COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 17, 2018 7A
Betty Kaiser's
You have seen people who
look like their pets, but how
about looking like Grandma?
Bugaboo (Buggy), a two-year-
old Wheaten Terrier belongs to
Maureen's daughter and son-in-
law, but his fur and Maureen's
hair are the same riveting cut
and color creating a smiley face
situation!
Bugaboo's "father" is a Boy
Scout leader who enjoys snow
camping, mountains and skiing.
He named their dog after British
Columbia's Bugaboo mountain
range known for its challenging
ski runs. (Keeping with tradi-
tion, maybe their next dog, if
a female, might be named after
the Olympic skier Peek-a-Boo?)
"The fi rst time we dog-sat
Buggy was when our daughter
and her husband went to Mex-
ico for a week," said Maureen.
"It turned out that there are 11
days in their week! Buggy was
three-months-old and he resem-
bled a wiggly furry-brown ted-
dy bear exploding with energy.
He arrived for 'his vacation'
with a large travel crate fi lled
with his toys, blanket, food,
water bowl and leash. The last
item they hauled into our house
was a carpet cleaning machine!
We inquired, 'Why did you
bring that?'"
"You'll see", came the pro-
phetic response. And of course,
they did see! Within moments!
"In spite of ending up with
the cleanest carpets in the neigh-
borhood," said Maureen,
"we thoroughly enjoyed our
'week' with our new grand-
dog."
The advice "Get a pet!
They introduce you to ev-
eryone!" proved true. When
Maureen took Buggy out ev-
ery two hours for a walk, he
pranced, danced and sniffed
his way along the streets.
They had to make frequent
stops for other walkers to
"ooh", "aah" and pet the cuddly
teddy bear. "We ran into neigh-
bors we never knew existed,"
laughed Maureen.
At home, bouncy Buggy
would leap straight up onto any-
one daring to sit on their sofa. A
quiet read of the newspaper re-
sulted in glasses fl ying and the
newspaper in shreds, but Mau-
reen admitted, "his affectionate
snuggling more than made up
for the loss of the news or our
nerves.
After returning Buggy to his
parents, our home returned to its
normal tidy-clean "before Bug-
gy" state, but we sorely missed
the special delightful ball of
champagne-colored fl uff who
brought such joy."
Luckily for Buggy and his
pet parents, Grandma's home is
always available for overnight
and long stays. Babysitting him
is easier because Buggy has
now grown into a well-behaved
dog with no need of the carpet
cleaning machine.
"We have a seven year old
"human" grandson, Aaron, a
"cousin" to Bugaboo, who also
enjoys staying overnight at
our home. He loves grooming
Buggy, taking him for walks,
feeding him and spending time
burying his face in to Buggy's
soft long fur. Buggy loves all
the attention.
One visit, our grandson want-
ed to know what a dog's life was
like so he climbed into Buggy's
travel crate, curled up on Bug-
gy's clean blanket and took a
nap. When he awoke, Aaron
sat in front of the crate, on his
haunches, beside Buggy, and
lapped up water from his very
own water dish next to Buggy's.
We enjoyed having two
"dogs" but found our grandson,
while equally cute as Buggy, not
nearly as furry," laughs Mau-
reen. "Children and dogs are
fun and the combination creates
wonderful family memories!"
TIPS
Prior to adding fertilizers,
weed killers or pesticides to
your yard and garden read the
label and follow your instincts
to protect pets. Pets walk across
lawns, then lick their paws it is
vital you know what they are in-
gesting. "Adverse reactions can
mimic an anaphylactic reaction
like vomiting, diarrhea, facial
swelling, hair loss and labored
breathing," said Elizabeth Mai-
mon, DVM, MPH.
