Chapter 19 - LOSSES

Sparky
Wednesday 24-1-07
Sparky, our Jack Russell terrier, died today. He was 14 years old and was born on the 5th of November, hence the name. Several times during the last few weeks, on his walks with Roy around the farm, he would fall over and then recover. On Sunday I saw Roy carrying him in and put him on the grass out in the back garden. I massaged his heart and carried him up on to some hay. After a few minutes he lifted his head and walked off up to the stable. I really couldn’t believe it! That night he had “best ham” for supper. However late this afternoon he collapsed again, but this time there was no coming around.

Foxtrot
Monday 23rd April 07
During last winter Foxtrot, our grey horse, lost a lot of flesh, so much so that we kept a rug on him even in the mild weather. He was almost 30 years old and eating well but he hardly ever lay down. Roy and I decided that it would be kinder to put him to sleep. The hardest thing to do was to make that decision. Once it had been made it took us two weeks to implement it and make that phone call to the hunt kennels. Ed and Mike came up, and Foxtrot was very quickly put to sleep in a very professional and kind way. Looking at him lying on the ground he was only skin and bones and we knew then that we had done the right thing. After many years of giving us so much pleasure and excitement our “Desert Orchid” was at rest, following those hounds across the sky.

Monica Olds