A Rough Week

This last week has been tough.  First Grandma and Grandpa G's dog (Blu) died.  Apparently he had slowly stopped eating and wanted to be alone so they were expecting it.  It hit Kayda hardest.  Dillon doesn't quite get it and Carson is only 2 so of course he doesn't understand.  He was a great dog.  He was pretty independent, he would rather be outside roaming around the yard than inside with people.  Even for the time period that he lived at our old house he mostly preferred to be outside.  He LOVED the kids though.  When they were little he would herd them around the yard, there were a few times he would accidentally knock a toddler down but he was normally super gentle with them.  The kids would go out to give him a bone and he would very tenderly take it from their hands being extra careful not to nip them in anyway.  It was sad to lose him.

Last night we got hit again.  Mingo, the family parrot died.  Grandma and Grandpa G got Mingo when I was 11.  He was supposed to live for about 70 years, the plan was that he would go on to live with Kayda when she was older.  It was a shock.  About a year ago he had to be medicated pretty heavily, it included several nights stay at the animal hospital.  He got better, we got our house, he moved in with us.  We didn't notice any real signs of him being sick.  Two days ago he was acting normal.  Then yesterday evening I went in to get him for french toast.  He was at the bottom of his cage being pretty non-responsive.  I picked him up and noticed his water bottle was empty.  He had 2/3 of a bottle on Saturday, it usually takes a long time to empty.  I was worried he was dehydrated so we grabbed a syringe and some water and I started slowly giving him water.  Daddy read that you should give them gatorade so I gently gave him to Kayda and went to grab some.  When I came back I realized something didn't seem right.  I took him from Kayda and realized he had stopped breathing.  He died snuggled in the arms of the person who loved him most.  The kids spent the next hour holding him and saying goodbye while we got everything ready to bury him.  He is resting now in our front garden, we'll plant something special by his grave in the spring.  We are glad that the last few weeks he has been getting a lot of extra attention.  Kayda was taking him out every morning, he was eating with us and taking lots of showers.  So at least his last couple weeks were happy ones for him.  He was getting better and better with the kids, even letting Carson hold him on occasion.   He will be sorely missed.