Our Hearts Are Broken

On Friday, March 25, we were forced to make the decision all pet parents dread. We had to say goodbye to our sweet little baby girl. I really miss my dog. It hurts so much that I have really been struggling to find the words to say what I want to say.

Belle really was the best dog ever. How do I briefly sum up the life of a dog that brought so much love, joy, and laughter to our lives? She’s been such a huge part of our lives, especially these last few years when she was our only dog. Our lives will never be the same. She was such a special girl.

We adopted her in January 2009 when she was 18 months old. I met her first. She was a beautiful, spunky little princess with the cutest face and most expressive eyes. One look and I knew. It really was love at first sight. Not just for myself, either. When I met Belle, I knew she was exactly the kind of dog that Mike needed. She became his little girl immediately.

The bond was strong.

Belle was never a full-on face licker. She gave the cutest little tip-of-your-nose kisses that melted my heart every single time. She liked nuzzling ears, too. And snuggling her head up under my chin when I was holding her.

Smiley Belle (she loved, Loved, LOVED going “bye byes” and riding in the convertible).

Even as she aged, and it got harder and harder for her to get around or even just to get comfortable, she stayed sweet. As her vision and hearing got worse and worse, she became more and more anxious and leery of strangers, but she was never aggressive. And she was always such a smiley, happy dog. When I walked with her, almost everyone who saw her would smile at her. She seriously loved walks.

The previous image of Smiley belle is from earlier this year. She still had some of that special light of happiness in her eyes, which we saw less and less as the weeks and months progressed. She had always been a champion at hiding pain and discomfort.

Speaking of discomfort, she HATED baths, but she was very obedient and didn’t fight them too much. I think her last full bath was before we went to North Carolina for Christmas 2021. We had to give her butt baths periodically because of her issues with urinary incontinence, but she didn’t mind them as much as full-body bathing.

She really used to LOVE walking. As her body aged and her senses started failing, she enjoyed walks less and less. If Mike and I both walked with her, she was happy. All she really wanted as she aged was to be with her two favorite people.

She couldn’t do much toward the end, but she sure loved car rides. Especially in the Mini convertible.

Belle and Mike at Big Bend National Park.

She loved being with her people and hated being left alone in the coach so we took her everywhere we went. If Belle couldn’t go with us, we stayed home.

Belle looking out of her window.

 

“Where you been, Mama? I missed you.”

 

Belle looking out the window behind me. The back windows never stayed up for long when Belle was in the car.

 

Belle riding in the coach. She was the best co-pilot ever.

 

Even as she got older and grayer, people would often comment that she was such a beautiful dog. They were right. She was beautiful inside and out.

Lucky for us, we have good friends who didn’t mind having Belle around. Or who hid it well! LOL.

Belle enjoying a New Year’s boat ride on the Suwannee River.

 

Belle getting a little butt-scratch from Dad during the boat ride.

 

Belle enjoying the Suwannee River boat ride (photo courtesy of Bridget Machida).

 

Belle enjoying the Suwannee River boat ride (photo courtesy of Bridget Machida).

Below is a picture of our three-pack. Before Belle, we never, ever would have imagined that we would have three dogs at once. We adopted Belle as a companion for Meg (upper right), but the age difference was too great. She ran circles around Meg, literally, and made Meg a little crazy, which drove us all a little crazy, too. So we adopted a third dog, K (left), as a playmate for our feisty little Belle.

Belle was the youngest member of our three-pack.

It did not take long at all for Belle and K to become friends. They loved running and playing together. They especially enjoyed “wrastling” together, and so did we. It was so much fun to see and hear them wrestling! They made the funniest faces and sounds.

Belle and K were always two-peas-in-a-pod!

After K passed in February 2018, Belle was never quite the same. She didn’t like being an only dog. We did what we could to make sure she got lots of love and attention. And we made sure she had friends.

