Digging the hole

[Jersey Girl]

Connecting some dots...I was thinking this morning how many of us post about things here that we might not feel free to discuss with family and friends in real life because of the opposing and divisive viewpoints we know we'll encounter. Politics and vaccines, for example. Or we post about in real life things just to express ourselves about personal issues such as diagnoses and life changes. Even our fitness goals which for me, at least, is an uphill climb some days. Or birth and death.

A few hours later I was watching Garden Answers on youtube and getting excited about planting this year. Got a great idea to do something new in our flower garden. I loved watching Laura dig the holes for her large planters and mix the compost into the soil with her bare hands. There's something so calming and real about it.

Not five minutes after that the phone rang.

Our SIL calling about coming over to see our new John Deere mower and one more thing.

Digging the hole.

They made the decision to euthanize their dog who has been in failing health for a while now and is in steady decline. So he and the little one (not so little by now) will be coming to dig the hole for "T". T has been such a good family dog and has spent much time here on our property. No matter the season, he loves it out here.

Now he'll be here forever.

While I am visiting him tonight, they'll be digging the hole. I'm going to make him a bucket of purple flowers to match Sadie's flowers and leave it for him so the little one can know he'll be honored here. He'll be buried near her on the hill. The hill is my favorite part of our property. It's hard to explain why. It's just a hill with tall Ponderosa Pines on it and in summer the Dog Bane grows around the trees to serve as the understory. In fall the Dog Bane turns a beautiful golden color on this swath of property that, except for a few Aspens we fight the deer over, is the only color here besides green. It's the only pretty little part of this otherwise rugged property.

Anyway. I guess this is a testimony on the irony of what you might be thinking about one lazy morning from digging holes for the garden and feeling joy, and how it can change with one phone call--digging holes for your pets and then your heart goes completely still.

You were such a little upstart when we met you. Totally lived up to your name! You learned to overcome defensiveness about food that was perpetrated on you by your previous owners and learned to eat in peace with people around. Your bark (from such a small dog) could rattle the windows around here! You did such a good job protecting and loving your family! I'll never forget the sight of you running through the tall grasses here, stopping to sniff the air and point!

Good boy, T. We love you so much.

Jersey
<3

[Morley]

Some people underestimate how hard it can be to lose a sweet friend who is also a dog.

So sorry for your loss, Jersey.

[Chap]

Sorry to mention this: if you bury a pet in your garden, make it a deep hole, and include a layer of solid stones or chicken wire.

There are animals around whose evolutionary niche includes recycling dead fellow animals, and they'll do their job unless you put considerable obstacles on their way. They mean no harm, but all the same ...

[Physics Guy]

I never had pets growing up but we've had dogs now for a couple of years.

I'm still not a dog person or even a pet person of any kind. It's work to look after them, they mess up the house, sometimes they bark. Do I ever lick their paws or poke my nose on them? No, I do not. And yet they.

Even for a pet curmudgeon like me, though, it has been a bit of a revelation to get to know these animals. They're simpler than we are, yet an awful lot more like us than overwhelming inanimate majority of the universe is.

We're not evolutionary descendants of dogs, but we are descended from somewhat similar animals. So I feel now as though dogs are kind of ancestral, like neighbours of our great-great-grandparents back in the old country. I'm not as completely different from them as I used to think I was. I feel a weird kind of obligation to respect.

[Morley]

There's a kind of poetry in burying a dog where the dogbane blooms.

[Jersey Girl]

Some people underestimate how hard it can be to lose a sweet friend who is also a dog.

So sorry for your loss, Jersey.

Thanks, it's a family loss for sure. He used to growl and literally try to bite anyone who came near his food dish. They thought of getting rid of him more than once. But he learned to be secure about food and know that no person or dog would take it from him. He used to take off like a rocket out here and run off the property. He was so fast you couldn't keep up with him on foot. He eventually learned to stay around the people out here and became so obedient. Over the years he turned into such a good boy. We will all miss him.

[Jersey Girl]

Sorry to mention this: if you bury a pet in your garden, make it a deep hole, and include a layer of solid stones or chicken wire.

There are animals around whose evolutionary niche includes recycling dead fellow animals, and they'll do their job unless you put considerable obstacles on their way. They mean no harm, but all the same ...

We have buried pets all over this property. He'll be about 4ft underground like Sadie is. We have a large rectangle piece of iron to take off her grave and put over his so the wildlife cannot have their way with him. I think I'm going to bury my lab/golden mix's ashes up there. Might as well make it an official cemetery. Maybe some nice memorial stepping stones and a bench.

[Jersey Girl]

I never had pets growing up but we've had dogs now for a couple of years.

I'm still not a dog person or even a pet person of any kind. It's work to look after them, they mess up the house, sometimes they bark. Do I ever lick their paws or poke my nose on them? No, I do not. And yet they.

Even for a pet curmudgeon like me, though, it has been a bit of a revelation to get to know these animals. They're simpler than we are, yet an awful lot more like us than overwhelming inanimate majority of the universe is.

We're not evolutionary descendants of dogs, but we are descended from somewhat similar animals. So I feel now as though dogs are kind of ancestral, like neighbours of our great-great-grandparents back in the old country. I'm not as completely different from them as I used to think I was. I feel a weird kind of obligation to respect.

If it's any consolation to you, the Boy over here has never been a pet person either. That is until our Pug bonded with him. Then all bets were off. He would do anything for her and he did. Cried openly like a baby when she died. I don't think I want any more pets for the reasons you listed. I don't want anything I have to walk first thing in the morning and we really do have to keep small pets leashed here with the wildlife around. They can't go outside without a human, not even with the Pugs we've had and Pugs are pretty darn ballsy! Then again...I've taken a shine to a couple of family Chihuahuas so who knows. For right now I'm content to have the Chi's here for sleep overs. They're so darn cute I can't stand it.

Maybe I'll build a little fenced in run...I do think about it!

[Jersey Girl]

There's a kind of poetry in burying a dog where the dogbane blooms.

I hadn't thought about that! The Dog Bane does flower, too.

It's not a huge hill, but it has always stood out to me. Anyway, I potted the silk flowers for T and put them on the hill for when they come later. I think it's time for the healing garden in that area. A bench, memorial stepping stones. Nothing fancy. Just a place to sit, reflect, and cry. Be at peace. Be at one with the forest.

[Philo Sofee]

Some people underestimate how hard it can be to lose a sweet friend who is also a dog.

So sorry for your loss, Jersey.

Thanks, it's a family loss for sure. He used to growl and literally try to bite anyone who came near his food dish. They thought of getting rid of him more than once. But he learned to be secure about food and know that no person or dog would take it from him. He used to take off like a rocket out here and run off the property. He was so fast you couldn't keep up with him on foot. He eventually learned to stay around the people out here and became so obedient. Over the years he turned into such a good boy. We will all miss him.

I'm sorry to hear this also. I know my puppy is over 12 and beginning to seriously show signs of wear and tear and age. I fear that dreaded day coming up....