Country Life The Retirees: Goodbye Mickey Blue Eyes

Country Life The Retirees: Goodbye Mickey Blue Eyes: He was named Mickey Blue Eyes by my husband.  My children had wanted a dog when they were growing up.  What child doesn't want a do...

Goodbye Mickey Blue Eyes

He was named Mickey Blue Eyes by my husband.  My children had wanted a dog when they were growing up.  What child doesn't want a dog?  We were a busy family of 6.  My husband and I were both employed and the kids were rarely home.  It just didn't seem like bringing another responsibility into our lives was a good idea at the time.  Once my husband and I retired and we moved to acreage it just seemed right to have a dog.  So we became the proud owners of two furry kids.  Mickey was an Australian Shepard/Pyrenees Mix.  My daughter knew we were looking for a dog so she began to search for rescue dogs.  She found Mickey Blue on Craig's List in Austin about 150 miles from where we were still living at the time.  She sent the picture to me and I instantly fell in love.  I had to have that pup.  My husband, not a real dog lover took one look into those blue eyes and said, "We will go get him tomorrow."  We borrowed a crate from a friend and headed to Austin early the next morning.  He was such a furry, cuddly little fellow, full of mischief and very loving.

We moved to our acreage and Mickey Blue adapted well.  He was very loyal and protective.  We had goats and chickens and he watched over them the way any good herd dog would.  He knew our habits and interpreted our moves.  He herded us every where and sometimes it was annoying because he would stop short in front of us, his way of saying "pet me" or keeping us from going into the house.  And then some days he would herd us to the door and stand there until we went in.    He always knew when it was time to eat.  Each morning he would sit outside our bedroom windows staring at us till we got up.  If we ignored him he would push his body against the window so his identification tag would hit the glass making noise to get our attention.  At 5pm every evening he would sit at the living room window staring us down till we fed him.  He was a perfect dog for a dog food commercial.  He would jump into the air with all four paws in mid air and dance backwards until his bowl was set in front of him.  When our house was under construction the workers were complaining that their gloves and tools kept disappearing.  When they turned their backs Mickey would sneak in and steal away with them.  They would chase him down to collect their tools.  He thought it was such a fun game.

Mickey was very protective of me and would lunge at vehicle tires when we were walking.  He always saw them as a threat.  He once took a chunk of meat out of my son's dog because the dog was running in circles around me and Mickey perceived him as a threat. Unfortunately that gained Mickey a bad reputation with my family.  He was a dog and thought like a dog.  In order to understand dogs you must try to get into their minds.  They are not complicated like humans.  They have no evil, premeditated intentions.  They act on instinct. I understood Mickey and respected him.  He returned that with plenty of kisses and hugs.  He was like a cat.  He would rub his body all over my legs and wrap himself around me.  As big as he was, he thought he was a lap dog.  I loved watching him roll down the hill in back of our house.  So many times I wished I had my camera to get a video of him slithering down the hill.  He enjoyed it so much.  When he got to the bottom he would lay on his back and let the sun bake his soft belly.  I wish more than anything now I had gotten that video.

At Christmas time this year, we began to realize that he was not himself.  He couldn't keep his food down and didn't have much of an appetite.  When all our house guest left a few days after Christmas we took him to the vet.  That was the beginning of a two week journey to sadness.

After many xrays, two veterinarians, 2 ultrasounds, hospitalization, an endoscopy with biopsy we finally got the results we had been dreading.  Adenocarcinoma, an aggressive cancer of the gastro intestinal tract.  We knew he was very sick.  We had him on all kinds of meds....steroids, antacids, intestinal motility, anti nausea drugs.  It was hard to get it down him because he was having a difficult time eating.  We tried everything, chicken breast, chicken broth, oatmeal, brown rice with sweet potato, chicken broth and raw eggs.  He decided he liked raw chicken and raw salmon so we gave him little bites throughout the day until he began to refuse all food.  He tried so hard to eat and keep his routine.  A few times I even thought he was getting better, I think because he was trying so hard just for me.

