tammy

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Yesterday my Facebook suggested sharing a memory from ten years ago.  It’s almost incomprehensible that it’s been that long since this photo was taken.  But I was on a respite from blogging for awhile as Tammy the Pup and I crossed America.  So now I’m sharing a few photos from the journey that I hadn’t before.

On the evening of August 17th 2016 we arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  And the very first thing we did when we got there was to look for the Holiday Inn, just as “Weird Al” Yankovic sang about in his long song “Albuquerque”…

“Where the towels are oh so fluffy!    And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna.  It’s okay they’re clean!”

(Interestingly, there were a few places there where the air did smell like warm root beer!)

I might post a few more pics from the ...

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…Tammy and I found ourselves at Dealey Plaza.

 

The original plan was to blog all along the trek that the two of us had going across America, just as I’ve blogged about seemingly everything and anything since 2004.  But I discovered about this point of our odyssey that journeys of self-discovery lose something when you’re also documenting it for public viewing as you venture forth.  It was in Dallas that I went on a respite for awhile, that lasted almost two years.  But in the end I came back, none the worse for wear, and filled with lots of stories to tell.

Such as August 1st, 2016.  Now, I had come to Dealey Plaza the day before, on Sunday morning.  There was very little traffic in the area.  And I had to drive through it twice before I realized where we were.  Dealey Plaza is much smaller than I ...

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This photo popped up in my Facebook memories this morning and I thought it was worth sharing for its overwhelming cuteness value:

This was in our hotel room in San Diego, California, on the afternoon of January 21st, 2017.  My miniature dachshund Tammy and I had come back from the dog beach on Coronado Island.  I took her there often when we were in San Diego, she really enjoyed playing in the sand and getting to meet other dogs!  The surf, ehhh… not so much.  She had never seen so much water and she certainly had never seen water that chased after her.

Anyhoo, we came back to the hotel and I gave Tammy a bath.  And after that she immediately curled up beneath the blanket on the nicely made-up bed with only her snout sticking out.  I thought it made for a great photo opportunity.  And until now only ...

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Every so often someone asks me the question: “Chris, why don’t you have someone special in your life?”

It’s not a bad question, not really.  There are a lot of reasons why I don’t have a woman to love.  One of the biggest is that I just haven’t found her yet.  It seems that the prospects of that happening are dim.  But my expectations are high. The woman who God might bring into my life has to love and serve Him first, more than she would me.  That is not easy to find in any person, it seems.

She also has to be able to love me for who I am, lumps and all.  That means accepting that I have a condition that will at times make life difficult for both of us, and I’m speaking of my having bipolar disorder.  Now, that is something which has become MUCH more ...

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This has been a scary week at Knight Shift Headquarters.  Very scary.

On Monday, my miniature dachshund Tammy started yelping in pain at the least touch that I gave her.  Especially around her ears.  She’s had ear infections before and they can be a real nuisance.  But she’s never cried out before when I’ve tried to examine them.
Then came Tuesday.  And Tammy took a turn for the worst.
She had jumped up onto my bed that morning, and refused to move from her spot.  She hadn’t eaten anything, she hadn’t drank any water.  She didn’t seem motivated by anything at all.
About noon Tammy laid down near my pillow.  Her breathing was labored.  And as the evening wore on it gradually became less pronounced.  She had this look in her eye, that I’d never seen before.  She looked… I don’t know.  Tired.  Resigned.
I was really in fear of
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Yesterday a couple of dachshunds I follow on Facebook (the inimitable Barney and Fred) posted some pics of themselves that their “pawrents” had rendered by the ChatGPT artificial intelligence system.  It made me curious about how my own little girl Tammy would do.

If you use the free version of ChatGPT it limits you to three renderings a day.  Here is what it generated this morning…

I have no idea why the AI put a glass of iced tea into that last one.  It does make Tammy look like a proper southern lady though 🙂

EDIT 05/24/2025: Here’s another cartoon rendering of Tammy:

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 …and Tammy is staying warm with three blankets.

She is as snug as a bug in a rug 🙂

We had a dusting of snow in the past two days but nothing significant.  My friends and family in North Carolina got enough to cover the ground and cancel school.  I doubt those of us in the Upstate are going to get any more at this point in the season.  But I’ve been wrong before....

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Today was a very good day.  God answered prayer and provided for my needs in a mighty and powerful way.  I am going to bed tonight thankful for His provision and for the people He used to accomplish it with.

And since it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a pic of her, here is my miniature dachshund Tammy making a German spectacle of herself.  How shameless!

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It was actually a few days ago on April 8th, the same day as the solar eclipse.  Here’s the pic I snapped of Tammy on her twelfth birthday.

 

Such a sweet little dog.  Tammy has been a little angel on four legs all these years.  I definitely could not have gone far without her company.  She keeps me going.  And she has saved my life more than once.  There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t thank God for her, and ask Him to please let us have many more years together.  I hope so anyway 🙂

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