Hiking (with the hounds)

That wall of rock in the last picture is very cool.
Thanks for the pictures. I liked to walk up the Asticou terraces in Northeast Harbour.

 

Best time of the year for hiking.

The azalea gardens, then hike up the terrace to Asticou gardens then the Asticou Inn for popovers...a must when Mom visits, she likes to pretend she's a Rockefeller.

 

Willow's Last Hike

Willow's last hike was a leisurely Mother's Day afternoon stroll in our woods, her canine and human friends by her side. Miss Willow was very sick, acute leukemia, a particularly aggressive form. Her regular checkup just a month before had shown nothing, her bloodwork was perfect, she was the picture of health. Then a couple weeks later she just didn't seem herself, just a little off, she was no longer interested in our nightly after dinner play time. Then she started to skip meals, then she wouldn't eat at all! It took a couple of visits to the vet over a week or so and a bunch of tests for the final diagnosis. The vet assured me she wasn't in any pain but she had little energy and would no longer eat without the help of a strong appetite stimulant. Any treatment would be strictly palliative, just keep her happy. I'll be dammed if I'm going to let the cancer whittle away at her, suck the zest for life from her body. She deserved better, to go out on top, feeling as good as possible.


I called my human pups on Friday after I got word from the Vet, it was one of the hardest things I had ever done. They dropped their busy lives in the city and came home. Willow was my daughter's puppy after all. The girls had found the ad and convinced my wife to drive them, on Mother's day ten years earlier, to the farm where she was born, in the barn with the pig pen that was shaded by an enormous willow tree. "A mistake" the ad had said, the neighbors Beagle had escaped the fence and paid a visit to Willow's purebred Black Lab momma. These people clearly had no idea what they were talking about, had no clue what an absolute gem of dog she would become, she was no mistake.



The adventures we had were endless. She enthusiastically followed me to the top of mountains too numerous to count, swam in every lake, rolled in every mud pit, chased every squirrel and stuck her nose in every hole she could find along the way. And at the end of a day, after a long hike or a busy day in the woods, when I would settle on the couch, she would rouse herself from where she had settled and come lay at my feet, as if to say "thanks". A dog's life the way it should be!


Earlier that Mother's Day on a trip to the nursery we picked out flowers for my wife's gardens and I spotted a small willow tree. I had the perfect spot for it. In the center of our land, at the intersection of three trails, a spot I would pass every day. We took Willow to the vet on Monday morning and surrounded her with love as she left us. We brought her home, allowed her canine friends to see her, so hopefully they would understand. We placed her in the hole and covered her with dirt so her energy could return to the earth to be renewed in the form of a beautiful new Willow.

 

DaveGunter that was beautiful..

 

Sorry to hear, Dave

You did right by Willow.

 

Whew... DaveGunter ... what a wonderfully well written tribute. So sorry for your loss. Rest in peace Willow.

 

Very sorry about Willow Dave.

 

Well written DaveGunter

As hard as it is to do, this was the ultimate act of kindness. My wife and I think the same way of our dogs.

 

I can only say that's the way a dogs life should be. Condolences from us.

 

So sorry you lost s member of your pack. Beautiful tribute to her.

 

So sorry to hear about Willow. The pictures of the five dogs perched on a rock, tractor or firewood chair are great memories.

 

I remember that hike and the rest of that trip well!

Thanks for the support ya'll...it was very cathartic to be able to create that post.

 

Willow wasn't just one of the pack, she was the ring leader. So sorry to hear this Dave. She'll be missed.

 

10 years doesn't seem long enough, but she lived life to the fullest. RIP Willow.

 

Sorry for your loss DaveGunter , I know what it's like.
I got this guy from the Humane Society on Friday. It's been 20 years without a dog. I really didn't know how much I missed the companionship.