The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[HairOfTheDog]

Hello friends.

I just had to put Logan down at the vets. I am waiting for a friend to get here to help me bury him. I brought him home, and he is in the truck.

It was completely unrelated to his toe. His back went out and I found him paralyzed, not in pain, but unable to stand. Unknowable to anyone he had a ticking time bomb in his back, and it went off today.

Right around his hips he had a weak spot in his back that had been developed for some time, long enough that his body had built a bridge of bone between two of his vertebra in an attempt to stabilize it. That little bridge was weak, and it wouldn't take much to break it. Could have done it jumping down off the couch. Could have broken because he was trying to hop around with his bandaged back leg. So in that way, maybe it was related to his toe.

The vet said he would never walk again.

I am sad, of course. I didn't think it would be him that went first, especially after the clean bill of health he got on Saturday! - (Or expected continued good life after tomorrow's toe surgery!)

He was a good dog!

Logan, two years old...

Last Saturday... purdy close to 16 years old.

Grieve not for me for it has been ordained, that my journey here be short.

MISSING OUR DOGS

Old Men miss many dogs.
They only live a dozen years,if that,
And by the time you are sixty, there are several
The names of which evoke remembering smiles.
You see them in your mind,heads cocked and seated.
You see them by your bed, or in the rain,
Or sleeping by the fire by nights
And always dying.

They are remembered like departed children
Though they gave vastly more than ever they took,
And finally you're seeing dogs that look like them.
They pass you in the street but never turn
Although it seems they should,their faces so familiar.
Old men miss many dogs.

---

Gotta go for awhile, my friend will be here soon... I will be back :~)

[osagebowman]

HOD: great posting of the article, thanks, know what you mean about having a "young 'un". When Susan went to the Vet's last year to get the "old timer's" dog food, she came home with a kitten/young cat - 9 months old, raised at the vets. The dog is 11 and the other cat is 14. So she had a great time attempting to get the old cat to play (virtually no success) and snuggling with dog (that worked pretty well except Samantha's demeanor was like Giget's-what the heck is going on). They're great friends now. The old cat doesn't do friends, heck, she still doesn't recognize me. Good luck in your quest to find suitable accomodations for Niner.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Well, darn... I'm sorry I screwed it up. Truth is we didn't get home until 8:40 or so our time. I thought I was skatin' in just in time... oh well.

Hope you have a great week as well!

[Lil'freeper]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. You never realize how pets wrap themselves around your heart until they're gone.

[Overtaxed]

Oh poor Logan! I'm sorry for your loss. I think Miss Cat felt the shock when I read this. She woke up and looked at me"

[osagebowman]

Hair; we are so sorry to hear about your loss, the previous post of mine was composed while your's was coming in. that was a nice eulogy-poem, great pictures of Logan. Each pet is so special, we love them all and eventually lose them all, and yet continue again.

[JenB]

Oh, Hair... I'm sorry about Logan. He was a good friend, and I know you did your part...

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Hair, so very sorry for your loss.

Even when we know it's coming, it's still unexpected.

[Sam Cree]

Hi Hair. I am sorry too. Poor thing.

[RMDupree]

Oh Hair, I'm so sorry. This really sucks. :(

[300winmag]

Condolences on your loss, Hair. Remember all the good times you had together, and that you were the perfect human for Logan.

[Corin Stormhands]

hrm...does that put my declaration of dwarfdom in jeopardy?

Well, sensitive ears does sound a little elfy, but I guess yer an okay dwarf.

Not sayin' yer sane or anything, but yer okay.

[Corin Stormhands]

Oh Hair, I'm so sorry.

Logan had a good life with you. He was happy and well cared for. I know you'll miss him.

We're here for you.

[2Jedismom]

I'm so sorry, Hair!

I'm here with you, sis.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks all! [snif] what can we do? My friend is a talker, so after we got 'im buried, we told some stories.

It is easier this way, the way I look at it, when something catastrophic happens and there is no grey area... It was clear what needed to be done and it needed to be done now. Easier to play God when there is only one choice.

Zulu is harder to decide how to handle, so far anyway.

So I am OK with how Logan's life went. He was a good dog, He had a good life! Nevertheless it is hardly fair, To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

From my Gun Dog book:

Regarding dogs, I like them all - pointers, setters, retrievers, spaniels... I have had good ones and bad of several kinds. Most of the bad ones were my fault and most of the good ones would have been good under any circumstances.
Gene Hill

[HairOfTheDog]

Good night everyone! - I am going to go have some quiet time, maybe with a good film ;~D

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank goodness this happened before the toe surgery tomorrow, if his back was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off! The surgery was going to be expensive, and no doubt a bit painful, having a toe removed! - What if I had done that, and then had his back go out next week?

[2Jedismom]

I understand...you didn't have to put him through a painful situation. A blessing.

I am hoping that the pin number for my ATM card I ordered for the contributor's account will be here tomorrow. I got the card Sat and it said it would arrive 2-3 days afterward. That will make it much easier for me to purchase the items. No need to withdraw, hoping to have enough...

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Your Logan lived a long time - no doubt, in part, because of what an excellent job you did caring for him and how much he was loved.

I don't know how I'm going to face this when the time comes for me (my thirteen year-old male Pembroke Welsh Corgi is more important to me than almost anything, except for a few humans I'm fond of) - but seeing the grace with which you've handled this is a model for me.

Thank you for that.

[2Jedismom]

I'm going to bed too...

Good night everyone.