The Loss of My Best Friend

Today I am bringing myself to actually write about my best friend, Alice, who I lost on Sunday. Alice was my 102 lb. Lab/ Catahoula leopard dog who at 11 1/2 years old left this world.

Alice never wanted anything but to be by me. She loved me unconditionally. She was the best girl. She never left my side when we were hiking or the campsite while camping. When David and I would pick berries or spruce tips she would just lay and watch us, move as we moved and never left my side. We were walking with her through a park one time and this tiny dog came running out of the grass. Scared Alice to death and she went running for camp. Another time we were going to hike the trail to Five Fingers on the Yukon River in Canada. There were steep, long steps down to the trail. Alice got down about half way turned and said that is enough, ran back to the van. Trying to get her across a bridge over the Yukon River in Miles Canyon near Whitehose was really something. David pushed and I pulled. Once across she was fine and we went for a nice walk. Coming back we just thought this is going to be fun. She tricked us though and walked right across.

Alice was such a chicken. People would be afraid of her because she was big. They would hear her deep bark not knowing that she was hiding in the bedroom barking at them. She was a great protector if she could hide behind you. She was afraid of kitchens, bathrooms and floors without carpet. Oh yes, stairs can be scary too. In fact any change can be scary.

Alice helped me through my late husband’s, Baggy, 13 months of illness and his death. When the paramedics were on the way to our home I put her outside. As they worked on Baggy in the living room by the window she quietly watched. When it was time for them to take Baggy away, as they zipped the bag she started to bark and did so until they drove off. She was the one that helped me make it through this.

Alice moved with me from Texas to Washington to Alaska. Then our last move to York, Pennsylvania. She was a great traveler.

She was so good with the twin granddaughters. I used to laugh because every time Dan brought them over she would have to smell them and make sure they were the right ones, I guess. As they grew she would sit patiently until they finished eating so she could clean up their mess. If she did get tired of them she would just get up and go into the bedroom.

When we would get ready to go somewhere and Alice couldn’t go we could tell her, “No, Alice you have to stay.” Then she would mope off to her moping corner in our room. David said she reminded him of Eeyore.

Friday morning I was awakened by the sound of Alice falling against the wall next to my side of the bed. She then slipped down the wall and was laying down. I thought that was weird but she seemed to settle down. I went back to sleep for a while. I got up around 6 and went to start my morning routine, which the first thing was to let Alice out. She always follows me right to the door as soon as we are up. She didn’t follow. A little later she tried to get up and couldn’t. Her whole back end didn’t work.

We looked up vets online and found one that opened at 7:30. I called and they could get her in at 10. The next problem was how to get her in the back of our car. Luckily, we have a Subaru Outback so the backend opens up. But how would we get this 102 lb dog up the hill and into the car. Our son in law, Dan, and his Dad, Jim, came to help. I got her on a sheet and we brought in the girls’ wagon. We go her into the wagon, up the hill and into the car without stressing her out.

The vet couldn’t find anything really bad on the x-rays. Some arthritis but who of us don’t have that in our backs. I am thinking now it was a stroke. The vet says it could be. She says we could try a steroid shot and that if it helped we would be able to tell by Sunday. I agreed to let her have the shot, hoping it will help. We took her back home.

By now she has not been to the bathroom since Thursday night. David and I put a rolled towel under her to hold up her backend. We took her out but she didn’t do anything. She couldn’t pick up her tail and her legs just dragged behind her.

Saturday night wasn’t a good night for Alice. Sunday morning there was no change what so ever. I couldn’t let her suffer any more. I made the decision I had to make. The vet opened at 10. We were there with Alice when they opened. They got us in right away. They were so wonderful to us. Alice left this world knowing how loved she was. We were with her until the end.

I love you, Alice. I will never forget you and all you did for me. I hope you are sitting at Baggy’s side now watching over me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Leaving Texas

We left Fredrickburg around 12:50. We hit the I10 and headed for El Paso. We were headed to Ajo, Arizona to visit a friend.

I like to track our trip on my phone and the old way with a real paper Road Atlas. I think it tells you things that you aren’t going to get on my phone. Well anyway I noticed that if we went to Silver City, New Mexico we could visit some Cliff Dwellings which David and I had never seen before.

We went through another time change and in a blink of the eye we went from 6:21pm to 5:21pm. We have been through so many time changes I am not sure what time it is most of the time. I never changed my watch, so it is still on Alaska time. That really confuses me. Then when we hit Arizona they don’t do daylight savings time, so more confusion for this old woman.

We hit New Mexico at 7:05. We left the I10 and headed to Silver City where we stayed at a Motel 6. We were beat and it was nice to relax for a bit before we fell asleep.

We were so glad to get out of Texas. That takes almost as long as it takes us to get out of Alaska.

Hope you are enjoying following me on our road trip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Oldest Deli in Texas and Texas Bucket List

Finally the inspector came to inspect the house. There were no major problems, so we decided to go out to eat to celebrate. I was talking to my sister about the inspection and mentioned to her that we were going out. She suggested a few places that we both remembered.

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Hit the Ground Running

Well I have not been able to blog because when I got to Victoria I had to start pricing stuff for the garage sale and I didn’t have WiFi.

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Chasing Tumbleweed Day 6

I forgot to tell one story last night. We started hearing this noise. I think it is the heater fan. David is checking gauges. It is really getting annoying now. I put a CD in to try to drown out the noise. David finally has had enough, not sure if it is the noise or my griping. Anyway he pulls over and as we are getting to get out of the car, David says look between seats. There is our charger just buzzing away and hot. Thank the Lord it wasn’t our little Outback. She is a good old girl.

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