Hailey is Home

Hailey's remains were returned to the clinic yesterday and Lady was able pick her up.

Ummm, this isn't Hailey, but it smells like the vet.

Welcome home sweet girl.

We miss you so much. 

In Loving Memory of Tendra

 On Monday, surrounded by love, our Lady's parents dog Tendra, went peacefully to the bridge. She lived 12 years as the boss of the house. Her presence will be greatly missed. We will miss getting to play with her and getting dinner really early when she was around. Run free dear girl.

We Remember

Today we take time to remember. While it was an attack on a foreign country for me (I am Canadian),  it did change my life too.

May we find love and peace for our world.

Personal note: My father's geneology research has uncovered that my branch of the Vanderbilt's had a family farm on this famous piece of land in the 1700s. In case you are wondering, yes I am a distant relative to 'those Vanderbilt's'. whom I have never met Anderson Cooper is my 7th cousin twice removed. 

Remembering Dory

Our hearts broke a little yesterday when we learned that our friend Dory was called to the Rainbow Bridge yesterday after a short illness. It seems her big heart just wasn't strong enough for all the love. 

It is a reminder that with great love and friendship, comes great loss. 

We will join her family in remembering our smiling friend.

Run free sweet girl, run free. 

Purrs 4 Jamison

Blogville said goodbye to another friend on Monday. Dear Jamison from https://noodle4president.wordpress.com was called to the bridge.

We were just getting to know Jamison. Today we join his family, friends and acquaintances in remembering this beautiful boy.

Run free.

----------------------------------

Today we also celebrate LeeLee's 7th birthday! More about the party etc. soon! 

With Great Love Comes Great Loss

It has been a very sad week in Blogville. Hugs to all of those who loved those who have gone to the bridge.

Remembering Easy

Dearest Blogville pals,

As we are sure you have heard, Easy, Hailey's French boyfriend, was called to the bridge yesterday. Words can't describe the heartache we feel for the loss of such an amazing guy. Easy and his antics will be were memorable to say the least (who can forget the chaos party?). He was a wonderful friend to everyone.  He was thoughtful, always the first to lend support and help others, funny and creative. He was spirited and shared this spirit with Blogville. He was a great date and boyfriend.

Today we raise a glass to Easy's memory. We send a hug to Easy's staff. We know how devastated  they are and we hope our love and support makes their pain a little more bearable.  Through our tears, we remember Easy and we smile a little because no matter how sad and heavy our heart feels, when we think about a character like Easy and his adventures, we have to smile.

Fondly,

Hailey (aka Lee), Phod, the Lady and the Man


PS To help Easy's family with the final vet bills visit Murphy and Stanley.

We Remember

We stop today and take time to remember the men, women and animals who have been willing to  and who have sacrificed it all for our freedom.

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day

Remember our friends and loved ones who have gone to the bridge including:

KC

Sunny

Loki

Gemini

Bagheera

Cinder

Lemew

Hokey Wolf

Rover

Max

Barley

Always in our hearts

Remembering Gemini

Tomorrow will be 5 years since Gemini died in an accident (I think of it as a friendly fire incident). The guilt and pain around her death still is fresh in my heart. I have accepted that I will never 100% recover from her loss.  I still can barely talk about her, but am looking past my pain to remember my beautiful angel and share her with others.

This picture was taken about 9 days after Hailey joined our pack. It was taken during a storm. Gemini was trying to comfort Hailey. Gemi was a very snuggly dog and she and her best friend Loki had snuggled all the time. Gemi mourned Loki forever, but did try and make our Hailey her substitute love. As you can see Lee wasn't too sure about it.

A Cat Free Year

Today marks one year since our angel Nin left us. Nin was 20 years old. Our angel Bagheera left us the year before at age 19. We had a cat in our house for 20 years.

While we have adjusted to a life with a cat, I really miss them. I still go to check/clean the litter every few weeks. I would get another one in a heartbeat and when I read stories of cats being found in yards etc. I am hopeful that one will find its way to our yard and need a home. I think that is about the only way I will convince the Man to get another one at this time. (There are lots of outdoor cats around, so it is possible). 

