，比他这个cute多了瓜瓜和狗狗
版主： kazaawang， wh
#23 Re: 瓜瓜和狗狗
难道是吉娃娃？
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There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt. - John Adams
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WarmFall（秋意浓）楼主
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#26 Re: 瓜瓜和狗狗
那你怎么起了这么个id. ~= chihuahua.
奔一个你家狗狗的cuteness吧。
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上次由 wmysh 在 2024年 12月 30日 14:43 修改。
There are two ways to conquer and enslave a country. One is by the sword. The other is by debt. - John Adams
#27 Re: 瓜瓜和狗狗
自由是虚的，但上面提到的几点就是美国梦的具象。
WarmFall 写了： 2024年 12月 30日 14:29 上面这些在别的地方也可以实现，美国梦为啥就那么好...
上面的没有也可以实现美梦吧... 每个人对幸福的期待值不同吧..
美国梦想我觉得最大的一点就是自由...
土鳖 ——— 中土最大外发
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WarmFall（秋意浓）楼主
- 著名点评
2024年度十大优秀网友
WarmFall 的博客 - 帖子互动： 784
- 帖子： 4879
- 注册时间： 2022年 8月 11日 14:02
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WarmFall（秋意浓）楼主
- 著名点评
2024年度十大优秀网友
WarmFall 的博客 - 帖子互动： 784
- 帖子： 4879
- 注册时间： 2022年 8月 11日 14:02
#35 Re: 瓜瓜和狗狗
啥意思，瓜瓜认识到自己是米帝养的宠物了?WarmFall 写了： 2024年 12月 30日 13:18 Bo Kuangyi post an article on X about his beloved dog:
文章很长，只有有宠物的才能看完，也只有有过宠物的有共情吧。
I don't have a habit of celebrating birthdays, but for the past 12 years, I’ve had the pleasure of celebrating with Only, my Frenchie, who shared my birthday. He couldn’t make it to his 13th, today. So, now in memoriam:
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On Feb 22nd, 2012, I went to Logan Airport to pick up Only. Out of the pee-covered crate stumbled out a toasted bread loaf, mounted on paws as wide as the body. I first thought about naming him Tofu, of the Agadeshi variety, but as I lifted him up in one hand and felt the warmth through his pink belly, I realised that, he would be my only one. Thus “Only” he became, and my Only one forever. Though it sometimes needed explication when said in the company of Terri and Lailai - “he’s called Only, as in ‘only one’, but yes, the name is meant to be ironic”.
At the initial vet intake, they asked for Only’s papers from the breeder. I read “breed: French Bulldog”, “Male”, then glibly, “DoB, December 17, 2011”. After a brief pause I realised it is my birthday as well. Further reflection revealed that we were both born in the year of the rabbit, just two rounds apart. It was the coincidence of a lifetime. The stars had been aligned for our fates to entwine.
I got him at a time when I was faced with the spectre of a long grind in the humourless system post-graduation, so he was intended to be a piece of the private sanctuary. Fortunately, Destiny had other plans and I ended up going on a much more colourful journey than duty had once impelled.
For the next 12 years and 7 months, his presence had saturated my existence. We’d never been apart for more than two weeks at a time; through Boston and New York, and the great Canadian cities. Through thick and thin, Only had been the constant witness to my vicissitudes. He had grown like a mighty abscess in my heart, the absence of which permanently alters my reality.
§§§
Only first moved into the room vacated by my former roommate. I’ve never had a puppy in my ward before. When I had brought Lailai home several years ago in China, he had many caretaker options, and was soon hijacked by my mum to be her dog - which made him my brother. Only was the one that I took care of in between classes, fed five times a day and for whom I picked up the poop and learned to potty train. It wasn’t long before I realised the error of keeping him in a carpeted room - there went my security deposit!
§§§
I’ve read that it is a trick of evolution that we are genetically conditioned to find the pudgy big heads and squat bodies of puppies and babies cute. I was not immune. Only was, right away, my pocket gremlin. We went around everywhere. He would sit shotgun on a high cushion in the car, unroll his neck to survey the world outside like Simba the future king. I carried him in a shoulder bag and whenever he popped out his big ears and round eyes, he’d draw crowds, from the parking lot at Wholefoods to all up and down Boylston street. For a while I was worried he’d be confused that his name was “Awww”.
