Please tell me these are not the cutest pictures you ever did see. I dare you--if you do, you'd be lying.

On Nov. 4, we said goodbye to a very dear fella. For about 2 weeks, Brownie was battling physical aches & after almost a week in the hospital, a week of medication & the loving thoughts from his family, it was decided that he had been through enough. The final decision was not easy & I felt the enormous pressure of having the final say. These photos are how I like to remember this funny guy. He was always full of life & I can still picture him hopping up & down by the door of his pen as we drove up the driveway. As he got older the hopping was not as high but the enthusiasm to see us every week was still there. He learned how to sit, shake hands (both of them!), lie down & roll over. When he got sick I asked him to shake my hand & it was hard to see him want to but couldn't. He had lost a lot of strength & had a hard time sitting up for long periods of time, let alone on one leg. He still tried & that made me happy enough. My mom, Neil & I chose to be there with him & I think he knew it was his turn. I bet the first thing he did on the other side was eat. Neil said he had some burgers & I bet whatever it was, he felt much better afterwards. It's so quiet at my grandma's house now. I thought I heard his crying (he used to do that when we would eat lunch in the house & wanted us to take him outside) but it was just my imagination. My grandma said it has been lonely because even if she was scolding him, she was talking to someone. He had a good country life, caught a few chickens, had a few free runs & sometimes ate the best food in the house. He was a good dog & a good friend.
Brownie

I haven't been doing too good of a job of updating this site. this was my very first jack-o-lantern & even though my carving knife snapped off when I was cutting out the top (the very first thing you do), it didn't turn out that badly. It's hard to tell in this picture but it's supposed to be a jack-rabbit-o-lantern. Alfie didn't really pay too much attention to it, he just wanted to be off the table. I even made pumpkin seeds which turned out to be quite tasty. Even though I got no help from the mister & my mom, I think I'll do it again next year.
Alfie's new friend

late jack