The Gaggle of Girls finished 2009 by needing to rehome our youngest dog, Ra the wonder-puppy.

We found him a wonderful home on a farm with horses, and we’re looking forward to driving out to visit him in the spring. It was a hard and heartbreaking decision, but after we accepted we didn’t know when we would be able to move into our own place (as I need to get a job first), we knew it was the right thing to do.

So, welcome 2010! We are hoping and praying for a prosperous and happy New Year! We couldn’t have gotten through 2009 without or friends, family, and Church, and we are so grateful to everyone for the love and support. Here’s hoping we are spend more of 2010 being supportive than being supported!

Our oldest dog, Harley, is being euthanized tomorrow morning at 8:30. This was a heartbreaking decision for me, and a horrible thing to have to tell the girls, especially given everything else going on in our lives.

Harley has multiple cancerous tumors, and due to her age, treatment isn’t a great option. She is also 16, and is starting to show more signs of her old age: she’s getting grouchy, her hearing isn’t reliable, and a few other things. Also, she’s not finding much comfort anywhere – she usually LOVES her crate, but has been leaving it trying to find comfort.

I had put together a list of 3 things Harley likes best, and if she stopped doing those things, I would make the appointment to have her euthanized. She’s long past that point, and since she is clearly in pain, I know I’m making the right choice.

However, since we are moving on Tuesday, this was just something I didn’t want to deal with at this time, or really at any time. Any prayers or vibes or good wishes for her or for me as I go to the vet with her would be gratefully accepted.

Due to a bit of confusion and some misunderstandings, Friday morning the girls and I ended up taking a 2 mile long walk in 30degree F temps with strong winds.

The walk through the salt marsh near our house is beautiful. Just very cold that day! We were expecting a 30 min walk, and ended up with a 1h 45min long walk. brrrrr.

If you look at the picture of the 3 girls to the right, they are saying “it was a freaking long walk!” Along with “we’re cold!” You can see a white water tower above LG’s head, near BG’s head. Our house is a few blocks walk farther than that. We use it as a landmark to show visitors how far we are from the rest of the world, as you can see the water tower when you’re still pretty close to civilization.

Thankfully, we ended up warm and happily hot cocoa-ed after the long walk. There’s nothing quite like stovetop hot cocoa, mmmm… Sadly, because the walk took so long, we missed out on a chance to swim at the YMCA with some friends. Maybe next time! We aren’t doing that walk again any time soon!

Today dawned sunny and warm. These last few days of sunny, summery weather help my mood so much!

Yesterday was an amazing day. My book contract arrived, and I signed it, and it was mailed off to the specialist I’m working with. He signs it, sends it to the publisher, and then we get $!

Then we went to the beach with a friend and 2/3 of the dogs (dogs are allowed at the beach after Labor Day). Jack hung out at home while Harley and Ra came along for the ride. I took a few pics you can look at them here. We had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed the beautiful day.

If you’ve visited here over the past few years, you know that I’ve been living with Chronic Lyme disease and chronic pain, as well as a few other diagnosis. Yesterday was the first day i walked up the hill from the beach without collapsing or needing the inhaler. It was a Good Day!

After the beach I tested a few recipes – mmmm, donuts!

I ended the day exhausted, but happy. May we have many, many more days like that!

My new favorite picture, of ones I have taken recently is below. LG, Ra, and I played at the park for a while after dropping the big girls off. I took several pictures, but this is the coolest, artistically. There are awesome kid pics too, including one of BG and one of MG tanned and happy after a week at camp.

This is Ra in the forefront, then LG on the tank, with the flagpole next to her. This park is called Patton Park, as the General’s family lives in that town. They also have 2 cannons at the other entrance, but no pics of those today.

Bonding between our 15 year old Harley-girl and our 14 week old puppy Ra. Harley didn’t really bond with Jack, and she has been missing the connection between her and her late “mama dog” Chloe. (none of the dogs are actually related)

For folks who haven’t been following every picture of Ra, he is our Australian Cattle Dog puppy, a red. Harley is an ACD/lab mix, and the un-pictured Jack is our 10 year old ACD, but you can see he’s a blue in other pictures

Check out the other Love Thursday pictures!

Or, y’know, not. Or maybe it should be me who is sedated, to cope with everything…

Yesterday we noticed that Jack had some blood in his urine. Oh joy. As the day went on, he started acting a bit lethargic, not his usual, energetic self. (Earlier in the day he was fine, as he was in the pic at right) This morning he wasn’t even interested in giving kisses. The blood thing kept happening, and just like a human with a UTI, it happened frequently, and was the first time he ever had an accident in the house, and then it happened several times.

So, after we went to coop, I came back and we took Jack to the vet. He isn’t running a temp, but from what we described, he thinks Jack is passing bladder stones. So, he needs to do bloodwork and then sedate him for an ultrasound to see how serious the problem is. It felt very wrong to leave Jack with the vet.

I know he’s a dog, not a human. But I just can’t cope with much more. So everybody please think good thoughts and send “you’re OK” vibes to Jack? We really love him, and he’s our ball-fetching, loud snuggle bug.

Yesterday was partly cloudy with temps in the 60s. Today we’ve got upper 40s, and for the girls, that’s still warm enough for the park. They’re pretty tough kids, the park is near the ocean, and there are some strong sea breezes that keep the park cool. Obviously, I had to take pictures. Here are some highlights, but there’s also a flickr photo set of park pics for your enjoyment.

LG had a blast scootering to the park. She rode her blue scooter while I sat in my blue (medical) scooter.

BG and MG had so much fun on the tire swings! They played a while before their friend came, and then they kicked it up a notch!

Jack kept watch over his herd of kids, keeping track of where everyone was.

In addition to playing tag with the girls, Ra enjoyed a great run in the field with MG. It’s great to have so much space available! And yes, the beach is across the street from the park. So pretty.

The girls had so much fun sliding, swinging, running, and playing around!

Eventually it started to rain too hard to ignore, so we had to leave. I was using Thomas (my scooter), so the dogs and I took a longer route home. We got to spy on the girls walking in the rain, though!

With Jack to protect my stuff in the scooter, and Ra excited to explore all of the park, plus 3 girls who need to get some major wiggles out, I know we’ll be returning again very, very soon!

(We do have a 3rd dog, Harley, but she’s 15 and doesn’t like the walk down to the park, or the walk back up the hill)

A late entry for this week’s Love Thursday – BG and I love on our new pupster, Ra. He does bring light!

Today we went for a lovely walk to the park with a new neighbor-friend. Ra walked for part, but also got carried a bit!

Now that it’s spring, it’s time to celebrate that we live at the beach. All winter we deal with living at least 5 miles from anything useful (gas station, coffee shop, grocery store, etc), being at least 30 minutes from most places, and living on a peninsula at the end of the earth, so we are some of the last streets the town plows. We live with all that because we are a 5 minute walk from a beautiful beach and a great little park.

Forget the overcast skies and chilly winds! Spring is here, so we trek to the beach! There are a limited number of days when dogs are allowed on the beach in the spring (through Memorial day), so we take advantage of them while we can.

Australian Cattle Dog folk often say, “a good cattle dog is a tired cattle dog”. Very true. It’s also very true of my daughters. A walk with the dogs and then a trip walking around the beach, plus some spring cleaning will make for very calm, quiet girlies!

At least until they get some rest, then all bets are off. (check out the cute sleeping puppy picture)