Goodbye sweet Aurora Borialis

Goodbyes are so hard. . .

This has been an emotional weekend followed by a tearful Monday today.  Our sweet Aurora had a large tumor behind her shoulder that began to weep last Thursday. The vet strongly suspected cancer. At nearly 15 years old she was almost completely deaf, sore and stiff much of the time, and rapidly losing weight. We made the tough decision on Friday to put her to rest this morning. She is now in repose under a new pear tree in our yard.



She was a wonderful family dog enjoying, and in some cases, enduring many adventures with us. She joined our family in November of 2004 at 6 weeks of age.

You were so small I carried you around in my purse.

Our last road trip together - Tofino for the day.

The classic one ear pose

You gave us so much love and enriched our lives.  I will never forget you, 'till we me again my sweet little puppy. 

July 12- IT'S A BOY!

Ron and I have been talking about getting a puppy for quite awhile now. With all of the medical challenges and resulting appointments we have put it off.  Now that the appointments are dwindling off, we decided to go for it. His name is Madrone and he's 3 months old. We got him from a rescue organization in Ucluelet/Tofino on the West Coast. He's really smart, energetic, and all puppy! His breed mix is Rottweiler, Labrador, Shepherd, possibly Pitbull, and ?  The old girls aren't impressed at all and the cats are barely coming out of hiding at this point. Technically we are fostering him until he gets neutered at about 7 months, when we will adopt him.

Ron's continuing to do better and it's so great to be able to hang out at home. I actually have a passion fruit developing. Some of the tomatoes are being eaten now and one of the cucumbers is just about ready for harvest. I only have a small number of vegetable plants since it's just the 2 of us most of the time. My ornamental oregano has come back and the bees are enjoying it.

We took Madrone to the Wednesday evening's farmer's market. Some of our friends bring their Lab by to play with him. Aurora and Isis basically tolerate him and aren't playing much these days. We took the old girls on a quick trip to the West Coast and neither one of them could move much the next day. 

We're heading to the big Saturday market tomorrow with Madrone and allowing the girls a short reprieve. Our hope is that he will eventually become a therapy dog to visit hospitals and care homes. Right now he's got two speeds; fast and off. He's definitely keeping Ron and I on our toes.