2025 in Review

2025 was a quiet at the dog park, but busy at home and around the world.  

Gemini & Normandy

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1 January - Fourteen die in pickup truck attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.

7 January - Tibet 7.1 earthquake kills over 120 people.

7-31 January - Southern California wildfires.

16 January - Bob Uecker crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad remembers him playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and acting in the movie Major League.

29 January - Black Hawk helicopter collision with American Airlines jet - Washington D.C.  Dad has been at that airport numerous times many dog moons ago.

11 February - Monty is the first Giant Schnauzer named best in show at Annual Westminster Dog Show. 

18 February - Actor, Gene Hackman crosses the rainbow bridge.

24 February - Singer, Roberta Flack crosses the rainbow bridge.

27 February - Boris Spassky crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad followed his 1972 chess match with Bobby Fischer.

21 March - Boxer and TV pitchman, George Foreman crosses the rainbow bridge.

28 March - Over 5,000 hoomans cross the rainbow bridge after 7.7-magnitude Myanmar earthquake.

15 April - Buford, a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian mix rescues two-year old child. 

21 April - Pope Francis crosses the rainbow bridge.

30 May - Loretta Swit crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad remembers her from the TV series M*A*S*H.

07 June - Terry Gregory crosses the rainbow bridge.   Terry was a very good friend of Dad.  They met when Dad worked in the oil patch in Oklahoma.  We heard Dad on the phone with him many times.  Dad misses him greatly.

30 June - Dad finds out he has type 2 diabetes.  

4 July – Deadly flooding of Guadalupe River kills over 130 hoomans in Texas.

Kerrville, Texas

23 July - Ozzy Osbourne, heavy metal rockstar crosses the rainbow bridge.

24 July - Hulk Hogan - wrestler and actor in Rocky III crosses the rainbow bridge.

28 July - Ryne Sandberg, baseball player crosses the rainbow bridge.

4 August - Loni Anderson of WKRP fame crosses the rainbow bridge.

7 August - Jim Lovell, astronaut and commander of Apollo 13, crosees the rainbow bridge.

17 September - Robert Redford, actor crossing the rainbow bridge.  Dad loved his movies.  His favorite by far was "The Natural."

October 1 – The US federal government shuts down.  It reopens 43 days later and is the longest shut down in history.

23 October - June Lockhart played a mom in 'Lassie' and ‘Lost in Space' crosses the rainbow bridge.

June Lockhart and Lassie

28 October - Hurricane Melissa makes landfall over Jamaica.

9 November - Long Island, NY - Chase, a 12 lb mini Golden Doodle wakes up his sleeping family to alert them of housefire.  Saving his family and himself.

12 November - The last US penny is minted in Philadelphia.

26 November - Over 150 hoomans die in Hong Kong fire.

3 December, - Nicholas Bunting the son of our good friend Ed Bunting crosses the rainbow bridge.  Ed stayed with us several times when he visited Key West.  The entire Bunting family is in our thoughts and prayers.

14 December - Actor and producer Rob Reiner crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad remembers watching him on TV growing up.

24 December - Wiley, a rescue dog, rescues his hooman family by waking them up when their RV caught fire in Florida.

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2025 was a busy year.  Now we start the year of the Snake.  Hopefully everypaw will have a safe and pawsome year.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Dad Has Been Busy

We've been meaning to post, but Dad has been busy.

Just after our last post Dad found out he was diabetic.  He found out when he went to get his foot checked out.  He had cut the bottom and he decided he better get a doctor to look at it.  They gave him some medication and antibiotics.  The cut is still healing, and he is seeing a lot of the foot doctor.  

He got new shoes and the gave him new insoles.  Dad is slowly coming around.  He still walks us, but he normally bandages his one foot up.  

For about a month we couldn't go to Angel Paws.  For about two weeks Dad let us room the back yard.  For another two weeks we got short walks.  Now things are more routine.

We are doing well.  Today we did our best to not let him get wistful.  Today is Essex's Barkday.  He thinks of her and we do our best to keep his mind on other things.  

We'll post more later.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Gemini is 10

Bowsers, where does time go.  Gemini turned 10 on Friday.  It seems like yesterday that I traveled North to pick up Gemini with Sherman.  She was and still is a smart girl.  .  We of course went to Angel Paws, but no paw was around.  Sigh.

So we just enjoyed wandering around Angel Paws.  Here are some pawtographs of us.

Gemini

Normandy

Dog Speed

Gemini & Normandy

Normandy Turns Five

Normandy woke up this morning to Dad singing him Happy Barkday.  It is hard to believe Normandy is five years old.  That during that time we were up to our knees with Covid.

Normandy & Gemini Waiting at the Gate

We got plenty of Dog treats, a long walk and of course Angel Paws.  Norm got a ball.  He has one he got from our pal Ruby a couple weeks ago.  He likes this ball and will carry it around.

Norm's Green Ball

Later in the day it was time for Angel Paws.  We were supposed to get rain, but we think Essex, Deacon and Sherman all put in good words to the Great Dane to hold off on the rain.  The pups enjoyed the park.  Below are pawtographs of our pals.  

Daisy & Ruby

Sophie

Lucas & Sophie

More Lucas & Sophie

Gemini Takes a Water Break

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

2024 in Review

 2024 had the collies watching three herricanes closely.  Our pal Chucho moved to a new place and we have some new friends at Angel Paws.  Neither of us enjoyed the fireworks that went off the last two nights.  

