while you were sleeping

After dreaming about Penelope as a puppy and smelling her noggin one more time, I woke up to a very pushy cat and Isaiah wagging and snorting by my bed. It seams as though (at least for today) he may pick up the task of alarm clock duty.  As the morning progress’s I notice Isaiah is a bit whiny. Just stands and stares at me and whimpers….he looks particularly sad today! We know dogs share the same emotions we humans do. They express happiness when they see someone they recognize;  they jump for joy when they get a yummy treat (I have been known to get very excited myself over a cookie!), they show dislike for things they don’t understand~like the giant photograph of a man hanging out of the plumbers truck! We even know they dream. I have watched penny yip, run, growl and wag her tail dozens of times while dreaming. So I wonder about my little boy in mourning….is he dreaming about our sweet Penelope at night too? Is he wondering why I haven’t brought her back to him?

Oh how I loved her!

A few weeks ago I learned my beloved Flat Retriever Penelope was very sick. She had an enlarged heart and spleen. There were options of surgery, but could I put her threw all of that was my concern. She recently had some eye surgery and the incision itself took a long time to heal. Even if she had the surgery, there are no guarantees it would be a success. So I chose to take her home and just love her and enjoy every day I could with her.  A couple days of rest and she seemed to be back to almost normal, other than not going on our long Washington walks she was silly, loving and very playful. Saturday morning this would change. When I woke to my cat nudging me instead of Penolope wagging I knew something was wrong. Penny had taken a turn for the worse and my confidence of her being ‘just fine’ was shattered. As the morning progressed she had a very long seizure. I knew this was it. I had to make the decision today to not be selfish and let her go…say good bye to my loyal beautiful Penelope that has come to be known as ‘Princess’ for her stature :o) So many feelings come out when you suffer the loss of a pet. For me, one was betrayal. Did I do enough? Did I treat her with the loyalty that she gave me for all of those years? I never had to teach her any commands. From the time she was a pup it was like she just understood everything from sit, lay, rollover and back up! Stay, was a little tricky, unless of course she was next to me~the devotion! Penny has had to protect me on more than one occasion from other dogs and many times snuggled my tears away when I was hurting by tucking her nose in or leaning her head strongly against my chest. A penny hug I would call it! Now it’s just me and Isaiah, my very sensitive 4 year old Boxer that tucks his tail in and sneaks off to the other room if I cry.

Hello there full moon!

This morning I woke to a beautiful bright full moon shining in my kitchen window. Fumbling around making my coffee, so sleepy eyed, this was like a happy smile to me. Instantly I felt cheery!

Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually

1 Chronicles 16:11

This is the day that the Lord made; rejoice and be glad in it psalm 118:24

When we were at the dog park people would ask, "How old is she?" this is a common question, just like people asking about your kids! Penny was so happy, bright and spunky! My eleven year old pup! Even the last few weeks she would still want to play and would steal Isaiah's toys...mostly, because she didn't want him playing with ME!

me and my gal