For those of you who were unable to watch live this morning, here is the link to the recorded service. The sound levels are not great on this raw footage, so please bear with it. They improve a bit into it. Later, when my dear, over-worked husband has a bit of time to work on the sound, I will repost it. But for those who don’t want to wait, here it is on Vimeo:
Lexi’s Memorial Service at St. Luke UMC
This is a memorial service announcement. As most of you know, Lexi,our talented and precocious 13-year-old miniature schnauzer, returned to her Creator on September 4 after a three month bout with cancer. She was a much-loved Church Dog at St Luke United Methodist Church in Stuart Heights, after also “working” at St. Timothy’s and St. Paul’s Episcopal Churches and the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies. As such, Pastor Evelyn offered to hold a service to celebrate her life. All are invited to St. Luke this Saturday (September 24) at 10:30 a.m. The service will be streamed live and also – hopefully – recorded. It will either be streamed here or on http://www.stlukechatt.org.
Many locals know Lexi from her role as Toto in three productions of Wizard of Oz. She starred in her first performance in 2006 with Kim Jackson at the Theatre Centre, with a record attendance of 7,000 over 6 weeks and 26 performances. Her last turn on the boards was the fall of 2014 in the Jonathan Humble production at the Colonnade. For 10 years she brought joy to children as a therapy dog at TC Thompson. She epitomized what Mother Teresa said – ‘Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.’
I also want to say a special thank you to Samantha and Beth for coordinating the Treats for Lexi Tribute as well as all who joined in to make it a special day. Seeing all the wonderful posts made me cry and smile, and remember once again how much she was loved by everyone.
Several people have suggested I still post on Lexi’s blog. To that end, I will still post Memory Monday’s once or twice a month, as well as special posts when one of her friends or relatives – such as Piper, Ella, Riley, and Gracie – come to visit. Piper is with us now all the way from Louisville, KY, so there will definitely be some blogging going on soon.
Wishing you continued blessings from the furry (and feathered) ones in your lives.
Amy
Everyone has been coming by to see me, at home and at work.
My cousin Piper and my Auntie Jen were here over the weekend. I was very glad to see them. They even slept in the bed with me and Mom. We had puppy piles. During the evening, Piper was careful to not invade my personal space, while still keeping an eye on me. Sort of.
My peeps brother Andrew, and Jentry and The Boy came to the house and brought my brother Riley. Everyone was so sweet and even Riley gave me a special nose touch goodbye when he left. Mom forgot to get pictures.
Now my friend Gracy has come to cheer me up, too. She is good at sharing.
Yesterday and today my friends at work visited. Ms. Beth brought me a Mickey D’s ice cream. I took two bites, and it was good, but that is all I wanted. My BFF Dave gave me his special Dave treats, and I took two from him this morning when he came in, and two more before he left. I just can’t say no to Dave. My Pastor Evelyn has been trying to feed me pancakes and sardines and other stuff I used to like, but none of it seems good anymore.
Tomorrow Mom plans to take me to see my other peeps brother, Adam. He will be happy to see me.
I’m not eating more than a couple of bites of food each day, and it is even getting hard to drink. I sleep most of the time, and no longer mind that Mom holds me and cuddles at night. In fact, it is strangely comforting. Mom finally stopped shoving pills down my throat. *whew* And she stopped taking me to the vet’s, too. Mom said she is doing something called palliative care for me.
Mom’s brother-in-law sent her this article, “Will there be dogs in heaven?” Spoiler alert: The answer is No, but read the article to find a really happy ending.
This summer I finished up a ten year run as a therapy dog. I have done therapy in nursing homes and in a physical rehab center; however, my favorite has been at the children’s hospital – as long as the little munchkins stayed in their beds! The last Thursday of each month, Mom would say, “Lexi, do you want to go therapize the kids today?” I felt so good doing that work that I would grin the whole time I was there. So did the kids! See for yourself…
Hi friends. I am still feeling pretty lousy.Mom said that’s a lousy way to start a message, but it’s the truth. Even with my meds, my tummy doesn’t feel good and I don’t want to eat. Except once, yesterday, the “make Lexi feel famished” pill kicked in and I gulped down most of a can of k/d.
