one more good cry...

Another post about Sadie. We miss her here. But I hope to be back to our regularly scheduled blogging shortly. :-)



And for Massah-in-law, a video of Mean Sister Fig sleeping and Sadie licking her leg.



And a final one of Sadie playing.



Thank you all for your words of encouragement and support. I knew that if there were one place on earth where someone would understand what it's like to lose a beloved friend and how painful it is to work through it, it would be here - DWB. So thank you to each and every one of you who thought of us. We love you all.

Sadie Sophisticated Lady

Sadie passed away last night. I'm going to let Massah-in-law write about it:

We got Sadie when I was 12. I always wanted a puppy for as long as I remember and was so happy when we got the little runt of the litter. Her mom was a blonde american cocker spaniel and her dad was a black one. On our way home after getting her I sat in the back seat of our car and held her. She was always my best friend. The first thing that I loved (not counting my family) and from who I learned the meaning of unconditional love. I've had a troubled past, but through it all she was always there for me, wagging her tail and at my feet or following me around the house or napping next to me (she always had to be touching someone as she slept). She would lick the tears from my face through all my emotional turmoils and depressions. We had many discussions about death, since abandonment was and is my greatest fear and I somehow consider death to be the ultimate abandonment. We had an agreement -- if life ever got too hard for either of us, we would be okay if we chose death over the pain. She was the only one I confided my suicide plan to, and even after I tried and survived a few years ago and came back home she forgave me. I tried to break our agreement. But she never did, and fought for her life until the very end. She taught me that living a long fulfilling life full of love is the meaning of existence. I no longer have any desire to cheat myself of that.

Today I went home after work and she stood up when I walked in. That was the last time she would stand on her own. We waited for her vet appointment. She couldn't lift her head, but she wasn't sleeping. She just laid there looking at me, and through that silent communication I knew she was telling me that it was her time, and I comforted her as much as I could. But through my tears and selfish pain, she knew that I was having a difficult time and she was comforting me even more than I was her. I carried her to the car and held her on the way there and observed that I was in the same seat as when I carried her home for the first time. First and last car rides.

We think she had stomach cancer. Her mom died of cancer when she was 9 or 10. The vet wouldn't know for sure unless she did an exploratory surgery, which she wouldn't have survived. Her heart rate was 60 and she was taking breaths at the same rate her heart was beating. We knew that the best choice was to let her fall asleep forever. She was lying on the floor, all four legs spread out, just like she used to do all the time as a puppy. We took off her collar. The vet brought out a blanket, stood her up, and gave her the sedative. I was on the floor next to her, and the vet told me I should watch my hand because the shot would sting and she was worried Sadie might bite or snap at me. I told her she wouldn't, and she didn't even flinch as I petted her head and the sedative was given. Sadie was down to 16 lbs. She was normally 28 lbs. They stood her up to give her the sedative and she just stood there for a little bit before it set in. As she stood there I was petting her and crying and she gave me a kiss. Even then she knew I was having a hard time and wanted to comfort me. Then she got tired and laid down. The vet came back after 15 minutes. She shaved her back leg and explained that she would stop breathing and then her heart would stop beating. She gave her the shot. Sadie took a few more breaths then stopped. The vet listened for a heartbeat. "Her heart has stopped too."

After I stopped petting her lifeless body, the vet wrapped the blanket around her very gently and folded her into her arms. That's when it hit me. She wasn't with me any longer. The vet carried her little body out and I got up off the floor. After a long wait she brought Sadie's body back, wrapped in her blanket, and in a cardboard box. She offered to carry her out to the car for me but I knew I had to do it. I road back home carrying her body.

We buried her in the backyard next to a tree. I was the one who laid her in the ground, curled up in the blanket just like she was sleeping. We don't have a stone with her name on it yet, but I wanted to mark the spot so we would know exactly where she was laid down. We put a goofy little frog statue thing over her. There lies my best friend, who taught me so much about life and love. I will never forget anything about her. And I am eternally grateful for the 13 years we had together.

Rest in peace, Sadie. I will see you in 50 years or so. Thank you for everything. I love you.

June 1, 1994 - July 30, 2007

Here are some of Massah-in-law's favorite pictures of our Say-Say-Love.

Rest Peacefully, Little Angel

goodbye, old pal

Like everyone else, I'm having a difficult time with Oscar's death. It just makes me so sad.... I'm going to miss him so very much. This is how I'll always remember him:

His Doggles on slightly wonky due to his fluffy eyebrows, sitting in his yard, waiting for his dad to play "monster" with him, running through his tunnel, collecting balls on his walkies, carrying sitckies around with him, and being the adorable goof-ball that he consummately was.

Have fun up there, Oscar, as you wait for all of us!

Sadie Love

I have some very sad news.

My cousin Sadie is very sick. A few weeks ago she found out she has a tumor, and recently she's been getting more and more sick. This weekend now she can't walk around very well and her head is tilted and she's throwing up and leaking yucky stuff out of her bum constantly.

I think she's getting ready to go to the Rainbow Bridge. And that makes me cry.

She's had a good life - she 13 years old - but I'm going to miss her a lot. She was the first doggin I ever met face to face (Fig was not allowed to meet me face to face for a long time because she tried to kill me) and I LOVE her, even though she doesn't play much because she's an old lady.

We took this video this afternoon. She likes being outside.

