Baxter Comes to Visit, or Does Absence Really Make the Heart Grow Fonder?

Guess who's been here all week while DSD and DSIL are in visiting from Maine.

Yup, it's the gigunda Baxter boy! My Boos Buddy (well, now Sarah's and Chris's Boos Buddy). :o) My big galoot with the massive head and shark-like overbite.


I've missed his crooked-tooth grin.


In fact, I've missed Baxter so much that he reached near-Saint status in my imagination. He has the gray muzzle now to confirm it (and he's only 6 yo). The wizened old man.



I guess there is some truth to the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

And now I know why: during absences we forget all the things that drove us crazy. It's that Rose-Colored-Memory-Syndrome.

One of the things I completely forgot about is the disgusting sounds Baxter makes when he gives himself a bath. Yuk...blech...grosso-barfo. Think wet, snorty, slurpy, inhaling-over-your-tongue gurgling sounds. None of the rest of the gang comes even close. Major yuk.

He is simply the noisiest groomer (slurp, slurp, slurp....)! And there's no ignoring him.


Baxter is also quite jealous. If we pay attention to any of the other dogs in his presence, he squiggles his way right in to be King of the Butt-Rubs.


And if that doesn't work, he barks -- oh how he barks! It's one of those "pay attention to me or I'll keep barking" barks. And he keeps it up.

Again, the rest of the crew doesn't come close. They may nudge or jump or wiggle, but they don't bark with jealousy. And his is a piercing, resonant bark (oh my aching head!).

Then there's the drool. Did you notice the shiny white thread running between Boos' eyes in his toothy-grin-picture above? Yup... that's saliva. With his overbite he's always had a serious drool issue (kinda like Hootch, in the movie Turner and Hootch), but it got worse when he lost his upper front teeth in the tug-o-war match with Kenya two years ago.

Come to think of it, that's when I started wearing a towel over my shoulder all day. And to think I blamed the towel on hot flashes and menopause.

Now, of course, these irritations don't affect my love for Baxter in the least. When he lived with us they endeared him to me even more. Silly boy.

LOL... now they're annoying. I think I just got used to life without them, and, I suppose, without Baxter and all his idiosyncrasies.

Amazing how we forget, isn't it?

Having said that, I still love the Boos to pieces -- the goofy galoot. He's still a couch potato extraordinaire:


He's still a snuggle buddy, and he still loves his people more than anything else in the world (here's Boos with DSIL Chris):


And he still loves to sit on the hill outside watching the world go by (nope, he doesn't bark outside), and then quietly paws at the door when he wants to come in:


Yup... gotta luv my Boos, slurpies and all. We take the good with the bad.

But I have to admit I won't miss being on drool-watch after the kids and Boos return to Maine tomorrow.

Hey... is this anything like grand-parenting?

'Til next time,
Joan