This morning I wanted to go outside. The back of our house faces the east and the sun had not quite topped the trees. However, a few rays of sunshine pierced through the branches and foliage to make sun puddles on the concrete just outside of our enclosed patio. Mommy carried me out there and held me in the the sun puddles until her back ached and she had to sit down.
After a while we went in, but Mom could tell I was still restless, that I still wanted something. When she asked me if I wanted to go for a walk, I went to the front door, the one we often use to go out for a walk. Mom let me go out without my leash, too! I made it down the stairs ok and we walked side-by-side down the driveway, where I made my usual right turn to walk along the bottom of all the yards. We only went as far as the neighbor’s house. When we got back to our driveway, Mommy asked me if I wanted to keep going and I said yes, so we walked past two more houses to the corner where all the neighbor dogs leave their pee mail. I read what was there and turned left to go down that road for a few more houses. Sometimes I followed Mom, and sometimes she followed me. It was kind of like when we did Freestyle, only without the music and fancy footwork. We live out in the country in a quiet subdivision with only local traffic, and Mom made sure I didn’t wander into the road. She knew there was no chance of me taking off to chase anything.
There were tons of smells and Mom let me explore along the way. It was just like old times. There we were, just the two of us, taking a leisurely Sunday stroll through the neighborhood. Once back home, Mom carried me up our driveway and I am pleasantly tired now. I think the “make the schnauzer famished pill” might be starting to kick in too, so Mom is going to stop typing so she can use her hands to feed the schnauzer.
Lexi asked me to update all her friends in Blogville as to her condition while she is at the vet’s this morning getting another – and possibly final – kidney treatment.
After her second treatment yesterday, more b/w was done. Her kidneys are responding somewhat. But not enough. The vet said the key is if she will eat and also keep it down. All I could get her to eat yesterday was some goat cheese we were having with supper. Her little cousin Piper was here and she perked up enough to beg at the table. All my tricks and coaxing couldn’t get her to eat anything else though. She has gotten very thin, and she has started shivering. I don’t know if it is from pain or what, but Jeff suggested that her body isn’t getting enough fuel to keep her warm.
We should know withing the next few days if she is going to recover enough from the kidney failure to continue with any kind of quality of life. Wow, this is a hard one to write. I think it will soon be time to call in her family and friends to say their last goodbyes.
I don’t have any brave Lexi or Mom pictures to show you today. I think we are both feeling pretty scared. Lexi has never been a snuggler or lap sitter, and now she wants me to hold and snuggle her most of the time. I will give her anything she wants.
I want to thank everyone so much for their prayers and support. 13 is a good, long life, and she has already lived 3 months longer than the 30 days the oncologists gave her. I am so grateful for these past three month.
Lexi or I will keep you informed. It’s almost time for me to go pick her up from the vet, where the techs all love her and where they are all doing everything possible to help her have more good time left. So I will say good bye for now.
Amy, Lexi’s faithful servant
All the athletes did superb jobs. Everyone won a gold medal. I could have won all the golds, too. If Mom had just let me enter all the events, I would have all the gold medals. *sigh* She said something about my hip, blah, blah, blah, my knee, blah, blah, blah, uncertain health, blah, blah, blah, her exhaustion from me getting her up at night, blah, blah, blah. Excuses!
So, post-events, I am sneaking behind Mom’s back surprising Mom, showing you my non-entries, with a link to each event.
August 6: Fetching : I’ll pass on this one.
Swimming This is a particularly difficult stroke since it is done against the current.
August 7: Digging Again, I pass.
Silly Sleepy Furries I did entered this event, and wish to enter it again. My post, my rules.
This is a dangerous sleeping position since one could slip clear off their bed at any time.
August 8: Pole Jumping: Looks like a blast, but not quite up to it.
Hurdles and Balance Beam: Please notice I walked the edge to make it more daring.
August 9: Sunpuddle Napping I don’t want to compete with my brother, Riley.
Channel Surfing This one falls under the Remote Control sub-category (I made that up.)
August 10: Raspberries/Tongue Curling Since my boyfriend Noodle hosted this event, Mom actually submitted my entry. You will see it when you click on the event link.
Ear Flapping This particular maneuver requires a moving vehicle of some sort. Please ignore the boy in front of me. He is not in the event.