Today I remember my two cats with love and affection, even if I really don't miss the litter (next cat is being toilet trained).

Baggy on the left and Nin on the right

Napping for Bailey

In memory of sweet Bailey from http://sheltietimes.blogspot.ca who went to the bridge recently, we are napping.

See you in our dreams Bailey. 

Run Free Barley

It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Grammie and the Big Guy (aka Lady's parents) sweet boy Barley, died yesterday. Barley was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in the late fall of 2015. He was 8 years old.

Barley came to live with my parents through a lab rescue. He was the product of divorce, apparently the new girlfriend didn't like dogs. He was a super sweet cuddly boy, who thought he was a lap dog, loved to drag his blanket around, and loved to tease his co-dog Tendra with a chew. He loved chase, the beach, and swimming. His tragic flaw - he was super, super drool-y, which always added a little gross to the cuddles. He was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.

Run free Barman, Run free.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - In Memory

In memory of my grandmother:  June 3, 1922 to January 21, 2016

With my parents dogs Tendra and Barley

A Story About Gemini

Yesterday was 4 years since my angel Gemini died as a result of a head injury. This accident left me with PTSD and I remember the summer of 2010 being the darkest and heaviest of my life.

4 years later, I can sometimes even smile when I think about her and the 6 great years we had together.

Today, instead of feeling sad, I will share a funny, happy, Gemini story. It is one of my favourites.

I got the bright idea that we should put Gemini in agility as Hailey enjoyed it.  Gemini, who truly was a little princess, wasn't so sure. She definitely didn't like to over exert herself. She would do it, she was obedient enough. However, she was in no hurry to do it. She moved in slow motion while doing it. It cracked us all up! I remember our trainer saying she had never seen a dog go so slowly through agility. We all referred to it as "Gemini speed." For someone like me who is so uncoordinated agility is hard as a handler, Gemi was the perfect dog to work with. I had time to remember what was coming next.

Here are a few pictures of our angel trying it out.

She may have moved slow but she could jump

I think her face here shows how thrilled she was about being there

She was excellent at the table, it was definitely her speed, although she would have preferred it with a pillow!

Feline Friday - Nin is home

I have been waiting for Nin's return to thank you all for your kind words and love since Nin died. It somehow didn't feel right to thank everyone until he was home. Maybe because this is when his journey really ends. 

We received the call last Thursday that his remains had been returned to our vet clinic. As the clinic is an hour away and neither of us happened to be going to the city we left him there until Monday.

On Monday morning, on my way to work I picked him up. It felt weird all day Monday to know my cat's ashes were sitting on the passenger seat in the car.  It felt weird to be driving with Nin's ashes in the car. He hated the car and would sing the entire ride. It was strange to have any part of him in the car and it be so quiet. I found myself periodically meowing during the drive home.

Nin's remains in a box, on the passenger seat of the car, beside my lunch

When I walked through the door at the end of the day, Hailey who is always excited to see me, went crazy over the box. Perhaps just because it smelt like the vet clinic or perhaps because she understood. Then Man says he heard Nin as I walked in the door. I hear him a lot and I think I see a cat out of the corner of my eye often. I have since Bagheera died almost a year ago. I think some of that is the 20 years and 11 days we spent as cat owners (a little more than half my life!).

When Baggy died, I had ordered an urn that would fit the two of them. They were truly best friends and I wanted them to be together. I have now placed (felt more like jammed) Nin in with Baggy. They are together again.

The urn is currently in a glass cupboard in the kitchen until we figure out where we want to keep it

This week we received the following letter from the Ontario Veterinarian College Pet Trust in Guelph Ontario. In memory of our dear Cinder, our clinic, Ottawa Veterinarian Hospital,  made a donation to this trust. The money is used for research that hopefully will allow better care for our pets.

Yesterday we received a letter from the Ottawa Humane Society saying our vet clinic had made a donation to them in Nin's honour. We would like to thank the amazing folks at Ottawa Veterinary Hospital for their generosity in Nin's memory. (There is a reason we drive an hour to the vet). 

