The Week in Pictures

Monday

At the beginning of the summer two of our tall pine trees were struck by lightning.  With the drought, they had no chance of recovery and even though we have not had rain storms, we have had quite a bit of wind.  Dead trees and wind do not mix and therefore needed to come down.  Monday was the day.  The dogs went nuts over the strangers in their yard and the new cat was totally freaked out by the noise.

Tuesday

I took the new cat Trigger to the vet for the first time as well as our oldest dog Truffles who was supposed to go in for surgery.  Because I had to leave so early in the morning, Diva went over to the neighbors' house for breakfast and apparently for an up close lesson on hummingbirds.  She and Neighbor Boy #2 went outside and stood still next to the feeder and watched as the hummingbirds buzzed all around them.  They were a little nervous to hold the feeder.  Neighbor Boy #1 was fearless and it paid off.  He was surrounded by the little birdies.  As it turned out, Truffles' blood work came back funny and it was decided to postpone surgery.  When I got home, Trevor our other dog didn't seem himself. 

Wednesday

No pics because nothing extraordinary happened other than Trevor was still not himself.  He had been diagnosed with an inoperable thyroid tumor a little while ago but we all thought he had about a year left with us.  He didn't bark when the doorbell rang that morning (his favorite pastime) we knew that he wasn't right.  He never left his spot on the couch all day.

Thursday

By Thursday morning, I knew something was very wrong.  Trevor was no longer wagging his tail, barking, eating, or drinking.  I took him to the vet with no muzzle necessary which is unheard of for Trevor.  The vet said that he wasn't even sure that heroic measures would do much good and so I had the horrible job of calling my husband at work and tell him of our lack of options for his beloved dog.  If you don't have pets then you probably don't understand the attachment people have to these guys and if you do have pets, you know exactly how hard it is to let them go.  I sat in the vet's office holding my shell of a feisty Yorkie until Engineer could get there to say his goodbyes.  My Engineer is tough.  He does not show outward emotion and I had never seen him cry, until he held his limp dog, his buddy,  his sidekick, in his arms and he wept over that dog as if he was losing a close family member.  We were losing a close family member, and what was worse, we had to make that decision.  Diva had no idea when she left for school that morning that it would be the last time that she would see her protector and sleep companion.  Thursday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day that I loathe to repeat ever again. 

Friday

This is our cat-in-the-box Trigger.  He and Truffles have been playing all morning.  As life goes on, I am constantly amazed at the way God works.  Two and a half weeks ago, I was not really in the market for a cat and my man-hating rottweiler in a Yorkie's body was perfectly normal.  Over those 2 and a half weeks we ended up with a kitten and our Yorkie declined incredibly rapidly.  It seems like God knew we were going to need the blow softened somehow and so he brought this sweet loving kitten into our lives.