Oakley wasn't our dog.
He belonged to our neighbor in the house behind ours who we share a driveway and common area with.
He showed up in our lives one day after she adopted him from the shelter as a 2 year old. He eventually snuck his way into our house when we left the back door open once and he ended up becoming an integral part of not only me and Alexis' lives but ALL of the senior bassets that came through our doors through the last decade +.
He helped scared dogs feel comfortable and safe with his calm demeanor, helped bored dogs feel active and excited with his playful energy, helped reactive dogs curb their impulses with his patient spirit, and helped sick and broken dogs by giving them something to look forward to every day with just his presence bounding in through the back door to say good morning.
And perhaps most of all, he helped me and Alexis through the painful grieving process of each and every one of them.
Douglas, Sampson, Sully, Charles, Sam, Loretta. As soon as one of them passed, Oakley stepped in to cheer us up, make us laugh, go on a walk, and just be there.
People ask us a lot: "How do you do it? How can you adopt a dog that you know only has a year or two to live?" Oakley has been our rock and our secret weapon through it all.
Today, after so many years and memories here, he told everyone that he was ready to go see all of his old friends.
He may not have been our dog but he will forever be a part of our family and our hearts.
Oakley forever 💔🌈
Felt cute might delete later. Some rare work pics of the sound guy from a food tour through K-Town with @chefsangyoon and the LA Kings a couple weeks ago.
This is Pepe, FKA Long John Silver, FKA Snowflake.
Pepe is a little skrink we found sunbathing in front of a house on our street in November. He was dirty and covered in fleas but had a collar and a chip with license information registered to a long-closed vet's office on the West Side.
With the help of a neighbor, we were able to catch him and as soon as he walked inside, he went straight to an open dog bed and slept for two days straight.
We weren't able to find his owner, if he still had one, and after a few weeks of forgetting he was even here because he mostly just finds a blanket to snuggle under all day, we realized we didn't want him to go anywhere.
He's the most low maintenance dog we've ever met and he makes us and Abe and all of our friends and neighbors that helped us care for him so happy. We can't imagine our lives without him anymore.
We officially made him part of the family last month and he got a clean bill of health after a dental and some mass removals. We think he's a Chihuahua/Pug mix based off what a lady with three pugs told me at a coffee shop.
So yeah, if you haven't met Pepe yet, here his is. Just a random little guy.
A year in the life of a fashion icon. An animal rescuer. A world traveler. A brilliant talent. An absolute smokeshow. And my best friend and the love of my life.
🎂Happy birthday @lexcaliber69 🎂
Thank you for spending another year with me, I love you so dang much.
2024 was a really hard year, filled with some low lows. A lot of stress, uncertainty, big changes, and loss.
But it also had some really high highs like celebrating five years of marriage on a fancy train in the Swiss Alps. Hoping for less hard stuff and more celebrating for us all in 2025.
Loretta. At the Bridge, 7/8/24 🌈
Miss Loretta came into our lives in a way that can only be described as fate. In October of last year, we had a flight booked to Italy with a full day and overnight layover in New York to see friends. 24 hours before our flight to NY, after seeing the torrential downpour and flooding shut down the city, we were alerted that our flight had been cancelled, which meant that we now had a whole day and night at home that we were not planning for.
Wouldn't you know it that a few minutes later, we got a call from our basset rescue that we work with about a very sick girl at the Downey shelter that needed bailed out and brought to them in Acton.
Alexis and Kristine rushed down and picked up this poor, sweet, overbred old lady that was in horrible shape: a huge mammary mass, ear/eye/skin infections, cuts and sores all over, yeasty skin, and a distended belly.
On the hour+ drive to @daphneyland we fell in love. After dropping her off, we left the next morning for our trip and spent the next two weeks talking about her and getting updates: she was in even worse shape than we thought and spent the entire time post-op at the vet being monitored. She almost didn't make it. She was finally released and we jumped at the opportunity to bring her home and let her recover, and possibly just make her comfortable in the event that things went south.
Instead, she bounced ALL the way back, turned back into a crazy puppy, stole any morsel of food within snapping distance, and lit up our lives in a way no other dog has. We got to see her totally transform.
In February, the cancer she probably had the entire time reared its head. The doctor removed a softball sized tumor from her liver. She was given 3-4 more weeks. 3-4 more weeks she was given another 3-4 weeks. And then again. And eventually we just stopped doubting her will to live and love.
The tumor grew back, and just kept growing and growing and she kept living and thriving. It never really slowed her down until the last couple weeks. This weekend she finally told us she was ready.
I'm just so grateful to have gotten to be a part of her life and see her so happy. She deserved it.
Got pinned at this morning's union meeting to commemorate 10 years of membership in IATSE Local 695 🎬🎧🎤 Proud to be a part of the labor movement in this country.
My Christmas Angel and I went all the way to Norway to try to see the Northern Lights. Well, we didn't see them there, but our tour bus took us 2.5 hours southeast into Finland and we DEF saw them there ✨🎄
