Millie the Basset Hound, Petaluma

When my brother was about 10 or 12, he became obsessed with basset hounds, working the word "basset" into everyday conversations (somehow), and begging for a basset puppy of his own. Finally my parents caved, and together they adopted Opal Basset (named after my dad's childhood babysitter), the adorable, shy runt of a litter, right before I graduated high school. She is 13 years old now (which, okay, tells you how dang old I am too) and has gotten grey and rundown, but is still hanging in there.

This post, however, isn't about Opal - it's about the dogs she's inspired. My cousin (his mom and my mom's moms were identical twin sisters- so I think it's second cousins once removed or something, but since we both grew up in Petaluma, and our grandmothers were basically natural clones, it's more like he's a brother) Henry adopted a pretty basset lady 8 or 10 years ago and named her Wilma. Most recently, though, Henry's brother Morgan and his wife Kennon adopted little miss Millie, who is the star of this post.



Isn't she adorable?? Morgan calls her "Mildegard" and other cute things (and I came up with "the Mills to pay the bills", which I think he liked). Here she is, sleepy and poolside, in a lounge chair:



I took these shots one hot day when I stopped by Constance, Morgan and Henry (and Josh)'s mom's house to go swimming. Morgan was hard at work on the addition he and his crew are building to Constie's house, so I felt kind of bad just lazing around in the sun and in the pool. Millie was even more relaxed than me though!



I shot these with 35mm film, for old time's sake.

Apparently Millie is much bigger already now. When I was there she loved chewing affectionately and howling - let's hope for Morgan and Kennon's sakes that she calms down a bit! She seems like she'll stay small like Wilma and Opal. I have GOT to get a family portrait of the three of them!

Warning: the shot below is slightly gross.


Also I guess for old time's sake, Morgs hurt himself and had to get stitches, but I just liked how their "paws" looked together:



This post is a bit random, but look at those eyes - so cute! I am gearing up for my biggest wedding month ever, and hope to find time to post my most recent one soon.