Archive for ‘January, 2018’

Auggie and me

Auggie has been my companion and snuggle buddy…

And fellow enjoyer of a woodstove fire! The warmth of Auggie near goes a long way to making me feel better.

We got back on snowshoes and back in the woods the day after. Yes, a bit difficult, but I am so grateful that Auggie comes with me and it helps to focus on the good times that Bear, Auggie and I had together in the woods.

After, we relax/cool off (me) on the front porch.

One day at a time. When sorrow threatens to overwhelm, I look to the wonderful comments and emails from all of you who cared for Bear and who care for Auggie and me.

Thank you to all who sent us love.

Bear

Dear Bear.

It was time. His level of comfort and ability to do things he loved was gone.

Yesterday morning, I called Dr. Scott Smiley, a wonderful, caring person. He took care of Karl and I almost 7 years ago, and now Bear and I as Bear passed peacefully. I trust that Bear is now running and jumping painfree alongside his first person George.

You will always and forever be in my heart and memory dear Bear boy.

***photo taken June 13, 2011. Calligraphy a gift from Hilary Williams.

Winter: Month 1

December 21 – Jan 20: Winter Month 1 and it was a mostly inside time.

It snowed, it melted, it snowed, it melted, it froze…

So I baked!

But, we do go out!

Auggie is a bit more selective on outside times, but he is still the snow cat!

Inside, we still enjoy the cozy electric fire and warm kitchen corner.

Bear… dear Bear. The snow, ice, iffy walking … it is taking a bit of a toll on dear old Bear, but he is so far persevering!

Instagram. I do daily and often multi-times daily posts on Instagram. ( instagram.com/easummers )

You do not have to post to have an Instagram account. You can set up a private account and not post – many do.

An account lets you “follow” me as well as see the “stories” I post.

With the time needed to care for the Bear boy, for Auggie, for me, to do my work … Instagram is my daily Internet communication choice.

And it is fun and current.

Winter 2018: Month 1

Booties for Bear

As the snow got deeper and deeper, Bear and Auggie made good use of the “no snow” zone next to the house. Above was before Winter Storm: Round 3 dumped another foot or so…

The no snow zone is a bit tunnel-like now. Meanwhile it got colder and when it gets below 15F, Bear starts having trouble with snow flash freezing on his warm feet.

A couple of days after Christmas, we made an emergency dash to the local PetSmart and picked up some booties. We tried booties once before – unsuccessfully. I’ve been using a foot wax called Musher’s Secret and that helped but this year it was not enough.

The booties were easy to put on but the rubber pad at the bottom didn’t really stay under Bear’s foot. It flopped around and that made things more difficult.

I recently bought myself some extra thick LLBean boot socks and having dashed outside in just socks and my feet stayed dry, I got to thinking…

Yes, Bear is wearing LLBean boot socks and they work for him. I cut off the Velcro strap from the PetSmart booties and use that under the cuff to keep the socks up.

Right now, we are just doing front feet and getting used to socks. It has warmed up slightly so this is working but if it gets super cold, at least I know we have a solution.

Auggie says the solution is to stay in the house.