Monday, May 8, 2017

4th times a charm.






Okay, we didn't make it to St. Augustine or Memphis or LA......big sad face. But my Bestie's next nursing assignment is in the spectacular city of San Francisco!!!! Score!!! So we are going to cross our fingers and casually plan a visit. I so love that city. I especially like how the sun can be shining and yet on top of the Golden Gate Bridge you are only staring at grey swirls of mist! Now I am not going to think about it too much. As I always say..don't take the tea urn back!! But hopefully the box will continue it's travels soon. 

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Max




As always everything has to come to an end and we have reached that time once again. We lost Max this past April. He was almost 15 years old. We have been the caretakers/owners of the spaniels for almost 5 years now. I am sure that some people can remember how I bitched and moaned about having to take these little beasties into our home. Here we were, stuck with two extra dogs. Dogs of such a breed we had never lived with before..mainly dogs with fur that needed to be maintained, among other annoyances. They came and then went away for a couple of months and then they came back again for good. They have been around for Oscar, Blanche and Eloise. They were a bonded pair and we have been dreading the day that one of them would leave the other one. 

I have owned only two male dogs in my life. For some reason I always seem to have the ladies. My two boys were so incredibly sweet and easy going. Max was without a doubt the sweetest dog I have ever owned. He was positively delighted to see you walk in the door. I have heard Cocker Spaniels described as a "merry breed" and I thought that sounded silly, but after Max I realize that description suited him perfectly. He was always upbeat, always aiming to please. His favorite thing to do was sit beside you and watch TV with his paw thrown over your leg. When he was younger he was extremely playful and maybe I do feel a little bad about throwing away that squeaky newspaper toy he had but I just couldn't take it anymore! 

We had a running dialogue everyday I had him. I constantly argued with him and tripped over him and his toys. I gave Dave such grief over bringing those spaniels home but everyone knew I adored them. 

It was a very hard decision to make because he was still up and about. He couldn't see or really hear and he had dementia. But if you put your hand on him that stumpy tail would start to wag and he would crawl up in your lap. We decided that we certainly wouldn't want to spend our days in his condition that just maybe he didn't want to either. And as I always told people, I would be wailing when we had to take him to the vet and I certainly was. I truly loved him and will think of him absolutely everyday. 

Mia definitely knows he is gone. She is not as outgoing as Max was so she tends to keep to herself on a regular basis. But she looks around and stands at the gate looking into the driveway. I guess it is kind of a good thing that Eloise is always annoying her because it gives her something to take her mind off of Max..and yes, I do believe that she misses him. 

I am lucky to have lived with Max. I always try to learn from animals and he taught me to try and chill and just enjoy the day. I am happy to say that for at lest  5 years of his life he got to do just that.

I love you Max.