August 11: Boxing When in this position, take care you don’t get sold on e-bay.
Synchronized Napping Here are me and Piper in our Synchronized Lapping. That’s right, isn’t it?
August 12: Tuneful Farting Passing again. I don’t want to bring back recent bad memories when Mom sees this post.
August 13: Basketball I think I will pass on this one too. At least it isn’t Mom leaving me out!
August 14: Gymnastic Bathing I try to avoid anything with the word “bath” in it.
August 15: Wabbit tracking This is under my own category of Indoor Tracking
Sitting Pretty This one needs no introduction.
August 16: Forget it; I’m not bagging any monroe but how about a Riley?
August 17: Snuggling This is in the forced snuggling sub-category (that I just made up)
August 18: Fly Fishing I never fly or fish…
Synchronized Walking and Looking I have a Title in this event.
August 19: Stuffie Deading My sister Angel Ivy used to dead my stuffies but I wasn’t into that.
Freestyle Napping Please notice the artistic curves repeated in this entry. I call it “The Half Moon”
August 20: Smileys The best smile of all is one that makes you smile, too. So I give this one to my brother Riley. Hey buddy, even after denying it all these years, I want you to know I love you. Your little sis, Lexi.
Now, for my gold medals:
Do you have any events you would have entered if your minion publisher had been paying more attention? If so, let us all know. If you post them, please feel free to share in my gold. After all, we are ALL winners!
Thank you so much to everyone who hosted and competed. We could not have done this without you.
I, Lexi, have been working on perfecting my D&D (Disdain and Dump) technique. I think it could be a PAWlympics event. I call this one the Double Dish Tilt.
As a reward for my world-class efforts, Mom made me the bestest doggie treats ever. Why, I bet even the cats would love these! The main ingredient is — wait for it — LIVER! One of my good friends, Linda, who comes to visit me at work, brought Mom this recipe. She stole printed it from allrecipes.com, where you can also have your peeps steal use it. Only 3 ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of beef liver, 2 eggs, and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. A few tips and disclaimers from Mom when making it:
Mom said this was the fastest and easiest dog treat/cookie she ever made, and she has baked a lot of them! Oh be sure to refrigerate. Mom froze half of them. She said if you don’t want to bother following the link, just throw everything in a food processor, spread in a cookie pan lined with parchment, and bake for 15 minutes at 350 F degrees. Let cool and slice. Easy peasy.
I, Lexi the Schnauzer, give Diabetic Dog Treats (which we have renamed Liver Cookie Bars) my pawsome seal of approval!
Lassie and Eddie rang me up on their way through town, asking if there was anything they could do to help support me as a Mayoral Candy Date. We met in a private library and had a great time discussing our careers.
Sweet William the Scott took some time from his PAWlympics coverage to do a photo op of us all together. Thanks, Sweet Wills!
After brainstorming on the campaign for at least 87 8 minutes our stomachs all started growling at us, so we called out for pizza delivery. The delivery guy had a tennis ball on him. So, after Lassie and Eddie finished chasing the ball and I finished off the last of the pizza, we had our strategy: A pizza for every anipal and a tennis ball with every delivery.
Some call this extremely hot August weather the “dog days of summer.” If that’s right, then we have been in the dog days all spring and summer. In these 90+ (F) degree days, sometimes it helps to reminisce about the cooler times. Here in Chattanooga, we hardly ever get snow, but every once in a while…
Can you feel the cool coming on, my friends?
My Mom. *shakes head* She couldn’t find the Sunday Selfie hosting site today. So she said, “Never mind, you can still do your Sunday Selfie on your own blog, Lexi, and maybe someone will be kind enough to send us the link.” *sigh* So I did, since I have had some time to think about it this week.
This is how I have seen myself most of my life: brave, strong, humble, present in time of need, and much loved by everyone:
I am Lexi, the lonely Sunday Selfier. I guess I will go watch the PAWlympics.
OK, Mom finally got with it and found the hop. I am in it. Hop on over (really Mom?) to The Cat on My Head to see all the other Super Sunday Selfies.
