The Passing of a Friend & Family Member

I will start by saying THANK YOU to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for Cowboy.

I write my second post today with a heavy weight in my heart. I took Cowboy to the vet this morning, thankfully my regular vet was working today. I have to admit that there was a part of me screaming to not call them and keep Cowboy at home. But I knew instinctually or on an intellectual level that he needed to be seen. We started with blood work to see if there were any changes since his 6 month visit in February. While we waited for the results, we spent some time together on the floor. I told him how I felt about everything that was going on and how much I loved our 2 years together. I told him what he meant to our family and how much I wanted him to be okay. When the blood work came back, the results showed that even though he had a slight elevated white blood cell count there were no real changes since his last visit. However, Cowboy was telling us something else.

I tried to get Cowboy to take a treat from me, stand, put his head up and I tried to get a small wag of his tail, anything...but I couldn't. As I watched him, I knew in my heart that the kind thing to do was to let him go.

We had little time for goodbyes...Cowboy slipped into sleep for the last time and left this life for the next taking a piece of my heart with him. He will be missed and not forgotten.

Cowboy joins and meets our other Goldens, Tod, Ben, Cougar, Scout, Tucker, Tosh, Logan, Cubby, and Kasey at the Rainbow Bridge.

God speed Cowboy...

A Long Night With Cowboy

It's my usual time to get up, but I feel as if I've not had any sleep at all.

You may recall back in February I told you about our senior boy, Cowboy who we think is about 13-14 years old. He came to us 2 years ago from a shelter in West Virginia--You can read more about him and his story of rescue here: http://lifeatgoldenpines.blogspot.com/2010/02/our-valentines-day-gift.html

Yesterday morning we noticed that Cowboy was not his usual self. When we were out for our morning walk, he only walked around a little bit. There was none of his continual tail wagging or barking, there was none of his usual rolling in the grass either. When he came back in, he laid down in the kitchen. He didn't get up for his breakfast, so I fed him in that spot. Thinking that the rain and the return of the cold weather was bothering his arthritis Carl and I both went off to work--Of course I worried about him the entire time. When I got home, Cowboy was still in the same place as he was when I left in the morning. When I let the other dogs out, Cowboy tried, but couldn't get up. I stood him up, but he's unable to walk without being steadied on his feet. I made him a dinner of "chicken-soup" with rice, which he ate. We then helped him out, and put him on a dog bed where he's stayed. Cowboy sleeps in our room and I got up several times during the night to check on him and anytime there was any noise I woke up. He did get sick once during the night...His feet and ears are nice and warm, his gum color is good, and he's alert...

Of course it goes without saying that I really love this goofy old boy and I'm really worried. I don't know what all this means, and my hope is that he'll snap out of it. But of course my head is telling that he is an old dog that's had a long life and his time to leave us may be near--but my heart is not ready to let him go, he practically just got here.

I hope you'll keep him in your prayers...

Blog-Writers Block??!!

It has been over a week since I posted...I have decided that I'm experiencing a bit of writers block. I have never had a shortage of words before. I always joke that I can talk "for an hour just about the color orange." But for some reason, the words are just not coming even though there is a lot of inspiration around me to blog about.

We've had warm temps, and I could blog about the "sunshine on my shoulder making me happy..." But that would be using words already sung by John Denver.

The dogs are certainly a comedic source to tell "tails" of! I could write about how they are enjoying the warmer weather...

...and how "in-sync" they can be with one another...But I can't find the words to tell about it...

Then there's our cat CC. I could blog about how she never walks on the grass to get across the yard, but walks on the top rail of the fence instead, always stopping at the posts--I love how cats keep their balance and never fall. I could blog about how klutzy I was as a kid and never got picked for anything...But no, I'm just not in the mood to talk about it. Of course there are the signs of spring to tell about--My daffodils are coming up...
...I could blog about second chances like the one given to me by my Hydrangea. I set it out last year and despite my best effort, it didn't do so well. I was so glad to see that it's coming back this year to give me another chance!
I could post about the wild-life I so love seeing. But again the words elude me to even tell about the 2 owls we are hearing in the early morning hours; I even had one swoop just over me on Wednesday. The Red Wing Black-birds and the Canadian Geese have also returned. This past week we found a deer antler. I wonder if its from the beautiful buck we had around in the fall?

I did get a new camera yesterday. I've "semi-retired" my beloved 35mm camera, and am going towards being all digital. I wanted something to take the close-up pictures that I've been able to take with my "old" camera--The digital one I've been using does "okay," and time will tell if the new addition fits my amateur needs.

I did a lot of research of cameras that were in the range of what I could spend. After much thought, and reading lots of reviews I decided on the "Canon PowerShot." The reviews that say the "Canon PowerShot SX20 IS, can produce magnificent HD movies and dazzling photos--It has a high-powered 20x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer, 12.1 Megapixels, a big 2.5-inch Vari-Angle LCD, Blink Detection and more..."

Maybe the "new toy" is what I need. I hope you'll stay tuned...I'm hoping inspiration and words return soon, I know I have so much more to say, don't I??

Finally--Signs of Spring!!!

I know I'm not the only one who has felt that this winter has been a particularly long and cold one. So, its really been a bit of a relief to say goodbye to February, and "hello" to a few little indications of spring...

Like the Eastern Bluebird:

The (American) Robin:

We even saw a weasel, although I think it's still a bit early for this critter to be out and about--I wonder what woke him up? With temps above freezing during the day, I noticed today that the Forsythia is also starting to bud.

Another signal of spring is that Charlie, our Wheaten Terrier went today for his "spring-do." I always think I like the shaggy-dog look best, but then he comes back from the groomer and I can see his eyes, and then I think I like that look best!

Unfortunately the warmer temps have also brought out of their winter hiding places the "stink-bugs" that we were bombarded with last fall. The ones that found their way inside are now appearing on the floor, the counters, the furniture and even on Carl's painting...Bugs make me a bit squeamish; but I am proud to say that I am picking some of them up and putting them outside--They hate the cold but the birds really love them and have been coming onto the front porch looking for ones we have tossed out. By the way, the ones that don't get picked up, vacuumed or tossed out the door sometimes get eaten by our boy Maguire--I guess they are an acquired taste, none of the other dogs seem to want to sample them! Whatever March brings, I'm glad that at the start of it, there are a few signs of spring!