The man next door

I have lived in my house for almost 7 years.  Frequently, the man who lives next door will make dinner on his grill, typically while wearing no shirt.  It is chilly and overcast today and has been drizzling on and off for most of the day.  Out he comes, ready to grill wearing no shirt. Man, oh man he must be cold.

Gulf oil spill

I have purposefully not looked at any of the photos from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico because the sight of animals drenched in oil would be heartbreaking.  Somehow yesterday I stumbled upon some pictures of it and I was right, they were heartbreaking.  When I was buying my new car I test drove a hybrid because I wanted to do the right thing but I just didn't like it as much so bought the regular model.  It's been a miserably humid day so we have the air conditioning on.  All of our dependence on oil frustrates me because I believe that we should certainly have the technology by now to prevent this from happening in the first place or at the least, to do a better job with the cleanup. 

How everyone is

I thought that some of the dogs might miss Maddie after she had passed away but no one seems to even remember that she was here.  Bear has spent essentially his whole life with her but hasn't sniffed her cage once.  Yet, I know that sometimes a dog will seem to mourn the loss of a companion dog.  The differences are fascinating. 

I took lunch in my car today in the Cathedral of the Pines parking lot.  Not the nicest of days, rainy and cool, but I could watch a flock of wild turkeys in the yard of the house down below.  There were three hens and one tom.  One of the hens came walking out of the woods while I was watching.  The closer she got to the tom the faster she started walking until she was trotting to join the other two hens.  It looked like he was saying to her "get over here on the double."  All the while he was strutting around with his tail feathers spread, keeping watch for the ladies. 

Card from Carrie

I received card with a very thoughtful note from my sister today about Maddie's passing.  It's been a week today that she died.  Tonight I was doing a headcount to make sure that all of the dogs were back inside and I thought for a moment "Where's Maddie?"  My Sweet Piggy.  We miss you.

Malted eggs

I went grocery shopping yesterday and was looking at the Easter candy.  For a split second, I thought to buy malted eggs because Maddie likes them.  Then it hit me that my Sweet Piggy isn't around any more.  I miss her in the odd moments.  I remember how light she was the last time I carried her to bed, how I could feel her ribs and how delicate they felt.  I remember how much she liked to kiss me and how I liked to give her a kiss on the "piggy head."  I remember how, when we got her, she would ride in my lap while I drove and how she fit between me and the bottom of the steering wheel just fine.  I remember the last few walks I took her on.  My Sweet Piggy.

My Sweet Piggy has gone home

Maddie passed away on Friday. I. came home from work and found her lying on the floor, with her back to the wall, as if she just went to sleep and didn't wake up. She looked very peaceful and not like she had been in any distress when she died. We miss her very much.

My first husband and I bought her at a pet store on the day she arrived at the store. We were told that papillons don't bark which we soon found out was not true. She was in a struggle to be the dominate being in the house almost immediately. At first she would sleep in bed with us and would literally sleep on my head. At the time I thought it was cute but later found out that this was a sign of dominance.

I have some favorite memories of Maddie. When we bought her we bought a very large cage for her to sleep in. There were large spaces between the bars on the bottom of the cage so to keep her from falling through them we flipped the cage upside down. One night we put her to bed and then went to the living room to watch TV. Not too long after, she appeared in the living room. She had somehow climbed up the side of the cage and out through the large spaces in the top. I didn't believe it for years until I saw a video of a dog climbing up a chain link fence. Another memory is from when we got Bear. We lived in a two story home at the time and Bear could not go up the stairs when we first brought him home. Maddie figured this out and carried all the toys to the top of the stairs so Bear couldn't play with them. She was her own dog and was whip smart.

We miss you, Miss Nips. I hope you are at peace.

Maddie

This morning Maddie was very lethargic and was having trouble breathing. We packed her up and went off to Tufts where she is now. They kept her overnight to try to figure out what is going on. The ultrasound that they did today showed fluid around her heart and a possible growth around her heart as well. The ultrasound that our regular vet did a couple of weeks ago didn't show any growth that I'm aware of. I hope that they can figure out what is wrong and come up with a treatment plan to keep her comfortable for as long as possible. She was a trooper, though. Please be well, my sweet piggy.

Some pictures I took today for my Project 365. I was planning on participating in the New Year's Sunrise challenge but the sky was so overcast today that I didn't get to see a sunrise.