We Lost Troy Today

Not lost, as in...he ran away and we can't find him.  Not lost, as in...he passed away after a long, happy, healthy life.  Not lost, as in...he died from his injuries after being hit by a car or being attacked by another animal.  Lost, as in...he was euthanized because he was not safe to rehome.

Troy was our favorite foster dog.  He was saved from a certain death by the shelter for which we foster, transferred here from the South, had surgery to repair a leg injury and stayed with us through the summer of 2013 while he healed.  You can read all about him here.

May 2013

Troy was adopted by an awesome young woman and her fiance the beginning of August, 2013.  He had two children, she had a horse.  They lived near a pond and the ocean.  Troy loved the kids, the horse and most especially the water! It was the perfect family for Troy and we were ecstatic!  AND, thankfully, his mama became our Facebook friend, so we we able to watch Troy through her page.

Life is always a mystery and things don't always turn out the way we assume they will.  We were sure that Troy was going to live the good life, well loved by everyone he met.  He lived well with cats and played well with all the dogs he met.  He went regularly to the barn and enjoyed his horse friends. 

Sadly, the relationship between his mama and papa fell apart and the wedding was cancelled.  His mama began to share her house with a new roommate and her dog.  At some point and for an unknown reason, Troy and the other resident dog got into a fight.  And then he got into another fight and several more after that, with dogs he had been around and played with ever since being adopted.  His mama hired a trainer to help determine what was going on with Troy and she took him to the vet to fiind out if there was a medical reason for his change in behavior.  Sadly, she didn't get any answers and Troy's behavior continued to deteriorate.  He became uncomfortable around men and more skittish around strangers.

During this time, his mama applied for and was hired by a company in Colorado.  She would be renting a property that also had men renters and at least one other dog.  Unfortunately, under the circumstances, she was not going to be able to take Troy.  She made the difficult decision that being with her was not the best home for him and contacted the shelter, making an appointment to surrender him.  

There is no doubt in my mind that she loved Troy without reservation and that this decision was a heart wrenching one for her.  She brought his favorite toys and his nice, warm jacket and spent a long time with him in his kennel before saying good-bye.

Bill went to visit him and said that Troy had grown into a beautiful, handsome boy, obviously well cared for.  I waited too long and missed seeing him, which I will always regret.  Sadly, all too often, shelter workers have to make decisions about dogs, based on saving the dog or protecting the community.  There is an excellent article about this difficult choice here.  

Troy's mom was honest with the shelter staff about his recent problematic history and based on the information she provided, the shelter could not responsibly rehome Troy in the community.  The very real possibility of him injuring or killing another animal or possibly turning on a human were against him and the decision was made to humanely euthanize him, if there really is such a thing as "humane euthanization". 

Our hearts are broken and we are extremely sad that he didn't live the good, long life we had envisioned for him.  The fact is, he was extremely well loved for his short time here, not only by his adoptive mama but by us as well.  None of us understand what happened to cause the changes in Troy's personality and we never will.  We are not angry with the shelter for their decision; we understand and know that the decisions they must make on a daily basis are hard on everyone involved.

We will miss having the opportunity to watch Troy grow old but will always love him and treasure our memories of the short time he blessed us with his presence.

You are free from your demons, sweet boy!  Run with the angels.

August 2013

1/25/2015

3/28/2015

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I'm Sad

because we are leaving Florida and heading home today.

Don't get me wrong, there are some good reasons to return to Maine...

I'll be closer to family and friends,
I can quilt,
Titan will have a big yard to run in, 
I will have a whole "new" wardrobe, unfortunately it's a winter wardrobe,
Bill will make homemade pizza,
The water tastes good,
I can buy fresh goat cheese with dill at the farmer's market!

However, the weather still sucks and there is still snow in the yard...good reason to be sad.

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Sunny Sunday Selfies

hahaha, say that three times really fast!

 

 

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Big Olaf Ice Cream and Coffee Caffe

We drove to Venice today to check on an acquaintance of ours.  Dave used to be the owner and operator of the Ornery Attitude Coffee Shop in Fisherman's Village.  He sold it a couple of years ago and we just found out he had opened this new place

Unfortunately, Dave wasn't there, he had taken a couple of days off.  Of course he wasn't there ;o(

No big deal...we bought a pound of Irish Cream coffee beans, two lattes and a blueberry muffin. 

The inside was very cute, with ice cream cone chairs and table for the kids and an ice cream sundae bench.  The young woman working there was very nice and offered to take our picture on the bench.

We ate our treats in the car because Titan was with us and we don't like to leave him alone in the car, not because we don't trust him but because we don't trust people!

We'll try to go back next year and hopefully Dave will be around.

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Happy Easter

(photo by passwithflyingcolours.blogspot.com)

Wishing all our family and friends a happy, blessed Easter!

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Happy Birthday Piglet

HA!  How does one get the nickname Piglet?  Well, when Wendy was a baby she had fat little legs, which we referred to as pork chop legs, and that eventually became Piglet.  I doubt many people know that is her nickname and I don't embarrass her by using it in public but it's very sentimental to me.  Today she is celebrating her 35th birthday.  How is that possible?  Yesterday your child is a newborn and today she is celebrating 35 years.  It's incredible and so is she!

She has a Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy and works per diem for numerous rehab centers. 
 

2003

This year she will be celebrating four years of marriage with her handsome husband, Dan.

He's a diehard Yankees fan but we love him in spite of it.

 She is a great doggie mama, taking excellent care of her "baby" Ginger.

We LOVE those ears!

She is an entrepreneur,  starting her own pure and natural bath and body products business, which recently celebrated it's first anniversary.  You can read my post about that adventure here.

She is a fantastic and caring Auntie Wendy to beautiful Ella.

Wendy, Ella and Eddie, the skiing snowman

She is a thoughtful and loving granddaughter to her 90+ year old grandmother, Bee (her namesake).

Thanksgiving 2013

She is all that and so much more...she is an active CrossFit member, a paleo cook, a Red Sox and Patriots fan.  She is smart, funny, very creative, fashionable, honest, compassionate, sensitive and above all...she is not only my daughter but also my friend.

Mother's Day, Wells, ME 2014

Jet Blue Park, FL, 2015

Happy 35th Birthday Wendy Bee.  I love you tons!!!

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This Really Sucks...

81*, light breeze, hardly a cloud in the sky.  Yeah, a person could get used to this...very used to this!

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