"Among the weblogs, the best coverage of the Churchill controversy has been in View from a Height..." -Dave Kopel, Rocky Mountain News

"In Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs is covering the hot GOP primary between beer magnate Pete Coors and former Rep. Bob Schaffer with a great deal more insight than the Denver newspapers." -John Fund, OpinionJournal.com

"The Rocky Mountain Alliance offers the best of what the blogosphere has to offer." -David Harsanyi, Denver Post
 contact
Joshua Sharf
 search


 notify list
to receive email when this site is updated, enter your email address:
 archives
 recent posts
 categories
Blogging 26 entries
Book Review 9 entries
Business 96 entries
China 2 entries
Colorado Politics 55 entries
Decision 2008 1 entries
Finance 6 entries
Flying 3 entries
General 83 entries
Higher Ed 28 entries
History 2 entries
History 2 entries
Israel 15 entries
Jewish 15 entries
Judicial Nomination 3 entries
Media Bias 5 entries
Movies 6 entries
Road Trip 5 entries
Social Investing 1 entries
Vote Fraud 7 entries
War on Terror 64 entries
 links
 blogs
Rocky Mtn. Alliance
Exultate Justi
American Kestrel
The Mangled Cat
Clay Calhoun
Mt. Virtus
My Damascus Road
Exvigilare
Best Destiny
Thinking Right
The Daily Blogster

Friends of the Alliance
Bill Hobbs
TyroBlog
Mile High Delphi
Flight Pundit
One Destination
Conservative Eyes
The Virginian Reporter
A Time for Choosing

other blogs
Oh, That Liberal Media
Powerline
Girl In Right
One Big Swede
American Thinker
Meryl Yourish
Instapundit
NRO Corner
Little Green Footballs
No Left Turns
A Constrained Vision

business blogs
800CEORead
Carnival of the Capitalists
Catallarchy
Cold Springs Shops
Commodity Trader
Coyote Blog
Different River
EconLog
Fast Company Blog
Financial Rounds
Footnoted
Freakonomics Blog
Lip-Sticking
Management Craft
Trader Mike
Carnival of the Capitalists Submission

business data
Inst. Supply Mgmt.
St. Louis Fed Economic Data
Nat'l Bureau of Economic Research
Economic Calendar
Stock Charts
colorado blogs
Boker Tov, Boulder
Colorado Pols
Jeff Sherman

<-?Colorado BlogRing#->

sites, not blogs
Thinking Rock Press
 help israel
Israel Travel Ministry
Friends of the IDF
Volunteers for Israel
Magen David Adom
 1939 World's Fair
1939: The Lost World of the Fair
The New York World's Fair: 1939-1940
The Last Great Fair by Jeffrey Hart
Iconography of Hope (U.Va.)
Images From the '39 Fair
 google ads
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64

March 08, 2005

Dogs

Condolences to Bob at the Daily Blogster, who lost his beloved springer spaniel Hannah this morning.

If you've lost a pet, you know what it's like. If you haven't, there's no way to describe it without drifting over into being maudlin. You certainly can't analyze it.

A few months ago, my sister lost her dog of 14 years, Muffin. She took it worse than her kids did, who immediately started pressing for a replacement. It really changes the rhythm of a house when a dog dies. A few years ago, friends of mine lost their 18-year-old house dog, Bookshy, and it was years before they could settle on getting another one.

I myself have only lost one dog, a cockapoo named CB, when I was about 11. Dad came upstairs and told us that "the dog had died," figuring that strong medicine is best given straight. CB had had a heart condition for which he took pills, and during the night he just gave out. (Dad claims that late that night, before he put the dog in his basement room, CB came over to him and put his muzzle on his leg, which he never used to do. Did he know?) We buried him (quite illegally, but a cremation for such a fine dog was out of the question) in the back yard, near the electric pylon.

Sage the Lab is starting to show some signs of middle age as he approaches six, and every once in a while I find myself thinking about what it'll be like when he goes. The only possible response to such thoughts, naturally, is denial.

(Click "Continue Reading" for Rudyard Kipling's take on the matter.) To read a number of essays on the subject by someone who really could write, try Thurber's Dogs, which seems to have been reissued as The Dog Department : James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles.

The Power of the Dog

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passsion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart to a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But ... you've given your heart to a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!)
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart to a dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-term loan is as bad as a long--
So why in--Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

-- Rudyard Kipling

Posted by joshuasharf at March 8, 2005 03:30 PM | TrackBack
-->

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking


Back in Action : An American Soldier's Story of Courage, Faith and Fortitude


How Would You Move Mt. Fuji?


Good to Great


Built to Last


Financial Fine Print


The Balanced Scorecard for Public-Sector Organizations


The Balanced Scorecard for Government & Non-Profits


The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that Drive Performance


The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action


The Day the Universe Changed


Blog


The Multiple Identities of the Middle-East


The Case for Democracy


US Policy in Post-Saddam Iraq


A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam


The Italians


Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory


Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings and Lectures


Reading Levinas/Reading Talmud