Only’s magnetism would age like fine wine. Albeit being in the nascent age of Instagram, he’d managed to become a local Central Park celebrity, one photo at a time. One of his two favourite activities was chasing water sprinklers. There was one by the 72nd street egress. By then, he had grown into his big paws, muscular and strong. I’d unleash him and he would run and catch the spinning spray to the delight of gathering tourists; literally dozens by numbers, all circling around taking pictures to document their “New York experience”. Even the park rangers would smile from the sideline before reluctantly telling me that he needed to be leashed.
§§§
But cuteness only got him so far. Our soul-connection wasn’t instant. For the first months I’d even been so frustrated that I warned him “I’ll send you back to the breeder!”. I even wished he was more like the rascal that is Lailai!
Once at Napa Valley, he ran out from under the yard fence of our hotel. The concierge and I had to chase and catch him off the road, which caused me to be tardy to dinner. I put him in the closet as a punishment. When I returned, he was snoring inside and awoke to look at me with his characteristic judgemental eyes. I succumbed and hugged him and apologised.
The other time was when I spanked him in xxxx for being unruly. He responded by walking out of the house and into the woods, alone, in the dead of winter. I paid him no mind, thinking the area was all enclosed anyway and he’d back when he got cold. I was wrong. Two hours later I found him couched in a pad of snow-crusted forage, absolutely refusing to meet my eyes. As I picked him up and walked back, I knew that was the last time I’d ever be mean to him.
§§§
I care for all dogs, for they are innocence embodied; I love all my dogs, for they are family; but Only – I got to love him for the being that he was.
I don’t know if it came down to nature or nurture (or shall I say, osmosis around me), Only was a gregarious and magnanimous gentleman. He was everybody’s favourite and brightened every room he entered with the fire of his spirit.
Terri had relied on Only for reassurance and Lailai used him for bodily warmth. Humped and shoved, Only never resisted – despite outweighing them both combined.
It was the summer of 2013 when I managed to bring mother’s Lailai over from China. From first sight Lailai knew, that amongst all the other dogs present at the time – Leo, Sam, and Lucas – Only was the only would-be-sibling. 10 minutes of intense scuffling later, Only was spread eagle on the floor with Lailai on top.
§§§
Only and I have both suffered from bad press. Rumour had it that he relieved himself everywhere. Not entirely true. He always used his designated wee pad at home, even until the very final night, when he already struggled to answer nature’s call. He limped over while dragging his urinary catheter, with me worriedly scurrying behind.
But I must concede, he had a penchant for velvety carpets and silk curtains, especially those found at friends’ homes. Barring the extraordinary exception(s), he was a well-mannered observer of Debrett’s - even fastidious about where he pooped in public!
§§§
Oftentimes, my whirlwind of aspirations draws me to the future and keeps from feeling the present – until I hold Only in my arms, feel his blubbery jowls, fondle his erect ears to his annoyance. I’m then reminded of his Dionysian consummation of the here and now. He lived in the moment, and he was my present.
He had pursued everything with vigour and without reservation. He never backed down from a ball-chase from dogs twice his size and thrice more agile. Through sheer determination, he never failed to win the trophy, which he would not let go and proudly carry home (and never touch again!).
His will was so indomitable that a specialist Frenchie trainer had to give my money back. He would dash toward the squeak of a ball whenever he heard one, across pits and hills and that one time, the road in Central Park, where he bumped into the wheel of a running car! He would play until he was panting on the ground, totally depleted; or that other time, when he fell into a tree well at xxx, and I had to search for him by tracking his grumbling barks.
§§§
Only had a dynamic character. He could be both easy going and stubborn, just as he knew to act with maturity when the occasion demands. He was obedient like the best-trained hunting dog when going through TSA at airports, at a gallery, or office; basically anywhere that he needed to don a red vest inscribed with “Service Animal”. He would train his eyes on me and not rush to say “hi” to people until I gave him the nod. “He’s so well behaved!” I’d hear people compliment. Kids caroused around him, their parents smiled at him, and he was a super girl-magnet.
He could be discerning too. At dog parks, he avoided fat women and sniffed out gays and pretty girls. From Mad Ave. to King’s Road, he knew which shops were stocked with the hotties and never passed by Sephora or Aritzia without bobbing his head in. He even loved going to the vets, where he would wag his butt into the ER to greet the vet techs.
The ultimate pulchritude Only winged for me was my wife. Only was there at the beginning, paw on hand. He’d been at her apartment long before I wormed my way in, since our trio had coincidentally shared the same dog walker. That was how she had recognised Only and Lailai at the park when we met. Thankfully, I will never need another wingman again.
