Paws on my heart

Thirteen and half years ago she walked into my life at a rescue organization that I was volunteering with.  She was a pathetic excuse for a chocolate Labrador and if truth be told she resembled a chocolate Weimeriner.  She trembled with each step into the shelter and it was obvious this wasn't her idea.  It was near the end of the day and her owners told us that they needed to give her up.  They had adopted her two weeks earlier and has named her Cocoa.  Real creative I know, but the long and short of it was that she just didn't get along with their much older dog.   If we didn't take her in they were going to drop her off at the local shelter that evening.  My heart broke for the obviously scared dog, but there were no current open foster homes so the director was preparing to send them away.  I temporarily lost my senses and phoned my parents about fostering this dog.  Their immediate answer was an unwavering NO, but I pushed the issue.  Begging and pleading...pleading and begging.  Miraculously my dad gave in on the one condition that this whole thing was only temporary.  I assured him the last thing I wanted to do was adopt this pathetic sad creature.  Two weeks into fostering and the entire family had fallen in love.  Koko was home and she had a new name.  My dad took to calling her Koko Puffs after the cereal.  Seeing as I was at his mercy for keeping her I went along with the name and came to love it.  She was my puffy, my puffkins, my honey girl Koko.  For the next 13years ago she was my best friend, my constant companion.  Thru thick and thin she was always there for me.   She was by my side for a marriage that brought me to a brand new city-Las Vegas, she become the watch dog of my first born son, she saw me through a gut wrenching divorce and custody battle, and a new relationship in a new town that led to a new marriage.   She was a constant in the newly formed Johnson household.  She was there for the addition of four new babies and for the move into a new home.  And finally she was there for the biggest adventure of all our lives...a cross country move.  She was an old lady, but a very healthy one at that.   There was no reason to believe that she wouldn't do well with the trip.   Unfortunately her old bones did not deal well with the upheaval of the household and her health took a nose dive during the travel between coasts. She arrived very much worse for the wear despite having been in the awesome more then capable hands of my stepson.  I believe at first that she would come out of this funk when she saw me  and for a little bit she attempted to get back to normal. She ate her breakfast and almost seemed to be rebounding.  But it was a short lived effort and by that evening she was weary and lethargic.  She could barely walk.  That night at the end of day one I slept by her side in my parents cottage.  I fully expected her to surcomb to age and illness that night, but she hung on.  In the morning she was even more lethargic, was still unable to stand and was breathing heavily so I made the decision to help her move on to the rainbow bridge. It's a decision that no animal lover wants to make, but one that is compassionate and loving.  Koko wasn't going to let me down by leaving.   We'd been through way too much.  I had to give her permission to let go.

I miss her so much every day.
Even 8 months later my eyes still fill with tears at losing my best friend Koko Puff.
Koko Puffy 12/1999- 06/2014

8years later and my heart still Hurts at her loss. My Puff❤️

When Lady Goes Slumming

In early September we noticed that our beautiful red Labrador was in heat.  Since we knew of no suitable suitors in our very rural and back woods area we scheduled for her to be fixed following that heat cycle.  She was put on lockdown and only allowed outside for supervised potty breaks.  Apparently all of our hard work was for naught as the lovely lady had already gotten herself into "trouble" in August.  On October 27th our girl gave birth in rather rapid time to 10 black and white puppies.  6 males and 4 females.  She took right to being a mother and required no help.  Unfortunately a week after they were born we lost the littlest male.  I stepped up and started helping feed the other runt of the litter-a female with a black spot on a white chest.   These little chunky bundles will be ready to go to new home Christmss week.  I'm praying we can find good homes for all of them.

Coming home to Roost

Back in my Peirce Community College days I discovered a sever disdain for chickens.  Stupid creatures that made a ridiculous amount of noise and filth.  Every evening as I finished up my classes in the AG department I would hear those noisy chickens clucking up a racket.   I decreeded that I could easily end the life of a chicken  and then eat it because I would never have an attachment to a chicken.   But then came the 30acres..... and the idea of farm fresh eggs every morning.  I stubbornly held onto the fact I could Kentucky fry a chicken without remorse.  So I seriously started researching laying chickens and after much deliberation with myself decided on adding chicks to our budding farm.  I asked for a chicken coop for my 34th birthday and then ordered 20 baby chicks from an online website called efowl.  5 Easter Eggers for their beautifully colored eggs and 15 winter strong, friendly and reliable egg layers.  This morning all 20 arrived in a box at our tiny local post office and it's really hard to feel nothing, but the warm and fuzzes for these little peeps.  I'm now calling them my fuzzy babies and checking on them obsessively in their homemade brooder that occupies a corner of my husbands office....which is in our house.  The coop doesn't arrive till next week, but it doesn't matter because those little chicks are quite content for the time being underneath their heat lamp.

Chicks enjoying their first meal after joining the Johnson farm.

(I've been told that this picture looks like the chicks are in a microwave, but rest assured that it's just the heat lamp that gives that impression.)

A Dream finally realized

After much conversation during our courtship and then marriage, our family finally has settled in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  It all started 7years ago when my husband and I met thanks to my sister and now BIL.  Tom and I easily connected because we both had grown up in Ohio and had a great desire to return to the Pennsylvania/Ohio area to live.  When we married in 2008 that joint dream became our five year plan and moving was a frequent topic of conversation with our family.  In all honesty it didn't really ever seem like it would be a reality...too much had to happen and fall into place.   But then this winter a series of unfortunate events in our extended family lead to our dream finally becoming a reality.   I can't ever thank the person whose misfortune helped finally push us out of California, but I am sure she is looking down from above.  

Thank you Aunt Doreen. 

Saying goodbye to an old friend

Just about two weeks ago we had to say goodbye to a dear four legged friend. His number was up apparently, but there had been little warning. All of a sudden one day be stopped eating. The dog who so loved to chow down refused to eat anything we had offered. He was lethargic and depressed looking. I took him to the vet and we discovered a bacterial infection. Antibiotics were prescribed. Nothing changed. Less than 5 days later I was forced to make the decision pet owners dread. We had an appointment at 11:30. He was too weak to walk on his own so I had to carry him into the vets office. In one of the rooms a soft blue blanket had been laid down for him. I gently laid his body down and as I did so he picked up his head and looked around. I quickly snapped a few pictures of him peering around the room. His body may have thinned out, but he suddenly had a certain perk about him. I started to second guess the decision I had already made, but as quickly as the moment had come Moose laid his head down and closed his eyes as if in pain. The breaths were shallow and I was reminded about why we had come to this place now. I knew that if we had kept him at home one day longer, he would more than likely have taken his last breath before the next sun rise. I kissed his nose, his ears and his paws. I told him I loved him because he was my "puppy head" . I put his tennis ball between his front paws and stroked his nose as the good vet did his job. Tears filled my eyes as his heart slowly stopped. It was done. My Moosie man was no longer walking this earth. Instead he was running through heaven chasing a frisbee happy and carefree. I hope that in his last moments he knew how much he was loved. I will forever remember that sweet puppy with the big black floppy ears. Big floppy ears that seemed to promise that he would grow to be a moose. In size he may not have grown into that name, but with his very personality and love of life he certainly was a Moose.