Basset Blog

CORKEY BASSET HOUNDS

Basset Blog

WELCOME TO OUR BASSET DIARY PAGE!

Every now and then we like to post a story from around our place. With 5 kids, a son and now daughter-in-law, 3 grand babies, a dog kennel, and some chickens and 2 noisy ducks, we always have something going on. It's been years since I've been on this page and so many stories have gone by that deserve laughs. So I have decided to try to write again.

This story took place a few years ago when my daughter and son-in-law had to go out of town for the weekend. They asked me to go over to their place and feed their dogs, ( a basset hound of course and a chocolate lab). So I did. When I got there, there were no dogs. I called my daughter and asked her," Where are your dogs? They're gone!" She said, "What do you mean they're gone?!" So I began to tell her there were no dogs, no dog chain and the kennel for the basset was opened. "Someone must have stolen them." I said, and just then the basset came running up and we realized they just broke out. I told my daughter I would drive around and look for the lab. After driving for only a minute up the road, I saw the lab. He had been hit and killed on the road. I pulled over and walked up to the poor thing to make sure. I called my daughter and told her and her husband the bad news. It was a sad ride home for them. When they got in town , they called to ask me where the dog was so they could bury him. I told them. After many tears thourghout the day, my son-in-law went, picked up the dog and buried him out at his mom's place.

When he returned back to his home, my daughter with a cheerful look on her face, open the side door and in ran their lab! My son-in-law, astonished, asked, "How is this possible?"
The neighbor took their run-away lab in for the day, and brought him over to my daughter while my son-in-law was out at his mom's.
My son-in-law buried someone else's dog! 07/22/2011

MAY 4 - 2012 - Today is May 4th and we have been so busy getting ready for 2 weddings, one in May, our son's, and one in June, our daughter's. Not to mention that our oldest daughter is due to birth in between the weddings, our 4th grand child, a boy. And so we have been so busy with wedding showers, wedding plans, baby showers, and rehearsal dinners that Dan and I have been getting so mixed up with conservations about these events that we can't keep them straight. When he's talking one wedding, I'm thinking it's the other wedding. When I'm talking one shower, he's thinking it's the other shower. The only event we can't mix up is the baby event, unles we are talking showers and leave out the word "baby", then one of us is thinking baby shower, while the other is thinking we're talking wedding shower. And so every so often Dan and I throw our hands up and go get a Star Buck's coffee and escape it all for an hour or so.

In the mean time I am also waiting anxiously for my up coming litter with Yoko and like always, a coming litter is like the first litter ever and I get so excited. Then we are still waiting on Lapowka to come into heat......she seems to know and doesn't care that I am getting impatient with her on this topic. And when I try to discuss it with her and ask her what is taking her so long, and tell her that so many people including myself are so anxiously waiting to see what her babies with Duke will look like, she just does her 'turn abouts' before me with her tongue hanging enjoying every minuet of my torture. Silly dog!

"who me?" Yes! You!

MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY

Today I actually have a minute to blog!! What a crazy summer. We have had 6 weddings to attend, 2 out of town, and our own Matthew and Rachel are now engaged both to be married next spring three weeks apart!! We also have had so many family members come visit this summer so we have been non stop. That is why my puppy pics have not been updated. But the summer is now almost at an end and it has been a fun busy summer. Edie's pups are getting big and soon they will leave us and we anticipate the arrival of the fall puppies. I have so many people tell me I have a fun job. It is very fun but it is lots of consistent hard work. The joy of the bassets never ends and I get to kiss and play with so many puppies. This helps as my own children are now 17 and older and planning their own lives. Course that does not mean I will be without them as they are settling in the area and Dan and I have 3 grand babies and possibly many more to come. In fact, we are considering adding on when we see how busy we are now and how are house is still full with music, laughter, friends, visiting family members, and of course dogs. Children are but only a blessing and each one adds new things to the family and they bring fullness in your elderly years. They are my favorite people to hang with. 8/26/11

A SURPRISE WEDDING PROPOSAL!!

