Ornate Boxes

 I was enchanted with the carved wooden boxes that Martha and Cujo's ashes were delivered in. So much so that I launched a search for similar boxes for the other five animals whose ashes languished in various boxes. Three of my babies were in plastic white boxes, while Sarge and Louise are in cardboard. Oscar and Wall-E have paw prints that were cast at the crematory. Sweet Emmy Lou, Sarge and Louise have none. They died earlier and I suppose they weren't doing cast paw prints at the time. It cost more, so I am pretty sure they would have been offered if they were available.

I found some wooden boxes and I ordered three. One large and two smaller. The larger box wasn't big enough to contain Louise, the Saint Bernard. Sarge, the Collie would have fit fine, but in the end I put Oscar and his wife dog, Emmy together in the bigger box. They fit perfectly.

They were married, after all. Oscar was already named when I got him. My daughter, Jill, who already had a Saint Bernard that was the litter mate of Louise. His name was Crash and he was much bigger than his sister,  Louise. Oscar came from a pet store with all the papers necessary to have him registered. I was not in the market for another pet at the time, but Oscar was a tyrant. He may have charmed my daughter in the pet store, but she became quickly disenchanted with his stubborn ways. 

She asked me to take him several times. I wouldn't even hold the little puppy, saying I had "real" dogs and wanted nothing to do with an ankle biter. Finally, when she said he was going to the dog pound, I relented and told her to bring the dog to me. First time I held the little demon, I fell in love.

I discussed a name change for him. Oscar is a common name for dachshund and I wanted  something more distinguished. Since I already had Louise, and we often called her 'Wheezy', I thought George Jefferson would be a great name for the little guy. When I said it and everyone who worked for us looked at me quizzically, I realized that they had no idea who I was referring to.

So it was decided that Oscar was not a weenie dog, but an award. I loved this little dog so much that he was allowed to sleep in our bed. He was amazing, this tiny little dog and how much space he commanded. He asserted his royalty from day one. My big dogs succumbed to his reign of power. My Himalayan cat, Gremlin, who was quite a snob even acknowledged that Oscar was in charge.

For his six month birthday we bought him a wife. Emmy, also an award, gained the rest of her name with her temperament. The sweetest little dog in the world, much like my Eddie. She weighed a whopping 6 pounds full grown. The same color as Oscar. Black and tan, but with long hair. She did gain a little weight when she was expecting her puppies. Three little girls looking exactly like Oscar. They weighed in at 5 ounces each. I weighed them on the postal scales on my desk at work. My dogs went to work with me. These amazing puppies were sold and I have no idea what names were bestowed upon them, but I called them Daytime, Academy and Toni.

I got a little carried away strolling down memory lane. 

See, the new box fits right in!