Rest easy, Old Boy.
Hi everyone. Although I’ve been absent from my blog since doing my virtual debt-free scream, I am not saying goodbye to blogging. Hubs and I still have a long way to go on our journey, and writing has helped keep us on the straight and narrow. Sadly, the goodbye was to our furbaby who had been with us for almost 16 years. For a lab-mix, he certainly lived a good long life. Letting him go didn’t come easy, but we knew that Winter would be a struggle for him. So, difficult as it was, we had him put to sleep.
It will take some time to get used to not having a dog around. A week later, I still find myself looking for him (and his accidents 😳) and have even mindlessly adjusted throw rugs to cover the laminate floor he was having trouble walking across. From having experienced other pet losses (we lost his brother this past Spring), I know that with time, it will get easier-although we will always miss him.
Moving on. Aside from mourning our furbaby, things have been busy around here. For starters, Hubs was home for a well-earned ten days. We spent several days doing our annual Fall cleanup. We also cut down two tall trees that were far too close to our septic field. For the record, we didn’t plant them! Better to remove them than to have septic trouble later.
Our shed roof was another issue we had to address. Our intention this year was to replace the roof, but that never happened. We covered it with a new tarp, which should (hopefully!) keep the inside dry. The roof is soft in places, plus the front porch and steps will need to be replaced, so it will be a bit of work when we do get around to it. Fortunately, we are both handy and can do the work ourselves.
Our wooden dock is now safely secured with an additional rope on the off chance it would float away like it almost did last Spring. We rebuilt it this year to include four sections, two of which were completely removed and brought to higher ground. One of the other sections folds over (with brackets), the one grounded to the shore, so that should be okay.
Just in time for Winter, we now have a usable back deck! Woohoo! It took the crew two days, and that is with bringing in backup help. The second day they were here, we had about an inch of snow on the ground. Probably not kind, but considering all the times we were pushed back on their schedule, I didn’t feel sorry for them. To refresh your memory, this deck collapsed after a blizzard we had in February. We also had extra supports put under our larger deck on the lakeside of our house. No bill yet, but I’m sure it will come.
The day after we put our dog down, we went downstate to see family for a few days. We did Halloween stuff with our grandkids and also went to the other side of the state to see my dad and Hub’s mom. We also squeezed in a very short stop to see my brother and SIL’s new lake house. On the way home, we stopped by to see our son for about an hour. The trip was packed for all we wanted to do, but we had to get back home so we could both get back to work.
Yes, one of our grandsons wanted to be a toilet. Caption inside the lid read, “Drop a load”
The day before we left, our wood guy surprised me with a call asking if we still wanted another load delivered. I had hoped for this extra load but was doubtful we’d get it as he initially said he was behind on his orders. The cost was $400, and although at this point it was a bit unplanned, we made it happen. Now to get it all stacked!
Now that we are debt-free (minus the mortgage,) I have a ton of budget things to think about. Stay tuned!
So sorry to hear about your furbaby. Pets sure do hold a special part in our hearts.
Thanks. Often times the hard things to do are ultimately the right thing to do. We will miss him.
I’m sorry about the fur baby. They are such a blessing in our lives.
Thanks. Unconditional love is what furbabies give.
Sorry about your dog. It would be scary to have to live with a collapsed deck for so long. I love the toilet.
Thanks, Linda. Fortunately the deck wasn’t our main deck. It just really looked unsightly! As for the toilet, kids sure can have creative minds! Lol
Very sorry for your loss. I wouldn’t wish the pain of losing a beloved pet on anyone. Love the costumes! Happy Thanksgiving. .
Thanks, Mary. Losing a pet is anything but easy, especially one that was with us for so long. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
Sorry to hear about your pup. You had him a good long time though for the breed and you gave him a good life. 😎
Thanks, Sluggy. Given his breed and size (at one point he weighed 50+ pounds) we were fortunately to have him (and his brother) for as long as we did. For dogs that was thrown away on a cold winters night (thankfully a person plowing snow found the litter of puppies) the two we adopted certainly had a good life. We were equally blessed to have them as part of our family.
Very sorry for your loss
Thank you.
It is very hard to lose a pet and I am sorry. Now that you are debt free do you fel like so much pressure is off that you just want to do nothing?
Strangely, yes. I think it is partly because I feel the need to regroup before we tackle our next step.
I am so incredibly sorry for your loss – our pets are part of our family and losing them is like losing one of our own!!! 16 years is a long time to have him in your life and I know there will be many happy memories for you!!!
LOVE the toilet – what a creative kid!!! We had a VERY bad weekend last weekend where we just pulled out the credit card and went nuts….nothing big, but enough to make it more of a challenge to pay it off by the end of the year. I don’t know what happened, it was like all bets were off and “anything goes”. We are BACK ON TRACK and I am going to do everything I can to get this paid off before the end of the year. I’m so happy you are continuing to blog, PLEASE don’t stop – I need the inspiration!!!!
Thanks. Pets really are part of the family, and 16 years was a long time…much longer than I ever expected to have him around, so we were blessed.
I hope you didn’t go too crazy with your credit card. It isn’t easy, but stay the course. I know you can do it!
Lucy, I was very sorry to see about your doggie. Hugging you though the computer.
Awe, thanks Chris.