a little and a lot

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Big Al's Demise

You might suppose this blog post was about how Auburn is out to win Number Seven this year...but even though they will, it's not.  

Poor, poor Big Al.  He greeted Owens as soon as we walked in the door in May 2003.  Susie Jerkins ("Momma J") had graciously given Owens a homecoming gift--it was a plush, squishy greyish-brown elephant.  Her explanation was that of course we wouldn't give O a tiger to play with, because he would "rip em up, tear em up."  So, that left the logical choice of giving him an elephant to play rough with...thus the name "Big Al" was born.  

"Waaaaaar Eagle!" I would yell to my new 4-year-old puppy, and he would shake Big Al ferociously.  But we love our enemies, too, and upon saying "Let's go to bed!" Owens would take Big Al in his mouth and head to his bed, where he would lay with his head resting on his furry stuffed elephant.  




(I know this is the third time I've used this picture on this blog, but it's just so darn cute.)




Well, Big Al has taken a turn for the worse.  He has gotten pretty scruffy over the years.  For one, he stinks to high heaven of dog breath.  (And greyhound breath is worse than your ordinary dog breath!)  Also, during the tossing and shaking, Big Al lost an ear.  His skin has been stretched thin, holes occasionally opening up.  Each time, I would mend the elephant with a needle and thread and toss him back to his adoring owner.   

I don't know if you've heard, but a there's a New Kid on the Block.  Moses was given strict orders (okay, the simple stern word of "NO") not to play with Big Al, but to no avail.  We would find him playing with Big Al in secret, Owens forlornly looking on.  (It may look like he has a spine because you can see every bone in it on his back, but alas it is not really there at all, proverbially.)  The inevitable happened one day--Moses tore Big Al open right down his back.  Having misplaced my needle/thread, I sutured him together with four safety pins.  But alas, his little tiny Beanie Buddy beanies are falling freely throughout the house.  



When I asked our Obedience School teacher how to keep him from playing with Owens' toys, he asked "Why don't you want him to play with Owens' toys?"  Which made me feel overprotective.  After I explained that he was tearing them up, he simply provided the solution of putting Big Al up whenever Moses was out of his crate.  So high up on the bookshelf Big Al has stayed, until tonight when I took pity on Owens for separating him from his best friend.  

What do you think?  Do I need to buy one of these replicas of Trumpet the Beanie Buddy on the collector sites (not too horribly priced, considering it's "retired"), or should we just tough if out with the original? 

As an aside, Moses chewed the feet off of our Michael Vick chew toy today.  Take that, you dog abuser.  

7 comments:

Brooke said...

did you get the pics of those toys off the web or did you put the actual toys in one of those white boxes people use to take pictures for their ebay auctions? just asking.

Kristin said...

I think you could find an elephant that closely resembles the original, and maybe you should buy 2 so that they can each have one.

Unknown said...

doesnt Moses probably have in him some of the breed of dog that Michael Vick abused? That is poetic justice if I've ever heard it.

Ashley said...

love the micheal Vick comment-- I miss your funny stories!

Jesse Faris said...

Brooke...hilarious. If I HAD done that, I would definitely have listed it below as a Confession of Quirkiness.

Tesney said...

OK, I will not justify the 7 in a row comment with a response. I will, however, say that the Michael Vick story is great.

Poor Oakley had a monkey that we replaced 4 or 5 times with a replica until we finally realized it was useless...she was a strong chewer. She was very sad for a while. *sniff*

Ashley @ pure and lovely said...

bwahahahaha! love the michael vick. and i think you should buy two like kristin said. monogram their names on each.


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