Goodbye Jasper

arealhuman said:

Oh my goodness, I'm so very sorry to read this, and I'm also sorry that my condolences are so late. My apologies. I guessed something was amiss without the mails I get notifying me of updates to Jasper's Diary. I have tears welling up after reading the posts here, especially the first one. I hope you're both doing as well as can be expected, my best wishes to you both.

I'm bracing myself too as Jimmy is undergoing palliative care at the moment and I'm finding that very tough.

On a different note, I didn't know (or had forgotten) we shared another passion - motorbikes. That said, since the pandemic I fell out of love with them for some reason after about 35 years of riding and sold mine as I wasn't allowed to ride it!

Again, sincere condolences, I know Jasper will be missed lots both at home and by everyone here.

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I am so sorry about Jimmy, I hope he will be OK

I've not managed to find a suitable statue of a large lurcher for the garden...



... so I've settled for a small cairn

Mr N is on holiday this week, so we've been out and about. People said we'd need to get another dog to keep us active, but... now we can go out all day long, wherever we want, and we're exhausted! On Monday we caught the 10am ferry to Brownsea Island (the birthplace of the scouting movement, and inspiration for Kirrin Island in Enid Blyton's Fanous Five books) and ended up catching the 5pm ferry home. We got our first glimpse of a red squirrel Then yesterday we went to the Arne nature reserve, where we spotted both the rare sand lizard and the rare raft spider - we've now seen all 6 reptile species in the UK It's amazing how time passes when you're happy with your head stuck in brambles taking macro photos of bugs....

Still, each time we come home, I'm half-expecting to meet J at the door, worrying that we've left him too long. Every day I thank him for showing me what is important in life (and usually preventing me from doing it because of his neediness!).

Take your time. Maybe one day there will be another dog, maybe not. Maybe sooner, maybe later. But you will know; it will be that morning when you wake up and think you would rather have a dog than have the flexibility. If it happens.

Yes, I'm not planning either way. We are enjoying our freedom and to be honest, I'm not sure Mr R will ever feel ready. I do like the idea of fostering, but again, not for a long time. But we need to make sure that we do keep walking, and not slip into lazy ways, so we can enjoy that freedom to its full.

It looks beautiful, whether or not you got a statue, Jasper would be grateful that you honoured his memory either way

We went for a walk on Upton Heath this morning. A man with two spaniels came the other way and when we said hello, he said 'You look like you should have a dog with you' Could he sense Jasper's ghostly shade walking alongside us? Was it because we looked (as we usually do) scruffy? Maybe it was just the way we said hello to his spaniels before we said hello to him...?

We got chatting, as you do, and he said that after he lost one of his dogs he couldn't come back to Upton Heath for years, even after they got new dogs - it was only lockdown that got him back there, because he couldn't take the dogs further afield. At least I've got my photography, so I can distract myself looking for bugs... There were a lot of grayling butterflies this morning

Maybe it's that sense of familiarity, a dog person recognising fellow dog people instinctively...even without a dog in tow.
My lot want to go up to the Rotherlands this summer, we haven't been back there since we went with Jake, knowing it was going to be his last big walk, as well as that being the first time we'd been there since the in laws passed
Still, it is a beautiful place and we spent a lot of happy times there over the years it'll just be odd not having a four legged friend to share it...maybe I can plan the trip for when I have one of my boarders, ah now there's a plan!

Flobo said:

Still, it is a beautiful place and we spent a lot of happy times there over the years it'll just be odd not having a four legged friend to share it...maybe I can plan the trip for when I have one of my boarders, ah now there's a plan!

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Mr R still find it hard to walk without having some sort of distraction - my camera and his litter-picker are invaluable. Do enjoy your trip, but if you don't have a dog, make sure you have a hanky!