Saturday, April 29, 2006

A Living Memorial

Today was the day for our weekend-long Living Memorial for Sparkey. Friends, neighbors and dogs stopped by for snacks, pats, kisses, and time in the front yard.


Sparkey seemed to enjoy the company, gave a great deal of affection, and received gifts of cooked chicken, raw hamburger, rawhide bones, and the blessings of many.

This photo catches him in a moment of repose amidst the general tumult.....










This elderly dog, Puka the Wonder Dog, makes Sparkey seem like a spring chicken as she totters on her 17-year-old legs. She loved her rawhide bone, but seemed intent only on carrying it around and pretending to be looking for a place to bury it. Soon after this photo was taken, she was found lying on top of her bone, seemingly having forgotten where she put it.



This lovely young neighbor of ours shared some very special moments with the old guy, and was the kind person who brought him the cooked chicken.

Overall, it was a lovely and glorious day which we plan to repeat tomorrow with another afternoon of an open house and new visitors to visit Sparkey and wish him peace and a gentle passage when the time does come.




Our kind Buddhist neighbor gave us this chant on a piece of paper for Sparkey:

"I pray for peace in this world, and the happiness of all beings."

---Keith

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Guys!

Love the pictures and reading about Sparkey and Tina. I know too well what you are going through as I went through a long journey with my 12 year old St. Bernard, Snoopy. That's ancient for a St. especially since we live in Hot, Humid, Houston, Texas. One thing she liked to eat in her later days was canned pumpkin, not the kind you use for pumpkin pies but just plain old canned pumpkin. It is sweet and dogs generally like it. The added benefit is that if your pup has loose stools, pumpkin will firm them right up. I will check back often as your site is beautiful and inspiring. Lucky dogs and patients.

Pats ad scratches,

Sallie

Keith "Nurse Keith" Carlson, RN, BSN, NC-BC said...

Thank you so much, Sallie. We'll try the pumpkin. How did you find the site, BTW?

All the best,

keith

Anonymous said...

Found you as a link on Emergiblog. I'm a nursing student and I enjoy reading the related blogs. Pat the pups for me.

Sallie