Tag Archives: Life

Cassius, Day 24

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Dog, Greyhound, Cassius

Twenty four days in and I can’t imagine how we ever lived without this boy. He has added a tremendous amount of life back into our home.

He continues to learn our ways quickly.  He has progressed from “you have food, I will eat it”, to “maybe I can take this while they aren’t looking”.

It didn’t take long for him to discover the comforts of couches and chairs. Now we are working on “move over”.

Cassius is the goofiest dog we have ever had by far. If that big dopey grin doesn’t put a smile on your face, there’s no hope for you.

We are in love!

Greyhound, Dog, Cassius

Fun Times

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

Day 7 of our life with Cassius. 

This is the face of a dog that just tried to pick up the TV remote. 

This is particularly funny because our last greyhound ate two TV remotes in her early days. This resulted in dog piles with numbers sticking out of them. 

We have been fortunate that our dogs always seem to have the constitution of goats. Putting remotes up now.

Cycles of Life

Thoughts On Life, ,

Life changes no matter what. There are ups and there are downs always. Hang in there the bad times are temporary. Cherish the good times because they are not guaranteed. 

I have survived some hard times in recent months. The death of three very close friends and the death of our beloved greyhound along with other life turmoils.

Now come the good times. Things are definitely looking good. A recent promotion at work, a new greyhound arriving next week, and a long holiday weekend with lots of time to spend with family. 

This is the reward. Life is good!

Tribute to a Dog

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Dog-Phoebe with Bunny

Phoebe has been gone from us a week now. Her loss came suddenly and was a huge shock. One minute she was running around being her silly self. The next minute she was crying out in pain. Her femur had fractured. We briefly considered amputation. But upon seeing the x-rays we discovered that it broke because of weakening from a bone tumor. And with further x-rays we learned that there were questionable  spots on a rib and her heart didn’t look quite right. Then the vet told us that by this point the cancer had usually spread and even with treatment her average life expectancy would be six months. Phoebe was already 10 1/2 years old. Although we struggled with the choice, there wasn’t really much of a choice. We didn’t want her to suffer a surgery and what would follow. We loved her enough to let her go.

Dogs-Phoebe and Baxter

I cried almost all of the first day. The second day I was greatly improved. I only cried for half of the day. As time goes by I cry less. The good memories take up more space. There is definitely a large void in our home and our pack of dogs. Although Phoebe was a lazy hound, she had a big presence. Her favorite thing was car rides. You can see how happy she is that she and Baxter were loaded up in the car to head out for a hike. Phoebe demanded car rides. She got depressed if more than a few days went by without her getting one. Particularly if any of the other dogs got a ride and she didn’t. She would stand staring at the door waiting for us to get the hint. So she was often my passenger on the way to pick up an order of Chinese take out, or a run to the store to buy more dog food. She liked the ride to Tractor Supply for the dog food best. She was allowed to accompany me into the store to get the dog food. She was not above jumping into the cars of guests when they left their car doors open. After all any car ride is a good car ride, right?

Dog-Phoebe

Phoebe was a retired racer that we got from Greyhound Adoption of Ohio. She was nearly two years old when we got her which is fairly young for a rescue dog. Although we are sad that she is gone, as the tech from our vet’s office said, we were able to give her 8 1/2 really happy years.  That is a life well lived.

Until We Meet Again

Thoughts On Life, ,

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Today was the end of an era for me. My best friend from college was laid to rest. This forces the issue of mortality in my mind. Becky and I were friends for 35 years. On one hand 35 years is quite a while. On the other hand I did not have her in my life for nearly long enough. In another 35 years I will be close to 90 years old. I guess it just points out that we need to make the most of our times together.

And Becky and I did have some most awesome times! The picture above is from our trip to Maine, most of which was spent in Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. We hiked, we ate ice cream and lobster, we shopped, camped, went to the beach, and hiked some more. We discovered on this trip that I can make a 180 degree turn in a full size pickup when I see an ice cream stand! Totally worth it. Becky laughed about that for years.

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This picture is from our hike to the summit of Gorham Mountain. We were quite proud. Although this trip is one of the highlights of our adventures, there were so many more.

Our group of college friends had annual Christmas parties, even as families grew. Becky spent many, many weekends with me when we were both single. Through all the years and life changes we always kept in contact. At some points more often than others. It was always as if no time had passed when we got together again.

