Redirecting daily routines

First off, we did put George down on Monday night. I was horribly sad but relieved to let him go from his failing body. The household feels void of a certain energy now. So much extra care has always enveloped our senior dogs that it’s taking a bit of time to readjust.  Moby and I are trying to figure out how our days should go: do we walk in the morning before going to work or remain with our afternoon jaunts or both? How do I keep him active & happy enough to allow me time to work on art or going in to Fall Festival? Will I ever be able to trust him at home alone??? Thursday I did make it into work for 2 hrs with Moby hanging out in the car. He did pretty well until the howling started. Next time I’ll make sure to park away from the office door (he could see me thru the windows). A fenced dog park is about 2 blocks from work & a perfect place to give him a run before heading home. He had great fun in the rain with two other dogs and managed to make the Volkswagen GTI a total mess. Note to self: take the trooper to work next time because dirt doesn’t matter in the dog mobile!

A week ago on George’s last park walk, I ran into a guy with two dogs. He too had a very senior dog and was currently waiting to get a new puppy from a Washington breeder. What breed I couldn’t tell you, but he already had a name picked out: Beauregard. Moby happened to be named that at his last home and it’s actually part of my family history. The dog guy happened to be a Civil War buff and was quite interested in the fact that PGT Beauregard was a relative of mine.  “Have you seen the photos of him?” he asked me. I replied no. “You should look because there is an amazing similarity in your eyes.” was his response. I’m thinking yeah, right, and what drugs are you on?? Well, it did get me wondering and so I pulled up some images but see no similarity what so ever. I also pulled up my ancestry account for the heck of it. There I discovered a woman asking about my La Freniere family history. Long story short, she happens to be a relative in New York. Looks like I might have found some more in the Tacoma area. This is a project I need to revisit since my dad is getting older and he keeps bugging me about finding the family crest. He’s always wondered if there are actual family members in the area that he doesn’t know about.

On the father note I should report that his new chemo seems to be going fairly smooth. He now has to go in on Mondays for a shot, get bloodwork done and then take a regimen of pills for the next 4 days and then off til the next Monday when it starts over. His reaction is minimal to the drugs. His doctor reports that he still has a loaded gun full of other possible drug treatments. His life is far from over.

We’re having a lovely break from rain and just a hint of blue sky & sunshine. Ah spring! All the new possibilities it holds!

Have a great weekend!

Gale