Mom got another one of the nostalgic timeline pictures pop up again on her phone. I am sure your peeps get them too. Two years ago today I was chillin’ out on and in the Tennessee River. Hmm, I wonder where my life jacket is? I bet Mom just took it off so I could dry my beautiful hair in the sun.
Since our boat isn’t running this summer, we have been staying inside to keep cool. How boring…
I am Lexi, the boating dog.
I know, it should be Campaign Tuesday. And with the PAWlympics in full furs, I decided to take a week off from the campaign and share something even more fun. This picture popped up on Mom’s phone. Please notice the chomp taken out of the treasured quilt that my great-grandma made by hand, as well as the cushion cover that Mom made. Mementos of the five years that my brother Riley lived with us.
Be sure to click on the PAWlympic schedule above my header picture to get caught up on the pawsome PAWlympic athletes and events happening right now!
Everyone says I have this selfie thing down. *smirk*
I hope y’all are having a good Sunday. We have been celebrating my brother Adam’s birthday all weekend. (Well, the peeps have been while I stayed home to watch Gracie.) Tonight everyone is coming here for ICE CREAM CAKE! Yay!
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Hi, this is Gracie the shih tzu. Lexi has blogged about me during my previous visits. We are friends. I stole borrowed Lexi’s blog today to let you know I am back. Lexi’s dad picked me up from my dad, dropping me off at Lexi’s work place around lunchtime — too bad I didn’t get any lunch. But there were little children there!! That’s even better than food. I got one little boy to smile and stop crying for his Mom, and ran around visiting with all the children. When Lexi’s mom said it was time to go up to Lexi’s office, I hid under the table ’cause I wanted to stay with the kids. Being only five pounds, it is just too easy to scoop me up and carry me around, so I ended up in the office with no kids. *sigh* Here’s what I found.
I made myself the official greeter today, and everyone adored me. Lexi barked at the first person, so I explained to her that unless she wanted me to steal her job, she had better change her attitude. When the next person came in, I could see her getting ready to bark. She took a deep breath, looked back at her mom, then let it out without barking. Good girl, Lexi! Then she walked over to greet the lady. Of course, I was already there, soaking up all the attention. Next, I have to teach her to wag her tail more. Wow, it looks like I am a natural at this!
When things slowed down, we finally got the sleeping/working arrangements sorted out.
Looks like my good friend Lexi is waking up, so I had better hop off here. Isn’t it supper time? Hey, Mrs. Lexi’s Mom…*bounce, bounce, waggles*
Did you know that my boyfriend and Mayoral running mate, Noodle, is hosting an event for the PAWlympics next week? It has to be one of the most fun events ever: raspberries/tongue curling. Be sure to hop over to see what Noodle’s up to and register to pawticipate!
I found just the right chair in the library for my selfie. The sun was shining in the big window, the chair provided a light color contrast against my beautiful black hair, I started to click the button for my selfie, then…
I started to think about the scrambled egg Mom just made me.
With my sprained right knee, I needed someone to do a lot of the running for me, and who better than the best boyfriend in the whole world – Noodle! He is not just a handsome hunk. He is smart and funny and is a great organizer of fun. As a team, we can’t be beat (we hope). Oh, and in case you don’t recognize the other two anipals on the platform with us, to the right is Beautimous Shoko from The Canadian Cats and on the left is Honorable Purrince Siddhartha Henry of Purrince Siddhartha Henry an Lady Mumm’s Purrfect Pad. Shoko is not just beautiful and a good sister to Kali, but is also a vital part of Team Lexi, campaigning across international and species lines. The Handsome Purrince is very impawtant to both me and Noodle, as he encouraged a timid Noodle to take a chance on asking me to be his Valentine last year.
Feel free to grab any of these pawsome buttons, provided by Team Lexi members Sweet William the Scott and his Mom, Lee. Please display them proudly on your sidebar to show your support of Lexi (me) and Noodle for Mayor and Vice-Mayor, respectively.
The other two mayoral Candy Dates, Christmas and Arty, are also announcing their Running Mates today. Hop on over to their blogs with me to get their news!
Mommy and I were so happy to get these cards in the mail today.
One was addressed just to me. “Lexi T. (The) Schnauzer” BOL, BOL, BOL!
These made our day! Thank you, dear friends.
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