Zephyr and Belle

Her bestest friend was Zephyr, the miniature Australian Shepherd pictured with her above. We met him when he lived across the street from us. His Mama, Amy, was a firefighter and paramedic in training that worked long shifts. For about a year and a half or two, Zephyr would stay with us while his Mama was working. They had so much fun together and really did seem to just enjoy each other’s company.

His mama would drop him off at the house early in the mornings, while we were still sleeping, and Belle was always so happy and excited to have him there. The two of them were quite a pair. We are so glad he could give her the friendship she needed during that time. She even loved walking again when Zephyr was with us.

Her other two friends were Bodhi (a Lab) and Symon (a Golden) Richardson, pictured below. She loved their people, too, and always enjoyed staying with them while we were traveling.

L-R, Bodhi, Belle, and Symon.

 

L-R, Belle, Bodhi, and Symon in September 2021

The boys were much bigger and younger than Belle. Bodhi and her were friends first, then Symon joined the family. They were all very good together. Their house was a happy, safe place for Belle. She really did love their people, too, and I will forever be grateful to them for opening their home to our baby girl.

She really did hate being alone. I think she was always a bit anxious, but having Meg and K as pack mates, two dogs with big, extroverted personalities, helped manage and hide or distract her (and us!) from that part of her personality.

Belle relaxing on the front porch of our Warrenton home.

 

She loved being outside more than anything. Especially if one or more of her people were out there, too.

I have so many great pictures of Belle enjoying the outdoors. From hunting with K at the West Virginia place to just hanging out with us while we were doing yard work or whatever.

Speaking of hunting…

One of Belle’s proudest moments. The day she caught her first squirrel.
She pranced around the yard, soooo happy and proud to have caught one of those little buggers.

I am 100% convinced that the day she caught that squirrel at our yard in Maryland was one of her best days ever.

Belle was always a great “helper” in the yard.

She chased squirrels at our Virginia house, too, but never caught any. She did come very close a few times, though.

Our co-pilot.

I loved seeing her face in the mirror when we were riding in the Mini. Thats when she was happiest toward the end, when “going bye-byes” with her two people.

She was such a happy, goofy dog at times. Maybe she just put up with us, but we sure had a lot of good times and laughs with her.

Mike and Belle sporting some tacky sunglasses, freebies from our first big RV show.

 

Break time during a workday when Dad came to visit my office.

 

Convertible hair!

 

She loved hanging out with me when I was cooking. Yes, I always gave her some little nibbles.

The image above was taken just a few weeks ago in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Belle loved the snow!

 

This is Belle’s impatient look. She got tired of me taking pics.

 

A happy greeting from Belle.

 

Belle in January, chillaxin’ with her people in the screen house at our campsite in Florida.

 

Belle with us and our friends Lynne and Jerry in February when we visited Fredericksburg, Texas.

 

Belle posing with Mike in Fredericksburg, Texas.

 

Belle at White Sands National Park in New Mexico.

 

Belle at White Sands. We believe she thought the sand was snow.

 

Belle was a bit winded after following Mike to the top of a dune at White Sands.

 

Mike and Belle waiting for me to stop taking pictures and get back into the car!

 

One of my favorite pictures from that visit to White Sands.

 

Belle enjoying a hike with us near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

 

“Mama, are you coming?” The hike was a little hard for her, but she still enjoyed it. She was, after all, doing fun stuff outside with her people.

Walking was getting harder for Belle, but she so loved doing things outside with us. And we loved having her along.

Mike and Belle in San Antonio, Texas back in January.

 

Belle and Mike exploring one of the missions in San Antonio, Texas in January.

 

I took this sometime over the last month or so. I could tell her special light was starting to fade.

 

Belle around Christmas 2021. She was such a trooper and was so tolerant of having to wear diapers while in the house.

I could tell that Belle’s incontinence bothered her. She always seemed so confused when she wet herself. We never, ever yelled at her for it. We just cleaned her up and assured her that it wasn’t her fault and told her that she was such a good girl.

Here’s Belle watching the moonrise with me in Terlingua, Texas. I will forever miss my little shadow.

