Sunday 2nd February, 2014
The weather wasn't very cheerful last week - and it reflected my mood. We lost the last of our lovely "boys" on Tuesday . . . Danny, the last surviving member of the rowdy band of brothers.
I was horrified in early April 2000 when the vet told us that eight month old Alice - a tiny, skinny Schipperke, that we bought at the end of March as a replacement friend for Betsy Lee (when our old and much-loved friend Chrissie reached the end of her days), was pregnant. Alice's story had all the elements of an over the top soap opera - pregnant teenage mum . . . abducted by strangers to new home and family . . . and even incest (the father of the pups was her brother).
Alice's four sons were born by Caesarian section on the 20th April. My daughter later pointed out that they shared a birthday with her cousin . . . and Hitler!
They were a beautiful, amusing bunch of holy terrors - and I fell in love with them all. They all had totally different personalities and I would have kept all four if it had been possible. But there was so much friction between Leo, the biggest puppy, and Bryn (who was the smallest) that I had to give Bryn to a friend who had offered to take him. Even with three in the house, it sometimes felt as though we were living in the middle of World War II. When they weren't quarrelling or fighting about something, they were trying to escape from the garden. We spent years constructing and repairing fences until they eventually grew up and calmed down a bit.
The three boys didn't appear to be affected by the loss of little Alice - early in the summer of 2012. But Danny and Alex were very subdued without the exuberant leadership of big brother, Leo, who died in August 2013. The house seemed very quiet without him and then sweet, cheerful little Alex died . . . only a few months later.
I still had Danny, my slightly weird but totally devoted and very loving friend - but he wasn't happy without his brothers. We kept him reasonably cheerful for a while, with daily walks in the plantation, but then he developed a problem with his right hind leg and spent most of his days sleeping or lying on our bed or on his bed in the study. It was sad because he had always been such a passionate hiker. On Tuesday our vet took X-rays and confirmed that Danny had cancer in the bone. We decided that the kindest action would be to put him to sleep.
It was very upsetting, but it is also a relief in a way. I had been dreading the inevitable end ever since the puppies were born. And the last six months weren't easy.
It was stressful looking after the boys in their last days, wanting to do the best for them and desperately trying to tempt them with different foods when they lost their appetites. The worst thing was that it is impossible to tell for sure if dogs are in pain. They can't talk to us and it is hard to know if we are reading the signs right. So, although we are missing them dreadfully, I am more relaxed and I am sleeping better at night now that it is all over.
Although I know they have gone, my sub-conscious still has to accept this. I feel uneasy if I see the interior kitchen door is closed because we always left it open when we were at home so that the Schipperkes could go out through their "dog-flap" in the outer door. Every time I hear the flap on the dog door blow in the wind, I associate the sound with dogs running in from the garden. And the other day I nearly tripped up trying to avoid a dark shadow on the floor behind a chair. I have spent so many years trying to avoid stepping on sleeping dogs.
Now it is just me and Tim in the house. It feels like going back again to the beginning of our years together - before we had dogs and children. We are not planning to get another dog. We are not young enough to start over again. And Alice and the boys were not just dogs. They were more like family.
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We didn't walk with Trevor and Dorothy on Wednesday. It was too soon and we were too tired and upset. But the sun was shining on Sunday and we thought a walk in the plantation would be a good idea.
It was good to see the horses up in the top paddock. There were still a few traces of the snow that fell at high levels recently.
Then a patch of sun illuminated the bare branches of the larches on the hillside.
I am not sure how long these larches will survive. There is a scheme under way to fell all the larches in the plantations in an attempt to limit the spread of one of the diseases affecting trees on the Island. It is a pity because they look so beautiful in the autumn when the needles turn golden and then fall and carpet the paths.
While we were at the eastern edge of the plantation, I used the zoom and took a photo of the Sulby River just above the Bowring Road bridge. The water level was high because it was shortly before high tide.
Then we climbed down and crossed the stream into the northern section of the plantation and then climbed up to the western edge of the trees. I took a couple of photos of Kirk Christ Lezayre . . .
. . . and Ballakillingan with the water-logged fields of the northern plain behind the farm house.
And then we returned along a mountain bike path - through the densely planted trees which obscured any glimpes of distant views.
The mountain bikers had done a great job - clearing most of the paths of fallen trees and branches - and, apart from climbing up banks to avoid the occasion puddle or patch of mud, it is quite a relaxing walk. The only real obstacle is a little stream which is not a problem in itself. The difficulty is picking one's way through the surrounding mud. Some mountain bikers told us that they cross at the top - riding through what they call "the boggy bit".
Tim tried another "boggy bit" lower downstream.
My old boots are not very waterproof so I crossed at the usual place which was wetter than usual but I managed to edge around the fallen branch and the brambles without losing a boot in the mud. There was evidence that the bikers had also been trying this route.
When we got home I took a couple of snowdrop photos in the back garden - a charming reminder that the days are getting brighter, the birds are singing in the trees and spring is on the way.
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