Wow.  I mean really, WOW!  April blew by so quickly that I think I heard a sonic boom.  Or maybe that was the sound of things blowing up.  Everything certainly seemed to end up everywhere, and in little pieces, too, to paraphrase Pogo.

Among the upheavals, the most wrenching was the loss of Beardog at the venerable age of 13.5 years.  She decided on April 10 that she’d had quite enough of this world, thank you very much, and quietly faded over the course of about 10 minutes.  While I miss her deeply, I couldn’t have custom ordered a better ending.  She was in the living room, surrounded by her “family”, being patted the whole time.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, to J for his support and assistance in getting me through the necessities of that night.

The next couple of weeks was largely taken up in helping the remaining three to cope with the loss of their pack’s alpha dog.  Wigs kept dashing into the living room to see if Beardog had returned.  Sounder kept waiting patiently on the steps by the door until her bladder overcame her need for hierarchy (she was always last out, and was waiting for Beardog to precede her).  Lord Stanley just wandered around looking lost and worrying that he might have to assume the mantle of power.  In the end, Wigs stepped up as logical successor, the other two (and me) breathed a hearty sigh of relief, and all has settled back into some semblance of normalcy, although we all still catch ourselves looking for, or waiting for, Beardog every now and again.

R.I.P. Beardog, Sept. 1998 – April 10, 2012

The last week of the month was taken up with a conference in the mountains.  Completely enjoyable, and a well-needed break for both of us.   The grrlz enjoyed “camp” as always, and Lord Stanley made it through his first stay with flying colours (although he did have issues with the hose during cage cleaning, so he hid behind the owner).

I managed to get a couple of things done during the month, but not much.  I got a box of flattened cardboard (plus two bigger flattened boxes, not shown) out of the house, which has opened up the doorway into the living room remarkably well.  My goal for the next couple of weeks is to clear enough of a path from door to recliner that my partner can get from one to the other without having to hop, or turn sideways and shuffle.  Part one is completed with the removal of the Martha Corner to storage, and the box of cardboard going to recycle.

To get back into the swing of things, here’s a short list of 3 goals for the remainder of this week:

1. Get one bag of recycling out
2. Get one bag of garbage out
3. Get one bag of recycling out

That should be enough of a challenge for this week and is a nice gentle re-introduction into the world of weekly goals.  Stay tuned!