Blaze gone 3 years today

I laid down as the tears flowed   

Hitting almost as hard as when she passed.  

The cats planted themselves on my chest 

As I wept for my girl.

Miss you so much.

Testing...testing...1,2,3

 Had to make some changes to our email subscriptions.  They were technical changes that do not effect any of our subscribers, so no worries.  And since I'm not very technical it took me a while to figure it out.  But it is all fixed and ready to go.   So hopefully every one of our subscribers is receiving this post.

Because of the delay, I missed posting about Zappa's year anniversary.  It is so hard to believe that a year ago he was here and that he actually been gone that long.  It still hits me, just like that, out of the blue sometimes.  In the evenings for some reason, his loss really gets to me, as well as the rest of the 24 Paws.  During the day I'm basically OK, but when the sun starts to set, I feel that emptiness and loss every evening.  Not really sure why, but I do.

Boxer, our cat is doing well for having cancer.  He was given 3 months to live last July, but no one told him that.  lol  It has been eight months since he was diagnosed and he is still here.  There have been no changes that I can see and he is acting fine.  In fact, he is starting to get really needy, wanting to be close to me all the time.  He's starting to drive me crazy.  lol  Boxer has always been like that, but he's been a little worse than normal.  Not sure what that means, but we are taking it day by day with him.  

Princess Leia, the Siamese, is also doing fine.  The food and supplements she takes for her kidney disease are doing a great job at keeping it under control.  She is very healthy for a 17 1/2 year old.  

Well, that's about the latest.  I hope I will be able to post more now that the emails are fixed.  

Thank you for staying with us.

Take care,

Patty ♥

Silver Love

She taught me how to be a dog mom, while showing what a loving mother was.  

To me and the pups.

It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, learning to be loved by a mother dog.  I was able to share this life with Silver and witness her motherhood for eight years.  

She was the glue that held the family of the 24 Paws together.  When she died the whole family fell apart.  The pups and us were never quite the same again.

She never asked for anything and would stand back while her pups demanded attention from me.  

She had a couple of encounters with her pup, Chance whom she gave kisses to while they were together.  

She was strong, independent and stubborn as all hell, but had a gentle and loving spirit.  

She nurtured my soul, knowing before I knew what I needed.  She was sensitive and intuitive that way.

She was our first puppy and I made every mistake possible with her.  Yet, she was so forgiving.

I can't believe it has been seven years today that she disappeared from our lives.  The 24 Paws was started because of Silver and ended with hole in my heart forever.   

My favorite past Christmas cards of the 24 Paws

 

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love, Mark, Patty and the spirit of the 24 Paws of Love

This and that

Hello friends, 

Just a little of what's going on.  Hope you are all doing well. 

Boxer-boo

 Boxer was given 3 months to live from his cancer.  Today marks 3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days that he is still alive.  And we are so very grateful!  He is still doing pretty well even though the cancer is starting to spread.  Please pray for him.  Thank you!

Every night when the darkness settles in earlier and dominates the evening it feels like there is dead space.  It is the hardest part of the day when the loss of the dogs, especially Zappa, is prevalent.  

I make my own Christmas cards every year with the dogs in them.  Creating this year's card was a reality check that they are all gone.  

I have an image in my mind of a dog I would like to have.  I hold onto it when times are hard and I'm afraid I'll never have a dog again.  

Every night we still say good night to the 24 Paws.  Mark sings to them and I talk to them or lay silent while holding a pillow or blanket.  I feel their spirits strongest then and it is comforting.   

Until next time...

Patty ♥

Grandpa Mark and Grandson Zappa

Miss him so much.♥

      

Zappa's roses are kicking a$$! (even in October!)

 Zappa's roses are the only one out of the six dogs that are blooming.  I think we got his roses in mid-June.  It took us a couple of weeks to plant them and they haven't stopped blooming yet!  In mid-October!  Up here in North country!  So cool!

The rest of dogs had a beautiful, full display of their roses.  It looked like Master Gardener Theater this past June with all their blooms.  Then they all just sort of petered out and Zappa took over the show for the rest of the summer and now into fall.  

