Tuesday, Sept. 5

I meant to sleep late this morning, but the alarm went off. Hubbie was already downstairs, and the clock is on his side of the bed, so I had to crawl out and turn the alarm off. I tried to snooze again, but five minutes later, the thing went off again. I hit everything on the clock to silence it, and tried again to snooze. The alarm didn't go off again, but by this time, I was wide awake.

Since it was such a nice cool morning, I decided on a bike ride for my exercise. Hubbie joined me, and we rode for about 30 minutes. Then, Hubbie ran errands while I got ready for the day.

Mother came over and started carrots, onions, and tomatoes cooking for Dragon Soup for supper (this soup is made from accumulated leftover veggies from the freezer).

At 11 a.m., we went to the beauty shop for haircuts.

Hubbie returned shortly after we got back. He took our 17-year-old Shih Tzu out for a walk, but she was unable to stand up. He brought her in and put her near her water bowl. She just stumbled and fell backward. After that, she was simply unable to stand up again. She flailed around and whined. We knew she was in pain, and was never going to be able to get up again.

We also knew we had to help her out of her misery. Hubbie called the vet, but it would be 3 p.m. before would be available. In the meantime, I held her for a long time and rocked her in the rocking chair. That seemed to sooth her for a while, but finally she began flailing again, and we had to lay a blanket out on the floor for her. Hubbie had to keep track of her, because from time to time she would flail and drag herself under the chair.

It was a long and emotional afternoon. When we finally went to the vet's office, we found that our regular vet, who has treated Shih Tzu for all of her seventeen and a half years, was delayed in a meeting in town. So the other vet, a young woman who has been at the clinic for only a few months, convinced us to let her help our dog.

I thought I could stay in the room while the procedure was done, but when the vet couldn't find a viable vein and decided she would have to administer the drug to Shih Tzu's heart, I completely lost it. The vet and assistants gently insisted that Hubbie and I wait outside.

We spent a tearful and distraught few minutes in another room. Soon, we were given Shih Tzu, wrapped in a blue exam blanket, as well as in the afghan we had wrapped around her for the trip to the vet's office.

At home, Hubbie buried Shih Tzu in a flowerbed near the fence in the back yard. He had dug her grave earlier. Now, I want to find an appropriate grave marker for her. She deserves a well-marked grave, because there never was a dog as absolutely loving and wonderful as her.

I'd skipped lunch today, but I still had no appetite at supper. I forced myself to eat a bowl of soup and an oatmeal muffin, anyway. I'm sure both were delicious, but I had trouble enjoying them.

Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I spent the evening trying to let the TV distract us.