 

A few days before Belle’s death during our visit to Saguaro National Park (west).

Over the last couple of months, I’d noticed it was becoming harder and harder for Belle to maintain her favorite head-hanging-out-a-window position in the car while we were on car rides. She was getting tired more and more quickly.

Belle and I on March 19th at the Coronado National Forest outside of Tucson.

I’d seen the light leaving her eyes gradually over the past couple of months. I’d known her time was approaching. Mike knew, too. We didn’t talk about it, though. We just kept hoping beyond hope that she’d rebound yet again.

But, when she woke up sick again on Friday, and continued being sick as the morning progressed, I knew.

She’d slowly been losing control of her bowels and it scared her. I will spare you the details. Just know that on Friday morning, I knew in my heart that it was time. That light had left her eyes and our little girl was suffering.

Belle on Friday afternoon.

People always say that pet parents know when it’s time. It’s so true. I knew it for CeCe, then Meg, then K, and now Belle. It’s a horrible feeling. It’s when you know for sure that your beloved friend has been suffering and that they’ve finally had ENOUGH. It’s when you know you have to make the awful sacrifice necessary to end your beloved friend’s pain and suffering.

I knew it was time. Mike knew it was time. I think Belle did, too. None of us wanted to let her go, but we did what we felt was the best thing for Belle. We loved her so much.

She was so scared at the end, which made it even harder than we knew it was going to be. It was awful, but we stayed with her to the very end letting her know that she had always been such a good little girl. She was and will always be our pretty little girl.

Belle enjoying a beautiful sunset in her favorite North Carolina yard.

She has left such a huge hole in our hearts. I know this heart-wrenching pain, like everything else, will pass eventually. But right now it is very raw.

Mike and I both love and REALLY miss our beautiful, extraordinarily special, happy little girl.

Until we meet again, baby Belle. Please know that Dad and Mama will forever be grateful for every single second that you were with us during our Earthly lives, and that we look forward to seeing you again when we get to the other side.

For the Dog Lovers

Our dogs are pretty popular here in town. I can’t decide if it’s because they’re cute (well, they are), because they look so happy when we are out walking, or just because there are three of them, which is sort of rare.

I often get comments like “boy, you have your hands full!” And more than once I’ve been asked if I am a professional dog walker, if I work for animal control, why I have three dogs…

It’s funny.

Because I have been walking them for a while now, observing the different reactions from folks we encounter, I have learned to spot the people who just aren’t “dog people.” They’re the ones who don’t even glance at us or crack a smile.

They don’t know what they are missing.

Our dogs are a never-ending source of entertainment.

Sometimes, I think they do stuff just to make us laugh.

 

 

Other times, I think they are just being dogs.

 

I came across a cool dog-cartoon site as I was looking for some interesting clip art to add to this post.

 

 

Every time I thought to myself, “Okay, this is the last one I’ll share…” I saw another I just had to include.

 

The site, a blog, I think, is FunnyFidos.com. I think there’s more than just cartoons there. But I’ll have to check it out further some other time. Because I already wasted enough time scrolling through the cartoons.

What I really wanted to do was share some recent shots of our girls. Because I know at least one of my followers really looks forward to dog pictures.

Remember what I said about them being entertaining? Like kids, sometimes these dogs do the darnedest things.

 

Belle

 

Hubby was playing with Belle the other night. She plopped into her bed at one point and he put one of the other beds on top of her. She likes being in and under things, so she stayed like that for a while.

 

Hubby and Belle

 

After Hubby left, K and Belle were knocking the beds around (they are very light). One ended up, upside-down in the doorway of my office. I was on the phone, so I just left it that way. A little while later, I noticed the bed was occupied.

 

K on the Upside-Down Bed

 

Belle and K are really funny together. They love to wrestle and play. One of these days I’ll have to get a video of them playing in what seems to have become the wrastling room.

Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Meg. She doesn’t enjoy playing as much as the younguns, but she’s still funny.

 

Meg

 

That’s one of Meg’s favorite sleeping positions.

And that concludes my dog post for the day.

