Happy birthday to Mark, far away in England. I had an extra cake layer in the freezer, so I defrosted and gave it purple candles so everyone at the Hall can have a slice to celebrate you this evening.
Today is the day our nephew Aaron was born in 1993. Because he often came to see us, he had his own napkin ring among those I painted for family and friends who visited The Compound and shared meals with us. Every wooden ring was painted a different color, and Aaron’s is purple. It’s kept in one of the display cabinets in the Houndstooth Hall living room. We will love and miss Aaron always.
Aaron and Tom in February 2011 celebrating Debby’s birthday along with her, David, Geri, and Timothy.
Originally taken at The Compound, December 28, 2007. Tom was on his holiday staycation, and painters were working in the kitchen, so he, Margot, and Guinness sequestered themselves in the bedroom for reading and napping.
From the book of Tiny Pleasures, I spotted this one:
When I did my recent book purge, I discovered that in the past, I had a tendency to grab whatever was handy to use as a bookmark (despite several posts this year featuring the abundance of bookmarks I own).
Here are a few of the things I found tucked into books I’m rehoming:
Three actual bookmarks: one with an inspirational saying, one from the Doris Day Animal League, to which I was a contributor long before I worked in animal rescue, and one with other state and Texas locations of Half Price Books.
Two business cards, one from the bookstore where I was employed as an assistant manager starting a few months after we moved to Houston, and one promoting The Deal and Three Fortunes In One Cookie, with contact information on the back.
A red ribbon decal that was probably part of a donation appeal from an HIV/AIDS-related organization.
A thank-you card from Amy after she spent a summer living on the second floor of our fifth Houston home (The Compound was our sixth, and Houndstooth Hall is our seventh; between our first and third, we spent the summer of 1990 living with Lynne and Craig. I guess we paid their hospitality forward with Amy; then here at the Hall, Lynne and Minute lived with us for a few weeks between homes). So many good friend memories.
I emailed Amy photos of the message she wrote inside the card, and we reminisced about those times. The envelope is postmarked September 1, 1994, when a postage stamp was 29 cents.
In the fall of 2006, a new dog came into our lives, Lynne’s Minute.
Last night, Lynne posted about Minute on her Instagram. In her words: This girl has been with me for 18 years. She has been my reason to go home when it was the last place I wanted to go. She made the house not empty. She has run with a Doberman, a Mastiff, an American bulldog, and a chihuahua. She’s chased squirrels up trees, chewed many harnesses, and rode many miles. Stoic and brave. Not aware she was only 17 pounds of sass. She’s never been one to run off. She always wants to be where I am. Faithful and true. She has come to the end of her watch. I will miss her every day.
This morning, Lynne and Minute said goodbye. We will all miss Minute, too. I like to think I contributed to naming her. I don’t know if I saw a photo or saw her in person, but I said, “She’s no bigger than a minute!” Lynne answered, “That’s what Jess said, too.” It seemed fated that she become Jess’s little sister Minute. For a while, Minute had her own blog. I still go and look at it sometimes. She came into a home with siblings: Greta, the Dowager Doberman, and Little Blind Sparky. They were a great trio. She also became an aunt and best friends with Jess and Laura’s dogs and honestly thought she was the same size as them: Seig, a Doberman, Sue, the American bulldog, and Sam, a HUGE mastiff, and later, Ruby and Ginger. When she welcomed her chihuahua brother Paco to her family, it may have been the first time a family dog was smaller than her!
Lynne’s grandchildren have never known a world without Minute. Lila with Minute and Paco.
Isaac and Minute, photo courtesy of Lynne.
At The Compound, she was a running mate to our Margot, Guinness, and then Anime; Tim’s Rex, Pixie, Penny, and then Pollock. A friend to Rhonda and Lindsey’s Sugar when they visited. At Houndstooth Hall, she befriended Debby’s Harley and Stewie, and Rhonda and Lindsey’s Pepper when she joined their family. She welcomed Delta, Jack, and Eva into the batpack. Who knows how many of our foster dogs she met through the years, but I never saw her exchange a harsh word with another dog. As far as she was concerned, in the dog world, she never met a stranger. She gave every dog a chance to be a potential new friend, though there was a special bond between her and Anime. But all other dogs she met as equals, and she was their monarch.
Some of her photos through the years.
Timothy with Minute. He often took care of her and her siblings.
One of my first photos of Minute, taken on a baking night in December of 2006. We had a houseful of bakers and assistants at The Compound, giving Minute a big social debut at an early age. No dogs were intoxicated in the making of this photo. That bottle of Jack was for whiskey balls as an experiment with our rum ball recipe.
Rex playing with Minute.
Minute with her brother Sparky, and on the floor, her nephew Seig.
