A sad day

Yesterday was a very sad day for me.  So sad that I wandered around moaning softly to myself pretty much non-stop. Why?  Did something happen to a dog?  Nope.  Did something happen to a family member?  Sort of.

You see, I lost my most beloved Catawba tree.  Those of you who have been here know the tree.  It featured in at least 50% of all the pictures taken here.  The dogs climbed her.  Kids climbed her.  Squirrels made their home in her.  Birds nested in her.  And above all, I just plain loved her.  For right now I'm going to share a few pictures of it, first in all her glory and then in her ever so sad demise.

See, after at least 120 years of life, bugs, rust, rot, wind, rain, ice storms all took a mighty toll on her and now all that is left are lots of useful logs, a pile of firewood and a somewhat large pile of mulch.  No, the mulch from my once lovely tree did not get mixed with the regular mulch mountain.  Instead it formed its own pile and for some reason the dogs seem to like it better than mulch mountain.  Memories of climbing the mulch when it was a tree?

I moved here 11 years ago and fell in love at once.  Allen Hufnagle, the best tree man there is, told me I needed to cut her down.  I refused.  Every year I refused and every year I patted her and talked to her and made sure she had water when there was a drought.  I did the best I could to keep the bugs and worms away.  Mostly I just enjoyed watching her each and every single day. 

As she was....................................

I truly believe the double whammy blizzards of February 2010 dealt her a fatal blow.  Allen said she was going to have to go.  I fought to keep her one more year.  The snows this past winter tore at her heart and by spring she was clearly too weak to even be able to handle the weight of her wonderful flowers and magnificent leaves.  And so, I didn't get to see one more spring with a tree full of beautiful flowers.

The day she died............................................

That's all for now.  I'll post some more stills tomorrow and then some video footage of how a great crew of real tree men carefully took her down one piece at a time and never let a single piece fall on the fences or harm the much younger and smaller black walnut tree that had grown up in her embrace.  In fact, after she was pretty much finished they even took the time to carefully trim that walnut tree so it will be able to stand on it's own and grow tall and strong.

Last night everyone else thought it rained.  I know better.  Even the sky cried for her.

Oh, beautiful Catawba! You will live in my memories forever and ever.

Wrap, The Alien RIP

A taste of the sweet, young spring grass


November 28, 1997 – April 8, 2009

Redenau Pizazz, CDX

Better known as Wrap, The Alien,
she was my Service Dog extraordinary, teacher, trainer, helper, jokester, guardian,
and she has left the building.
Rest in Peace good friend. You leave a huge tear in my heart.

Many have ask about Wrap’s final day and some have expressed the hope that she wasn’t in pain. No, I don’t think she was in much pain. I was giving her just enough Rimydal to keep her comfortable and not enough to make it impossible for her to do a few of her favorite things.

Yesterday she managed to play with her young Maltese friend Rugby. She was up and able to eat her dinner just like always, but was grateful that Sanity picked up her dirty pan and took it to the kitchen so she wouldn’t have to deal with the kitchen floor. She went outside a couple of times and enjoyed the yard.

This morning she was weaker and it took a bit more effort for her to get up and head for the office door. All the wild/rough young dogs had to spend the morning in kennel runs to allow her to safely move about HER yard one last time.

She greeted most of the morning’s day care owners at the gate, just like old times. She found a squirrel to yell at even managed a tiny half circle spin/dance. She ever so carefully checked out almost every single square inch of the yard. She had to give the top of the mulch pile a pass since it was just a bit too steep and the ground to unsteady for her to keep her balance.

She drank a lap or two from each of the water buckets, yelled at Sanity, moved between Sammy and Ferris to head off an argument, and then,searched but didn’t find the rabbit trespasser. She even retrieved a dumbbell and picked up a single piece of trash. By that time she was getting pretty tired and so made her way ever so slowly back up the ramp and in the house.

There was a fresh, clean padded area for her favorite spot in a patch of sunlight in the living room. True, it did take her two tries and some help from me to make it to her “pad”, but make it on her own she did. With only a little extra help she was able to lie down and an additional Rimydal helped her to be about as comfortable as possible so she could drift off to sleep.

Later, Dr. Morris arrived. Sydney, Leanne, Dr. Morris and I all sat around on the floor beside her. We stroked her as we remembered something special she had done and while we were remembering the needle slipped in a vein and she drifted off as smoothly and peacefully as if she was just going to rest for a moment or two.