that didn't stop Zoe's call to alcohol.
Hud's habit was to take Carmen and Zoe to the park for a run every morning. (She did it on the Friday before her death even.) So on this particular day, a bum was walking through the woods, drinking a forty. Zoe raced to his side, jumping and barking. The frightened man yelled to Hud, "Please don't let your dog eat me, Mister!" Hud sighed and said, She doesn't want you. She wants your beer." "Oh!" replied the man, "She's a booze hound!" And he laughed.
After a bad storm of straight line winds, we needed help cleaning up and making repairs. Hud hired a man. I didn't know he was in the back yard, and had let the dogs out. "COMPANY!" the girls in her head screamed and off Zoe went. "MISTER! CALL OFF YOUR DOG! MISTER! PLEASE! MISTER!" as he ran for the back fence. Hud yelled for him to stop. And calmed him enough to get him to pet her. I mean, she was mistaken more than once for a horse. You see, Zoe loved a good workman with a tool belt. I always had to warn people working in the house that she would steal their tools. If they missed something, it was always stashed under the dining room table. One time, she robbed a man of his hammer, tapemeasure, a wrench and a screwdriver. Over the years that Mike worked here, he and Zoe became fast friends. He made a point of hanging gloves out of his back pocket so she would have something to steal. Mike loved to make a big game out of getting them back, fussing at her the whole time.
There is so much more. My Funny Face was a real commedian. I'm gonna' miss that. She was a big presence in this house. Physically and spiritually.
