{"id":1529,"date":"2010-05-24T00:50:04","date_gmt":"2010-05-23T15:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-05-24\/1529"},"modified":"2010-05-24T00:50:04","modified_gmt":"2010-05-23T15:50:04","slug":"doggy-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2010-05-24\/1529","title":{"rendered":"Doggy Funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nHuck<\/span>\n1992 - 2010\n<\/div>\n\n

Fumie's folks' dog, Huck, died last month, aged exactly 17 years 8\nmonths, which made him one very old puppy. I think<\/span> Fumie had just started high school\nwhen he joined their family.<\/p>\n\n

He'd been in poor health for a long time, since prior to me getting any\nkind of photographic skill, so the best photo I could<\/span> find was a blurry<\/span>\ncrop from an old snapshot.<\/p>\n\n

I'm not sure what people normally do in Japan when a pet<\/span> dies and they\ndon't have a yard<\/span> to bury him in (come to think of it, I don't<\/span> know what\npeople do in The States, either), but he'd been a member<\/span> of the family for\na long<\/span> time, so Fumie's folks wanted to say goodbye in a meaningful<\/span> way.\nSo, we brought Huck to a pet<\/span> cemetery the next day, where a mini<\/span> version of\nthe same kinds of Buddhist rites done during a person's<\/span> funeral took place....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 66 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 1250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Having gone through the real thing when Fumie's grandmother died<\/a>\ntwo years ago, it was familiar, though this version lasted only a few<\/span>\nminutes.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 32 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 720 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“Matsunaka Family — Huck Memorial”<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The altar in the background is similar to that at a Buddhist<\/span> temple (such as this<\/a>), but\nfilled with various pet snacks that were apparently favorites of some\nrecently departed pets.<\/p>\n\n

It was all slightly comical — the whole business was housed in\nmobile trailers, and the guy in charge wore a tie<\/span> with puppies on it\n— and everyone involved understood it to be just a little<\/span> bit silly,\nbut at the same time, a beloved<\/span> pet is hard to lose and so perhaps the mix\nof somber and silly were just the ticket Fumie's folks needed.<\/p>\n\n

After the short ceremony, the wooden memorial and Huck went off in a\nspecial<\/span> truck to be cremated in the mountains, and we went out for lunch at\na wonderful<\/span> place I'll write about some day. (Update: here<\/a>). It was cherry<\/span>-blossom time and\nbeautiful out. It was at<\/span> that lunch, at an outside cafe, that I took<\/span> the\nphoto featured in “Anthony Growing Up: the\nTipping Point<\/a>” that I like<\/span> so much I'll repeat it here:<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 85mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

After lunch, we returned to the pet cemetery where, just like at a human<\/span>\nfuneral, Huck's mostly-cremated remains returned still hot, and there were\nrites involving the bone fragments that remained.<\/p>\n\n

The “pet cemetery” actually has no graves or burials... it's just a\ncouple<\/span> of trailers at a parking<\/span> lot, with one large shared monument at one\nend.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPet-Cemetery Monument<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>3200 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nVery Tall<\/span>\nmuch taller than it looks in this picture\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 58 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPast Pets<\/span>\nAnthony is pointing to a shitzu, like Huck, he found on the facing wall\n<\/div>\n\n\n

That was six weeks ago, and just like a human<\/span> funeral, it continues\nafter 40-something days for a placing-of-the-bones type\nceremony<\/a> at the shared monument (though in case, the pet\ncemetery's motives in pressing the service was likely more related to\nincreasing the billables than to assuage grief). That was today, which\nreminded me that I wanted<\/span> to post this.<\/p>\n\n

Huck is, I'm sure, in Doggy Heaven enjoying all the non-dairy coffee\ncreamers he can get his tongue on.<\/p>\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fumie's folks' dog, Huck, died last month, aged exactly 17 years 8 months, which made him one very old puppy. I think Fumie had just started high school when he joined their family.<\/p>

He'd been in poor health for a long time, since prior to me getting any kind of photographic skill, so the best photo I could find was a blurry crop from an old snapshot.<\/p>

I'm not sure what people normally do in Japan when a pet dies and they don't have a yard to bury him in (come to think of it, I don't know what people [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}