There is one less bark greeting visitors to the Bracke household as of early this morning. Sophie, a.k.a. “The Blowfish,” after a long battle with kidney problems and digestive system issues, fell asleep in the morning hours of this autumn day in the company of her “Mom” Sally. Sophie would have been 11 years old in December.
As a puppy, Sophie was only about the size of a hamster. We had to be very careful not to step or sit on her. She literally fit in the palm of a hand.
When Sophie joined the Bracke family, she was the “runt of the litter,” literally drained of blood from being so covered with fleas, and was given less than a week to live. Despite those initial hurdles, and thanks to a caregiver willing to feed her ’round the clock out of baby food jar lids and eyedroppers, she proved the prognosis wrong.
With an attitude befitting a much larger-in-stature dog than she actually was, Sophie was best known for her one-armed-half-assed swimming “attempts,” her fierce battle with a (deceased) ant on the patio, a long and treacherous voyage across the bridge and into Johnson Controls’ warehouse, an afternoon adventure with a one-armed crawfish, and a near-death experience with a balloon piece that resulted not in her demise, but in an odd noise reminiscent of a kazoo.
Never the social butterfly, when guests arrived, Sophie was eager to greet them with her head-straight-up trademarked howl… and then promptly retreat to her cage or the beanbag.
She is remembered as Marissa’s archnemesis–the “Newman” to Marissa’s “Seinfeld,” and the star of the never-quite-produced gameshow “Punt the Runt.” She will also be fondly and bemusedly recalled as the dictator of when “enough was enough” at the house; if other dogs were having just too much fun, she’d shoot out of her cage, running full speed into their side, and then bark at them. And then promptly return to her cage.
To say she brought a lot of smiles to her family is, by all accounts, an understatement.
Sophie is survived by her cousins Ernie and Rosco, and by her adoring and motherly sister Sparky, who remarked that she doesn’t even remember life without her little brown-and-white sister tagging along.
Sparky and Sophie playing together, 1997Sophie is also survived by her “parents” Sally and Steve, and her buddies Chaz, Lex, and Rissa… all of whom are greatly saddened by her passing.
Rest easy, Queen Sophie… may you find a soft beanbag all to yourself, and many red squeaky balls waiting for you!
Marissa regretfully announces the departure of one of her rodent friends, as Captain Furious–a doppelganger for Rissa’s college roommate Fuzzwad–headed off to a land of endless nibblebars this evening.
Furious came to live with Rissa when he was a baby, and he managed to scare the heck out of Rissa with his non-stop “screaming” that he carried on for nearly a day before he realized that (a) he was very safe with his new “mom” and (b) he was about to live in as much luxury and spoiledness as any rodent could dream. From then on, he was as sweet and good-natured as can be. But the name Rissa created for him while he was in the screaming fit–Captain Furious–stuck.
“The Captain” assisted Rissa and Nathan in making it through law school, never hesitating to help out with homework, or provide a needed distraction from studying–whatever the case may have been.
Just as Fuzzwad stuck around long enough to watch Marissa graduate and celebrate the milestone, Captain Furious hung in there through law school, the bar exam, and getting the bar results, before he decided that it was perhaps time to move on.
(Few people knew that Captain Furious was also a ringer at Yahtzee.)
Captain Furious is survived by his little sister Joey, his big sister Dooley, and his cousins Warrick and Grissom. His “mom” Rissa and “dad” Nathan also survive him, along with his frequent playmates Baby Bert, Harry, and Emmet, and nanny Boolar.
Good night, Captain. You’ll be missed. (Say hi to Jules, Oreo, and Fuzzwad for me.)
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I’m Marissa, can-do-ologist, perpetual Curious George, and daily adventurer. 