Almost.

Are you a dog person? Not sure? Take a look at THIS CHECKLIST to find out.

You Capture – Outside

I have not been the most consistent You Capture participant this year.

But I couldn’t NOT participate this week. The theme was “outside.” And I actually happened to take a few outside pics that I wanted to share.

As with most of the United States, we’ve been in the grip of a pretty long and intense cold snap. It’s been unseasonably cold for weeks. It’s not even Winter yet and we’ve had morning temps in the teens for at least a week now, maybe longer. The image above is the patio at the WV place this past Sunday morning.

I love wet pine needles. To be a bit different, I did some editing to this image. I thought it would be interesting to apply some texture. If you click on the image, you’ll see a larger version. I doubt you’ll even be able to see the texture unless you look at the larger version.

Here’s a version without texture and not cropped.

Do you think the texture adds interest?

The image above is pretty indicative of the weather on that day. Cold, wet and dark. It may not be Winter yet according to the calendar, but it sure feels like Winter has arrived.

The next few shots are examples of why I carry a camera with me all of the time. Unless I forget to put the darn thing back in my purse.

These next few images were all taken with my point-and-shoot on Saturday when I went into town to do some shopping. There’s a craft store on the outskirts of town that features the work of local artisans. One of the owners also likes to collect old stuff. He apparently has a penchant for old tractors.

I did some editing to the picture shown above, too. I wanted the whole picture to have a vintage feel to match the tractor.

Again with the editing. The texture is a bit more apparent in this one. I like the end result. How about you?

That last tractor image is probably my favorite tractor shot of the day.

I think I should go back to this place with my DSLR sometime. Would you like to see more old tractor shots? Or do you think these are boring?

This next shot, taken at the same place, is my favorite.

It’s a koi pond in front of the shop with a fountain. The aforementioned cold snap turned the fountain into what I thought was a very interesting ice sculpture.

It wasn’t shot in black and white. I used PS Elements to remove the color. I softened the focus a bit, too.

It’s my favorite shot of the day, mainly because it is so unique and was so unexpected.

A “normal” person might have seen the fountain and found it interesting. When a person with a photographer’s eye (yes, we do see the world differently) like me sees stuff like this, everything stops. I just HAD to have a picture. In fact, if I hadn’t had my point-and-shoot with me, I would have driven back to the house to get a camera.

I did take a few shots, but this one was the best.

Just because I’m curious as to what other people think, I decided to post the same shot similarly framed, but still in color.

So, which fountain shot do you like better? Color or black and white?

And are my tractor pictures nice? Or over-edited?

If you want to see what other You Capture participants saw OUTSIDE this week, be sure to follow that link and have a gander. You’ll see some amazing stuff.

The Pope of Dope

Hi there. Did you miss me?

Sorry, I’ve been busy. With work mainly. And getting ready for Christmas. And more work. And shopping. Wait, that’s part of the whole getting ready for Christmas thing.

Anyhoo…

I’ve actually been collecting stuff to post about. AND I have pictures for You Capture tomorrow.

I have so much different stuff to post about (“different” is not always a good thing), that I just don’t know where to start. So I’ll start with The Pope of Dope (video embedded below). The first thing I had to so this morning was to respond to an e-mail a dear friend sent to me on November 28. It started off with “Happy Thanksgiving.”

See? You, blog readers, are not the only peeps I’ve been neglecting. Although she’s a blog reader, too. Sometimes. So she has been doubly neglected.

Why did I just tell you all that. Because it was she who sent me this lovely video. 🙂

Only a small percentage of my readers will like this video and/or song. I happen to like it. If it gets on your nerves, just skip over it. ‘kay?

I also owe some people a phone call. Another friend called me over a week ago. I keep meaning to call back, but the days just get away from me. And now it’s way too early. Hopefully, I’ll get to call her today. You know who you are!

As for that stuff I have been collecting to share…

Here’s a picture of K in front of our half-naked Christmas tree. I’ll try to get a better shot with all of the dogs included. For now, maybe this one will make you smile. It made ME smile.

