Pet Hill

Checkerboard, aka Checkers, on his last morning

John 11:36, "Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!"

Digging a hole near Dominoes

Today, after 17 1/2 very good years, we retired our faithful old dog, Checkerboard, to Pet Hill. He became too frail to take care of himself and began to fall over from time to time.

Checkers has not been wanting his treats for a few days, so when he began to stumble, we knew his time was nearly up. It was a very difficult decision to give him this much needed rest.

Cuddles with Al one last day. Charming wants some too.

It was good therapy for Al to dig the grave for him, bringing the realization fully to us that he was leaving us today. The vet had a noon opening, so Al dug the grave early in the day before we went to the vet's. Checker's remains now rest on the hill beside his playful companions, Domino and Tiki kitty. The hill sits along the pathway to our neighborhood play field, and can be viewed from our family room and kitchen.

Such a little box for such a BIG HEART!

The sobs in the room were more audible than we both expected. Cuddling him to the end, Al comforted Checkers as he was administered the lethal injection. We said "good night" today to our Checkers for the very last time.

We went through a lot of dogs before Checkers found us, and he was worth the years and expenses he gave us. We had him longer than half our grandchildren!

You will be MISSED by many! Good night, good boy!

The kitty statue and soon two pup statues.

Home at last... more work!

Going home last Friday, Domino came into the front seat a few times for variety. She watched the road and checked out passing car occupants...& barked when she saw"intruder dogs".  Ten hours and 600 miles is a lot of "down time" for a dog!  (Me, too!)

Checkers slept most of the way home, had little appetite 

and just wanted to be at home ASAP!

A few times Dom activated her "Back seat driver" license

to help Al drive home.

When not "driving", she took over the larger dog bed.

We enjoyed seeing the mountains crowned in clouds 

as we passed the Idaho mountains near Bonner Ferry, ID

We knew we were in Washington when we saw

this familiar warning at a viewpoint on the Columbia River.

Al wanted a photo with the river... Checkers, too!

We knew we were on the home stretch when we saw

"OUR MOUNTAIN", Mt Rainier, from a rest stop 

in Eastern Washington!

Dorothy was right, you know? "There's NO PLACE like HOME!" So glad to be back in the saddle and back at "work". The cabin was a restful diversion, but we are glad to be home and back at work!

[KEEP READING... more vacation photos in following posts!]

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Does she like vacation?

Domino relaxed halfway out of her bed this afternoon!

Heads or Tails?

Sometimes we forget Sir Dewey and Princess Phoebe are pets, not people! This was a fun scrap page after a HUMOR CHALLENGE on Scrap Girls! [AMC Jake & Emma kit from Scrap Girls]

Time to scrap! Domino featured!

I have wanted to feature this Domino photo for a very long time... she actually climbs INTO the chip bag to finish the crumbs. You can click to see the enlarged version. She is a very funny dog! It will be added to my online scrap gallery sometime tonight or tomorrow.

UPDATE: SCRAPGIRL POST