Snuggling with Dad

Simone snuggles with dad on our makeshift family bed in the living room.

Happy to be Home

Simone rests in the backyard after checking on the chickens.

Simone's First Steps

Simone is up and walking, less than 24 hours after her surgery.
She's doing great!

Simone's Home!

We're happy to report that Simone is now home and resting. She is on a few pain meds, but off the really strong stuff, so her eyes are bright. She's still a little wobbly, but is getting around well when she needs to. Her incision looks good (no bandages, just one really long running stitch). She seems genuinely happy to be home, and I can't tell you how happy we are to have her here.

Thank you again for your kind words of support and for keeping our girl in your hearts and prayers. It means so much.

Simone Update

Just a quick note to let you all know Simone is doing great. She made it through the surgery very well, and came out of anesthesia without complication. Gary was able to visit her tonight and saw that she was comfortably hopped up on pain meds. She had already been up and walking after the procedure to go potty and appeared to be quickly adapting to life on three legs. She is resting tonight at the clinic, and we will bring her home tomorrow. We've spent the evening rearranging furniture and preparing for sleeping downstairs with her until she's ready to tackle climbing stairs.

Thank you all for your kind words and for keeping Simone in your hearts and prayers. We truly believe every good thought sent her direction today made all the difference. We may not know how much time we have left with our girl, but we're so very thankful to have her feeling better and are looking forward to every moment we get to spend with her from here on out.

Simone's Roller Coaster

We've been on quite the roller coaster ride the past 24 hours.

After several weeks of limping, Simone was diagnosed with bone cancer (osteosarcoma) in her rear left leg yesterday about 4pm. As we were starting to discuss how we might handle this last night, the diseased portion of her femur broke in two (a little stress on a weakened bone = major damage). We had to decide this afternoon whether to end her suffering all together or to amputate the leg. Simone did her usual talking to us with her eyes, kept trying to leave the exam room, and wagging her tail....which we felt were all of her ways of letting us know that she wasn't ready to go just yet. So, we decided to give our consent for the amputation. Her surgery is tomorrow around noon, and we will be able to take her home on Thursday. The vet says most dogs are walking within 1-2 days and the wound is healed in about 2 weeks. We will not do additional chemo or radiation therapy. The vet said as a result of the surgery, she may be with us for another 6-18 months. With her lively spirit and love for life, we trust it will be at least that long, and if not, that she'll let us know when it's time.

It just wasn't today.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Peeking in the Hen House

Simone peeks in the hen house, making sure everyone is doing okay in their new home.

Welcome Millie

Meet Millie, Simone's new kitty. Yes, you read that right. Simone now has her very own kitty cat. We were at the vet today for x-rays, and while we were waiting, this black cat made its way over to us. She laid down next to Gary on the bench, parallel to Simone. She looked at Simone and thumped her tail in pretty much the same way Simone does. They looked at each other, we looked at them, and we felt a connection. We tried to shrug it off, but found ourselves thinking of the cat again. It's not often that Simone meets a cat that she doesn't want to chase or devour. And neither Gary nor myself consider ourselves to be cat people. We're dog people. Always have been. So the notion of becoming parents to a dog and a cat seemed, well...strange and silly. And yet that's where we found ourselves.

So while we were waiting for Simone to come out, we talked about it and visited with the kitty. The receptionist told us that Millie (formerly named Odeall) had been at the Heartland Humane Society for a year since her owner died. Apparently, it's hard to find black cats homes due to all the superstitions surrounding them. She's about two years old, and had a sister (Odette) who had already found a new home. After a few minutes of sitting with her, we determined that we both had a feeling about this cat. And rather than wait and come back later, we decided to just trust our instincts.

And that is how Millie came to join our family.

Simone Herds Her Chickens

Fence Me In

Simone joins the chicks in their make-shift coop.

Mother Hen

Simone keeps watch over her flock on a sunny day in our backyard.

The Nanny

Simone keeps the injured chicks within her sight at all times, making sure they are okay.

Keeping Watch

Simone keeps watch over the chicks during their first outdoor experience.

Chicken Curiosity

Both Cleo and Digby continue to be mesmerized by Simone.

Any time she pokes her head into the tub to check in on them they quickly hop onto one of the feeders to get a better look at her.

Simone's been doing a great job of limiting her interest to sniffing and looking with her eyes. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she will continue to stave off investigation by way of mouth....

Simone's New Hat

As we've mentioned, Simone enjoys checking in on the chickens. We do it at least twice a day, and she would probably sit there all day watching them if she could. We've begun to notice that the feeling is becoming mutual. The chicks are becoming more and more curious about Simone, and wondering who or what this big creature is that keeps sticking her nose into their home. They have become so curious in fact that they have started hopping up onto the edge of the bathtub to get a closer look. In the past 24 hours, their desire to get a closer look has escalated to a closer feel. Digby's done it, Cleo's done it, and so has Pinky.

Simone's head has become the chicks' latest perch:

You will have to excuse our "long lost photo of Bigfoot" approach to photography, but the moment was fleeting, the bathroom was dark, and there simply was not time to adjust the settings or ask Digby or Simone if we could do it from another angle.

We really feel like we're tempting fate here any time one of the birds jumps on top of Simone's noggin!

Easter Visit to the Long Tom River

We decided to take an Easter picnic lunch with Ted, Marney and Lobo out to the Long Tom River.

We skipped some stones and Simone chased after them in the river while Lobo watched from the shore.

We took a little stroll and Simone found a giant stick to pick up.


After our stroll, we enjoyed our lunch on the tailgate of the truck, and then Marney, Ted, and little Lobo headed for points south. We look forward to visiting them in Nevada next month!

A visit for Simone

Simone received three visitors today: Aunt Marney, Uncle Ted, and Uncle Ted's latest addition to the family: an eight week old Kelpie puppy named Lobo.

Isn't he sweet?

Simone did really well with Lobo. She didn't snap at him too much (only when he got too close to her carrot), shared some of her toys with him, and tolerated him the rest of the time. He's really tiny and he was always underfoot and trying to figure out if Simone had some milk for him!

Watchful Eye

Simone has been doing a great job when it comes time to check in on the chickens. She has had a few opportunities when one has flown up onto the edge of the bathtub for a closer look at her and she's resisted the urge to devour. Instead, she's contented herself by giving them a little sniff and keeping a watchful eye on their activities.