This past Feb. 2011 our daughter's boy friend, Travis, asked to meet with Dan to ask for our daughter's hand in marriage. After an hour or two of him watching Dan clean his gun and hearing Dan's great love for his daughter and how much of our time and our lives we put into raising her, he gave Travis the 'go a'head'.So Travis planned a surprise proprosal at a dinner theater here in the Blue Ridge Mtns. We were all invited to come and eat dinner and watch the proposal before a 200 live audience just before the show started. Travis was handed a mic, had the spot light put on him and there in front he proposed to our little flower, Rachel. Watch the video, she was surprised! 07/22/2011

Whoa! I went out to get our chicken eggs this afternoon and guess who got there before me! A big ole' black snake was curled all around our eggs. I went and got my camera and snapped his picture and then said, "they're your eggs buddy!" I was not gonna reach over and try to reclaim them. hmmm....I hope I can get my eggs today. July 4 th, 2008

: ( SAD STORY

Juju has puppies, and we have her here in the house with us. Her water and food dish are just outside the door. Last night, through the glass doors, I watched a little mouse run over to Juju's food dish, hop into it, grab a bit of food that Juju left over, and hop out of the dish and run away. A few seconds later, the little mouse returned, hopped into the dish stole another bit of food, hopped out and ran away. Well, I didn't want this to go on all night, and dogs can get coccidia from mice, so I opened the door and brought the dish in along with cleaning it. The following morning, I went to let Juju out, and there was that poor old mouse, drowned in Juju's water dish. : ( Oct. 26th, 2007

A Bee
Today is July 18th, 2007. We just purchased a new dog, champion sired, Juju a couple of days ago. Dan and I spent a day driving to pick her up and driving back home. We got home just before dark. When we got home, I was getting Juju settled in. I temporarily put her in a kennel that we had not been using all summer, while I proceeded to get things ready for her. As I put her in the kennel, I walked in first with her following me. Once inside the run, I latched the gate with me inside. Reaching down to pick up a water dish, I suddenly felt a stinging pain, and then another stinging pain. All of a sudden there were hornets buzzing all around me. I couldn't knock the ones stinging me off, they were to embedded in my skin. I was trying to get the latch up so that I could get out, don't worry, Juju was on the other end of this large kennel and did not get stung at all. However, her new owner was getting injected with bee stings repeatly. I was so in pain and scared that I could not get the latch to lift. Finially, I told myself, "if you don't calm down, you will get more bees on you. Yes, you are being stung, but calm down, get this latch up and get out!" So, I had to recompose myself, I had bees on my chin, my arm and in my hair, but I managed to calm myself, think about the latch and lift it. Out I ran flinging my hands through my hair. The bees on my chin and arm left on their own, they had stung me enough and flew off. Juju was out sniffing around, staring at me like , "what am I in for?" Dan came a'running and trying to save me. We looked over at the kennel run and there was a hornet's nest the size of a scoccer ball!

That evening, with a swollen chin, and swollen arm, I laid in bed, in a dark room, watching Dan's silhouette on the wall, as he was outside in the kennel run, fighting BEES! The flash light would light up my wall and I'd see his shawdow run across it, jump back, and then run across again, as he was attacking the bee hive with degreaser and a hose. I would pop up now and then and look out the window to make sure he was still alive. After about an hour, the light on the wall and the Dan silhouette disappeared. Poor Dan, fighting bees at midnight. He had to wait for them to all go to sleep in order to attack the KILLER BEES. 7/18/2007

IT'S WINTER NOW!

