REST IN PEACE...OUR FIRST PUPPY JOEY

Now we know for certain that our puppy Joey is dead. Allen found him near the side of our driveway under some bushes as he worked cutting down berry bushes before they start blooming again. The poor guy didnt get very far...near the gray barn for those who know where that is and on the side of the main road coming in here.

Will was here pulling a big tree from the creek where it had fallen during the storms with his new truck, so to get Joey buried as quickly as possible without me knowing it, Allen asked Will to help him and to not tell me that Joey had died yet because he didn't want to ruin my Valentines Day.

I was driving out of the ranch to go get Jordan at school and spotted Will and Jon digging a big hole and stopped to ask them what they were doing? Without missing a beat, Will answered, "Planting a Tree." I knew Allen had twenty small Douglas Firs to plant, but made a mental note that the hole looked awfully big for planting a little tree like that?

Still, I have learned that the way my husband and Will do things often seem strange to me, but the results are almost always pretty good, so I shrugged it off and got Jordan...we were talking on the way back in as she got a pink teddy bear and a single red rose from her boyfriend Bryce at school...but as I drove in I slowed where the hole was and saw a small tree planted in a pretty good sized mound.

About 9 am this morning Allen woke me telling me he had something to tell me, and then he explained that he had found Joey, and they had buried him. I think he wanted to tell me before anyone else in the family 'leaked' it to me.

It has been a sad day today because that was the 'finality' of what we knew in our hearts was true anyway...but there is always a 'glimmer' of hope until all hope is gone.

It was like a miracle getting Nicky back a little over a week ago after more than a month...and finding that a young woman had rescued her floating down the rushing river and took her home to Siletz.

Nicky had a collar and the woman never reported the dog to the Humane Society where we turned in our 'missing dog' report...but suddenly, a month later, and out of no where she called Pat at Hogfathers and said, "I heard you have a missing chocolate Lab and I found one."

I think the single Mom took the little puppy home for her two little children, but the pups are growing fast and soon Nicky was knocking her kids down and they were crying, and then there is the care and clean up and the expense of owning one. Nicky was NOT well behaved coming home...so she was probably a handful for the young girl. Chocolate Labs cost about $250. up, so what was a real 'find' turned into something else as time went on.

Allen was so happy to get her back, he told the girl to pick out any 'ring' in the store as a reward. Nicky still had her collar on, so the girl must have known someone out on this road who KNEW our puppy was missing since Allen and Will went to every neighbor on the road looking for her.

We had given Nicky up for gone (which she may well have been had the woman not rescued her from the raging rivers edge) so it was a big surprise when Allen ran up the stairs to fetch me to see a 'surprise' in the yard...which was a much larger and much more aggressive "Nicky' than we had known.

Nicky was taller than her sister Yahzee, but Yahzee had a lot of 'bulk' on Nicky, but things are starting to even out all around with three feedings a day for the dogs now.

Lucky is getting his strength back and his ribs aren't showing anymore, and he straightened out both of the girls one day by grabbing their necks like a mama dog does and letting them know he is the undisputed Lord and Master around here...and now they only challenge each other.
Nicky has followed the other dogs lead and has calmed down and behaves herself now for the most part...and Allen and I aren't giving up our ultimate "Alpha' roles anymore either like we did with Joey because we didn't know better at that time.

So it will soon be three dogs neutered, Nicky starting her series of shots LATE, and Lucky getting his Rabies soon as he had to wait to get healthy again.

So, this is about 'mixed Blessings'...which is like life...taking the good with the bad, the success with the failure, the problems as they come, saying hello to some new friends and good-bye to some old ones, and we never know when 'check out time' is so it is good to go for the 'gusto' and live life one day at a time. Make sure those you love know you love em, and let them love you too. My son Joey gave me some comfort when he said that the dogs had a better life than most dogs ever do here on the ranch with us around all the time, so even if his namesake's life was cut short it was a good life.

We all need to have a good life as we journey through it don't we? You may be sick and tired of hearing about our dogs, but I couldn't let this time pass and not acknowledge the passing of one and the welcome home of the other and the report on the sick one.

ALL THREE of them are in the house tonight as we have a rare 'coldfront' starting to hit us, and the temperature was hovering around 30 degrees...too cold for them to be outside, so they are in their crates and quietly sleeping now, and I am tired too from the whole emotional roller coaster we've been on for weeks with these pets...so until the next time...

... I still think there are dogs in heaven, so I'll just have to wait to see Joey (underfoot) when it is my time to check out of here.