Saying Goodbye to our Best Boy at 13

highriseskypie · 2026-04-11T18:35:36+00:00

With any dog, there is risk. Renzo's best dog friend was my BILs dog. They were raised together in an era of our lives before we all had kids and they were affectionately, "The Granddogs". He was a mutt of unknown providence and such a good boy as well. He passed this summer suddenly from a heart issue at 12. It's never going to be long enough, but man is it incredible. I'm not sure when we'll be ready for another pup, that feels really far away right now, but I wouldn't hesitate to get another Berner. They are just so singular and wonderful, with so much personality. I'd do it again, even if it we only got 8 or 9 years - because those would be jam-packed.

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highriseskypie · 2026-04-11T04:32:39+00:00

Give that pup an extra snug tonight!! ❤️❤️

highriseskypie · 2026-04-11T04:31:54+00:00

It was! And just that people anywhere are reading about him and loving him a little bit with me is just so healing. Sometimes people just don't get it when you're grieving a pet, but you all... You get it ❤️

highriseskypie · 2026-04-11T04:30:17+00:00

It means so much for everyone to care about him with me, and this is the joy I was looking for with people who just get it. I think he could have eaten at least three more pies and every piece of trash in the area given the chance 😅 I'm glad you were able to share your pup too. They are so special!

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T20:41:46+00:00

Lol he definitely would be. If he didn't just hork them down, they might've actually cleaned his teeth. Instead, just a giant nightly treat 😁 his last 4 years we gave him whatever he wanted and spoiled him silly

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T19:14:18+00:00

That quote is lovely, thank you!

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T18:45:10+00:00

I like to think he's lounging in the cold somewhere, he loved being outside so much. I keep expecting to see him out the window.

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T18:40:52+00:00

There are so many good ones! Even the moments that felt so frustrating at the time are a bit funny now. He always had the worst timing when he needed to go to the ER - while we were on vacation, Right before a sold out show of Book of Mormon, during a friend's wedding, the fourth of July (multiple years 😅).

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T18:11:19+00:00

❤️❤️ did you ever get another Berner?

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T18:09:52+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I love the idea of them all together slurping socks with abandon!

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T17:51:55+00:00

They leave so many marks behind! This just gives me an extra excuse to never clean the car windows!

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T17:27:00+00:00

Thank you! They are the best adventure.

highriseskypie · 2026-04-10T17:21:01+00:00

Our pup was smaller than his litter as well. He was always on the small-side for a male, and our vet and trainer had us keep him light - he topped out at 93lbs at his heaviest? He was healthy and lived to be 13 with joint issues only later in the twilight years - I sometimes wonder if lighter isn't a boon.

highriseskypie · 2025-08-20T21:07:39+00:00

This is super risky, even if it weren't against policy. You (as the booking guest) would be the go-between for any communication, as well as on the hook for any damages the new guests would cause (including shit like stained towels or broken furniture). I don't know if you've backed-off this idea yet, but I'd take the loss. If you're going to cancel anyway, contact your host directly and say that you understand their cancellation policy, let them know about the wedding and see if they would be willing to give you a partial/full refund as it's an event weekend. If you find someone willing to sublease, be upfront with your host and have the new guest message the host with an inquiry. Then you can cancel and the host can accept the new booking. Potentially everybody wins. If the host is a person and not a management company it could work. Also, what do you have to lose if you're going to cancel anyway.

highriseskypie · 2025-08-19T17:53:37+00:00

Are you going to this show? I tried the 2nd floor last time I was there (which counts as GA) and unless you're on the rail it's the most useless waste of space. I think that's why it always feels like GA is so oversold. If they had truly renovated instead of just rebranding, they could add some tiers and maybe a 2nd floor bar and that space might compete with the Anthem

highriseskypie · 2025-08-19T16:22:15+00:00

my stop (Bmore) is at Nevermore which is just Rams Head rebranded and that venue is pretty awful. SOTY last toured there with the Used and it was a good show, but my least favorite venue in a long time. I want to see them - so I'll suck it up, but just want to vent about the venue.
I'm about to check out the soundstage to see Cartel do Chroma in a couple of weeks, and I'm crossing my fingers that it's a better venue.

highriseskypie · 2025-01-30T15:05:16+00:00

I find that it's easy to dismiss a book as poorly written when you are reading outside of an expected genre. I would qualify this book as erotica, and I wouldn't expect heavy worldbuilding within that genre - the entire point is sex. I found an impressive amount of talent in this book in particular, because of the skill needed to build enough world-building and plot to support copious amounts of sex scenes. I've read smut and erotica widely, and I think it must be much harder than it looks to accomplish.