Yes, it is winter here now. The wind is blowing hard today and it is cold outside. Bassets are in their heated houses and Dan's chessies are in their element. Speaking of Dan's chessies, his boy Gus, loves to retrieve things back to our home. The other day he brought back a very nice frozen pumkin pie still in the box. It looked tasty and Dan was tempted to cook it, but decided, "no". Then he came home with the back of a deer, a very nice toy truck with chewed wheels and as you can see here in the picture, he loves to bring boxes up to the house that the UPS man leaves at the bottom of our steep drive way. Hey!! It's snowing! Jan. 28, 2007

A PILE OF PUPPIES!!!
Last night we went to bed at 12:30 am, and by 6:30 this morn, Freckles had a pile of puppies! Our son took one look and said, "Wow! she had a pile of puppies!" So this pile of puppies is doing great and Freckles, a real champ, is doing great. So, we didn't lose any sleep and now we will keep a close eye on them all and give lots of treats to Freckles. Aug. 3rd. 2005

GOATS! Things have been pretty busy around here, but fun. We have 3 litters of beautiful puppies to care for along with the usual chores. Freckles's pups are running around now and playing. We've moved them to the pen outside, which sits up on deck flooring. They sleep in a large dog house with a heat lamp. They loved the room we gave them to run and tackle each other. Daisy's and Boo's babies are still down stairs and in the lazy, just lay around and nurse mode. We went to a church picnic yesterday, and some people brought some baby goats. They were selling them. Out of all those people there, there were only 2 stupid people who bought 2 of them. That's right, us. Well, we could use them to eat some of the grass and weeds that grow around here. Any way , as if we don't have enough to do, they sure are cute! And the bassets don't even mind them. They just stare at them over in their pen and then they look up at me and say, " You've got to be (kid)ding." Sept. 5th, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Today we are giving thanks to our Lord, for how He has blessed us throughout the year. Another year, He has chosen to pour out His blessings on us. We thank Him for all the provisions and puppies that have passed our way this year! We woke up to a white Thanksgiving and chilling winds. Right now, in between the cooking of the turkey and sweet potatoes, I take a minute to thank all of you for either buying a basset and showing it much love, or for just enjoying looking at our site. As the cold is coming to the Blue Ridge Mts. we are beginning to prepare our dogs' houses with heat lamps and fresh hay, which they love and get so excited to roll in after we stuff it in their houses. Minnie Mae had 2 pups, one of which we lost during birth, but the one pup is doing well and so is Minnie Mae. So, may God bless all of you out there in cyber world, and know , that even the next breath that we breath, is a blessing from the Lord!
11/24/2005

A TURTLE
Yesterday was Sunday and as Dan had to take our son to church early, he came across a baby turtle crossing our road. He and our son stopped, picked up the turtle, and because our son couldn't be late, there was no time to place the turtle in a safer environment until Dan came back home. So, Dan let the turtle go for a ride with them to church. Did Dan have a box to put him in? No. Did Dan put the turtle in anything? No. He let him roam free in the van, without a seat belt even. By the time he dropped our son off and headed back home, we needed to be back at church within the the hour. So Dan came in and proceeded to get ready for church. About 30 min. later, with shaving cream all over his face, he comes running out of the bathroom calling our younger son,"Joe, Oh, I forgot, go outside and look for a turtle crawling around in the van!" I got up from the table with my coffee and looked around the corner and down the hallway and said, "What! Oh honey, you didn't." As Dan explained, Joe went running out to the van, he searched and searched and could not find the turtle. "Bring Fanny Mae over to the van and let her sniff him out." I said. So Fanny Mae, our youngest basset, plods over and we strive to drag her clumsy, limp, body up to the van. Unsuccessful with the lazy basset, we begin crawling around ourselves. We were already headed towards being late for church and I had to help with baptism. "We'll have to find him as we drive." I said. So the rest of us pile in and there under a little vent, Joe found him. Now, he was riding back to church with us again. Only this time, we did stop at the creek down the road and placed him safely near the creek well off the road. Church? We were late. 06/05/2006

A Cool Hose
Well, as most of you know, we have been under a heat wave for some time now. Our bassets are in kennels that are surrounded by a fenced in acre of woods. Today and every day since this heat, we have been letting them all out in the fenced in wooded area, which we do anyway everyday. But we've been throwing in a hose down each day. At first they don't like being dragged over to the hose, but once they feel that cool water, they just sit down and enjoy their cool off time. Then they run off in sheer, cool delight, all excited with a return back to us as if to say "Thank you!" The cool off time then turns into a hose fight between me and Dan. July 26, 2005

