No. I didn't shoot anyone.
Down by the River This song was written by Neil for his Dog when he had to put it down. I've always loved this song.
Goodbye, Ginger. You were a lovely dog.
July 4, 2014. I thought I'd journal this and leave it all here on this date.
On Wednesday we decided that today, Friday, July 4, would be the last day for our unbelievably good golden retriever Ginger. A quiet companion who would run circles around us on the bush or lay quietly on the floor in the house to accommodate our moods, her time was coming to a close.
Thursday we took our girl out to the lake and watched our dog, who normally charged through every bush, sniffed under every log, and and charged into the lake after ducks 100 yards from shore with the optimism of a drunk who believe today was the day he would win the lottery. Thursday, however, was different. She walked down the beach, legs shaking as she went from the exertion, walked into the water barely to belly depth and then come and lay beside us on the beach. I lifted her into the truck, and home we went with our dear girl laying in the back of the truck. Another unusual occurrence. When we got home, she couldn't stand.
Friday morning we awoke to find her very sick. The liver and spleen were finished. Our timing could not have been better. Our appointment was for the afternoon and we decided to wait it out as she wasn't in pain, and I could spend the day with her. A nice quiet day with my dog. Then the phone rang at 9:30 AM.
I was blindsided by events involving my parents to the south, involving family members, a supported living facility, doctors, and a notary public. That didn't end until 1 PM when it settled down and everything I could do was done and the phone quit ringing.
I went outside and finished building the travois that I would use to drag my poor departed dog into the bush to bury her. The new avatar is part of her view. I didn't get an exact photo. It doesn't really matter. you get the idea. For those that don't know, a travois is a kind of platform that is loaded with whatever your cargo is, lifted at one end, and then simply dragged where you want to go.
At 4 PM we carried our dog in a big blanket to our truck and lay her down and drove to the vet. She had not had the strength to stand all day. The vet came out to our truck and sedated our poor girl and left us to be with her. She was so quiet. It was so wonderful to see her really relax and not simply have no energy. A few minutes later the vet returned and gave her the last injection. We lay on the bed of our truck with our dog and petted her as we told her how much we loved her as her heart slowed and finally stopped.
Less than an hour later we were at Norse creek. The avatar is her view from the crest of a ravine edge overlooking some hoodoos. It's not the same angle but you get the idea. It's in a quieter spot than where that photos was taken.
It took an hour and a half to dig our dear girl's grave using a shovel, a polaski, and a 5 foot steel pry bar that weighs 15 pounds. We would have gotten nowhere without any one of them. We lifted her in her bed.... Now, that bed has a history. I should tell you about that.
It was her puppy bed. It was a small circle bed with a raised edge. She could barely fit into it. She had to curl up into a really tight ball to get into it. When she was three, we bought her a new bed. It was about 4 x 4 feet. A simple mattress. We put it where her old bed had been and took the old one outside. We tried to get her to lay in it. Should wouldn't have anything to do with it. She pulled it from her spot and lay in the spot. 2 days later, we moved the puppy bed back in. It was so small that usually her head hung outside of it.
So, we put her in her bed and lowered it into the grave we had dug. We covered her in her blanket and put plastic over top. We filled in the hole with dirt, rocks, and moss and we're now praying for rain so that the moss will quickly grow and seal the earth above her.
We drove home. I was the first to hit the show. I went in, brushed my teeth, grabbed the dental floss and....
Remember in my last journal I suspected there must be one more thing to go wrong yet today. Pulled my filling.
Goodbye July 4, 2014. Hello, wine. Thank you for listening, my friends.