mallet's Blog

When our sweet Emma Jo was still with us, our walks were characterized by her lagging behind to smell one more tree... and one more after that. So our tribute to our old girl was to plant an Emma tree today. Karen came with me this morning when I rode my favorite thoroughbred racehorse up in Jackson, Wisconsin. On the way back to Milwaukee, we drove past a nursery. We stopped and purchased our Emma tree, a flame maple. Today was a perfect day to plant a tree. It was a cool, rainy, November, Wisconsin day. We brought our other old girl, Kubla, outside. I dug a 12" hole. Then, Karen and I carefully put our new maple in the ground. We took Emma's ashes and sprinkled them all around the base of our tree. We laughed momentarily when we put the hose on our new tree. You see, Emma hated to be wet. When she was younger, we would spell the word B.A.T.H. If she heard it, she would cower beneath the nearest piece of furniture. But we made up for it when we took Kubla for her evening walk much later in the day. Karen poured a sip of red wine on the roots of the Emma tree. Emma hated to be wet, but she loved red wine. I still remember a night many years ago when Karen was out of town and Emma was staying with me in my bachelor flat. I was watching college basketball and sitting in my leather sling chair close to the floor. I had a glass of red wine sitting on the floor next to me. I looked over at some point and noticed it was empty. I filled it again. Only a few minutes of the game had elapsed before it was empty again. This went on for awhile. At some point, I looked over and noticed that Emma's white face was red around the edges. She had been helping herself to my wine and she liked it! She slept really well that night. That will be just one of the Emma memories I'll enjoy whenever I look at our flame maple Emma tree planted here in Wisconsin.

  Emma Jo Mallet died this morning shortly before nine.  It was very peaceful.  A kind Wisconsin Veterinarian came to our home and put my favorite brown-eyed girl to sleep.  She hated going to the veterinarian's office more than anything.  We didn't want to say goodbye to her in a freshly-scrubbed examining room furnished with an uncomfortable metal table.  We wanted to say goodbye to her in the king size bed she shared with us each night.  There was no stress nor fear for our girl this morning.  Her mommy held her and stroked the soft fur on her oversized ears as the good doctor gave her an overdose of anesthetic.

Emma was the most beautiful South Carolina Squirrel Dog in the world.  We called her a South Carolina Squirrel Dog because she came from a shelter in Greenville and loved to chase squirrels.  She was too kind, loving and loyal to be referred to as a mutt. For 13 years she was my wife's constant companion.  For ten years, she was my best friend.

I met Emma in 1998 when my wife and I first started dating.  My relationship with Karen was touch and go at first.  But Emma and I fell in love immediately.  Emma needed a big dumb guy to run with.  I needed a loyal dog to keep me on course.  Even when Karen and I had our occassional breakups, Emma and I continued to spend time together.  Whenever Karen took a trip, Emma stayed with her big dumb guy.  She had the most unusual ability to look into my eyes as if she understood whatever dopey story I was telling her.  She loved to ride with me in my wreck of a Honda Civic and fill it with big tufts of her blonde hair.  She was the perfect fishing partner, always willing to watch the rods if I ran inside to get a cold beer and a milkbone.  Until she was 11 years old, she could still run 3 miles with me and would spin in circles whenever she saw me putting my running shoes on.  She was very tolerant of my career in Philadelphia television, playing whatever role was required of her on the Ten O'Clock News or Good Day Philadelphia.  Ultimately she proved herself to be the quintessential morning dog and became as well-known to the Good Day audience as some of the many human participants who have come and gone.

Emma's days were happy til nearly the end.  It was only this weekend that she became so weak and tired.  Karen and I took turns carrying her up and down the stairs of our old Wisconsin home. This morning when Karen and I awoke, she was still curled up like a butterball on the bed between us, but she was unable to standup.  It was time.  I had really hoped old Emma would share the upcoming cold Wisconsin nights with us.  We still have our sweet, stinky wolf: Kubla.  But Emma Jo will always be my first best friend.

I'm filing this dispatch from the Devon Horse Show,  It is Friday morning.  The ring, warmed by the spring sunshine, is full of beautiful horses cantering, trotting, walking and jumping.  For a horse lover, it is a spectacular sight.  As a horse nut, I am surely in heaven.  This morning we've done several feature stories here at the show.  We did a profile of local competitor, Gillian King. King, a winner in Pony Jumpers last year, returns to the Devon Horse and Country Fair to try and win the High Score Award that she just missed by a couple of points last year.  Later this morning we will be interviewing an accomplished young equestrian named Hayden Warmington.  Hayden is 18 now, but she has been riding since she was three.  She comes from a family of riders.  I did a google search yesterday and found pictures of Hayden jumping over seemingly towering wallks and hedges when she was just a tiny little girl.  She is getting ready to start college, and will not be riding competitively while she is at school.  At any rate, we are having a great morning out here.  If you get a chance over the next ten days, you should surely come to the Devon Horse Show

Let me say that I love horses, but after today I'm now a huge fan of Armadillos.  Who knew that they only give birth to indentical quadruplettes?  I always thought they looked similar but now I know for sure.