The 'Woodland Fantasy'

Litter Story

Once upon a time…  actually May 5, 2006 during Silkenfest at Siendo Farmstead, Riata and Barak fell in love.  The nuptials took place in a magical forest in a beautiful little grotto with sunlight filtering thru the trees.  The grotto, with a lovely statue and stone bench, was made in memory of Lacey (story below), the beloved childhood dog of Jeremy (Hutsie and Don’s son).  With the cool shade from the trees, the sounds of laughter coming from above us, a path leading to a pond below us and friends surrounding us, this was a very special occasion indeed.

Truly a woodland fantasy.

Good Boy

Lacey's Story

Written by Hutsie and Don

  Lacey was a "road apple." One of a few that we had picked up off the road one way or another. My son Jeremy was 8 years old when Lacey came into our lives and especially his life. We were coming back home from horse back riding from the stables my children rode with. In the corner of my eye, a puppy ran into my view...she was small and was in the stone parking lot of an abandoned business building on the corner of two busy roads. I pulled into the parking lot and said to my son (who was used to TURTLE STOPS-where I would stop and put on my hazards and he would jump out and move the turtle out of the road) "just get out and call her 'puppy puppy' If she does not come, don't go after her" By then she had run under the old building decking. My son got out quietly and leaned down on the ground and sang, "puppy puppy" The puppy dashed out from under the building and jumped into his arms crying and whining and wagging her tail non stop. She licked his face and he gently picked her up and carried her to the VW Van we were in. I had gotten out and opened the door for him.

  When we got her home we offered her water and she drank so fast she got sick...then the food, she ate so fast she spilled it all over the floor and ate with a frantic desire. She was about 8 weeks old to my estimation. She looked more like a beagle but with some schnauzer look to her. She had long ears with the soft brown on the inside, a saddle of darker brown/black and light points like a schnauzer. Her hair was a bit wiry, but grew more coarse as she aged. She spent the day with Jeremy, who we decided could be the owner of this dog. She was added to our home of maybe 5 dogs. He played with her and named her Lacey. That night when I went in his room to take her out to the bathroom, I lifted her off his covers and as I carried her out she peed all over me from all the water she had tried to drink all day.

  Lacey believed the sun rose and set on Jeremy. She accompanied him in his many games of war and army in the woods. She would sneak with him as he camoflauged himself, she didn't need it, she was already easy to hide in the woods. She rode with him on his four wheeler when he got a little older. She slept with him every night of her life, except when he went to college his first year. I joked with Jeremy many times and told him to never tell his girlfriends he learned to kiss by kissing his dog Lacey as she loved to kiss him right on the face. He was her manchild. No one could mess with him without her wrath, all 25 pounds of her wrath.

   Lacey aged as Jeremy did. Dogs though, just don't live long enough. As Jeremy went to his first year of college Lacey missed him, but she did ok. She was getting older. She was 11 by then. Jeremy had always wanted a Boston Terrier, but did not want to get one while Lacey was around as she would be too jealous. One weekend we brought home a rescued Boston to foster and Jeremy really liked him. Jeremy was home for the weekend and decided with Lacey getting older he would fill out the adoption application. The Sunday of that weekend Lacey layed down on Jeremy's floor. She never slept on the floor. She would not get up. I thought she was having bloat or something, but the symptoms did not fit. The next morning we took her to the vet and I said that I thought it was cancer...and that we did not want her to suffer. The next day the diagnosis was cancer, a large mass in her abdomen. Lacey was euthanized that day to save her any more pain. Lacey, I believe in my heart, was sick before she showed us she was. I believe that she waited until she knew that her manchild had another dog to take care of his heart before she let go. She hung on for him. Jeremy buried his beloved dog in the woods near a bench. I had found a small sculpture of a boy with a terrier like dog years before for this purpose. When we pass her place, we remember her. Jeremy remembers all the years he and Lacey spent together in the woods. Jeremy loves his new dog, Brady the Boston, who is a wild dog and lots of fun. There will never be another Lacey though, there never is a dog quite like the one that takes care of us as kids.

Lacey's Statue