Holidays........the good and the bad....

It's been an upsetting week....even though we're on holidays.

Last week, we went to visit Ryan and Jennifer who were camping about a half an hour away from us. It was a very nice visit...even though I really don't care for camping at all....(we don't camp, my brother-in-law says...we trailer....okay...so, I like my bathroom inside my trailer, so that in the middle of the night I don't have to walk three blocks in the cool, damp darkness just to relieve my bladder!) Anyways, the day after, I got a call from Ryan saying that their 10 year old, Old English sheepdog was sick.....we tried to figure out what it could be and what to do.....the next few days she was up and down and not really herself. By Saturday, they went home and to the dog to the vet...the vet said that she was pretty sure it was a urinary track infection, charged them over $200 and sent them on their way with some antibiotics. The dog perked up Saturday evening and they thought she was on the mend. By Sunday, the dog was poorly again and Ryan called me in the afternoon.....we thought that maybe she had more going on then a UTI but before very much of anything could be done.....she died.....right in their arms....so unexpected, such a shock.

We received the anguished call shortly afterward. We quickly threw some things together and left for home, and they gathered up their best friend and brought her home.

It was an extremely difficult time.....not only did you feel their pain...it dredged up all my pain that hasn't been far from the surface since my beloved lab, Tucker, died in January of this year. There were a lot of tears on everyones part....a lot of hugging....a lot of anguish.

My daughter in law, Jennifer, has her own blog, and she's written about their friend and she has some lovely pictures that show the love between them all. You might like to read it at http://juniper23.blogspot.com/


So, Leslie and her children have come back to the trailer with us.....some people would call it crowded whereas, some would say it's cosy........11 people in a 29' trailer......the local store nearby had tents on sale so I picked up a small 7' x 9'.....the grandgirlies slept in it last night, which really made a big difference...then tonight, grandson decided he wanted to give it a whirl....so three of them are sleeping in it tonight. We're not quite brave enough to have them too far away, so papa brought the tent up onto the deck, the tent door way about 2' from the trailer doorway.....we leave the outside door wide open...just in case.....they love it...they were excited...it doesn't take much when you're 4, 5 and 8 yrs old!