Welcome to the Becker Bear Den! : January 2020

Friday, January 31, 2020

Lucy settling into the family

It didn't take for Lucy to learn Oscars ways of being a "Mrs. Kravitz" or a "Gladys" and watching all the neighbors.

Still small and can fit in my lap. My post on this day was, well she won't be able to fit in my lap for long. Here she is about 40 pounds. Today she is about 85 pounds and still sits in my lap....

Friday, January 24, 2020

So Hen's freemason brother, wife's cousin was looking to rehome a 4 month old Saint Bernard puppy named Lucy. Only catch was that she lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. First we attempted to just fly her by plane, but pictures revealed she didn't fit in the expensive crate I had overnighted to the owner. So my mom and I jumped on a plane, stayed the night in Oklahoma City on January 23rd, rented a car and picked up Lucy. It was love at first sight. My mom and I then drove the 18 hours home to Salt Lake with her. In retrospect even though she probably could have traveled in that crate, I was glad to have had the time to bond with her before she met her new brothers. And was grateful for the time I got to spend with my mom. We were also blessed with clear roads, which is crazy to think about with it being in January. We encountered alot of wind in Wyoming, but never snow. And we stayed at hometown suite hotels, where we also had a first floor room. Lucy become a professional hotel stayer real quick, and was so funny as she would prance up to the automatic doors to open and close for her.

This was a picture her previous owner sent me before we picked her up. She started out at a breeder, then was bought by a family who found out they were moving to Alaska, and so gave her to this family that were friends of theirs. So we are her 4th family, and forever home. To date she is the most expensive, "Free Dog" we have ever had. She is lucky she is so cute!

Lucy was living in Oklahoma City with the below bloodhound named Bacon. Since we already had our hands full with Oscar, we couldn't think about taking on another hound. I am sure that is why Lucy and Oscar get along so well. I am sure he reminds her of Bacon.

Pictures of Lucy's Mom and Dad

Riding in the Car home to Salt Lake

Having fun at a dog park in Denver! Weather was a beautiful 55 degrees!! She was basically a celebrity today. Met probably 50 dogs and as many people!

Staying in hotels. She did so well! She didn't chew anything and never even peed in one. Granted she was wearing puppy diapers and I took her out every two hours. What I didn't know was that she actually had a UTI at the time, poor thing.

One of our stops was in Hays Kansas and I got to catch up with my old Roomie from college. It was so fun to see her!

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Willie Cook

January 22, 2020. I was leaving work and I was prompted to call my friend Willie. His sister answered his phone which was strange and then handed him the phone. He told me he was in the U of U hospital. It was perfect timing because I was able to drive straight there to visit him. When I arrived he was not doing well. Normally his heart would have issues with retaining water, but now it was happening to his whole body. I was able to visit with him and his family for a few hours before going home. The next day they had planned to have an "unbirthday party" for him at noon. I was planning that night to get on a plane to go get Lucy from Oklahoma City, so was trying to get all my work done. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it to the party and planned to go later in the afternoon. Something told me, no, you need to go to the party. Little did I know that would be the last time I would see him on this earth. He passed less than a couple of hours after his party. So grateful for tender mercies and the opportunity I had to say to goodbye to my friend of 20 years.

Willie Obituary

Willie and I met when I was 16 and he was 17. I was called as a special needs mutual counselor at that time and was a counselor to a woman named Cheryl. It was during that time Willie and I met. We would dance at the dances and I became one of his many "girlfriends". We stayed in touch over the years over the phone and seeing him on his birthday and Christmas and sometimes in between. I had the opportunity to be in the temple with him the day he took out his endowments. Upon entering the Celestial room, he proceeded, loudly to announce to everyone that I was his exgirlfriend. I was married at the time to someone Willie never approved of, and he was never afraid to tell me that either. As the years went on, we got older, but our friendship was unchanged. He has been a blessing in my life through all the ups and downs and I will cherish the day we can see each other again.

From his last "unbirthday" birthday party!

Willie planned his whole funeral and of course planned to be brought in by stagecoach which is no surprise because he was always a cowboy at heart!

The below photo was from his 30th birthday bash party.

After Willie passed his mom sent the below photo to me in the mail. It made my day! Can’t believe how young Willie Cook and I look!! The year on the back said 2003. So I would have been 19 I think.