Blazer and Scott in the fall of 1994.

This was not the post I had planned for today, but today was the day Blazer needed to leave us.  He had been with us for 16 years, outlived his brother by two years and his body finally succumbed to the natural degradation that is old age.

He was so tiny at first!

We got Blazer as a baby from a breeder in Alabama while we were students at UAB.  Here he is in the back yard of our house in Homewood, AL at about 6 months old.

Blazer, 6 months

And, 2 years:

Blazer, about 2 years old

Doing what he loved the most in life, chewing on a chewy...

Blazer spent a lot of time with his brother and his cousin Tanya in Auburn, espceially during the college football season.  Here are the three of them together paying attention to their various interests.  Aubie (the cocker) is looking at the camera (his daddy), Tanya is in the middle and is watching some people play nearby, and Blazer, as always, is looking for the next rabbit to chase.

Each watching what is important to them.

We have so many photos of him and his brother from the past 16 years, so I am just sharing a few.  Here he is after we moved out to the farm in 2006.

Move out of the way, I am coming through....

Here he is doing what he did best.

Blazer doing what he did best!

And, finally, a shot of him last Halloween when he posed for me so gallantly.

I love the farm!

We loved him and will miss him, but we know he will no longer have to struggle to walk, control his bladder, or hold down his food.  Blazer is now at peace, August 21, 2009.

Then it hit me.  I have a google (gmail) account and a webcam.  That is all I need!  See, gmail is free, and they have recently added a video portion to their chat (gtalk) window.  It works great and best of all, is free!!!

So, here is the idea…

I would like to set a date and time that some of us could get “together” on video chat and visit.  All those who participate will be able to see everyone else who is participating.  We will be able to knit (or whatever) while visiting because we won’t have to be typing, like in regular chat.  Everyone will have access to their own knitting stuff, their own coffee, food, etc…

If it works out, then we could “meet” at regular intervals (to be determined later).

I know there are several other ways of doing this same thing.  There are several sites that you can log in to in order to accomplish this same type of thing.  But, I thought I would try it through gtalk first to see how many of you are interested and then we can go from there.

All you need is a computer, a webcam, and a willingness to have some fun and try something new.  If you are interested, let me know via email at: nautical.knitter@gmail.com.  I think I will probably limit the group to about 5 or so at first to see how it goes.  Come on, you know you wanna…

He is warm!!

On the Dog’s on Thursday front, here is a photo of the progress that Blazer has made in accepting Elf this week.  Not the greatest view of Blazer, but I took what I could get while they were cooperating.  I can’t believe we have had her a week and a half already!

As for the Dog on Thursday…this is the way I found him when I came out of the kitchen this morning…

He does that…