Been a little... bumpy

I do not grow tired of our sunrises here.

Various good news and bad news has slowed our departure. 

Firstly, our dental visits in January, which were supposed to be quick cleanings followed by a "See ya next year!" turned into Russ needing 1 tooth pulled and 1 apicoectomy (a kind of root canal). Since both are serious, we need to stay a couple of days to make sure no infections occur.

Impossible Sheppard's Pie. I love this dish!

That's the bad news. The good news is our condo in New Orleans, which has been on the market for years, is finally under contract. We need to take a week or so to do the big 3-way sort of everything there: what to sell, what to donate, and what to store. Lots of work and packing in our future, with the added complexity of Mardi Gras (going on now). 

But after all that, we're off! Really! We mean it this time!

A very sad day

Our first picture of Lizzie, 2017
She was a senior rescue, 8 yrs old.

In the last 30 years Russ and I have owned 6 dogs, overlapping their lives with each other so none felt alone or abandoned as they passed on. 30 years. That's over half of my life. It sadly ended today.

Last year Lizzie was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. It's a terminal condition. Once we got back to Longboat Key I had her x-rayed again. Her heart had gotten much bigger.

During that year her breathing had become labored. At times she'd wake up from a sleep, gasping for air. In the last couple of months this would happen every couple of hours to every 5 minutes. Additionally her spine was getting pinched, leaving one of her hinds legs nearly useless. 

Nearly 2 years ago we had a terrible ending with Savannah. She was sick and suffering. We were traveling off the coast of South Carolina. I called every vet up and down that coast and none of them would see my dog. She passed miserably on the boat.

We did not want to do that to Lizzie. Nor ourselves.

The last picture taken.

We knew for days this was coming, and spent as much time as we could with her saying goodbye. But I'm still blurry-eyed and sad. She was such a sweet dog.