I’m sure that will be the case when some day in the distant future we are hanging out together again. Becky will live on as a part of me. Just like a quote I saw somewhere. Death ends a life, not a relationship. Until we meet again my friend.

Roxanne and the Big Ride

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, Uncategorized, , ,

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What a beautiful smile! It is what I will remember about her. Roxanne lost the good fight yesterday. Run free pretty girl. I miss my dog.

Roxanne passed peacefully at home.  She was laying outside in the sunshine on a beautiful 70 degree late fall day of Indian Summer. A dog couldn’t ask for better and neither could we. She was 15 1/2 years old and we were blessed to share 10 1/2 of those years with her. She had been failing again recently. This had happened two times before this year so I thought she might rally yet again. We joked that she would be with us forever. You will be with us forever, old girl. But now you are young again.

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To tell the truth, I expected her to give us more trouble on her way out of this world. You couldn’t exactly say she was an easy dog. I guess it was her last gift to us. Roxanne was one of our Sheltie Rescue dogs. She was the first foster dog that we kept after our Rescue had been in operation for two years. It was because she was deemed unadoptable. Lucky us! I do feel lucky. She had been adopted once and returned because she barked and lunged at kids and bicycles on her walks and the adopter had been an older lady who couldn’t handle it. Didn’t seem like that big of a deal as rescue troubles go. So she came to live with us. That behavior had been just the tip of the iceberg. She could give a serious “nip” when you were leaving the house. She didn’t like the way I sneezed and would lunge at me and hit me in the thighs every time I committed this grievous act. When I ran the blender there was more lunging and nipping, sometimes actual bite attempts with varying degrees of success. She would come running from other rooms of the house to exert control and set her world in order. This resulted in her nickname, which I used frequently, of Roxilla. Over the years it became a term of endearment. Even in her later days if you accidentally put your foot down on her as you got off the couch, she could inflict a healthy nip. We didn’t think that anyone else would exhibit the proper level of insanity to keep her so with us she stayed. You may wonder why? Despite these “drawbacks”, she was a very sweet and loving girl. She thought she was working and doing her job to keep everyone in line and under control. She was listed as a sheltie and came through our sheltie rescue but I always wondered if she was infact a tricolor border collie with working instincts gone awry? She didn’t exactly look like a sheltie. Didn’t matter. We loved her and as part of our family we chose to put up with what we could not change.

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Roxanne came from a shelter in West Virginia. Her story, as I remember it, is that her owner was a truck driver and made runs to Mexico. He ended up in prison and Roxanne ended up in the shelter. I think the trucker had family in West Virginia. We always joked that she was used to running drugs. Especially with the way she would vigilantly watch people from the car window. Who knows?! That girl did love to ride in the car. When my daughter was in high school we would take Roxanne with us to pick my daughter up from her fast food job. Roxanne knew where her “pup” (as she thought of my daughter) was. Roxanne stood on the car seat watching through the car window and the restaurant window, looking inside to watch my daughter work behind the counter. She stood on the seat watching and trying to encourage my daughter to come and get in the car. Her eyes followed my daughter everywhere she went until she was safely inside the car for the trip home.

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We all considered Roxanne to be my daughter’s dog because they had such a special bond. That dog loved her Livvi! And the feeling was mutual. When my daughter was older and had her driver’s license she would take Roxanne with her in the car to run errands. That elicited big smiles from both of them. Of course Roxanne would stay in the car and watch, eagerly awaiting my daughter’s return. Even in her last months when she was slow and hobbled by arthritis she would come running as best she could when she looked up and saw my daughter was here for a visit. What a special bond. I get tears just thinking of it.  Of course I am getting tears a lot right now.

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As recently as a couple months ago Roxanne would on occasion go out to the pasture and spend some time outside enjoying the sun and fresh air with the other dogs. Here you can see she was still alert and watching all the goings on around our place. Always in control, that girl was!

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Yet again I am amazed that even with five dogs still left in the house, it seems empty now with her passing. Of course that girl lived large and had a big presence. Now she will live forever as is her due. Until we meet again sweet girl. She is probably riding in a big truck in the sky and looking down while thinking “will you guys get up here where I can keep an eye on you!”