my dad's birthday

Today would have been my dad's 79th birthday. He's been dead nearly 11 years now, but I still remember that this is his birthday. Kind of bittersweet.


Also today is the anniversary of The Who concert crush in Cincinnati. 11 people died that night. I remember hearing it on the radio, then going home to watch it on the news. And the thought popped into my head that it was my dad's birthday....


Bought a puppy on this date over 20 years ago. Rolf Haagendog. The most adorable Alaskan Malamute pup I have ever seen! He was just 5 weeks old then and utterly, devastatingly cute -- and he knew it. He was a wonderful dog that charmed everyone. The almost universal comment about Rolf his entire life was "now that's a real dog!"


And also on this date (in 1989) I put my horse Summertime down. Still makes me cry. I loved that mare. Of all the horses and ponies I've had she was my favourite. I got her when she was in her teens (and so was I). The girl that had her had MS and could no longer ride, and her sister was afraid of Summer. I can see why the sister was afraid of her. She was bitchy and cantankerous and "hot". When she started getting "up" it was hard to bring her back down. Oddly, if you could stop her completely she would stand still. And she hated dressage. She would stomp her feet and shake her head when she didn't get her way -- that always made for lovely scores. Summer was also sweet, shy (although she would give other horses very nasty looks, she would cave if any took her up on it!) and really sensitive to aids (often tooooo sensitive for what I was capable of at the time). I liked and identified with her contradictions. Plus she loved, loved, LOVED to jump! I had some of the best times of my life with that horse galloping across fields jumping stuff. And she would jump virtually anything. I had a blast, but was lucky I didn't kill myself.