MORE SAD NEWS.

I hope people don't dread coming to my blog and reading sad stuff.
But I can't NOT tell you this and
I REALLY REALLY hope this is the last post of this type, for at least this year.
But....
With a very heavy heart I had to let Squeak go to Heaven this morning.

When I wrote of Rosie's passing on January 28, I kinda hinted at how thin Squeak had gotten.
If you remember when I got him, he was rather roly poly.
I first wrote about Squeak in my "deja vu/longest post ever" post on 8/2.

At first the weight loss was a good thing.

I was measuring out his special urinary diet food and he was playful and would follow me everywhere, even up and down the stairs.
But as time went on he started to sleep more.
He no longer wanted to tackle the steps and was content to sleep with Rosie in the kitchen.
The food was helping with his stones and his urine was no longer pink/red.
He turned 14 but little dogs can live so much longer than that.
In fact several of my little dogs are between the ages of 12 to 14.

Then I noticed his one eye starting to cloud up a little,
like my little Claude's did when he started to lose his eyesight.
Then his appetite dropped off.
So I bought his special food in canned form and that worked for a while.
Sometimes he wanted dry and sometimes canned.
Sometimes he wanted a little warm water on it.
Sometimes he wanted it microwaved.
Sometimes he didn't want that either.
Then a few days ago he wouldn't eat it at all, so I fed him REGULAR canned, not the special stuff.
Doc said that was better than not eating at all.
I told Doc about how Squeak slept 23 1/2 hours a day

and Doc said he wished he could get that much sleep.

Last weekend I noticed that hair was stuck in his lower teeth.
I pulled out globby clumps of icky hair.
I wasn't sure where the hair came from. My floors aren't hairy.
I pulled out the sofa and all the furniture and vacuumed.
Maybe he got underneath the sofa and ate a dust bunny hairball.
The next day, more hair was in his teeth!
That's when I noticed that he no longer had  hair on top of his feet!
He was pulling out his own hair!

I debated as what to do next. Was it his time?
I don't care how many pets a person has to help pass over to the next world,
it's never easy to know exactly when... well, most times anyway.

Last night I came home and he was laying in his bed and had peed on himself.
I gave him a bath and dried him and then he just walked in big circles.
He walked to the water bowl but then turned away.
He refused food and just kept circling.
I had some puppy food for him, I was sure he'd like that, but No.
He refused that too.
Finally he wobbled into the laundry room and went to sleep on one of the doggie beds.

This morning at 3:30 or so he started making a noise.
Not a bark, not his usual squeak but more of a soft little cry. Just laying there crying in a slow rhythm.
I had to work today, so I just got up and got ready for work.
The clinic was closed but I knew Doc would be in to check on a blocked cat that he had kept for the weekend to monitor.
I swaddled Squeak up in a baby blanket that I had and laid him on my puffy coat in the passenger seat of my car.
He just laid there staring at me.
I drove with one hand on the steering wheel and one with my finger on his temple, making little circles. He closed his eyes.
I stopped at a stop sign and removed my finger.
He opened his eyes and I quickly continued.
I fought back the tears and told him it wouldn't be much longer.

When I got to work I laid him in a kennel with a big blanket and went to work in the boarding area.
Eventually Doc arrived.
I had written a list of everything going on with Squeak.
I read it off to Doc and he commented on how thin Squeak was and Doc shook his head over the fact that Squeak had pulled the hair off his feet.
He looked down at Squeak's frail body and agreed it was time.
As he got the injection ready,  I mumbled something about this being my 3rd pet that I lost this year
and he said that was because my "friends" were all getting old.

So... Doc released Squeak from his tired old body.
Doc is cremating him for me as he has for my other pets.
I plan to scatter his ashes, along with Rosie's in a special section of my garden
when the flowers start to bloom.

I'm going to miss that little guy, wobbling around after me.
I didn't even have him a year but I feel blessed to have had him for at least that short time.
And...
Maybe it's wrong of me but I hope and I pray that Squeak's previous owners are paid back by KARMA in a big way.

THIS MORNING

I had hoped to sleep in.
I actually had the day off.
But sadly the dogs had other ideas.
Very early they started barking.
I think Ping saw something out the bedroom window.
It faces the street and since we are upstairs, they have a good view of it.
Most likely someone was walking down the block and they must have had a dog with them
because suddenly the room was loud with barking.
I yelled at them to "SHUT UUUUUUP!!!
and covered my head with the comforter.
But they wouldn't stop, in fact they were whipping themselves into a frenzy.
I sat up and noticed that Squeak had gone over to Blue and sat close to him.
(I sleep with my phone close by so I snapped their photo)
Seems like Squeak does that a lot,
that he goes to Blue when things get out of hand.

It's nice to have a friend to lean on when things get crazy.

Grace Ng Dung

Is one of my most favorite of artists.

This is a recent self-portrait.

She also happens to be my eldest niece.

I just had to share her creation. 

I'm amazed at how she was able to capture herself.

Here's a photo of her. 

Didn't she do a great job!
She is super talented.
She's written and illustrated a childrens book but still trying to find a publisher.
It's all about trees.
She's very much about Nature, the Earth, the Universe, Energy and Good Health.
She's very laid back and has an old soul.
I'm very fortunate to have three amazing nieces.
Each very unique and different and I love them all dearly.
So just had to share!

And now for an update.

I finished the signs.

It's sort of embarrassing to show them here after Graces creation
and added to the fact that I once again did not take proper photos but here they are:

The "Dogs at Play" one was done years ago

and I just basically repainted over the faint faded words and dogs.

This one is the commissioned one with the Basset Hound on it.

I definitely do not think this is my best work

but it's in keeping with the "Dogs at Play" sign so I thought she would like it.

The lady was very happy with them. 

In fact she was "Over the Moon Happy" about them,
especially the "Welcome" one and if she's happy, then that's all the matters then.

Update on the Booth.
I've added more and I'm still working on it.
I'll save the details for another post.

Another update.

Squeak is doing well.

He's lost weight because of my measuring out his special food
and also because he suddenly has become very active.

Yep, he's on the go all the time now.

At first he'd lay on the floor and just watch the little dogs play.

Then one evening he just got up and ran to them and started playing!

This makes me so happy, to see him happy.
Once again, sorry about these blurred photos,
I just snapped them with my phone as it was happening
but you get the idea.
:)

Life is Good here.
and... I've been reading your comments from my last post again.
Over and over.
Lately I've been thinking about ALL the comments.
Especially about taking action and making it happen
but deciding first just exactly what it is that I REALLY want to happen.
Like me pining away about living somewhere else.
Would I really want to move away from loved ones?
Home is where my family and best friends are.
(Although my best friend lives in Iowa and now LILY too,
is moving across the river to Iowa.
Hmmm, LOL!
So...I'm spending time walking around the play area with dogs at work
and pondering so many things.
One thing though, that I do know for SURE is that
I can't express again how much the friendship I have HERE in blogland means to me.
I'm blessed to have REAL friends out there taking time to comment and support me.
Yep, truly. I'm blessed.
I need to remember to count my blessings.