Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Stanley goes 6 Feet Under

Recently I was thinking that since Tyco is pretty much an older dog, we don't have much to write about in the blog. so, i don't update too much. so is the dog blog boring? he just doesn't do anything besides sleep on his lounger or under the magnolia all day. ... maybe i thought too soon.

Tuesday is my day off. (except for that drive to Maryland in the evening) but it's the day when i don't practice in the morning and have nothing i'm "supposed" to do until i go to class at 6:15. So i was ready to just chill out all day. last night i was exhausted after teaching two classes in a row to small groups (those require infinitely more energy from me) and i crawled in bed around 930. when i got in bed i rooted around for Stanley (the seal) and didn't find him so i just let myself fall asleep. i hadn't slept well the night before and i was feeling tired, sometimes if i miss the sleep window, that's it, i'm up for the night. so i cozied in and didn't think much about it.

Tuesday morning i got up and decided to take Tyco for his morning walk around the neighborhood. so he's got the leash on and i start leading him up nottoway on his new favorite route. as we're walking by the fence i glance over towards the magnolia where he's been making his nest most nights lately. i think the leaves keep him warm. from the corner of my eye i can just make out a familiar shape. is that??? my memory goes all foggy here but it's like a scene from a movie where the characters a looking for someone and they just see a leg sticking out from a hillside or something. but you know it's not good.

STANLEY!!! stanley is OUTSIDE... partially buried under leaves and so entirely covered in soft dirt flakes that he looks brown.
OH MY GOD!!! when stanley went missing i NEVER suspected Tyco. Akira was known for destroying stuffed animals, but Tyco??

here's Akira having her taste of a stuffed duck.



but Tyco???no way. i rush back into the fence and pull stanley up out of the suspicious nest. quick inspection... whew! only surface dirt (a LOT of surface dirt) no internal or external damage. whew! i set him on the counter and take tyco for his walk while i try to think out my next steps.

Obviously, Stanley now needs a bath. he's had a bath twice that i can remember and the second time his stuffing got all rearranged and he never felt the same again, but now i'm used to this stuffing arrangement, i'm worried about the bath idea. so having never given a stuffed animal a bath before i decided to call in reinforcements. (of course i could have called my mom, she gave stanley his other baths, but these guys know where i'm coming from)
Reinforcements arrived in the form of Sealy, Wally, and Wally 2. Hooray! the rest of the tale is told with photo enhancement in the next installment.

Stanley's Bath


Here is the nest where stanley spent the night outside (in a little bit of rain, i might add)

and Here is Tyco looking sheepish, he knows this one was much more naughty than just carrying milk cartons outside.







The gang inspects the mess. notice the dirt even caked in stanley's eyes. and i have to say it looked much worse in person than in the photo. the flash really took away the extent of the dirtiness.


Research!! the guys check the internet for the best suggestions for how to wash stuffed animals. Even the spirit of Akira gets involved.




We opt first to try shaking as much dirt off as possible. my white kitchen sink (i mean, really, who thinks of a white kitchen sink as a good idea??) is completely caked in dirt but this is the result.


Next we opt for the washing machine. spot cleaning isn't going to do it this time. so we add some mild detergent and a towel so he's not alone. we opt for no pillow case since he isn't too fragile and because he is REALLY dirty. Stanley says his good-byes (just in case)



Getting covered with water. luckily he's a baby seal so he likes to swim.



The gang waits for him to be done in the washer.


All Clean! ready for gentle drying



The gang waits for the dryer



Finally all done! The whole gang back together again.




(and still a Mama's Boy)

[and, yes, i do know how ridiculous this whole thing is, especially the fact that i took pictures of it, but, Max was away i was bored.]

Stanley Biographical Information

Stanley Pack (white stuffed baby seal)

came to me when i was maybe 7 or 8 from my dad's parents, Grammie and Paw. he was from sea world. i remember standing in their kitchen and i had a choice between an alice in wonderland tea set and Stanley. i chose stanley. (incidentally, i was given the tea set at the next christmas holiday so i ended up with both. and i really loved tea sets, i have no idea while i chose stanley and i almost regretted it at first). so there is this great photo of me and my cousin mary beth sitting on Paw's lap and resting on his chest and stomach and stanley is there with us. if i had that photo here i'd scan it for the blog, but it's at my parents house.

Stanley kind of hung out for a while. then when i was in 10th grade he came to camp with me when the other girl who was a counselor-in-training with me brought her stuffed animal. sometime in that few weeks i came up with the name 'stanley' while i was resting on my cot. i think it may be a throwback to the stuffed bear in 'the hunt for the red october' which i was slightly obsessed with at that point. (?)

and ever since camp, stanley has been the go to guy. he went to college. he survived flying across the room whenever my boyfriend saw fit (mean right?) he also survived attack by one roommate's cat who took his mouth apart. and he got to be friends with bear (my college roommate, karen's, stuffed lion). probably in college i discovered stanley is good for kissing goodnight right on his nose AND he sleeps perfectly in the crook of my arm right by my heart. he also makes a nice neck pillow while reading.

so when max and i met stanley was my constant bed companion, putting me to sleep every night. and it wasn't so bad to have max come over just that stanley had to sleep on the bedside table. but max and i knew we were meant for each other when among the many many similarities we found ... .. we discovered the sealy stanley connection. max grew up loving stuffed animals and baby harp seals. so he had his very own stuffed white baby seal: Sealy. i got to meet sealy (and wally and the others) when i went to visit his parents house the first summer after we started dating. VERY CUTE.

now that we're married, stanley lives in the closet with the baby afghan Grammie crochetted for me and only comes out when max is away. but he definitely comes out and keeps me company. that's probably why he has some peanut butter on his forehead.

stanley is also a world traveller. along with going to college in fredericksburg, stanley also went to graduate school in philadelphia. more recently he saw hawaii in summer 2004 and bali in summer 2007. (he was not invited to rome however) i'm sure he's got plenty more trips in him....

Here's Stanley in the Lei after arrival from Hawaii


Lounging on the beach at Wimea Bay in Hawaii


In the bed in Bali. he didn't see much of the countryside, but he did make an appearance going through security in the Denpasar, Indonesia and Guam Airports (did he smuggle drugs???)