Rest In Peace...Continued

We arrived at the vet and Toby immediately ran Brandi into the office. On the way to the clinic she had began to convulse. I didn't even think about it when we jumped into the car. Toby put Brandi in the backseat and we jumped into our usual spots in the car....Toby and I up front and Summer in the back.

With Summer being in the back with Brandi she had to witness her convulse. I'm not sure what kind of impact sitting in the backseat while your pet is convulsing and dying will have on her. Understandably, she was clearly upset. Unfortunately none of us get out of this life unscathed by bad experiences. Life goes on.

I have to say that hour spent in the vet's office was the worst for all of us. Toby and I had to make a decision. Brandi had gone septic. Her body had been slowly poisoned by the undelivered babies still left in her little body. After thousands of dollars there was still only a 50/50 chance of her survival. The big question was.."Was our pet's life worth it?" After all, Toby is an artist and I'm a housewife, not really that financially well off at that moment in time.

I don't know what was worse. Having to make the decision to euthanize my beloved pet or having Summer fall apart on me and tell me how much she hated me in the vets office after we told the vet our verdict. Summer with her 10 year old mind came armed with only her emotions and no logic.

These are the times that we really miss having family around. I would have really loved to spare my daughter the horrid experience and left her with a family member while Toby and I did the "dirty deed"...but then on the flip side not being shielded and protected from adult experiences at a young age may benefit her in her adult life...

We opted to bring her body home with us and bury her in a special spot in the yard. Riding home with her wrapped up dead body next to me was like a nightmare I kept hoping I would wake up from. I missed her already so much. We were all quite on the way home from mental exhaustion and shock. All that could be heard from us all were our sniffles and muffled cries. Such a sad, sad, night.

Toby and I woke up early the next morning and buried her. We both held each other and cried and remembered all those things that we loved the most about her.

It's been two weeks since her death and I still can't think about her without shedding a tear...probably never will.

This picture was taken a few weeks before her death...

Rest In Peace

The year 2011 has not gotten off to the best start thus far. But on a more positive note it has not been disastrous and could always be worse, just annoying and heartbreaking. Just the way life rolls sometimes.

Aside from my oven, computer issues, and other minor annoyances the year has brought thus far, we had to euthanize my beloved almost 5 year old chihuahua, Brandi.

In the past year Brandi had taken a liking to the little male terrier a couple of houses down. Anytime they happened to be both outside at the same time they always sought each other out for company.

We had never had Brandi spayed because there had never been any real need in the past. This is the first time she has ever encountered any situations with neighborhood dogs. Well, if there is a will there is a way and my little Brandi ended up with a belly bulge and the promise of bouncing baby pups.

Quite honestly, we were excited. We had often talked about adding another dog to our home and liked the idea the new addition or two would be Brandi's blood.

Well, things didn't quite turn out the way we expected as things sometimes don't. Matter of fact, things suddenly took a turn for the worst. Brandi went into labor on schedule and gave birth to one pup. For whatever dog reason there may be, she ended up gnawing off the pups back legs and he died..or for all I know it was already dead when she gave birth. I pretty much was leaving her alone and letting nature take it's course.

I assumed from the size of her belly she had more than one pup in there. We waited and waited and waited, but by the next day no more pups had been born.

The next day was a Sunday. Brandi seemed okay but she wouldn't eat or drink and still looked poochy in the stomach. I wrapped her up and held in her in my arms most of that day. I decided I would take her to our local vet first thing when they opened Monday morning.

By late Sunday afternoon I decided to take her outside and let her do her business and enjoy some outdoor air...thinking it may brighten her spirits. We were only outside about 10 minutes but by the time I brought her back inside she had taken a turn for the worst. She started vomiting repeatedly. I was really getting worried by this time and instinctively knew that something was very wrong.

She was vomiting so much that she began dry heaving. I put some old blankets in the laundry basket and put her limp body in it so that I could have her contained but near me. Summer and I were loving on her and petting her when she lost control of her bowels while she was laying there.

At this point I knew her body was beginning to shut down and she would never make it until the vet opened the next morning. I knew in my heart she was going to die if I didn't get her help. I was scared, worried, and emotionally drained from the whole weekend ordeal. Even though I was trying to keep my emotions in check, Summer sensed my concern and began to get emotional asking me if she were going to die.

Toby was at work so I called him and informed him that I thought Brandi needed immediate vet attention. We got a recommendation from his boss for an all night vet clinic in Round Rock...a 30 minute drive from our house.

I can't see well to drive at night and never do unless I am forced. In the emotional condition I was in and trying to find a vet clinic in the dark in an unfamiliar area would have not been safe for any of us.

Luckily Toby was not busy and an hour away from the end of his shift so he was able to leave early, come home and grab us all for our rush to the vet. When we arrived at the clinic it was 8:30p.m Sunday night.

To be continued.....

Pedernales Falls State Park

This day was a disaster...for Summer anyway. We have been to Pedernales State Park before and loved it. We took Lucas there because we knew he would love it as much as we did.

Simplified story...when we were there previously we had not been able to see the whole park so we decided to hike a different area of the park that I assumed would still lead us to the sandy river where we had hung out before. I knew the kids would prefer to be on the river and I wanted Lucas to see how cool it was too.

Well, Summer doesn't mind hiking at all if there is something to look at and explore along the way. Unfortunately the path we took was nothing but 5 miles of scenery and gravel path. Nothing that would interest a 9 year old.

We never did make it to the portion of the park I wanted to show Lucas but nevertheless I think at least he enjoyed the outdoor adventure. Can't say the same for my littlest one.

Here are some pics of our day....

Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch

We had never been to Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch so while we were all together we decided to check it out. It was a fun place and if you ever want to see and interact with wild animals on a very personal basis, this is the place.

I took many pics with my phone camera but through all the computer hoo-ha I have lost track of them temporarily. I did manage to scrounge up a few...unfortunately not my best ones....like the one of the ostrich reaching in the window and trying to snatch Toby's Iphone out of his hand while he was taking a pic of him...hehehehehe







Dangit!! As I'm posting this I realize how many pics I am missing......

Falling Off The Face of the Earth

Goodness gracious!! I'm sure by now what little readers I did have have forgotten all about me or just plain given up on my return.

There have been many bloggable happenings while I have been away and I am looking forward to putting them on paper for my own therapy and reflection more than anything. Blogging gives me an internal sounding board and I have missed the company.

Without boring you with the thousands of details that had me fall off the face of the earth for the past few weeks I'll just start from where I left off.

So my son, Lucas, made it for Christmas. The weather was cold and dreary...I guess like the weather is suppose to be during that time of year. I mention the weather because we are all outdoorsy types and most of our family activities depend on sunshine and tolerable temps. After all, we are southern born and southern bred. :-)

Opening presents. I'm making note to myself for next year to either give money or take a family vacation together...



Imagine the men's disappointment when they discovered that my oven decided to die on Christmas morning of all mornings. It was very interesting preparing Christmas dinner in between the toaster oven and microwave oven....



One of the things I love most about my son is he is always willing to get on the floor and play with his sister no matter what it is. Brotherly love....



"Mama's Little Yelper"...



If it had not had been so cold we probably could have had a little more fun with Summer's new tent. I was surprised to find that it was fairly warm inside the tent though....





Luckily the temps warmed up enough in the next couple of days to get outdoors....stay tuned...