First there was Frida, then Diego

He loves his cage and enters it willingly for a little snooze or just for comfort.

Diego has had a few embarrassing periods he thought unbecoming to a top dog.

I leave to go grocery shopping, but Diego remains to inspect that all goes well in the pool repair..

Then there was Morrie,luckily, to join our family, for a few years later, Frida passed away..

In spite of Diego’s best efforts to win me away from Morrie, Morrie had the advantage of being small enough to lie in the hammock with me. Once he tried to jump up with us, which created a lot of excitement.

Cousin Kirk and Diego, bonded.

When Zoe arrived in February, Diego proved to be a good nursemaid, stopping herwhen she got remotely close to the pool.

In spite of my worst fears that they’d think she was a rat or opossum, they were never once more than watchful and tender with her.

After a few hours of active Zoe duty, I think Diego has run out of energy. I took Zoe into the hammock with me….

and surprise, surprise, Diego sorta missed her..

Schmoozes with Little Duck,

Waiting for breakfast.

2022

Dearly Missing Diego

No amount of paranormal could make this holiday worse.
It carries with it sadness I don’t have to rehearse.
I do not fear the skeletons who wander far and near
Has-been-dearly-departeds are not the ones I fear.

Made-up horrors all take flight and vanish o’er the hill
as I recall his silent passage over the kitchen sill
to steal three dozen cookies that no doubt he found yummy
since when he next passed over it, they were in his tummy.

Whole chickens and entire plates of Christmas eats
vanished as he made them his own personal treats.
For eleven years, he upgraded my life
with gentle affection that mitigated strife.

Life oscillates between the pleasure and the pain
as I have to lose a much-loved one again.
Dear Diego passed from us this morning suddenly,
with a brutal speed that I did not foresee.

R.I.P. my lovely friend. Milk Bones are piled up
under your altar picture, just there for you to sup.
My neighbors say when I drive up after it is dark,
they will not know I’m safe at home without your greeting bark.

You won’t be there to moderate Zoe and Morrie’s spats.
And there will be one fewer to bark at owls and bats.
No one will nudge my hand for pats quite the way you do,
and you’ll be missed forever in the family queue.

R.I.P. Diego, Oct 29, 2022