“Basil’s Bow-Wows”

This is compliments of Henry Zecher, a friend many years ago from journalism school. Today, Henry is the world's greatest authority on William Gillette, who played Sherlock Holmes.

The following tribute was written by Basil Rathbone in 1933, upon the death of his beloved Moritz, a black German shepherd. Rathbone was a major dog lover and among the finest actors of his generation. He is remembered chiefly for playing Sherlock Holmes:

MORITZ

WITH RESPECT,

ADMIRATION AND

EVERLASTING LOVE

OUIDA AND BASIL

Come winter time and summer time,

Come sweet and cleansing rain,

Come spring time and the autumn,

Both sun and moon shall wane,

Come seed time and flowering,

And harvesting the grain,

The Earth will cease and time grow old,

But we shall meet again.

'Twas not for naught we walked the fields,

The sidewalks and the lanes,

Sharing our hopes, our fears, our doubts,

Beliefs, our joys and pains.

And though I, with human weakness,

Have not always understood,

You with your dog devotion

Blindly believe me good.

Now you will sleep a little while

And dream in peace, please God,

Then one day I shall follow you

And sleep too beneath the sod,

To rise with you and walk again

With a vague sense of remembering

That we had loved in other lives,

Before this new ascending.

For more information, visit “Basil’s Bow-Wows” at www.basilrathbone.net/potpourri/dogs/

St. Bernards/Rule #1. Don't postpone daily walk.

Tuesday night instead of taking Lara, Ollie and Barney for their 5 p.m. visit to the dog park, I decided first to make oatmeal cookies for a dinner at Sharon and Richard's at 7 p.m. My thought was to take the pups to the park while the cookies cooled. So I pulled out oats, cinnamon, eggs and flour -- then ran to the store to pick up butter and brown sugar. I arrived home to what looked to be a blizzard in the kitchen. Lara and Ollie were hiding while Barney, the only one tall enough to reach the flour on the kitchen counter, was unapologetic.

Ooops. Lara Gains 4 Lbs.

Sorry it's been so long since the last post, but I've been sidelined with a bug that doesn't seem to want to go away.

Anyone who's tried to lose weight in a household where someone's trying to gain knows how difficult it can be.

Barney arrived a couple of months ago weighing 104 lbs., about the same as Lara when she came at the beginning of June. Trouble is, Lara's ideal weight is
75 lbs. while Barney's is a minimum
of 120 lbs.

I've tried to bulk him up with snacks, but it's hard to do so without including Lara. Instead, I give her smaller pieces. Even tried baby carrots. Barney loves them, but Lara spits them out. Anyway, no snacks for Lara. She's very active, more so than Barney and Ollie, so that should help to move her weight in the right direction.

During our visit with Dr. Harrison he noted, "Lara's doing well. Her neck has cleared up -- no reflex or misalignment in the cervical spine. She's alert, friendly, no stress."

Presenting "Beach Blanket Amigos"

Everyone will enjoy this feelgood movie about Ollie, a little black mutt, as he introduces Lara, an English lab used as a backyard breeder, and Barney, a severely neglected St. Bernard, to new friends at Dog Beach in Del Mar, Calif.

The Trailer

The Movie

"Lean On Me." Lara and Barney Enjoy First Party

Lara and Barney enjoyed their first party last weekend -- to celebrate Joey's 18th birthday. A couple of apologies: I'm new to video taping and couldn't figure out how to end the clip at the conclusion of the performance. Also, the video file was too big for my blog, so I uploaded it to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S69qOhEwJXs

Note my third dog, Ollie, taking care of Barney's oral hygiene (drooling). "The 3 Amigos" made such a good impression that one friend said she was going to talk to her husband about adopting a second shelter dog.

The lady petting the pups is friend Kathy Herington, formerly with The Mar-Dels. The background singer is friend, Laurie Lehman, a former blues singer turned social worker. The cockatoo is Lucy, Joey's new booking agent.

Rancho Santa Fe Turkey Rescue, Sept. 13, 2009

Today when Lara, Barney, Ollie and I returned from a long hike at San Dieguito County Park, we heard cooing as we approached our van which was parked at the lower level entrance on El Camino Real. I looked up to see a brilliant white hen and tom turkey standing on the far side of the road. I saw a couple of people trying to block them from crossing the busy thoroughfare, so decided to lend a hand.





One of the Good Samaritans was Karen Carhart, a volunteer with the San Diego Humane Society, Large Animal Rescue. She called Leslie Buncher, a fellow volunteer who arrived with a cage. A passerby said she had a dog kennel we could use to house the tom temporarily. It went very smoothly with minimal stress to the birds. Leslie explained that he was transferring the couple to the humane society with the hope that their owner would claim them. If they don't, he assured us that both birds would be adopted out together since they were obviously mates, and pets. It was a great outcome. You can view a video of the birds on my other blog, Lillian's North County Notes.

Lara - The Movie