I try to scan old pictures and add them to Flickr on weekends, and the process takes a while on our old PC so I don't get many posted at a time, but with the last batch I had a particularly good time remembering all kinds of little things that I haven't thought about in years.  (These aren't listed in chronological order, or any particular order, really)

So, my Dad has this dog, Cartman, who he took in as an orphan puppy about 9 years ago. Cartman is a mutt, and is very smart and pretty big, and he can jump and soar through the air like nobody's business. He's always been a total sweetie to "his people", but has also been an excellent watchdog - he can look and act pretty scary when he wants to, despite his gentle nature.

When my Dad remarried back in 2000, I think it was, his new wife decided she wanted to get another dog. She picked out an irritating as hell, fat, barky-yippy fluffy white thing, and Dad wanted to name it Kenny (to keep the Southpark thing going), but she was a girl, so they settled on Kini. Cartman loved Kini, and became very protective of his new yardmate.

In 2001 we drove up to NC to visit, and we brought our beagle, Mackenzie, with us. We figured she would have fun romping through the big fenced-in back yard with the other dogs, because at this point we had not fenced our yard in yet. She and Cartman hit it off instantly, and ran like the wind together, taking turns chasing eachother, racing around with their tongues lolling out the sides of their mouths, just stupid-happy. Well, Kini did not like this, because Cartman was HER DOG, so she went over to Mackenzie and made this yip-sound that apparently indicated distress (we saw her do this even though Mackenzie had not done a thing to Kini). Cartman instantly became protective and started to bark at Mackenzie, who was all, "What the hell is the matter with y'all? I'm going inside. It's hot." We didn't leave her in the yard with them together ever again because we didn't know what kind of stunt Kini's calculating manipulative ass would pull next. Later, we found out that Kini pulled the same jealous BS any time someone's dog came to visit, always leading Cartman to think she needed protection from them. Basically, Kini is a bitch.

So, a few days ago, Kini bit Cartman, and actually took a chunk out of his side. My dad and his wife brought him into the house, laid him down on the rug, cleaned the wound, and decided to keep him in by himself for the night to keep an eye on it. He curled up on the sofa next to my dad's wife like he usually does when he's indoors, and I don't know exactly what happened next as far as what she did - moving him, getting too close to him, no idea - but he went crazy, and he bit her in the face, twice. She had to be taken to the emergency room and got five stitches where his teeth punctured her skin. Dad wanted to have Cartman put down that night, but was told that even though it's his dog, he couldn't do that. Instead, Cartman has to be quarantined and tested for rabies, etc.. After the required time has passed, then Dad can have him put down.

Well, now that a few days have passed, it's harder to make that decision. Dad has to take into consideration that Cartman was injured at the time, and has never done such a thing before. Cartman is very valuable to them as a watchdog, but obviously Dad's wife never wants him to come into the house again. She said it's up to my Dad to decide what is to be done with Cartman, and it's just breaking his heart. He doesn't want to risk that Cartman would ever hurt anyone again, but Cartman has been his dog for a long time, and he already lost his cat a few months ago. Poor Dad. I don't envy his position. I offered to talk to Charles about bringing Cartman to live with us, but realistically we don't have the kind of yard he needs, and Dad doesn't want to risk Cartman hurting us or our animals. I don't really think he would, but you just never really know with dogs.

I hate that this happened. It could have been so much worse, and I'm grateful that it wasn't, but the whole thing just makes me sad for my Dad. And Cartman. Kini sucks, and I blame her for all of this.