Zappa showing off

Since Zappa was the last one here after the others died, it seems only fitting that his roses should last longer than the others as well.  :)

Wrapping up summer

 I come to the blog every day.  I always seem to find all kinds of things to write about, until I'm actually on that blank post, then all the words and thoughts and feelings trickle down from my brain and leave me empty.  

That's how my whole summer has gone.  It has been a very, very long summer without any dogs.  Every day seemed to drag into the next.  The evenings were the worst part of the day. That's when it would really get to me.  Or going outside alone with no doggie company.  The cats helped, but they couldn't make up for the loss of dogs or the fact that they weren't dogs.  

Time has been hard to fill. It doesn't help either that I have a bum knee and I am limited as to what I can do.  That made it worse.  When I really wanted to get something done and distract my mind, I wasn't able to do it.  To say I was depressed this summer would be an understatement. 

 And while I didn't blog much this summer, I did journal.  Every day.  

I still say good night to all the pups every night.  And if wasn't for that spiritual connection with the dogs, I would have never made it through this summer. 

It did help that the cats were still here.  We've gotten to know each other all over again, which has been good.  And since Boxer is terminal, I've been getting extra quality time with him, that I wouldn't have gotten if there were dogs around.     

Now we will be going into our first fall and winter without any dogs.  I hope Mark and I don't kill each other.  lol  There isn't anything worse than being cooped up all winter without the love of dogs to get you through.  We have decided not to get a dog until sometime after Boxer goes.  It would be way too much stress on him at this time with his cancer.  So we're going to try and make the best of everything and hope for the best.  We only have one life to live and there's nothing better than trying to live it.

Take care my friends.  ♥        

The cats

Boxer on top, Leia on the bottom.

I don't mention the cats much, because, well, this is a dog blog, but they have been in our lives since before the 24 Paws.  Boxer and Princess Leia have become a great source of comfort over the last couple of years in dealing with the dogs' illnesses and deaths.  

I've discovered a new love for the cats after the dogs passed.  Boxer and I have played aggravation with each other for years.  After 17 years of it, I think we have finally come to a unanimous truce.  I'm sure it has something to do with age, but don't tell him I said that.  Boxer thinks he finally wore me down and won the game.  lol

It is never easy caring for sick dogs.  You're heart breaking every day on borrowed time.  The cats were my escape from that.  After their nightly meal we would curl up together in their bed and snuggle.  Sometimes I would cry and Boxer would head butt me over and over.  

My relationships with the cats, is complicated, probably because they are cats. My previous two cats were more like dogs than cats and did not prepare me for how catty Boxer and Leia are.  I've been shocked and appalled at how much cattiness Boxer and Leia have in them.

Boxer, my tuxedo cat, is the dominate angry cat.  He is always glaring and disgusted with something. (usually me)  I swear the only time he is happy is being fed and being on my lap, otherwise, he's angry.

Leia, my Siamese, is psycho.  Simply put.  She is hyper off the charts.  She isn't mean or angry...she is just crazy.  I have to use my "get a grip" tone of voice to get her to back off from me. She is the pesky little sister that bugs Boxer and me.   

It's been a completely different household having just cats, that I have slowly learned to enjoy again.  Since they are both older, Boxer is 18 years old and Leia is 16 years old, I appreciate their quiet pace.

We found out a few weeks ago that Boxer has a rare, aggressive form of cancer.  We have seen two different vets and an oncologist.  There is an option of surgery, but the space is tight and they may not be able to get clean margins.  That means since it is aggressive, it will come back again.  We have opted not to do the surgery and they gave him three months to live.  That's how fast this cancer spreads. So, we are spending every minute possible with him.    

Leia has kidney disease (which is common in cats) that is being regulated with special food and supplements.  She is pretty stable and we try to keep her that way by making sure she eats. So far, so good.

So, while our lives have changed with the loss of the dogs, we still have Boxer and Leia to hold on to for however long we may have with them.