Minute ready to garden with Margot, Sparky, Guinness, and Rex.
One time, when I took care of Sparky and Minute, I had them both bathed and brushed by a groomer. Sparky LOVED it and was invigorated. Minute, who loved nothing better than getting muddy, tolerated it but was outraged that I let them put this silly bow on her. She was a WARRIOR, not a girly girl!
Minute and her little brother Paco.
Besties. Minute and Anime. Even as she aged and slowed down, Minute and Anime would become like playful puppies when they got together again. They were never far from each other.
Jack, Eva, and Minute.
Pepper grabs the couch, while Minute, Anime, and Eva sleep in the distance.
Hard to get them all in one shot, but here’s Delta with Minute, Eva, Jack, and to the far right, Anime.
Tom and Minute on a recent visit.
Sweet and spicy: a blended foursome.
She was a tiny girl, and in honor of Tiny Tuesday, I tried to find the little dog I put on Lynne’s birthday cake in 2007. I never found it. Maybe I gave it to Lynne.
I did unpack these two Birthstone Barbies with their companions.
Miss Sapphire with her Westie. Sapphires represent love, royalty, and protection, and that tracks for Minute on all three counts. On a whim, I checked Miss Topaz, because that’s Lynne’s birth month, and what better dog to be represented than a little tan and white chihuahua. I know Paco was first to greet Minute at the Rainbow Bridge; how he must have missed her. The wild rumpus then began with her many friends at their reunion.
Shot at The Compound in December 2007 with my first digital camera, the Kodak Easyshare CX7430 Zoom.
When you’re overwhelmed by details, it can be easy to overlook the obvious. This little path was created when our previous home was being remodeled. Tom, the dogs, and I were staying in the garage apartment while the contractors worked inside the house. A blocked driveway created all kinds of challenges for dog management and access to the apartment. The solution came to me in the middle of the night, and I woke Tom when I said, “A house has two sides.” The next day, he cleared the never-used, overgrown, gated area along the “other” side of the house, and before sunset, he’d created this tidy, easy means to get to the back of the property.
This was our living room sofa at The Compound. It was a sofa bed, so we could accommodate guests. Besides the master bedroom, we had only one bedroom with twin beds for guests. This sofa opened to a queen-sized mattress, and it was used when family and friends visited and our guest bedroom spilled over.
Mother lived in the garage apartment (the Dollhouse), and she used the space upstairs for her bedroom and living area, and the downstairs had her dining room table in the open space that included the kitchen.
After Mother moved (several times, to many places in three states), and Timothy moved to Houston, the Dollhouse became his. That’s when couches began moving around. I’d given the twin beds and the hutch that matched them to Lynne, and moved an off-white sofa (that my mother left) into that bedroom.
Guinness, Margot, and River playing chase on the off white sofa.
There were also two workspaces in that room, turning it into an office for Tim and me (we were at that time writing books together, and it was very efficient for us to office in the same space).
Tim with Rex, the silent TJB partner, in the office he and I shared.
Tim bought a leather sofa from Amy for the Dollhouse living room. And we eventually got rid of Mother’s off white sofa and bought a smaller blue sleeper sofa to put in The Compound’s second bedroom. It, too, was used a lot, so it was very convenient.
Rex and Sugar, napping on the little blue sofa bed.
We didn’t NEED any more couches. They were everywhere. But one day, shopping for something else, I found an antique love seat and chair. IMPULSE BUY.
Penny and Pixie, deciding the antique love seat is just right.Queen Margot chooses to sleep alone on the antique chair.
The big brown sofa bed went downstairs in Tim’s apartment. And then Tim got a sectional sofa group from a friend, and Amy’s old leather couch came to The Compound, and damn if I remember where we put the antique love seat and chair.
AND THEN WE ALL MOVED TO HOUNDSTOOTH HALL in 2015, where there was so much more room, inside and out, for dogs. And for the sofas they sleep on!
The little blue sleeper sofa was in our library along with the antique love seat and chair. Amy’s leather sofa was in our living room. And the big brown sofa bed was in the spacious office.
Anime, deciding she’ll take this bedroom, please.
Tim had his sectional in Fox Den; Debby brought her furniture from Ohio when she moved into Fairy Cottage; and all was well. Until…. the 2017 flood. Goodbye, Debby’s chair and couch. Goodbye, Tim’s sectional. Goodbye, Becky and Tom’s brown sofa bed and little blue sleeper sofa. And thank goodness for flood insurance!
Amy’s leather sofa was undamaged in our living room. Then we had the antique love seat and chair reupholstered (along with a chair Lynne had given us and a chair Sarah had given us years ago that were also flood damaged). We were in no hurry to replace the brown sofa bed.