Gemini & Normandy

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5 January - Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug blows out.

2 February - Carl Weathers crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad enjoyed Carl Weathers acting in the Rocky movies, Predator and Happy Gilmore.

 

5 February - Toby Keith crosses the rainbow bridge.

14 February - Kansas City Super Bowl Parade shooting.

26 March - Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses after being struck by the container ship Dali.

8 April - Total Solar Eclipse

Total Eclipse Pawtragraph - Cleaveland Ohio

10 April - O.J. Simpson crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad was a big Buffalo Bills fan growing up.  He remembers OJ's Buffalo Bills days well. 

20 May - Gemini tears some skin in her mouth.

27 May - Bill Walton crosses the rainbow bridge.

2 June - Oregon man accidently drives off road crashing into ravine.  His dog, Blue, saves him by running four miles to find help.

18 June - Willie Mays crosses the rainbow bridge.

20 June - Donald Sutherland crosses the rainbow bridge.  Dad remembers him from Mash, Dirty Dozen and Hunger Games.  

7 July - Shelley Duvall crosses the rainbow bridge.

12 July - Dr Ruth crosses the rainbow bridge.

13 July - Shannen Doherty crosses the rainbow bridge.  Starred in Beverly Hills, 90210, Charmed, and the movie Heathers. 

             - Richard Simmons crosses the rainbow bridge.  Remembered for being a fitness instructor.  Sweaten' to the Oldies.

 

18 July - Bob Newhart crosses the rainbow bridge. A classic comedian. 

30 July - Four collies, Ferguson and Rigsbee say hello to us.  Dad though he was seeing double. 

Seeing Double - Four Collies

4 August - Herricane Debby

18 August - Phil Donahue crosses the rainbow bridge.  Talk show host that Dad watched quite a bit when he lived in Ohio.

28 August - Our Moon Dance Huskies, cyber paw pal, crosses the rainbow bridge.

Lilly

28 August - Decoy Ohtani, Shohei Ohtani dog, throws out first pitch at Dodger Stadium.

4 September - Our pal Chucho leaves Key West.  Makes special cookies fur us.

9 September - James Earl Jones crosses the rainbow bridge.  A pawtastic actor.  Starred in Dr. Strangelove, Field of Dreams, Hunt for Red October, Conan the Barbarian and of course the voice of Darth Vader.

15 September - Trump assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

25-27 September - Hurricane Helene passes west of Key West.  Our pal Chucho and his Dog Mom survive as their camper was swept up.  

Chucho In His New Camper

27 September - Maggie Smith (Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies) crosses the rainbow bridge.

28 September - Kris Kristofferson, actor and singer, crosses the rainbow bridge.

30 September - Pete Rose, Charlie Hustle, baseball player for the Reds and Phillies, crosses the rainbow bridge.

Pete Rose

30 September - Dikembe Mutombo, famous basketball player, crosses the rainbow bridge.

9-10 October - Hurricane Milton passes north of Key West, Port of Key West closed.

22 October - Fernando Valenzuela crosses the rainbow bridge.

29 October - Teri Garr - Young Frankenstein, Tootsie and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

6 November - Trump Wins Election

7 November - College Game Day Golden Retriever, Ben Herbstreit crosses rainbow bridge.

26 November - Norm gets in a scuffle with another pup at Angel Paws.  Gimpy fur two days.

27 November - Albert Wayne Prince crosses rainbow bridge.  Wayne was a very good friend of Dads.  They first met when Dad worked in the oil patch in Oklahoma.  We heard Wayne talk with Dad on the phone at times.

Dad's Oklahoma Pal Wayne 

8 December - Damascus falls and President Bashar al-Assad flees Syria.

20-29 December - Copper stays with us while his hoomans are out of town.

Cooper

27 December - Greg Gumbel crosses rainbow bridge.  Famous sports caster. 

29 December - Jimmy Carter crosses rainbow bridge.

  

31 December - Puerto Rico power outage.  Most of Puerto Rico power grid goes down on Christmas Eve.

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Quite a bit happened in 2024.  Now we are starting the year of the Dragon.  Hopefully everypaw will have a pawtastic year.

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

Remember New Years Eve 2003

31 December always brings back memories fur Dad.  21 years ago Dad traveled up north near Ft. Lauderdale and his first Holmhaven Collie, Essex, came to live with him.  Essex took care of Dad, and he loves telling us about her.

Essex 

He remembers Essex on the ride back to Key West.  Her whispering during crate training.  Dad was a proud pawther.  

We are chatting with some pups in a chat room right now.  Sure, enjoy catching up with the other pups.  

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy

  

30 December 2024

Bowsers, it is almost a new year.  Thanksgiving had a little bit of excitement.  Normandy and another pup had a quick scuffle.  Normandy gimped for a day as he sprained one of his back legs.  By Saturday he was back to his normal self.  The entire pack was thankful about that.  Below are a couple of pawtographs of us at Angel Paws.

Our Dad's friend's dog Copper stayed with us from 20-29 December.  Copper is still convinced Dad is the God of Thunder, so he is scared of Dad and won't come out of his kennel.  So, Copper spent a lot of time outside in the patio.  He isn't as nervous around Dad as before, but he is still afraid of the Thunder God.

Copper

Dog Speed,

Gemini & Normandy