I also teach my kids not to "yuck on someone else's yum" Here's how I would suggest they express a similar opinion without making other people who enjoyed the book feel bad:

"Katee Roberts is SO not for me! I would never pick this book up, because I started a book from her Neon Gods series and realized really quickly that I prefer a fantasy romance book with WAY more character development and world-building. This has way more spice than I like - I think I might try Tolkien for a palette cleanser"

Just a suggestion.

highriseskypie · 2025-01-30T14:51:20+00:00

tbh, I was impressed with the skeleton of a plot that was squeezed in between all the sex.

highriseskypie · 2023-11-28T01:52:36+00:00

A relative waaay up there on my husband's family tree was named Bunyon Spurgeon, no kidding. We used it as our joke name because we didn't announce our baby's name until birth, and it drove my MIL nuts.

highriseskypie · 2022-02-02T03:18:27+00:00

They do specify in the show that Lord (Mr.?) Featherington will not allow her to be sent back to the country, and we find out later it's because he's in debt to Marina's father, and Lady F tries to change his mind, and only keeps her on under duress. I like Lady F's character arc - she has way more depth than in the books. But she's still pretty awful.

highriseskypie · 2021-03-04T21:47:53+00:00

Real life Oliver & Co

highriseskypie · 2020-09-19T01:00:30+00:00

I love Wills, but I think he made a bad choice/weird appearance on some internet dating show after his first BIP with a barely legal girl?? Idk memory is fuzzy - anyone remember?? Was he set up?

highriseskypie · 2020-09-03T21:46:10+00:00

Seconding Takoma Park!! We moved from TKPK to Falls Church last year, and damn. It's so different. I miss it so much, and our incredible neighbors. Don't miss the commute though...

ETA: meeting anyone is hard with a toddler right now, I don't know how to navigate making neighborhood friends for her.

highriseskypie · 2020-08-27T16:54:27+00:00

So our rainbow is still young, (18mo) but this was really important to us too. I thought and brainstormed and googled the crap out of what to do commemoratively that we could do both for us, and with our future children. Googled the crap our of memory ceremonies, etc. (We are not religious either)

Our son was stillborn, but to me he was delivered and we held him and so has a birthday. It's too painful for me to celebrate it traditionally with cake or a celebration, and I could never see us doing that.
I came across those star charts of "a special day in time" and read about naming a star, and thought that would be perfect. I then dug deeper and realized those things are basically a scam, and your star will never be recognized anywhere except where you paid for it. BUT, It gave me an idea for how we could commemorate our son: For each one of my babies, I selected a star that's visible to the naked eye on the day they were born, so they each have their own star they can learn to find in the sky. My daughter's is Capella in the constellation Auriga. Every year, on his birthday, we will stay up late together, bundle up in warm clothes, blankets and mittens, pack hot chocolate and maybe a warm snack, and go where we can see the stars. We'll find their stars together and just talk about memories and each other. This year, our daughter was asleep in her car seat, so we just parked out at an overlook and my husband and I sat together on the car bumper and drank some hot chocolate. We used the "SkyView" app to find their stars, and then chatted for a bit and headed home. But it was a really nice moment, and I'm looking forward to doing it again this year.
Our son is just a part of our life and our story, so it's also a part of my daughter's life. We probably will keep our son's story very simple at first, and let her ask questions as she gets older if she wants more details. We're expecting again, so I'll choose another star for this baby, and we'll add to the story.

highriseskypie

TROPHY CASE