Debby and Tim replaced their furniture first. Then Tim decided that his replacement sofa (almost the same color blue as our old sleeper sofa) wasn’t durable enough for his large dogs, so we took it and he got something a little tougher.
Jack and Delta: New Blue Sofa is ours.
The blue sofa worked, but look where Jack is.
“I need a lot of mattress so I don’t feel the pea.” –The Princess Anime
And look where Anime is.
Those two and Delta always wanted to sleep on those back cushions, often all three of them at the same time, which I knew would gradually break the cushions down. I was constantly plumping them and making the dogs move. Finally, I made a decision. Years ago, Tom and I had a daybed in one of our guest rooms (pre-Compound), and I’ve always missed it. I decided I wanted another daybed in the office, and we could donate the blue sofa while it was still in very good condition.
Pollock is one of the reasons I wanted something that could be slept on in the office. Back in the old days, before the flood, Pollock and his sisters would hang out in our house while I worked from home and Tom and Tim worked elsewhere. But all the dogs were apart for a month after the flood, and when Tim and his dogs returned, Delta and Jack didn’t like Pollock coming over anymore. It was fine. Pollock, Pixie, and Penny were cool in Fox Den, and Debby was nearby with Harley and Stewie.
In the seven years since, a lot of things changed because of aging dogs. Harley went to the Rainbow Bridge. Then Penny. Then Pixie. Then Stewie.
After pandemic restrictions eased, Tim’s work schedule got very busy, requiring him to be away occasionally several nights in a row. After Stewie was gone, Pollock would hang out with Debby. When Debby scheduled a couple of months away on her current trip, I decided if I went ahead and got a daybed for the office, Pollock and I could sleep back there. The Dutch door would keep him and our dogs apart and avoid any drama. (It’s not bad drama. There’s no fighting. But there’s a lot of trash talking, and Tom and I both like to sleep.)
After a suggestion from Lynne, I checked Ikea’s site for daybeds and found exactly what I wanted, and they had it in stock. Tom went to get it. The idea was that he’d put it together weekend before last, and he and Tim would take the blue sofa in Tim’s new truck to Goodwill.
Oh. Did you know Tim has a new truck? His ten-year-old car had served him well, but it had a LOT of miles and was at the point where repairs would be needed.
He’s happy with his purchase, but neither man nor beast will be sleeping in the truck.
Then I read that rain was forecast last Wednesday and Thursday, and since Tim was pressed for time, he and Tom packed the blue sofa into my SUV and Tom took it to Goodwill on Tuesday. That evening, he decided to assemble the bed instead of waiting for the weekend. (He’s one of those people who likes to put things together from diagrams, and they always turn out right. This is not a skill I understand at all.)
So. Daybed was in place. I had plenty of time to get linens and maybe some new dog-friendly throw pillows, and change the room around a little before Debby left and Tim would be away at night, leaving Pollock free to come over for slumber parties with me.
Except as we all know now, we got that rain that was forecast and WAY more drama from wind than dogs ever cause. Without electricity, I ended up sleeping on that daybed days before intended. It was right by windows that let a breeze into the room. Our four dogs could go between sleeping with Tom and with me; there wouldn’t be four hot dogs and two hot humans in any one bed.
When the power came back Wednesday, I was finally better able to ready the new setup for when Pollock sleeps over.
I ran off dogs so I could take this photo of the new daybed and the old quilt.
A very tiny jingle bell, smaller than a quarter, that’s been on a household keychain for years and years and broke the other day. Even Tom felt a little sad, and naturally, my sentimentality won’t let it go. It’ll be around for a while.
I took this photo in July of 2022 to show the state of our grass after a summer drought. I’ve put a dotted line around the large tree that was about mid-point against the back fence so you can see how green and leafy it was last summer.
A second winter freeze and a second summer of drought left it looking like this.
And this, with a palm, also dead, in front of it.
Then the tree guys came, and the photos tell the story.
It always hurts to lose a tree (the dead palm is gone, too, but I’m not a big fan of palm trees as part of the Hall’s landscaping. We’ve actually had four removed, and another one died after one of our big freezes over the past few years). Several years ago, we let our next-door neighbor take down one of our trees because its roots were invading her water/sewage system. I remember that we did a major pruning of a tree at The Compound, and lost a tree there during a hurricane. But this Hall tree had been so healthy and weathered many storms, until two winter freezes and two summer droughts were more than it could take.
Losing it was sad. And it took so many tree guys and chain saws to cut it all up so it could be moved to the street and hauled away.
I’ll miss having it as part of the view. The birds will miss it, including the crows who I regularly try to engage in conversation. The dogs will miss the camouflage it provided when they explored the back fence area on the hunt for possums, squirrels, maybe a raccoon, and even the occasional cat.
More to come on the state of Houndstooth Hall’s grounds.
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