This Bountiful Backyard

Last week was one of the most difficult we’ve experienced in a long time. We had to put our Ginger Bean to sleep due to a bladder tumor. Rather than dwell on the sad details and circumstances of her death, I thought it would be a good idea to pay a tribute to Ginger and the amazing ten years she gave us. So here are 100 things we will always love about Ginger!  

1. She had a sweet personality, and a calm, kind soul.
2. She always had to carry a toy in her mouth to greet visitors.
3. Her biggest fears were wine glasses and cords.
4. We called her our dog-ter.
5. She gave us practice for being parents.
6. We could be gone all day, and she would still greet us with a wagging tail.
7. She was loyal and forgiving.
8. She caught a wasp nest in her mouth and didn’t get stung.
9. She would “sound the alarm” by barking her head off when she heard the garage door open, meaning that George was home.
10. She was my garden helper and weed chaser.
11. She loved the “food rains,” falling food from the kids’ high chairs.
12. She was a furry vacuum cleaner, leaving no fallen crumb uneaten.
13. She was originally from Arkansas, so she had a southern accent.
14. Her original name was Snowball.
15. She knew where the bandanna drawer was, and when we opened it, she would sit patiently and wait to get dressed.
16. She was my workout buddy, sitting in front of the treadmill, waiting for me to catch her, occasionally dropping a toy on the belt for her fetching amusement.
17. She loved Julia and Grant, even though they were loud and sometimes chased her and tried to pull her hair.  I tried my best to protect her!
18. She used to pull on her leash like a sled dog.
19. She knew many words, including “squirrel,” but one time she got that confused when I said “sick world.”
20. She adored playdates with her doggy cousins, Lilly, Sherman, Kona, Campbell, and Shelby.
21. She was our alarm clock, even on the weekends.
22. She was our first dog-child.
23. She would wake us up, on purpose I’m sure, by shaking her head and letting her dog tags ring loud.
24. Her name was Julia’s very first word: “Gi Ja”
25. She could balance a marshmallow or doggy treat on her nose.
26. And catch it.
27. Her nickname was Underfoot.
28. She had perfected the art of the passive-aggressive sigh.
29. She made us be active, going on hikes, meeting people.
30. She was a very loud breather, always panting.
31. She had very long nails, even though we cut them fairly often.
32. She let us dress her up as a cowgirl for Halloween.
33. She let us give her baths and ear medicine, even though she hated it.
34. If she needed to go outside she would politely and gently tap on the door.  Eventually, if ignored, it would become TAP TAP, but she never would bark to be let out.
35. She loved the water, swimming in Lake Michigan, and many creeks.
36. As a puppy she almost drowned while playing fetch, but Virginia dove into the water and saved her.
37. Her puppy breath smelled like coffee.
38. The smallest dog collar we could find didn’t fit her when she was a very little puppy.
39. Her nickname was Bait Shop, due to her early puppy days in a barn with chickens.
40. We couldn’t watch Animal Planet or any shows with animals because Ginger would bark furiously at the television.
41. She loved to eat her Iams.  She would scarf it down so fast!
42. We rarely gave her table scraps, but her favorite treat was an egg.  I don’t care for eggs, so I would save her a few bites of mine.  She used to get so excited just to smell eggs cooking.
43. She knew it was time to pick up dog poop when she heard George get out a plastic bag. That meant lots of fun in the backyard!
44. Her favorite toy was a green and white striped basketball.  Our shoes are dyed green and white from kicking it so many times, even though by now it has deflated and is really just a popped ball. She had that toy for nine years!
45. She loved her crate.
46. She taught our kids how to be gentle to animals.
47. Her nickname was Ginger Bean.
48. She made sure we didn’t linger too long over dinner, because she needed to be fed.  She would do a special foot dance shuffle.
49. She didn’t dig up the back yard.
50. She hated going out in the rain as a puppy. One time I stood in the backyard with an umbrella over her while she peed.
51. She was good off a leash, always staying close to us on hikes.  She would run fifty feet in front of us. Stop, and run back to “tag up,” then run on again.
