I am taking a short break from blogging. Not sure when I'll be back. I might return in a few days, or a few weeks. Losing Alex has pretty much wiped me out. I need a little time and space to  heal.

We are heading to the cabin on Wednesday, September 18th. I may or not blog publicly from there. I may just blog as a diary for myself. I am just not sure. So, check back often.

Photo: Broken

I found this little guy swimming in the pool today. Another Red Eft.

What can you really say about a dog bigger than life itself? A beautiful representation of his breed. A Boo. Our Alex. Gone from us in person but forever in our hearts.

Yesterday morning we had to say goodbye to Alex. I am still numb and in denial, even though we were there when he passed. It happened so fast. One day he was eating heartily and bringing me toys, the next in extreme distress. It just doesn't seem possible. But it is.

The cancer won in the end. One of his lymph nodes inside his body had abscessed and had become very large quite quickly, pushing his intestines all to the front and causing him extreme pain. All the doctors agreed he was not a good candidate for surgery, and without surgery he was going to die a horribly painful death. We had to let him go. He was pretty well medicated with pain meds, but before he left us he gave us a little grin with a twinkle in his eye which we both keep replaying and replaying in our heads.

The house is so empty without him. 

He didn't make it to the cabin.

Our hearts are broken. 

Rest well, sweet Boo. You were one of a kind and you are going to be missed much more than you know.

(Rick has posted a video of Alex playing with his toys on his web site. You can view it here.)

Come on in, the water's warm! I'm certain you are all tired of hearing about our warm pool but please bear with me—it's still new to us. Last night Rick built a fire in our little fire pit. It burned merrily while we swam a few lengths. The water was nice and warm but it was pretty darned chilly out. I risked having my camera in the water with me to take the above photo. Pretty scary. 

We made a mad dash for our towels and robes when we got out and sat around the fire with a shot of whiskey and just talked. My robe smells like wood smoke this morning, but it was worth it.

Bottom's up!

Today we are off to the Renn Faire! The weather should be perfect for it.

Okay. No photos. This blog post is just to mark our first truly decadent swim since installing the pool heater. 

Outside temp right now: 57 degrees F.

Pool temp during our swim: 82 degrees F.

Need I say more?? I think not.