In memory of the most educated demented dachshund in town

Hi... So, I know you guys were expecting me to finish the 'masquerade costume' picture (and believe me, I'm almost done), but... Well, to put it simply, our pet dog died early this morning, and as you can imagine, I'm not really in the mood to post something of that kind tonight.

So instead of a short story of UV, this is a tribute to a dwarf miniature cinnamon dachshund, who was as weird as he was cute and funny... AKA, Pippin.

As much as I would like to write down everything about this mad nutcase of a dog, I'm going to try and keep this short. Just some details I think you guys would like to know.

*****

Pippin was a cheese enthusiast, a sushi and egg lover, a marshmallow addict, and a drinker of many things (such as coffee and tea). He also tended to eat a lot of unattended chocolate when everyone was out of the house; strangely enough, this never killed him, much to our amusement. And he had a habit of eating tissues, although I suppose every dog will do that if given half the chance...

When we do school in the kitchen, he'd scratch at the door, begging to be let out onto the porch (much to our annoyance), and then a few minutes later he'd whine and claw to be let back in. I'd sometimes put my foot in the way to, y'know, stop him scratching at the screen door, but then he'd just claw at my feet gently, or look at me in a depressed manner. That was always funny, and it tickled when he pawed me.

In the afternoon (after school), he'd usually sit on one of his two chairs - the small green one in front of the TV, with his own big puffy tiger-patterned pillow with a fluffy blanket on it, or the big black leather one in the computer corner, where he could keep an eye on all those he didn't trust; this also acted as his bed the majority of the time.

And when it came around Friday night or Saturday lunch, he'd trot around the table, weaving in and out of legs (both human and wooden), waiting for a scrap or two to fall down to him, because clearly that was far better than the dog food that was already in his bowl. (But if we had sushi, we'd save him a piece or two and put it into his dish after we'd all finished. Although he'd then immediately take it out and put it on the tile floor to eat, but I guess none of us minded - he was like a fluffy vacuum)

One of my favorite times with him was when he came for 'stories'; self explanatory, but I'll explain anyway - after dinner and a quick shower, mum will come into our bedroom to read us a book. And Pippin, when he got the memo that it was story time, would stop what he was doing and trot after mum and get up on the bed with us, usually snuggling down on top of the covers and under a light quilt, and we all listened to story. I'd stroke his head and back every now and then, playing with his paws, and generally enjoying a nice quiet night...

*****

And now he's dead.

... Yeah, that wasn't exactly short, but those were some things I wanted to share with you about him. Maybe next year I'll do this again and give you some more information about Pippy - to help remind me of the good times we had with him... Who knows? It might help the pain that's sure to follow us from now on.

And I hope you guys don't mind me taking a week or so to get used to the slightly more empty house before I continue working on UV stories or Fraener's Past... I need some time to recover from the shock and depression.