Life has been good for the little dog that wandered into our lives almost seven years ago. She liked living the life of top dog in our home.
We hadn't meant to get another dog but one day I saw a stranded dog by the side of a country road with cars and trucks flying by at 60 mph and knew she wanted to get to the other side. I knew that if someone didn't stop to help her she was going to be hit by one of those vehicles or cause a horrible accident. I pulled over to the opposite side of the road and when the traffic cleared I called to her. I told her she was safely across and could venture out into the 1,000 acres in front of her. She just stood there looking at me with those big brown puppy-dog eyes! What could I do??? I told her to get into the car. She did - and sat on my lap for the few miles over to Todd & Serina's home where I got enough dog food to last a few days. After all, I would find her owners and give her back. I called the local newspaper when I got home and asked them if they had anyone looking for their little dog. I was told there was someone, she thought, and would go check. My heart dropped but I waited patiently for her to come back on the line. When she did she said she was wrong - her co-worker had found the same dog and had placed an ad to find her owners but she has escaped from her back porch. The newspaper assured me they would let me know if anyone answered the ad looking for her. Not knowing if she was male or female I decided to name her Lady if she was a girl and Tramp if she was a boy. She seemed to know her name from that very first day - wonder if her previous owners had used the same handle for her??? A month went by and no one had claimed her so I claimed her as mine. I wondered what her story was and hoped that she had had a good life prior to her life with us. Well it took Larry about a month before she wormed her way into his heart - it was interesting to see his transformation from aloofness to 100% smitten with her! 
The vet said she was probably 4-6 years old. I remember being sad thinking that meant less years she would be ours. Funny how those thoughts come into your head sometimes.
Snickers and Lady became best friends.
Life is good.
First meeting with Duchess.
We took Lady with us to pick out the new pup.
Duchess looks pretty innocent here but the real story is is that she wore Lady out and this was the only second Duchess stayed still long enough to get a clear picture of the two of them.
These are the big brown puppy-dog eyes that got to me that first day!
Lady went deaf about three years ago. She seemed to do just fine with her silent world and appreciated our pats and loving attention.
This past year she really began to show her age and started losing weight. She would sometimes have a problem walking on our tile floors but the past few days she could not stand at all. We knew the time had come to let her go and that was probably the hardest thing to do - just making that decision. I was in the car this morning and heard a song on the radio that I had never heard of before. It was written by Henry Gross when Carl Wilson (of the Beach Boys) dog died. It was my confirmation that today was the day.
I believe that life really began for Lady on June 20, 2003 and ended today, May 1, 2010. I was able to be with her until the end and then brought her home and we buried her in the backyard. We're looking forward to having you in our lives again some day Lady Dog. We miss you and love you! Thanks for choosing us to share your last years.
I got to the garden about 6:45 this morning and already the sun was warm. Good thing I decided to go early - partly I decided that because I needed to be at our church building at 8 a.m to help clean. Larry had been to the garden two days ago and harvested yellow squash, zucchini, & one tomato. I ate the whole tomato by myself and it was even better than the last home-grown one that I remember! I was facing the sun when I took these pictures (sorry about the quality) because it was still a little muddy from the last flow of irrigation. That reminds me - try to get a visual of this: When Larry went to the garden he had on flip flops and the garden was even wetter than it was today. He picked the veggies and tried to only walk on the tops of the rows. Well, his foot slipped and he got his shoes muddy so he sat on the little bridge over the irrigation ditch to clean them. Guess what? Yep, one shoe started floating downstream! And at such a swift rate he knew he couldn't catch it so he jumped on his white stallion (I mean he got into his car) and sped down the lane until he was past where the shoe would be, jumped off his steed (I mean he got out of the car), raced to the ditch and saved the fair damsel!!! (I mean retrieved his shoe!!!) My hero! Oh how I wish I could have been there to catch this on video!!!
