our last greyhound

We had to put Jazz to sleep on Monday.  She was the last (for now) of over 20 years of greyhounds.  It was a very sad day.  She had been sick for a very long time, about two years, and her quality of life just wasn't there anymore.  She was too tired to walk the beach or go to the yacht club and soak her very skinny legs in the cold water. She was too tired to make it back up the stairs even after a short walk around the neighbor hood.  We will miss her more than she could ever know.  We know that now she is running uninhibited along the beach on the other side.  We're sure she's meeting with all our dearly beloved people and dogs.  It started with a very angry schnauzer, Max, and he was the reason we moved on to the much calmer greyhounds. Then there was Dottie, a beautiful brindle giant; Widow, a black beauty; Sugar, our three legged, fawn baby; and now Jazz.  You will be missed.
It's a strange realization to wake up all these years later and not have a greyhound in the house.  We do have a very crazy terrier, who we love dearly, but it's another day of not living with a greyhound.  We'll see how long this lasts.

We lost Sugar today

This never gets any easier.  We had to put one of our greyhounds down today.  She had a very short battle with the big "C". I'm so sick of it.  She was such a love and didn't deserve to suffer.  I couldn't watch as she struggled to do everything from get off the couch to squatting to pee.  I've always been a firm believer in death with dignity, but it's tough when you're the one picking the time and place.  We stayed with her until her heart stopped and left too many tears running down her snout.  Like I said every night when I went to bed, I'll see you on the flip side.

It's been a while

Let's see, what has been going on?  Jazz was diagnosed with what is called a musical heart murmur.  I never heard of it, but we can certainly hear her heart beat.  When she gets excited, we can even hear it from across the room.  I do feel better about it since her ultrasound.  That was very interesting to watch.  It seems that there isn't much damage to her heart, but the noise was very frightening before the diagnosis.  According to petmed.com, the definition of her number 6 is

• Grade VI—very loud, audible with stethoscope barely touching the chest; the vibration is also strong enough to be felt through the animal's chest wall

According to the doctor, just because it is loud does not mean that it is any more detrimental to her life span.  Her lifestyle does not have to be adjusted, but we do need to have another ultrasound before she goes under any kind of anesthesia.  We'll have to put her dental off for a few months.  Now the cost of the test?  With the doctor bill and the ultrasound, it was a whopping $535.  Thank goodness we have pet insurance!  Speaking of which.... we have had VPI through all our greyhounds, and it has actually gotten better over the years.  That $535 is actually being covered in full.  It is pricey, but my work has payroll deduction, and as it gets better, I've either broken even or some years (depending on how accident prone the girls are) come out ahead of what the premiums cost.  

They are too cute for words!

Now the other one manages to get herself in trouble on a regular basis.  She has been ok lately, but last night she did eat three legs of a decorative starfish.  I hope they are not poisonous, but so far she seems to be fine.  She certainly likes to eat "things".  Let's see, she has eaten her share of eyeglass cleaning cloths, mail, anything if we accidentally leave the trash open, and my favorite... a baby sock that she wore for a couple of weeks to keep her from slipping on some bandages she had around her foot.  Oh wait, the best part was she regurgitated the sock in one piece at my friend's house while I was away.  Ok, so I'm glad I didn't have to clean up the pukey sock!!

I think I need to post on one of those dog shaming web sites!

Good thing she is cute!

a sad day

My friend's mother was buried today.  Things like that don't usually bother me too much, but this was different.  She was a wonderful woman.  She was caring and compassionate, and I don't think I ever heard anyone say a bad word about her.  If she had a point to make, she made it and would try her best to change our minds.  Especially her political views.  Yes, she was a die hard republican and my husband and I have always been very vocal democrats.  We had very lively conversations around election time and even recently with this crazy government shutdown.
Last time I saw her, she re affirmed that she was ready to go.  She was at peace and I think she was systematically saying good bye to all the people she cared for.  We lost her husband less than a year ago, and I think that took a huge toll on her.  I wish her peace, and I will miss her greatly.

Her family gave all the women pink roses on our way into the church.  The story is when she was born, her father had a great devotion to Saint Therese of Lisieux, and therefore named his daughter after the Saint.  She was known as St Therese of the little flower.  She wrote in an autobiography"What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love."

"My mission will begin after my death," she said. "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses."

A wonderful tribute to a wonderful woman.  

The leaves are changing

Fall.  It is by far my favorite time of the year.  The only problem is that it is a reminder of the cold and snow that is sneaking to our doorstep. I love to see the leaves change color, but then they turn brown,  fall off and leave a huge mess for us to clean up.  We used to have a greyhound who loved the crunchy fall leaves.  We could never figure out if it was the texture or the noise that amused her, but she would bee line to any pile of leaves she could see and walk back and forth in them.  She always seemed incredibly happy as she crunched away!  What a cutie!
We're off tomorrow to the Halloween event at Universal in Orlando.  That seems to have become a rite off passage for fall too.  Let's hope this year it doesn't rain buckets like last year.

Happy Anniversary!

In two days we'll hit our 22nd anniversary!  Isn't that amazing?  As the song says, "what a long strange trip it's been"  We've been through a lot, most of it good.  Some of it sad, but we are still here and we are still together.  Now for the scary part... how about a before and after picture?

I guess 22 years hasn't been too bad.  A little grayer, a little older, but still going strong!  Love ya babe!

the stitches are gone!

Today, Sugar had her stitches out!  Her foot looks a lot better, but she does look like she is in some pain still.  She's still on pain killers, but it does look tender.  Of course if doesn't help that she is hopping on and off the couch and running around like a nut... She is still a puppy at heart, even at 10 years old.

On another note, I started crocheting again yesterday... It's been at least 9 years since my last project with yarn.  My husband said it would be just like riding a bike -- well, I was never very good at that, but the crocheting doesn't seem to be all that bad.  It's a long story why I took it up again.  The strange favors I do for friends never ceases to amaze me, even friends that I haven't seen in probably those same 9 years... oh well, small things do still make some people happy!

I also bought the dogs their Halloween costumes today....