When we got the diagnoses we realized it was useless.  We had to do the right thing.  My husband and I have always believed in "the right to die".  I myself would not want to be in pain or fight a useless battle.  Unfortunately as humans we can't help each other out in that way without being accused of murder.

This morning we took him to the vet for his "final exit".  He went out silently, with dignity, a deep breath and then total relaxation.  We brought him home and laid him under an oak tree below our house where we will begin the long difficult process of digging through limestone rock.

We will miss our Mickey Blue Eyes terribly.  He was a good friend to us and Shadow our black lab.  Even though the two of them got off to a rocky start, they learned to respect each other and became best friends.  Every chance they got to run through an open gate they would take off on long hunting trips which always scared me.  Sometimes they would come back with their faces covered in blood.  I had no idea what they got into but I suspect it was probably a deer carcass left behind by a hunter or a poor little rabbit they managed to corner.  They were very talented hunters, working in tandem together.  Oh how they loved chasing cows.  It was the highlight of their lives when my husband would drop his sense of caution and let them out for a got at those black angus than sometimes ventured onto our property.

Mickey was our first warning system.  No one came up our drive without his knowledge.  Part of my sense of protection is gone now.  Shadow will have to patrol on his own.  Mickey had the most beautiful tail that he carried like a flag.  I will miss watching it wave in the breeze.  I spent his last night in a little cabin on our property with him, my way of saying goodbye.  I told him I would meet him again someday and we would have more long walks together through the trees.

Country Life The Retirees: Goodbye to an old friend!

Country Life The Retirees: Goodbye to an old friend!: There she goes, a dear old friend.  She has donated her body to charity.  She will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds wil...

Goodbye to an old friend!

There she goes, a dear old friend.  She has donated her body to charity.  She will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The proceeds will go to the Alzheimer Association and who knows where her organs will end up.  Perhaps she will remain in one piece and be reconditioned for another life.  Or perhaps she will go to a junk yard where she will be sold off again piece by piece.  Wherever she goes she will live again.  She served us well and deserves to live on.  I hope to see her flying down I10 again on her way to Alaska.  She almost made it there once but we stopped short of our journey in Canada.

She was purchased in 1988 by my husband.  A brand new Chevrolet Suburban, silver and blue, three rows of seats.  We had four children and they were thrilled with it.  We couldn't wait to take her on the road for a family vacation.  We would load her up with sleeping bags, pillows, favorite toys and games and head out on camping trips or long road trips.  The back end was spacious but filled so high with our belongings we could barely see through the rear view mirror.  The luggage rack on top would carry our tent and camping chairs.  We were a sight going down the interstate.  Oh the places we went.......

We lived in Houston a few miles off Interstate 10 highway.  We would pick the kids up from school on a Friday afternoon, my husband would take off work early, the 'Burb would be packed up and off we would go to beat the Friday afternoon rush out of town.  Our journeys took us to many states, camp grounds and state parks....Stephen F Austin State Park, Huntsville State Park, Galveston Island State Park, Padre Island State Park, Estes State Park, Yellowstone State Park, Canyon Lake, Big Bear,  Kansas, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Colorado,  Mexico and Canada.  She didn't take us to these places just once but several times.  She was put to pasture on our ranch with over 200,000 miles on her and still running.  

The Burb had an exciting life and a couple of close calls.  Shortly after we purchased her when my daughter was only 16 she took a few friends to the movie theater.  When the movie was over they headed to the Burb.  She was no where to be found.  My daughter was frantic.  She knew where she had parked it but it was gone.  The Burb had been a victim of theft.  We assured our daughter it wasn't her fault, there wasn't a thing she could have done about it.  The thieves had broken into the vehicle, hot wired it and drove it to another location where they took her seats, and tires. The police found her the next day in a run down neighborhood in Houston.  She was towed and repaired, brought back to life to make many more travels with us.  

