I usually do my blogs about food, movie reviews, languages, and some of my travels … this week is about Zeke Einstein Balicki’s journey … one that sadly came to an end last Monday ☹. Next month, June 21, would have marked 11 wonderful years that Zeke spent with us. He was a rescue dog, a 115-pound black Labrador who was about one year old when we first met him at the animal shelter. I didn’t want a dog, a big dog, a big black dog … but Kelly did … so that day we went to the shelter … and when we entered there was this horrible, loud, non-stop barking coming out of one of the cages – and I thought, God help the people that get him … and I guess God helped … and we were the people 😊
We were living in a split four level townhouse at the time and it took a little while for Zeke to get used to his new home … and there was no real backyard – only a large deck – so he had to be walked at least twice a day … rain, snow, storms … all of that. I would take him out and he would walk me … pull me, rather … for a mile around the block – going so fast that people said I looked like a kite streaming behind him. That picture on the top left is the second day we had him … taking him for a walk in Springbank Park. And the first year he did not like being left alone in the house … at all. And trying to get him in a crate … that lasted about two days … he kept picking the lock. And there were the days that we would come back from work … and the kitchen would be trashed … garbage all over the place ☹ But he learned how to share his food … taking four chicken breasts off the kitchen counter … and leaving one for us … or sausage, he really liked sausage … ate four pounds … and left us one. And he learned how to read … chewing the corners off books that he liked … and peeing on the ones that he didn’t. After living with us for three years … we had a new house built … for him. It had a large fenced in yard … so he could go out and run around by himself … and a large 1000-acre field across the road … where we went for long walks … and runs … and he would invariably find deer poop to roll around in. But he adjusted well to the new house … and never did any damage inside. The new house was a bungalow with a walkout – upstairs was wooden floors, downstairs was all carpeted – he was scared of wooden floors, so we never slept in the master bedroom (in 7 ½ years) but slept downstairs – with Zeke sleeping on his couch, or pushing me off the bed. He liked to watch tv – ‘Frasier’, ‘Jeopardy’, and anything on the Food Network were his favorites. He enjoyed watching NFL football – a true Seattle Seahawks fan 😊 Christmas was his favorite time of year – he would spend months buying the perfect Xmas presents – the cards were always signed ‘From the Paw’. He helped me cook – and never once complained about the results, going from my plate to Kelly’s, sampling everything. His favorite meals were East Indian and Mexican … and of course his own hamburger made for him when we barbequed. When Kelly and I went on vacation … so did Zeke … he would go to the kennel … always excited to get there … and always happy to come home. The last couple of years he got greyer … and slowed down a bit … but he was always excited to go for a walk … and really, really excited at dinner time, and lunch time, and breakfast. The last year I worked from home … and he would lie at my feet most of the time … I think he logged more hours at work than I did 😊 The last couple of weeks he seemed to have breathing problems … and last weekend was really bad … so on Monday we took him to the vet … and that’s all I’m going to say about that ☹ We believe Zeke Einstein had a pretty good life … and he certainly enriched ours … good bye, our friend … we miss you greatly ☹
Good job, Doodle’s Dad.
That’s a very good tribute for a very good dog 💔💔💔
He was a dear boy and will be missed.
Great!