The End of the Journey

Today, Shadow's Journey ended.  For over a year, he has been dealing with a skin infection.  Late last year, a great new Vet - Dr Kirchart solved the problem - a drug resistant Staph infection.  That kept Shadow from doing many of the things he loved to do - not much dog park time, but he still loved life and lived life.

However, on Friday the 18th, Shadow was lethargic and coughing.  A visit to the vet, referenced him to the emergency hospital and a cardiologist.  The diagnosis was Shadow had DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy - enlarged heart) and was in congestive heart failure.  He came home on the 21st with a large selection of drugs.  For the week, he was feeling better, although still not himself, and with a reduced appetite.

This past weekend, we were blessed with a light snowfall  and a beautiful day that allowed him to enjoy one of the things he enjoyed most - eating snow

Yesterday, Shadow had a relapse and was rushed to the emergency vet again.  Treatment took place, but unfortunately, this morning he was no longer responsive and passed over the rainbow bridge.

Shadow will be missed deeply by his friends and family.

Last Summer Day of 2011

The last hurrah, a prancing Dane dance.  Well, Lightning is only half Dane (he's half Rott, but don't ask him about it, he's really sensitive).  It wasn't a great day at the park, in fact it poured just after we started playing. 

I can't think of much else to do but wish for a white winter!

Summer Break is over.

The long and hot summer is almost over.  And the drought of my posting has ended.  This summer, I went back south to see the folks and meet the youngins.  It was fun, but I'm glad fall is here.

Can you smell the seafood?  I can.  Too bad, I didn't get to try any.  Behind me is my fan club.  They follow me everywhere.  My little buddy, Jacob.  The Princess, Haley. And Auntie Shirl.

 Everyone is taking pictures.  Wish I had a doggy cam.  Then I could have snapped some of everyone.

Dane Doggy Day at the beach.

This is my portrait from the my girl Haley.  Pretty cool, huh!

Danger Dog...

Dad insisted on making me "danger dog"...whatever that means....    wrapped up like a present.

This was after posing for some other glamor shots!

Earlier in the day, I had a good time at the dog park.

Met my first Irish Wolfhound - Quinn.  He liked to play with the little dogs, not so much with me.

But you know me, I'll roughhouse with anyone.

Finally, Quinn and I played a bit.

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Pound for pound, the highest leaping pup that the Shad has ever witnessed.

 Ellen who works at Dad's office gave me some nice belly rubs.  That's her dog sniffing me.  She's an ankle biter.

Taken down by the ankle biter.  I know, I'm so much bigger.  So the saying is true, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.  I guess I'll have to work on my wrestling more.

Pip, RIP

Well, Pip spent the night inside yesterday and was full of vigor this morning.  But Dad found Pip lying on his back when he got home.  Looks like mama bird didn't feed Pip.

Birds of a Feather....

So today, I didn't pollute the house.  Dad was really quite happy.

And we rescued (kind of) a little dove.  He was on our sidewalk when I took Dad for a walk. 


Pipsqueak in a bucket, prior to the Vet.

Dad took him to the vet, who called someone, who got in touch with him and said put him back.  That's what birds do... fall out of the tree and either get eaten, die of exposure, or learn to fly.




Put under his nesting tree...

He'll get to stay with the Shad tonight if he doesn't find some shelter and will go back out in the morning.

Instinkerator

If you are squeamish... skip this entry as it's just a bit unsettling...

Size matters... think about how much the insinkerator had to eat to make this instinkerator pile.....

 The first is the satellite view:

For scale, the floor tile is 12x12, so that is an 8x8 amoeba of death.


Then the google street view:

That is a 1.25" paint stirring stick.  So, the amoeba is 2.75 inches high.    That is the what Websters calls "Piled high and deep".


And finally the storm of the century:

Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.  Notice the splatter due to the high velocity ejection.  Outflow was impinged closest to the viewer, otherwise, this could have easily been a category 5 event.













Lets just say Dad was not having a good weekend (or days leading up to the weekend).  He's not happy, so don't bother him.