The Burb was also in a very bad accident.  I was driving through a double intersection when I was rammed by a tired chef who had just gotten off work.  He didn't see the double light, his was red, the one further from him was green and that's the one he was looking at when he slammed into us, totaling the Burb.  She was built so well that she actually saved our lives.  We thought she was done for but the mechanics and body shop slowly brought her back to life again.

For a while she became a ranch vehicle but then we began to use her less and less.  Being as big as she was, she was a gas guzzler so she began to sit more and more.  Finally my husband called NPR(National Public Radio) and donated her.

As we cleaned her out this morning many memories came back to me.  Is it possible to cry over a vehicle?  Well to us she was more than a vehicle, she was family.  All of our family drove her with pride, including the bonus baby, our fourth child who is now 21.  I felt sad every time I saw her sitting unused and I feel sad watching her being towed away but it's good to know that she donated herself to help others

Goodbye old friend............

Country Life The Retirees: Chapter Neighbors and Good Old Boy Mentality

Country Life The Retirees: Chapter Neighbors and Good Old Boy Mentality: When we first retired to the hills we thought we would be pretty secluded but people started buying up the land pretty quickly, mostly Baby...

Country Life The Retirees: Addendum

Country Life The Retirees: Addendum: I'm sitting here on my back porch on New Year's Day looking out over the hills drinking red wine and wondering how much more chocol...

Addendum

I'm sitting here on my back porch on New Year's Day looking out over the hills drinking red wine and wondering how much more chocolate I can safely consume today!  The temperature is a cool 59 in the shade and there is north easterly breeze blowing.  My corn bread is in the oven and I can't wait to bite into it with a generous slab of butter topping it.  I hope it's good with jalapenos, corn, cilantro and cheddar in it. You guessed it, I'm a foody!

As I look out over the hills I can't help but think about the settlers. 200 years ago that came to this land.  I've read enough books to know what a difficult time they had.  I can certainly understand it.  The soil is mostly limestone sprinkled with cactus.  I've had a difficlut time myself trying to carve a garden out of this land.  I can just imagine them facing more problems than I with no power tools, only hand held shovels and hoes.  I know many starved to death or died of disease.  There is a grave yard at the bottom of the hill with headstones carved indicating how some died.  I love to walk through that cemetery and imagine what life was like for them.  I once went to a very old cemetery about 50 miles from here in Frederiicksburg, Texas.  So many children died from disease or starvation during that time that they have a separate area just for them.  It's so sad looking at the tiny little graves and wondering.  One headstone indicated a woman had been killed by Indians but not scalped.  Sometimes I can visualize an Indian on the horizon riding his pony.  This was their land.  I can't help but wonder how they felt being pushed from their land, dying in battle to protect it and suffering from the diseases that the white man brought.  The white man considered the Indian uncivilized and the Indian felt the same about the white man and his kind.  It's unfortunate they could not have respected each other's ways and lived together peacefully.. History has proven that doesn't happen easily, if ever.The invaders are bullies and the invaded are always fighting to win back what was rightfully theirs.

The settlers came from all over, many from Germany, settling in these hills. Some came from Louisiana and further east.  They nearly all starved to death.  They lived from the land, killing wild animals such as deer, squirrel, possum.  Salt and coffee was hard to come by.  When they ran out of coffee they would use their seed corn brought with them for planting,,, roasting and grinding it to make a kind of coffee.  All I have to do is jump in my air conditioned suv and head to the nearest HEB or Costco to stock up when I'm running low.  I don't have to watch for Indians over the horizon or shoot a deer or squirrel for our next meal.  If my chickens aren't laying or the coyotes have eaten them all it's only 30 minutes or less for me to the local grocery to get a dozen eggs.

I can't help but think of the people who settled this land as I live my life of ease.  I wish they could see it all from the great beyond and marvel at it.  Who knows, maybe they can!