The group

You know I don't blog enough about our crazy living situation:

My Wife, Son and I (the homeowners)
My Wife's Parents
My Wife's Sister, 3 of her 4 kids and her Eldest's 5 year old.

If you can count that, that's 10 people in a 2200 sf home with a converted garage.

I'm going to write more on this.

A beautiful Day

This blog is focused on things that happen to me and the introspection that occurs from such.  Many of the time due to my chosen profession, those revelations are the product of death, dying, and grief.  That being said I just wanted to say, today was a beautiful day.

 

California has a habit of doing that, amongst the floods, earthquakes, impossible living expenses, and fires the sun comes out and reminds you just how beautiful a place this is, even in the middle of winter.  Not to discount all the other beautiful sunny places, but this one pays out more frequently.  So have a beautiful day, wherever you are.

Lost our favorite dog.

Puck, our 14 year old Labrador mix that Kari and I had since before we were married had to be put to sleep this weekend. He was a great dog, he acted like a pup until this last year when he started having problems with his rear legs.

They slowly deteriorated but he didn't appear to be in pain so we kept taking care of him, until two weeks ago when it was evident he was having serious problems walking on a regular basis. We took him to a local vet a couple of weeks ago and he recommended some pills and blood work and told us that there's a chance we can improve his walking. After almost two weeks of pill regiment and keeping him inside Puck only had it in him to get up twice a day to go outside go pee and come back in, all the while I was holding up his rear legs with a towel under his belly. He wasn't eating he wasn't moving around and it was time.

Yesterday I took him to our most trusted vet Dr. Sigdestadt in Loma Linda. I wanted him to tell me that he could make a 14 year old dog live forever, but I knew that putting him down was the right thing and he agreed. Puck left died Saturday February 23rd at 11:00am.

Every person looks different when they die. One of the reason I feel families find comfort in a viewing is they get that full acceptance that the person they loved is DEAD. No-one now matter how soon after a death occurs or how good the Embalmer is everyone still looks like they are gone. This is the second dog I've been present for when the life left them and I can tell you that same occurrence happens. They disappear, the life leaves them. Even as an Atheist I can see how that statement came about.

That magical combination of running blood, neurons, and subconscious muscle movement stops and what is left is the lifeless cell of a body. A dog, a cat, a hampster, a Father, a Child, they all lose that magic glow. It's surprising more religions don't give animals souls. I guess they'd have to concede in this point that it's not the soul that defines humans, it's Reason and Logic.

Thank you Puck, you were a good dog.