Closing Chapter

So much has happened since the last entry that Maggy made. Our happy, loving, fun little girl kept us on our toes. First it was mommy helping her to write these entries, then sometimes me (daddy) helped too. But her story needs to be told to the end, so here goes. When we brought her home, worried that we had done the right thing, Maggy quickly melted our hearts and made them hers. There is something special about rescuing a dog, and Maggy had it in spades. I need to write as Maggy for a bit, so please bear with me as I channel her and try to write through the tears.

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About a year after my last post a new boy came to live with us. His name is Roscoe and he seemed very confused and lonely and scared. I tried to play with him some, but he's bigger than me and I'm older than him, so it didn't happen much. At first he cried a lot, and I tried to tell him that it would be ok, that mommy and daddy would be good for him, but he just wanted to go home. He didn't  understand why he was living here. I don't know that he ever will, but for a boy he isn't all that bad. We'll just ignore the whole male-dominance thing, because it never worked with me. I'm the princess and I will not tolerate any competition!

    Roscoe and Me.

Well... age begins to creep up on us all, and the gray you see in the picture just kind of proves it. The last two winters it was all I could do to stay warm. Daddy keeps the house so darn cold that I spent most of my time on or under a blanket. Mommy loves to snuggle, and I discovered that she would let me get under the covers with her in the mornings after daddy got out of bed. Oh my... talk about warm! Those mornings were special and I would get some really good sleep. I think daddy even took a picture once... oh... here it is...

    Mommy and me sleeping in.

I've had a pretty good life. Roscoe keeps me from being completely lonely when mommy and daddy go away on trips, or even sometimes when they both leave during the day. The food is good, especially the things that mommy calls puppycakes and the ones that daddy calls puffles. I will do absolutely Anything for those! I try to tell them that, but they never really seem to understand. That's the sad part.

When it started getting cold again last year, I started to not feel quite right. It's always great to eat, but sometimes eating didn't make me feel so good, so I started slowing down. Yes, I know... me... not gulping food? Well, it happened. I tried to tell mommy and daddy that I wasn't feeling quite right, but like I said, they didn't understand what I was saying. It got harder and harder for me to keep warm, and walks were pretty much out of the question. After a while it got to the point that I didn't want to eat any more. That is when mommy and daddy finally took notice. Goodness but what they didn't try to feed me so that I would just eat something!

They took me to see a nice man that put a cold thing on my tummy and listened to it gurgle (talk about embarrassing) and then he and mommy and daddy stayed in that room while a nice lady took me to another room and poked me with a sharp thing. I am a firm believer that you should never see your own blood, and that's what she made me do. I just knew that this was not a good thing.

Well, a few days later I was back there and this time I wasn't fighting it so much. I stayed in the back room there for a couple of nights and finally started feeling better. They had some thing stuck into my arm and I was very good and left it alone because they said that it was going to help me feel better. They were right... mostly. After I went home mommy tried to poke a thing into me every day and I finally got tired of it and started complaining. Things just weren't the same for me anymore. I felt rotten.

One night they had a big bunch of people come over. Some of them I knew and was happy to see, but others were new and nice to me. I should have been a beagle on a mission to eat everything I could get my mouth on, but I just wasn't up to it. Being locked in the bedroom with Roscoe didn't help matters.

The next morning mommy and daddy left with those big things full of clothes. I didn't think it was a good time for that to happen, but they went anyway. Nana showed up later that day and she stayed with us for days and days and days. Don't get me wrong, I love Nana lots, and she took very good care of me, but I wanted and needed mommy and daddy to be home. When they finally did come home I did my best to be happy and chipper and all that, but I just felt like poo and pretty soon they knew it. The next few days were hard. Mommy tried and tried to poke me with that thing, kept telling me that it would make me feel better, but a girl can only take being poked so many times. Then everything changed.

One night as mommy was getting ready for bed, she turned to me and said something. I wasn't quite paying attention because something inside didn't feel right at all. I looked up at her and gave her my "what was that you said?" look when it hit me. The next few minutes are pretty blurry, but the next clear thing I remember is sitting up and feeling lots better. I got up and ran for the food bowl, thinking that they would follow me and maybe give me something to eat, but they were still sitting in the hall, and they were crying....

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Ok, I have to stop her for a minute or two. Maggy leaving us was sudden and hard. We sat there with her body as it settled, wondering where she had run off to. Nana came over and said her goodbyes. It was a hard night in the middle of a hard week. I had been laid off on Monday, and she left us on Thursday night, May 24th, 2012. Maggy has a few more things she wants to say...