§§§
Only had been a most considerate boy till the very end. Despite being a contorted breed, he was never hospitalised, and neither drained us emotionally nor pecuniarily. The one time I booked a pre-emptive brachycephalic surgery, thankfully, xxxx talked me out of it the night before. He never developed breathing issues. Sure, he snored, just as I do, but as my mother used to say – “it's ok for a man to snore, for an alpha man will make his presence known even when he’s asleep.”
In his final six months, his little body had slowed down. One of his hindlegs had progressively atrophied, and he was more eager to go back home than to go out. He’d look at me intently when I tried to drag him out, but I had missed the intention behind. I didn’t think he might have been in pain. He had health checks, physio, and got a brace for the leg…and I thought that was enough.
Then, Monday and Tuesday he couldn’t poop, Wednesday he went to hospital, Thursday morning he did a CT scan. It showed bone cancer had spread past the point of no return. He came home for the final night. I slept by his bed, holding his paw. In the morning, he began to feel pain. In the rain we drove him to his favourite toy store, before arriving, one last time.
He didn’t even give us the option to consider treatments or gather experts. He never burdened us, even slotted in his death with the utmost sensitivity to our schedule – I didn’t need to postpone a work trip and we didn’t need to change up our civil union. He found the perfect week to go.
§§§
Only had gone through life without ever a conflict with anyone. He had never bitten anyone or any dog, not even when he got bit. From the time he first stepped outside, waddling on the frosted bank of Charles River, to paddling down Spanish Banks in his final months, he had unceasingly beamed the optimism for life.
In our time together, he had adventured from -40C to 27C (any hotter, he’d needed to stay inside), ploughed through xxx’s deep snow banks, tobogganed down Blackcomb, ran up the knolls of Storm King, hopped down the gorges of Lynn Valley, stomped the waves at Laguna Beach, chased surfers in Tofino, swam the sea of Lake Ontario, hobnobbed from East Hamptons to Martha’s Vineyard; and he almost kayaked in Deep Cove Bay. He had commuted by car, Metro North, and Sikorskies, and carried himself with the same ease on anything from turbo props to jets, Zodiacs and ferries, ATVs, jet skis, and horse carriages. He’d barked at belted Galloways and scochin chicks, stumbled after pheasants and squirrels, and made doggie friends everywhere. The one time I left him at a day care, he had so much fun that he refused to leave. He was rambunctious and calm, derpy and pensive, uncoordinated yet sporty, and wore many hats.
§§§
Still, our time together was woefully insufficient and the accumulated reveries are dimmed by the cumulus of finality.
There are, AI-tagged, tagged 8,679 photos and videos of Only currently in my library, and many more in my mind’s eye. But there won’t be anymore. There was the last time when I had to rinse sand down after going to the beach; the last time I tried to pry open his jaws clenched on a ball, or to throw leashes on a ball he’s guarding, catching him unawares so I could snatch it away. The last time I soaked his paws in Epsom salt, cleaned his ears with fat q-tips, brushed his teeth with a finger brush. The last time I hid behind a tree to see him worriedly hurrying down the wrong fork, then chasing after him. I won’t ever need to explain on my Zoom calls why there’s snore sounds in the background or cook a separate pot of ground bison for his allergy. But these chores have become the sweet melody of Mnemosyne, stirring a quiet delight.
“Only was just a dog.” Indeed, he did all the regular dog things. He might have been dumb, pretty basic, and never even evolved out of the pleasure of a squeaky ball. But I don’t expect anyone to rationalise or understand it, for experience is intimate and in the minutiae. The four thousand six hundred and eight days that we shared have been coloured by the flashes of his looks; round eyed, squinty eyed, question or happy or angry eyed. I could still feel his hair follicles through my fingers, the slobbering lips against the back of my hand, and the warmth permeating my lap. I know better than to name a dog by a common adverb.
We realise now that the rhyme isn’t “Only the lonely”, but “lonely without Only”. There is the threshold marked by “Before Only” B.O. and “After Only.” A.O. His imprints will slowly dissipate with the passage of time, but the thought of it will echo through the rest of my life, more calloused with the greater strength resilience from having experienced the lost of a child.
Today we grieve; tomorrow, we cherish; and forever, he shall be.
米帝一直有养宠物的习惯，比如那个李承晚，闲棋冷子，说不定以后能派上用场
中土也会养宠物，金三把他哥刺杀了，他哥的两个儿子在中国生活，宠物嘛，哪天北韩翻天覆地闹腾起来，这俩有用处的
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