Cassandra and her Puppy
April 27, 2009
This photo of Cassandra and Tawzalt is from last July 4th. Cassandra loves Tawzalt.
Cassandra with puppy Tawzalt
Backyard Shenanigans
April 19, 2009
Azelouan’s new game is jumping the pile of wood that I have left over after building a new fence. The wood pile is over 8 feet long and 2 feet high. He easily clears it every time.
On the way out.
The return journey.
This explains everything!
April 9, 2009
We never have to say “I don’t know” ever again.
This is going to totally stun everyone!
Sketch
March 21, 2009
Azawakh Running Sketch, extension phase
Presidential Insanity in The Gambia
March 18, 2009
Yahya Jammeh came to be head of state of The Gambia in 1994 through a bloodless and possibly accidental coup. His regime has become increasingly paranoid and repressive. About a year ago, Jammeh issued a decree that any hotel housing a homosexual would be closed and any homosexuals found discovered in The Gambia would be beheaded. Jammeh has always been obsessed with juju (aka black magic or witch craft). He has recently become convinced that his aunt was killed by witchcraft early this year and has launched a broad campaign of retribution among his own people.
Up to 1,000 people have been kidnapped… since early February and taken to detention centres or to [President Yahya Jameh’s] farm in Kanilai, accompanied by the President’s personal protection guards, the police and the army, according to an Amnesty International communiqué released on 18 March.
Amnesty says in its communiqué that witch doctors were invited to Gambia in early 2009 soon after the death of President Jammeh’s aunt; the President reportedly believes witchcraft was used in her death.
Victims [say] they were held for up to five days and forced to drink herbal concoctions that made them hallucinate. Many said they were severely beaten, some at gunpoint, in many cases nearly to death.
“I was among several villagers who were forcefully abducted from home by a group of armed soldiers and some civilians on 9 March,” Kebba Saneh from Makumbaya village in Kombo district told IRIN. “I was forced to drink drugs which made me unconscious. There was no way we could try to escape.”
It’s nap time
March 8, 2009
Theodora and Tawzalt
Cassandra and Tawzalt
Unfortunately, this lasted about 10 minutes. I should never have let the girls eat chocolate cake at the coffee shop.
Me too
March 4, 2009
Cassandra put on a tiara and her best royal attitude to become a princess for her big sister’s birthday party.
The princess Cassandra
Growing Up
March 3, 2009
Snoozing
Tawzalt and Cassandra are pals
Theodora and Cassandra and Tawzalt
Regal
Eyes
“Help” with the snow removal
March 2, 2009
We had a pretty big snow storm last night, about 6 or 7 inches or hock-deep on an azawakh. The dogs are a little ambivalent about the stuff. They have fun with it until they start to get really cold. For Tawzalt, this is her first experience with proper fluffy snow that hasn’t been adulterated by a nasty skin of ice caused by freezing rain.
They were very helpful at un-shoveling the snow as I cleared it.
Tawzalt is starting to feel the cold after some crazed digging
What is this crazy stuff?
Snow Digger
Azeloan with his snow ball
Havoc wreaked, it's quittin' time.
Our Sophie
February 27, 2009
In 1996 just outside of a small West African village my wife (though at the time we were just dating), Christie, recovered a tiny, wailing puppy in the Bush. The puppy was alone without littermates and with no bitch in sight. We later learned that when a bitch has an undesirable litter of puppies one way of getting rid of the problem was to have boys spread the puppies out into the bush as far apart as possible in hopes that they will die before the bitch finds them. In general this was a practice of people who considered the dogs to be a sort of large rat in the first place and never wanted the bitch hanging around in the first place. Among the Mandinka people with whom we lived in that particular corner of Africa, dogs are absolute pariahs who survive on the food waste and trash that is discarded over the compound wall.
Sophie from infant to adult
The puppy was so tiny that her eyes were not yet open. It was much too young to have been weaned. We didn’t have anything like bottles or formula to nurse this dog. Christie bought a can of condensed milk at the little village store and dribbled it into the puppy’s mouth with her finger. I found out about the new little family member by bush letter, which is to say that Christie wrote me a letter and gave it to a passing car headed in my direction and which was eventually delivered to me. At the time I was working a couple of hundred miles away. When I read the letter I as completely stunned. I couldn’t imagine how we could possibly take care of a tiny puppy, but we did and I managed to overfeed her so that she was fat. When it was time for us to return to the USA we brought her with us.
Postscript
A friend asked me what was wrong with her tail because it looks like it is chopped off in the top photo and the other two photos don’t show it. The answer is nothing was wrong with it. She had a normal tail. The top picture is just framed awkwardly and the tail is hidden rather abruptly by a tree stump that is barely visible at the edge of the picture.
Aidi wan n'Eezel: the loyal azawakh 