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As I sat there trying to figure out what was going on, I heard a familiar voice. When I turned around, there was the nice lady that I lived with when I was just a puppy! I hadn't seen her in so very long! We spent some happy time together and then I realized that she could understand me. No dog likes to think about not being understood (let alone loved) yet it's something we deal with every day. Anyway, she told me that we were in Heaven now and would be together for as long as we wanted. I asked about mommy and daddy and where they were, and she said that they weren't here yet and that I would have to wait for them. I tried waiting, but I've never been the patient type. I've come back around a couple of times, snuggling with them and trying to keep the memories of that time alive for all of us.

Lately I have been thinking about this blog and how I just got distracted and left it unfinished. I tried to get mommy to finish it for me, but that wasn't working so I went and found daddy. He has been sitting in some strange place all day and then coming home... it looks like he is doing the same thing to me and I don't understand why he doesn't just do that at home like he used to. After a couple of days of laying at his feet like I used to do, I decided that today I had to tell him to finish this blog for me.

It hasn't been easy for him (or mommy) and they have both been crying a lot as he's been writing what I have been telling him. I'm trying not to cry, but it seems to be what everybody is doing. I'll keep coming around and keeping them company as long as the rules will let me, but after that I'll just have to wait in my bed by the door to this place. They'll be here someday, and I will be waiting for them.

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Ok, Maggy... I've let you have your say. If she has more to say I'll be back, but I think this will be the closing entry in her blog. Yeah... so there's the question: so what do you do with your departed dog's blog? We're going to keep it for now, and maybe archive it sometime in the future. Maggy will always be a part of us, and we miss her every day.

Something is up

Something is up. That strange blue thing is out on the bed, and they are putting clothes into it. This is not good! It means that somebody is going away, and I don't know who!

Other than that, the days have been good. If it's not too hot we go out for a walk, otherwise it's just a dogs' life of sleeping and eating and love from Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes friends come over, and there is the rare peanut butter jar to clean up, but that's about it. I'll post more when I know who is leaving.

Mommy's Sick

I was enjoying having Mommy home and being her "little shadow" as she calls me when I noticed that she wasn't quite acting like herself. She was spending a lot of time laying on the couch watching TV. Hey, I enjoy myself a good lazy day now and again, but almost the whole week?
When I go up to her she feels hot and has a terrible cough. I hate to say this, but at times when she coughs it hurts my ears. I know that it is hurting Daddy's ears too, because he has said so.

My conclusion to all of this is that Mommy is sick. She is sleeping a lot, coughing a lot, watching a lot of TV, and just not herself. I will be happy when she is over whatever it is that she has. A sick Mommy is not a fun Mommy.

MOMMY CAME HOME!!!

Oh my... I'm so excited!!! Mommy finally came home!!!

Today looked just like yet another lonely day without Mommy. Daddy let me out a little after regular time and it was all just the same routine. Food, Potty, Treat, Daddy goes and stands in the water. Then, a bit of a change: Daddy gave me peanut butter and left. A bit unusual, but not totally. Well, he came back and I was very excited to see him. He didn't stay inside, though. He went out back and did some things, then would walk out to the front and come back with this big white bag on his shoulder. (Those bags turned out to have dirt in them, which is confusing to me because we already have dirt in the back so why do we need more? It's not like those white bags made the dirt special or something.)

This went on for a little while, and then he came in and put my collar on me. That means a ride for me, and that usually means a trip to my favorite place. Not today, though. We didn't drive for long when he parked and did NOT give me a treat when he got out. Let me tell you, I let him know about that! And can you believe, HE IGNORED ME! He wasn't inside the place very long at all, so I didn't even have time to nose around the truck. It smelled like he had food in there earlier in the day, but none of it got brought home to me so it did me no good. He got back in and pretty much just moved the truck to a different spot and then got back out. This time, I was able to see him the whole time. This is where the trip got a little odd. This place had huge piles of dirt all over, and Daddy went over and put some dirt into white bags. Ah Ha! This is where they came from! Now, I still don't understand why this dirt is any different than the dirt we already had at home, but hey, if it makes him happy, I'll deal with a little strangeness.

Back home we went, and I got put inside again. It was getting warm outside, so Daddy closed up the windows and doors and then went back to his strange little routine: do things in back, then go and get a bag of dirt, and then do more things in back. I watched for a little while, but then got bored and went in for a nap. Quite a while later, he came in (smelling like that different dirt) and went and stood in the water for a while. That was odd. He usually only does that right when we get up, or when he cuts the grass (which is weird all by itself, but he seems to do that every week.)