Thank you all again for sharing this less than fun part of our journey with us. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Our kitty angels, Bagheera (left) and Nin

My trauma

I had an animal trauma. This happened the night before Cinder died but I haven't been ready to share it until now. 

I was driving home from work. It is a 60 km/37 mile drive as we live in the middle of no where. We live in the hills off a road that is curvy and hilly. The speed limit on a lot of it is 90 km/ 55 miles. After driving this road for the past few years, I know all the hills and curves.

The night in question, I was driving behind someone who was making me crazy with the going fast and then slow. There aren't a lot of good places to pass so I was practicing patience (something I need a lot of help with). There were at least 2 cars behind me, not tailgating but following close enough that I had actually thought I hope I don't have to slam on the breaks.

Suddenly, out of no where, a cat came darting onto the road. It happened so fast I had about one second to decide if I try and swerve to avoid it, slam on my breaks, or hope and pray.

What to do in this kind of event has been on my mind lately for 2 reasons. One - we have a lot of wildlife in the area and I am a planner. Two - in a recent case in our province  a woman was found guilty of manslaughter for stopping her car for baby ducks on the road. A motorcycle came around the corner, couldn't stop, hit her car and the passenger died. Mainly because of this story, the Man and I talked about, if it is small, you can't risk your life of the lives of others in cars behind you. If it is big (like a deer let's say), you actually have a choice to make. I do feel horrible putting myself ahead of animals in this way, but I think knowing I killed a human would be much, much harder emotionally (not to mention I would be fine with never going to jail and that a criminal record may take my livelihood away).

So I picked hope and pray. Unfortunately the cat didn't turn away and I hit it. I can say the cat died quickly and will spare you all the horrible details. I cried and wanted to throw up, but know I did what I had to do in that situation. I know if in the exact situation again, I would have to make the same terrible choice. I do feel terrible and take responsibility for my actions, but I also feel angry at the owner for having an outdoor cat and putting me in the situation where I had to decide which lives to risk. I am working on letting this anger go because judging others is not productive.

Almost exactly 12 hours later, we said goodbye to Cinder. I can tell you, the cat accident was harder for me. Also, even though I tend to have atheists tendencies, I felt like maybe this was the universe evening out.

2 hours after Nin died, I was reminded of the circle of life and the irony of life. A co-worker sent an email saying she had rescued a mother cat and 3 kittens and was looking for homes for them. We declined to take one, the reasons why to be explored in another post. But for a second I laughed. I didn't laugh because 2 cats had dies, no I laughed because for some weird reason in a 14 hour period the universe surrounded me with cats. What are the odds?!?!?!?!

RIP unknown cat. Please know I grieved your death like you were my own.

Angel Bagheera because I needed a reminder of a peaceful cat and the joy of cats

The Day The House Went Quiet - In Memory of Nin

Cinder (Nin)

July 2, 1995 to June 30, 2015

It is with a heavy heart I share with you that two days before his 20th birthday we had to say goodbye to our boy. He sang until the end and was surrounded with love.

We will celebrate his life on Thursday in honour of his 20th birthday and we hope you will join us then.

Nin - thank you for 19+ years of love and companionship. Your trolling, singing, and always being in the way will be missed more than you can imagine. 

The Lady, The Man, Hailey and Zaphod

Remembering

Today we are taking the time to remember a lot of love.

First, we were devastated to hear that Goose was called to the bridge yesterday. We send our love to his mom, Michelle.

Second, we remember our Loki. It was 5 years ago today he died. He was such a great pup, and really is the one who turned me into the crazy dog lady I am. I can't believe it has been 5 years. It seems both so long ago and so recently. 

Loki, the winter before he died. He was so happy, even in illness. 

Thirdly, today would have been Gemini's 10th adoption day. Her loss continues to be the wound that won't heal in my heart. I hope I live long enough to find peace with her death.

My angel Gemini. 

Remembering Gemini

It is hard to believe our Gemini would have been 10 today. My princess will remain a puppy in my heart forever. Thinking of my girl today, gone too soon.