SPRING IS HERE!!
But it's still cold. It's been awhile since I last was on this page. We are still waiting for Ellie to birth her new babies. We are always so excited when new puppies are coming. We are also waiting on the warmer weather like most of you all out there. But it will be here soon. All the puppies we have here now, are mostly all sold and will be leaving us over the next 2 weeks. It's sad to see them leave after you've put all your time, energy, and effort into helping them get a good start in life. But we are pretty confident that they are all going to loving homes and will have great adventures for themselves.
March 23rd, 2006

ANYONE WANT A GOAT?
They're eating everything!!! except the grass and weeds!
No, we're not getting rid of them, our daughter would disown us. But, we have had to barracade them from everything. They are eating all our flowers, peach trees, lilac trees, even my porch swing. Now, they rule over the bassets. And if a basset chases them, it's a real joke. The poor basset flies with all his or her might, hits a small dip in the ground, steps on his ear and it's down hill all the way. The goats stop, watch, and go back to eating, my flowers. May 12, 2006

SNAKES!!!

What a beautiful day it was yesterday! Finally, the first real nice, warm day in May. So, I joyfully put on my shoes to go out and visit with all my basset babies. As I make my way to the kennel area I abruptly stop, look down, and SCREAM! (I didn't scream real loud). But to my amazement, there was a snake visiting our kennel area. He was not in the kennels with the bassets though, he was in the fenced in area where they run. Well, now over my shock of almost stepping on him, I decide to study him. Small, about 12 inches long, gray maybe, brown? Look at all those diamonds going down his back! Aren't they different. Doesn't look like a garder snake. I don't think I've ever seen this kinda snake before. Oh!! Do rattle snakes have diamonds? I ask myself. There's no rattle. Maybe babies don't have rattles, at least not baby snakes anyway. Then I watch him slither away. So I come in and look up rattle snakes. Yep, it's a baby rattle snake. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
So.......now poor Dan, is the rattle snake exterminator. I'll be back with more snake news. 5/21/2006

IS IT WINTER YET?

Well........I know you all out there in many locations are probably wondering the same thing? Is it winter yet? However, in the Mid West, they have no doubt of winter. Here in the Blue Ridge, the weather has been gorgeous. We've been missing the ice and snow storms, they seem to skip us as they go by. It has been a very easy winter here. The bassets don't know if they want their heat lamps on or off. One night it's a must , then the next day, they're all like, " hey, uh, it's hot out here, could you please pull the plug on the heat?" Anyway, we have enjoyed the warm winter, but in an eerie sort of way. We know it's suppose to be winter, but where is it and why? It's another year though, and we look forward to it with great joy and hope. As I sit here and drink my coffee, I recall what someone once wrote, "Life is the coffee. If we had a whole bunch of different coffee cups before us to choose from, which one would we choose? Would we choose the best looking cup or the older chipped one? What if someone chooses a better cup than mine? What we really want is just a cup of coffee. When we strive for the better cup, and compare our cup with what others chose, and feel that they may have chose a better looking cup, we forget about the coffee and are not content." So, I look at my coffee and the cup in comes in. Jan. 17, 2007

Matt tried out for American Idol and made it to Hollywood!! Check out the American Idol site for his interview! Way to go Matt!!

Click here to see Matt's picture on the American Idol site.

Click here to watch Matt's Hollywood interview.

Click here for another picture of Matt going to Hollywood.

Click here to see Matt in group audition photo.

Click here to see Matt in the group audition photo 2.

1. Click here - Matt singing "Secret" by Maroon 5

2. Matt singing - "Love Goes On" by David Phelps.

Click here to view Matt singing "Love Goes On" by David Phelps, in an evening church service. Pardon the shaky video. This will take several mins to download.

Click here to hear Matt singing his new song, "Sang You to Sleep" written by Jeff Abbey