Rob's Blog

Goodbye Casey, 1992 - 2008

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We recently lost our dog of 16 years, Casey Jones, and we keep thinking about him. These are some pictures we found and put to music. It was very therapeutic.

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Tags: dog, pet, casey, rob, animals

Casey Jones 1992 - 2008

We had to put Casey, our Wheaten Terrier who we loved for 16 years, down this week. This is a post from my son, Zach, which says it all.

Casey, my dog of 16 years, passed away yesterday morning. I don't want anybody's sympathy--I know these kinds of notes can be read as a plea for attention, but I don't desire that. I just want to write about what I remember about a dog that has been in my family since I was five years old.

To put it lightly, Casey had a quirky personality. Of all the Wheaten puppies we saw at the breeder in Connecticut, the one with the orange collar stood out to us. While the other puppies were quiet and reserved, Casey was very energetic, kissing us and just had a very strong personality. So it was Casey we chose. I remember the first thing he did (other than taking a shit in the basket we put him in) was he ran around the house and woke my dad up. In the winter time, he would grab our gloves off and throw them in the snow.

The negative side of Casey's personality was his aggressiveness. He was very territorial and did bite on occasions. My grandmother can certainly attest to that (note: never try to take food from a dog). But we still loved him and over the years, he stopped being so aggresive. Even as he reached the age of 13, he was still the same as he was when he was younger, if a bit more lethargic. He also started to lose his hearing. But even at 15, the vets told us he still had a strong heart and was very healthy. But as he progressed later into that age, he started to deterioate. He would wander around the house, unsure of where he was at times. And when he hit 16 this October, it was clear he didn't have much longer. I just hoped I would have been able to see him one more time. I wanted him to hold on for another week, but he had held on long enough.

Dogs are amazing creatures. My mom was telling me that my other dog, Beauty, was very attentive when it came to Casey's well-being. She would wake my mother up at night when Casey was having a seizure. And when she paid attention to casey (which would normally upset Beauty) she just sat there, very subdued. It's clear Beauty knew what was going on. Although I will miss Casey tremendously, I will never forget all the happiness he has bought to our lives.

Barack Obama - Galvanizing youth

My son Zachary posted on his Facebook page, what I think is an eloquent reaction to the election of Barack Obama. One of the exciting things about this election has been the record turnout, and the excitement that it's generated, particurly among our younger citizens. I hope it bodes well for the future, for their sake. Here's the post:

Earlier I wrote that I thought the song "Summer, Highland Falls" was the theme song to this campaign, and that, as the song goes, I would experience either "sadness or euphoria" by the time all the votes were counted. Luckily, euphoria won out.

"They say that these are not the best of times, but they're the only times I've ever known."

I still haven't really processed this yet. I was optimistic, but I wasn't sure our country had it in them to elect an African-American. Well, I was proved wrong. I have regained faith in our nation. And now it is up to us to work with our new president to set this country back on the right track. And it's going to take a lot of work. And all of that work might not be able to be completed in an Obama administration. Even two terms might not be enough to completely repair what George W. Bush has done to our nation. But he can set us on the right path. I truly believe that.

I first decided I was going to support Senator Obama after I read his book, "The Audacity of Hope." It was mainly a policy book, but it all made sense to me. And I was struck by the lack of partisanship Obama displayed. He was and is not an ideologue, and I knew that was a quality I admired. But as much as I liked him, it seemed all but certain that Hillary Clinton was going to be our nominee. I was proven wrong. It was a grueling primary, one that I thought at the time would hurt Obama in the general. I thought the longer it went on, the worse shape we would be in. Again, I was proved wrong.

So after a particuarly nasty general campaign, it has all turned out for the better. We have a truly unique opportunity here. We have to take advantage of it. Because if we sit back and don't work hard to improve our nation with President Obama, we will be no better off than we were a day ago, let alone four years ago.

"So as we stand upon the ledges of our lives, with our respective similarities.  It's either sadness or euphoria."

Yes we can.