Please keep us in your thoughts. This is the doggin that Massah and her family grew up with - Massah said she is the BEST dog... even better behaved than ME, if you can believe it! And Massah-in-law especially loves her, so if you're the praying kind please say a prayer because we're very sad here.

a setback

Well evidently you need MONEY to send yourself across the country by mail. The mailman wouldn't take me without postage. No one bothered to tell me that yesterday. Hmmm.... What can I do to earn money.... At first I thought I could stand on the sidewalk and do tricks (not THOSE kind of tricks...) and people would throw money into a hat for me, but then I remembered that I only know how to do ONE trick. This one:



Yeah, I realize that I don't do it correctly 100% of the time. And yes, I realize that even if I DID do it perfectly every single time, that's still not very impressive. I don't have enough time to learn all kinds of cool tricks like Amber (since I'm in a hurry to get to my BFF Lola Sprout Beyonce) so I decided to enlist the help of Mean Sister Fig.



She obviously didn't cooperate. I don't know WHY, since a partnership would result in me LEAVING - which she would be very happy about - but what can you do. She's a moody girl. So I'm still thinking.... Perhaps if I just stand outside, people would drive by just to see me and then give me money because I would be the most handsome, manly dog they've ever seen...?!

Raising money is harder than I thought.

my PLAN!

I've found a way to get back at Massah for making me wear GIRL clothes! Look what I made last night!

I know that pressies come in boxes like that, so I'm going to send myself - as a pressie - to my BFF Lola Sprout Beyonce!

Woot! We will play and eat treats and play and cuddle and play and chase each other and then play some more and then EAT lots of delicious food that Massah does not make for me at home!!! I'm brilliant!!!!!

Mean Sister Fig keeps yelling at me to make sure I tell Sherman that she had "nothing to do with this" but I don't know what she's talking about because she's the one that taped Lola's picture to the box so that in case the mailman didn't know Lola's name he could just look at her picture and make sure I got there okay. I can't WAIT to see my BFF!!!!!

lazy days

Thanks for all the support for my Shirt With A Bow. Massah doesn't seem particularly deterred, but perhaps it will "get lost" in our move this weekend. Not that I have any plans or anything.... Yes. Well. We had a crazy weekend with Massah-in-Law while Massah was out of town. However, I cannot tell you about it because Massah-in-Law didn't get any pictures. EEEEEVIL Massah-in-Law. But believe you me - we were EXHAUSTED when we got home! This is what I've been doing:


And then I do this for a while:

And then I do this some more:

It's a rough life, I tell ya.

*hrumph*

Here are the pictures you've been asking about: the DREADED shirt with a BOW on it which should be OUTLAWED because I'm a BOY and not a GIRL or a DOLL or something like that.

If you just look at me from the front you don't really notice, but from the side you can just catch a glimpse of the side of the nasty, evil BOW...

And then the back. *sigh* Full on HORROR!!!

Massah is evil evil evil EVIL and I want to run away and live with my BFF Lola Sprout Beyonce because I can give her my clothes and she can put them on and win all kinds of contests because she's so funny wearing them, and then she can enter contests to win MONEY for her beautiful pictures and then we can buy treats and I will help her eat them all because Massah wouldn't be there to take them away from me and tell me that it will make my pancreas angry again. I think that's a pretty good plan, if I do say so myself, huh?!

And we've been too busy to read everyone else's blogs, so I apologize on Massah's behalf. She's been out of town with work (another mighty suspicious red flag, if you ask me... going up to Chicago - isn't that where all the gangsters are?) but she is now home and will help me catch up on everybody lives soon. I'm happy to be back and even happier to get out of that evil GIRL shirt she stuffed me in!

LOOOOOOLA (sorry if this is messed up - Blogger is not cooperating)

Whoa!!!!! I got a pressie from my BFF Lola Sprout Beyonce!!!!! Look!

Massah looked away for an instant, and LOOK WHO STUCK HER SMOOSHED UP NOSE IN MY PRESENT!





But that toy she got out... oh I LOVE it!!!!! It's a frog, and I used to have one but Massah threw it away.... This is the last picture of us together:

And now so I'm SO HAPPY Lola sent me another one!

I LOVE it, as you can see from this video!

Anyway, I got lots of other stuff too! A fabulous SNAKE!!!!! Look how happy Snake is! He loves to be chewed on!

I spent LOTS of time with him.

I took particular care to keep watch and NOT to let Mean Sister Fig take him away from me.

See the way I hug him?

But Lola is so nice that she sent Fig something too! It's a CRAB!!!!! HAAAAA!!!!! She loved it - I don't think she had any idea of our secret inside joke: look at the TWO CRABS!

We played lots and lots. That's why there aren't very many good pictures - we were too crazy to hold still for a picture!

I was so excited that Massah made me stop playing because she thought I would give myself a stroke since I was so EXCITED! (These pictures were taken over a two-day period, for my saftey.) And that's not all I got - Lola sent me a beautiful note with her picture on it too!

And a squeaky bone!

This is the collection! And it includes a Cuz!!! A GOOD Cuz, which we didn't have before! And RIBS!!! And Massah can't take them away from me because they came in MY BOX! Isn't my BFF Lola Sprout Beyonce the GREATEST?!?!?!?!?!?!

CONFIDENTIAL TO MY BFF LOLA SPROUT BEYONCE: I put up the secret picture next to my jail. I have a sneaking suspicion that Massah might have seen it, because she was asking me about the pictures on the wall.

I just went into Fig's jail and pretended I didn't know what she was talking about....