52. She was a very good listener.
53. She loved swimming in Lake Michigan so much that she once bolted down the dunes without us in order to take a swim.
54. She was good company on the front porch.
55. She let us dress her up as a pumpkin for Halloween.
56. Although she went to obedience school for twelve weeks, she still never mastered how to walk on a leash properly.
57. She knew how to sit, drop, settle, sit pretty, and most importantly, “off” and “take it.”
58. She could jump into the back of our Jeep, even on the morning of her surgery.
59. Since she was a chocolate lab, we could wear dark clothes without worrying about her hair showing up on our clothing.
60. She was photogenic.
61. She let us dress her up as a ballerina for Halloween.
62. Although she never caught anything, she helped control the rabbit, squirrel, chipmunk and duck population in our yard by chasing everything away.
63. She was a babe magnet, not that either of us were looking for babes.  But she did break the ice and help us meet people.
64. She got excited when we got excited.
65. George trained her to get the paper on Saturdays. The Sunday paper was too heavy.
66. She went crazy when George worked on his golf swing, even if he didn’t have a club in his hands. She would jump around and try to attack his imaginary club.
67. She loved playing bocce ball with her family, even though we didn’t always love it.  She’s lucky she never chipped a tooth.
68. She went a little haywire every time we played ping pong.  She wasn’t normally a barker, but ping pong would make her bark and run around and drool.  She loved it.
69. Forget about playing croquet when she was around.
70. She was a constant presence in our house. I always felt assured that there was another soul in the house, even if George was at work and I was the only human in the house.
71. When we heard an unexplained noise, we could just attribute it to Ginger moving around in another room.
72. When we smelled a disgusting smell, we could always blame the dog.
73. She had nine nipples.
74. Her favorite word was probably “walk.” Or maybe “ride.” Or maybe “Go for.”
75. The only thing I can remember her ever destroying was a photo album with photos of her in it.
76. We once caught her scarfing down a plate of Christmas cookies, including almond roca and creme de menthe squares.
77. Although she wasn’t a guard dog and wouldn’t hurt anybody, I felt comforted by her ferocious “company’s here” bark/howl, and knew that it just might scare away a burglar.
78. Her paw pads were extremely ticklish.
79. Even on her last day when she was in so much pain, she still followed me around everywhere, including out to the garden where she watched me plant vegetables that she would never see harvested.
80. She did not like to be combed, but she still let us do it.
81. When she was very tired, she would sleep on her side with all four legs sticking straight out.
82. She knew when we were almost to my parents’ house. As soon as we got about two miles away, she would sit up and start to shiver with excitement.
83. She and her pal Sherman would chase the kong and bring it back together, each dog holding one end of it.
84. She was on a never-ending mission to scratch all the fish off the bottom of her wading pool.
85. She invented the Ginger Dip: sticking her entire face past her eyeballs into any body of water to take a big drink.
86. Her one vice was the bathroom garbage.
87. And underpants.
88. And the kitchen garbage.
89. And getting on the couches.
90. Thunderstorms didn’t bother her.
91. She didn’t kill our pet rabbit, Clover.
92. She was good company in the kitchen.
93. She preferred to stay inside with us, rather than sitting or playing outside for a long time.
94. She loved helping us shovel snow. She would try to catch each load of snow as it arced through the air.  I think she only bit the shovel once.
95. Her paws smelled like Doritos for some reason.
96. Our couch is the exact same color of her fur, so she blended right in.
97. She knew when we were getting ready to leave, just by the sound of the pantry door opening. It meant treat time.
98. She had a Christmas stocking.
99. There was a certain temperature or quality of the air, about 60 degrees and sunny,  that made Ginger so happy that she would tear back and forth around the backyard like a puppy, even when she was ten.
100. She was part of the family.

Good bye, Ginger Bean. We will always love you, and we miss you very much!