"Ho. Ho. Ho. Happy? Now get this stupid hat off of me!"

Yes, we Americans even decorate our pets for the holidays.

Speaking of pets… what does my yard have in common with the US-Mexico border?

Is it the jacket?

Even though it is the same color as those worn by the Customs/Border Patrol folks, it’s not the jacket.

A lot of DOPE.

Contrary to what some of you think (“Oh, lord, is she on drugs or what?”), it’s not the dope constantly flowing in either. Or even trickling in.

Give up?

Well, I’ll tell you.

I mean, I’ll show you AND tell you.

Hey, cool. Show and tell!

Tunnels

It’s the tunnels. More specifically, KILLERS digging tunnels.

Digging killer caught in the act.

K is quite the hunter. She’s not trying to escape. She is after a mole or moles that in this case happened to go under the fence.

She digs in other spots, too.

On the hunt again.

Fortunately, she doesn’t usually dig in the middle of the lawn. And she’s not digging just to dig. She is HUNTING. Trust me. Her kill list seems to grow every day. Mice, moles and voles mainly. But she gets a squirrel now and then, too.

Accomplices.

She’s not alone in her quest, but she is definitely the ringleader.

Do you have this kind of excitement in your backyard?

Relative Normalcy

It’s never a good sign when you wake up with a headache. I mean, what a crappy way to start a day. Hoping to get rid of the ache, I took some naproxen and then made myself a big plate of blueberry pancakes. No luck so far, but I am still hopeful. At least the pancakes tasted good.

While I ate, I caught up on my blog reading. That’s when I realized I haven’t posted anything for five days. I’ve been collecting various pics to share. But it’s an eclectic collection. So there was nothing driving me to do a posting. Now, however, I think it is time to catch up.

The first couple of shots are from Sunday morning at the WV place. It was in the low 30s when we woke up.

Frosty Window

Doesn’t that just make you want to say, “Brrr?”

Lingering Green

Most of the trees are bare already. Except for the oaks. We have lots of oaks. And they hold on to their leaves for a long time. Apparently some are late in the color-change department, too.

Nakedness

See what I mean about the trees being bare?

Morning in the Woods

This is one of my favorite spots at the WV place. Back before we had Belle and K, we had CeCe and Meg. CeCe was a lot like Belle in that she liked to hang close to Mama during our morning walks. She and I would wait here at the top of the hill on Turkey Hollow Road for Meg to return. Quite a few of CeCe’s cremains were scattered here for that very reason. It’s been almost two years since we lost CeCe and we still miss her.

A Hint of Green

The colors on this green leaf caught my eye. There’s not really anything special about that picture except I thought the leaf was cool. So I am sharing it here.

Cool Colors

Speaking of colors catching my eye, I really liked the way these frosty leaves looked.

Frost

You can see the frost more clearly on these leaves. Quite a few bushes are still green, so the woods aren’t completely colorless.

Belle racing around the corner.

Right before snapping this picture, I’d started walking back toward the house. When Belle realized she couldn’t see me, she came running.

Belle

Here’s one where Belle was waiting with me for the other two girls to come back. As for the other two…

Napping while Mama works.

They did reappear shortly after that picture of Belle was taken. I snapped the above image while I was working. The camera was sitting next to me on the windowsill. My girls always like to be close to Mama. Notice K and Belle sharing that small bed?

K

K is more into sharing than Belle. In this shot, although you can’t see her (the zoom lens was on the camera and I couldn’t fit her into the frame), Belle is pretty much hogging the entire bed. K found a corner to sit on and gave me this look as if to say, “Mama, she won’t share.”

K is truly a Mama's girl.

Belle sits with me in the mornings. It’s rare to see Belle on my lap in the evenings. K on the other hand is all about her evening Mama-time. She’ll come over and give me this certain look. That’s when I say, “You need some Mama love?” Immediately she climbs into my lap.

We did have a bit of excitement on Sunday. Are you ready for this?