After he got dressed again, he talked on the phone and then we went for another ride. Two rides in a day... must be something going on. We went to a food place, but not my favorite one. We went to the one that stubbornly refuses to even look at me, let alone give me a treat. We weren't back home long before the doorbell rang. I ran to see who it was. When Daddy opened the door, there was Mommy!!! I was sooo excited I gave her kisses and ran around and gave her more kisses! I am happy to say that I have just gotten up from a nap with all three of us on the bed. Now it's time to see all the stuff that Mommy brought in with her. Most of it smells like her regular old stuff (that strange blue thing is back) but some of it is very new and needs a good smelling.

No Mommy, but I got in Trouble

I wanted to write yesterday, but I got into trouble. About the middle of the day, Daddy took me outside and told me that I should do my business. Well, I squatted, but then I got distracted by some bugs, and then I smelled something different and had to follow that, but that just led to more bugs. I think Daddy was in a bad mood or something, because we didn't stay out long. Daddy gave me peanut butter, and then he left.

I tried to be a good girl. I really tried! I had to make a pile sooo bad, and I just couldn't hold it any longer. Well, when Daddy got home he yelled at me. A Lot. He also would not let me on the computer to do my post. I think he's still a little mad at me, but things are slowly getting better. Except for still no Mommy.

Where IS she? Why did she leave? We went for a walk this morning and I couldn't even smell her anymore. Well, ok, I could smell her, I AM a Beagle... helloooo... one of the best dog noses... but it was the same old smells from when she left. This is getting depressing. Life seems to go on here without her, but it isn't the same. I think even Daddy misses her. He has been moving around more when he sleeps since she left.

Well, it's time for my afternoon nap. I suppose that tomorrow will be yet another day without her.

Still No Mommy!

I'll keep this short. The title says it all.

I am depressed. I keep going to the door every time I hear something that I think is Mommy, but it never is. I've gone from sticking by Daddy all day to starting to look at the door more. It's not helping. I think Daddy is talking to her on the phone, but he doesn't tell me. In fact, all he tells me is to get out of the kitchen, or that whatever I heard it isn't Mommy at the door.

I'm going to go sulk some more...

WHERE'S THE MOMMY?!?!

Let me start by saying that last week was pretty good. For some reason, Mommy started sleeping later and Daddy started letting me out in the mornings. At first I thought it was a weekend, but after several days like this I just decided to accept it and enjoy it. More time with Mommy is always good. Then came yesterday...

Yesterday, we all got up early like it was a regular day, so I thought that things would be normal. Too hot to walk (thankfully Daddy figured out a long time ago that since I have a yard we don't need to go for walks in the heat) so a quick trip out for needed things and then back into the nice cool house. Well, Mommy had spent the day before putting all kinds of things into those big blue boxes that they take with them when they leave me alone for a long time, and that should have been my tip to be wise, but I ignored it. So, up early and then Daddy goes out front and there is Auntie Laurie! I got to go out and say hi to her without a collar! Talk about a rare treat! I tried to sneak off to explore the neighborhood, but everybody was watching me and I got lured back inside with the promise of treats (I'm such a sucker for that.) They took a bunch of things out to Auntie Laurie's car and closed the door behind them and kept me in, so I stood there waiting patiently. Daddy came in, but not Mommy. After a few minutes of no Mommy, I decided that she went somewhere and would be back later.

Well, bed time came and still no Mommy. Daddy started talking on the phone, and when he does that when it's close to bed time that usually means that Mommy is just about home. I got all excited and went to the door and waited. Daddy called me back and stuck something by my ear and I thought I could hear Mommy talking to me, so I ran to the door again. No Mommy. Daddy took me outside for my evening relief, and then gave me my treats and put me to bed. I went to sleep waiting for Mommy, figuring that she would be home very late and that I would get to sleep in with her tomorrow (today.)

This morning, Daddy got me up again and we did the usual morning things, and then he went in to stand in the water. I looked around the house. No Mommy! I sniffed all over, but her scent was starting to fade. This made me sad, so I went and hid in my safe spot under the bed. Since then, I have been out for two rides today with Daddy. Once in his truck (this whole thing with Mommy missing has got me so upset that I forgot to order breakfast, but they know me there so I got what I wanted anyway) and then in Mommy's car. We drove for a bit and then Grandpa got in. That was nice to see him, but I had to ride in the back seat, which I don't like much. After he got out I got to get back into the front for the ride home. So, now we're home, but still no Mommy.

All of this has got me tired, so I'm going to take a nap. I'll write more later.