Follow us at facebook.com/
PetTipsandTales
Submit to: angelscribe@msn.
com
Adopt pets: PetFinder.com
Spay/Neuter: (541) 942-2789
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Another year, another birthday
At my age, birthdays aren’t Birthdate, birthplace, places we
as much fun as they used to be. lived, marriages, children, jobs,
In fact, they can be downright etc. You may think that every-
depressing. This process of get- one knows these things but you
ting older and aging gracefully would be surprised at what a
is serious business. Last week’s mystery your early life is to
birthday was particularly sober- most of your family.
ing. I’m not 80 years old yet but
Finn John, my long-time edi-
I’m sure looking at it. Instead of tor, mentor and friend asked me
a fancy dinner, cake, ice cream several times to write a column
and balloons celebration, I
fi nd myself saying, “Let’s
1. A Trust, a Will or both?
just go to a late lunch so we
2. Appointing someone to be a
can be home before dark!”
successor
trustee.
I am, however, still look-
3. Appropriate document infor-
ing at the future but it looks
a whole lot different than
mation.
when I was 12, 24, 36, or
4. How our property will be
even 66 years old. Instead
dispersed.
of singing “Happy days are
5. Health Care Directives.
here again,” I look in the
6. Anything else that is import-
mirror and somewhat in-
ant to you.
credulously say, “What hap-
7. Signing the documents and
pened?” Some say that age
getting
them notarized.
is only a number. The mirror
8.
Storing
the trust document
disagrees.
safely.
The following quote re-
minds me that time march-
9. Reviewing the documents
es on but I still have work
periodically.
to do: “No one gets out of
this world alive, so the time
to live, learn, care, share, cele- on obituaries but I procrastinat-
brate and love is now.” To those ed. Then, my mother died and I
words, I would add…it’s also was tasked with writing her obit.
time to plan for the inevitable How does one sum up a lifetime
end of life changes because of living in a few words? It was
these years are more complicat- no easy task. She was an only
ed the beginning!
child and died at the age of 94.
A “normal” Biblical life span She had also outlived most of
was about 70 years. Today, an her peers and relatives.
average life expectancy in the
Clearly, neither I nor my
21st century, ranges from 76.4 siblings knew as much as we
years for a man to 81.2 years for thought about this woman we
a woman (subject to change). called mother. Fortunately, my
That means that some of us will Aunt Kathryn was still alive and
miss the target and others will able to direct me to the correct
be over-achievers. (It’s also a information. i.e. I thought that
reminder to tell our loved ones mother was born in Butterfi eld,
often that we love and appreci- Missouri. No, she was born in
ate them.)
Duenwegl. Oops! Putting in the
One of the ways we can do wrong birthplace could have
that is by letting our families confused generations to come.
know how we want to be re-
Putting together mother’s
membered. There is so much obituary inspired me to write
stress at the time of a loved one’s the requested do-it-yourself obit
passing that the least we can do columns. My husband and I fol-
is to put together a packet of in- lowed the advice and wrote our
formation about ourselves that own obits. They are now safe-
will spare them a world of grief: ly fi led on my computer. Then
we had to bite the bullet and let
the family know how we want-
ed our “stuff” distributed—A
Will or a Trust? We decided to
go with a revocable living trust,
a will, advanced directives and
powers of attorney. Ugh. There
are lots of do-it-yourself kits for
this process but we went to our
attorney and said, “Help!”
It was hard for us to wrap
our brains around some de-
cisions —how do you chose
one kid over another to be “in
charge”? Carefully. But now
that it’s done, no one should
worry and wonder about our
wishes. Our process con-
sisted of decisions on such
things as:
1. A Trust, a Will or both?
2. Appointing someone to
be a successor trustee.
3. Appropriate document
information.
4. How our property will
be dispersed.
5. Health Care Directives.
6. Anything else that is im-
portant to you.
7. Signing the documents
and getting them notarized.
8. Storing the trust document
safely.
9. Reviewing the documents
periodically.
Our decisions were all made
many years ago. Now we’re re-
thinking some of the things that
seemed crystal clear then and
making changes. That’s why
periodic review is necessary.
So how to sum this all up?
Well, I know that getting this
legal stuff done is a pain in the
tush. But it is important. But if
you are over 65 years of age and
haven’t gotten your thoughts
down on paper don’t delay any
longer. Begin today. You’ll be
glad that you did and you can
get on with living the rest of
your life in joy and peace. Can
I get an Amen?
P.S. Happy Birthday to my
fellow Capricorns!
CONTACT BETTY BY EMAILING:
BCHATTY@BETTYKAISER.COM
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