The new refrigerator.

We bought a new refrigerator! Now we just need to buy some more food. 🙂

Our kitchen is very small. We never really planned the kitchen. I bought a whole kitchen full of old cabinets and we put them into place. It all works okay, except the door placements are very awkward in a couple of spots. We only had room for an under-the-counter refrigerator. And no room for a dishwasher.

Because Hubby really hates doing dishes, we need a dishwasher. We can’t have a dishwasher unless we re-do the kitchen.

Oh yeah, we have a really cheap, crappy cook top, too. It works, but it is a huge PIA. The burners are super hard to regulate properly. If you turn them back too low, they go out. And they won’t relight unless you put a match to them first. It’s annoying.

Our Little House in the Woods

This is not a great picture since the trailer is sitting in front of the garage. But someone was asking me what our house looks like, so there it is.

Going "down the hill."

The dogs just love it when we walk them down the driveway. They’re all three in the picture, K is just hard to see because she is so far ahead. The girl runs like a Greyhound.

Going back up the hill.

You know what they say… what goes down, must come up. Right? 🙂

And now, for the last picture of the day, we have K.

"Mama, she's not sharing AGAIN."

K is looking a bit pissed off. Is it because Belle is hogging the bed? Or because Mama has no room on her lap at the moment. Or both?

For the record, Belle is wide awake, but she hates having her picture taken. Really. She squints or blinks in most shots unless I catch her off guard.

I hope you enjoyed the mish-mash of photos!

Spring and Smiles

I’m at the WV place with the girls for the week. We’re having some work done at the MD place. Having strange men walk in and out with one particularly barky dog and two bark-followers in the house would not be very conducive to work.

So here I am…

Spring Has Sprung

The weather on Monday was nice for the most part. I was quite happy to see the big bush at the end of our driveway full of green buds. This is the same bush that, a little over a month ago, I was kicking and shaking to clear the snow off of its branches. I don’t know what kind of bush it is, but I like it.

K and Her Stoic Expression

I know I’ve mentioned here before that K, a generally happy dog, almost always has a stoic look on her face. She just always looks so darn serious.

Really. Like in this shot of her and Meg in the truck. Look how serious she seems.

I’m not sure why either. She really is a very sweet, laid back dog. You’d never know that by the expression, or lack thereof, on her face in most of the pictures I’ve shared here.

But things have changed. Finally.

I now know the secret to making K show some teeth (in a good way).

K Looking Sort of Pleased

Okay, she’s not grinning ear-to-ear in this picture. But she does look a bit more relaxed than usual, right?

K Grinning

And this is definitely a grin. Wouldn’t you say?

K Smiling

This picture may be a little blurry, but it definitely shows K smiling.

K Smiling Again

She’s smiling here, too. Her eyes still seem a bit serious, but her lips are certainly pulled back into a smile.

K Almost Laughing

Her smile is so wide here, I can almost hear her giggling with glee.

K's Goofy Grin

And check out the goofy grin in this picture! Doesn’t she look happy?

Wanna know the secret? I’ll tell you. Turn her loose in the woods with no daggone beeping, citronella-spraying electronic collar strapped to her neck. She was, and still is, beyond thrilled. And she stays close by, too.

Now I just have to teach her to keep those eyes wide open when she smiles.

While this next picture is completely unrelated, I just HAD to share it with you.

Meg

It’s a picture of Meg I captured yesterday when the girls insisted I take a short break to walk them down the hill. Meg had just turned to make sure I was following her. There’s just something about this picture that I really like. Which is why I had to share.

Belle is here, too, I just don’t have any good pics of her to share. None taken in the last two days anyway. This next shot, which shows all three dogs running down the hill ahead of me, is the best image I managed to capture that included Belle.

Going "Down the Hill" (something the girls insist I do with them)

I’ll try to get a shot of her today. Hopefully she won’t show up COVERED in cow shit, like she did on Monday morning. Let me tell you, giving a very stinky little dog a bath is just what I wanted to do before I could start working for the day.