Gosh I miss him...

Mr. Morris was such a huge part of my late adult life. 14 years of everyday adventure. As a Jack Russell, he was always on the go. Go

go

go...was Morris's motto until the last year of his life.

His vet told me that a JRT will be like that. They'll go with boundless energy and then then stop. When they stop, then worry.

Yesterday morning I wasn't thinking of him at all. But when I opened my laptop and logged in. Facebook reminded me that Morris's birthday was today. Indeed it was and he would have been 16? Wow. 

I meant to take his page down but when I look at it, I just end up browsing his page and photos.

Crazy.

So I spent part of the day recalling our friendship and browsing all the Flickr photos of him all the way back to the day I brought him home.

It's true. Charlie is in our lives now and he has grabbed our hearts like no other. It was with great purpose that I chose a wonderfully different kind of dog. 

After all...how can you not love this face?

Yes, I miss Morris and nothing can replace him or his place in my heart.

Thank you Charlie for helping to fill that space that hurts and filling it with your silly ways and your pure unselfish devotion to Rich.

Your devil may care attitude and hunting instinct, and your ability to take over the whole couch with such a tiny body.

So life goes on. We miss those we love.

And we find reasons to carry on....

Laugh love

cry

and smile.

Mr. Morris has a new clock

Mr. Morris decided that I needed to take a walk the other day. I wanted to check the mailbox on the ridge and any excuse to get out for a bit is a good excuse. Fresh air is good for you.
However we happened to pick one of those days that the winds were roaring overhead on the ridge.

I put on my fur fox hat and grabbed my camera bag [of course!]. Even though we'd had some very light snows, the overall color of the season right now is dull, drab, and dirty looking.

Dingy ~ Gloomy Drab Dark Dirty Shabby Squalid

This is the view down the private drive of the neighbor. Dull, dingy, dank, dark, and dirty looking. However to avoid the raging winds, I walked this way as the trees protected Morris and I from the biting cold.

Morris keeps having some pretty decent days. Most of his time is spent sleeping. He has a routine that he now keeps.
Up between 4AM and 5AM. Outside immediately. He wears a pet light so I can see him in the dark.
Breakfast must be served between 5 and 5:15 or he gets frantic.

One more outside visit and the couch is his for napping.

Between 2:30 and 3PM, it is time for activity. He walks around the house and grunts until I get dressed. He bounces around playfully and shoots out the door when I open it.

I have been keeping him on a leash since his last little adventure when he went home after about a 20 minute hike into the woods.
I brought the leash but let him off when we headed down the neighbor driveway. He was more of his old self. He'd trot ahead, then stop. Smell. And when I'd whistle he'd come on the run.

Since the view up the driveway seemed SO drab I thought it appropriate to edit it with some grunge textures. I used Topaz Studio to edit my files quickly and very easily. I actually didn't walk past the tree on the right as the winds whistled fiercely across the open area beyond.

I thought to myself that this was so ugly, it was almost beautiful in a way.

I watched Morris sniff around at the coyote tracks and the 'possum tracks. He trotted back and forth. I bent down to pet him and put him on his leash.

And this is what I got!

The little turd!

However to be honest, he does love to walk on leash out to pick up the kids at least once a week between 3 and 4PM. The route is the same as is the timing.
I can now count on this being a part of his routine. As soon as 3:30 hits, he will turn and head home.

I didn't mind this at all as I could see him trot up ahead. He went to the mailbox and made a turn down the hill. He sat on the porch and awaited my return patiently.

When I arrived, he calmly walked inside and stood next to his feed bowl.
He stared at me while I got undressed. As if he was trying to mind meld with me to let me know "food" was urgent.

Precisely at 5PM, Morris will stand in the kitchen and then walk to the couch. He goes back and forth. Eventually he makes a nest and settles in. If we walk into the living room to watch Netflix or something, he sighs deeply and gets off the couch.
He is adamant about laying between the two of us after we settle in.
I think he wants us to know that the couch/love-seat really belongs to him.

Morris still rules.
The Little Old Mr. Morris has a set of rules that must be followed by the rest of the members of 'his' family.

Mr. Morris and CDS

Oh ... wait.
What is CDS?
Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome.

For real? Veterinarians came up with this long convoluted bunch of words for Doggy Dementia? Or Doggy Old Timers Disease.

Whatever you want to call it, Mr. Morris has it. Do you all remember when I said he was acting a bit funny earlier this summer? He got upset when plants were moved or when we parked the Subaru in the 'wrong' place.

A while ago he started this strange new behavior. Pacing. He will walk endless circles in the house from room to room. At first I thought he was unable to figure out where I was so I would call and let him know.

Remember when he started 'refusing' to go on walks or hikes? It is worse but it really isn't a refusal. He and I start up the driveway together as we have done thousands of times in our past years together.
Morris stops and stares at some leaves or...the woods, or the grass. He stands and then turns around and walks towards home.
If I let him go, he returns to the porch and walks back and forth on the porch in seemingly mindless circles.

His lucid moments are full of sweet tail wags and he loves being held.

My good friend Amanda worked for years for a veterinarian and mentioned that this behavior was a thing older dogs sometimes did. She mentioned that it is like Doggy Alzheimer's or Dog Dementia.

Well Morris is being a good sport about it. Our group went hiking with him in the creek bottom yesterday and any time we let Morris go, unattended, he simply turned and started to walk towards home.
He didn't respond to his name or a whistle. He just slowly put one foot in front of the other and headed towards home. Period. That was that.

However, he does know his way home. He will always retrace his steps and walk the path he has taken over and over on countless hikes for the past 13 years. Same path, same way. Always home.

He dutifully wears his bell and my hiking/photography friends accommodate Morris.
Their dog Scout checks on Morris and I suppose he may wonder briefly why Morris is not chasing him around like he did last year.

My good friend and sidekick Morris is slowly fading away.

But I am pretty lucky. I get to dote on him and be at his side. He is not in pain right now and is eating well. It is hard enough to watch a loved one go through this when they are human, but for some odd reason, it seems to hurt much more when it is a pet.

I am lucky to have this time to spend with Morris. We've been best pals for years and my only regret is that he won't see me into my last years of life.
However he has added so much to our lives just by being his funny little self.

So we approach each day with a smile and a lap warming session.