[Dailydrool] Good Olde Days

[dpmcquade at verizon.net]

I didn't start on the Drool at the very beginning, but it's probably been nearly ten years (oh, can it really be that long?), because I came to the Drool maybe a year before we got Belvedere.
 
I remembersome wonderful stories from that halcyon time--a few are in YOU HAD ME AT AHROOO, compiled by Susan Randolph. Even more were stories of the original BABES and OEBE that probably never got printed anywhere (after all, how many people want the gory details of poopsicles?). Those were great times. I appreciate the folks who wrote them and the hounds who inspired them.

Some people who used to be on the Drool who have dropped off for various reasons, and I still miss them too. 

But things change. They should change, or we'd be just the same small group of people chatting back and forth to each other and eventually boring each other to tears because we had nothing new to say. New blood--great hounds and great people--are good for the Drool. If things aren't the same, well, that's rarely the way life goes. Would I trade the old folks for Bev's hounds' antics or her wisdom on all things dog? I don't think so. Would I be happy to have missed out on the information that other new people have brought me? (Thanks, Iris, for the tip on the harness--I will be sending you a picture of Bel in his new and happy acquisition.) Not on your life.

Yeah, I miss the old stories and old antics. Our Belvedere, Admiral of the BABES Good Ship Lollipup, is fourteen now and rarely even thinks of going to sea. But he enjoyed taking virtual cruises with the bassets as long as it went on--all the virtual "events" were lots of fun to read about. Once the BABES went to the boards, the imaginary stories seemed to largely disappear. Maybe people were afraid they'd be taken seriously, or maybe it happened because people have only so much time to read Drool-related stuff, and adding the boards to the regular Drool just didn't fit into a lot of folks' schedules. I know I don't see the boards all that often.

I'm glad for the lively imaginations on the Drool, and I'd hate to limit something this good to just a few old folks, as wonderful as these old friends might be. After a while, those folks who want an invitation-only basset group may find themselves less and less interested in the posts. New blood is important.
Pam, food slave to the Dashing Bassets