Will the Ram

She has been to the groomers once, and they said she was a nightmare, which I can believe, they only did around her eyes, paws and bum, because she is a puppy, she is still only 5 months old. 

Miss you boy?

Mack the border collie

Had my dog put down today. 
ducking gutted.
Not looking for sympathy or anything. Just helps if I keep on saying it. 

Having to have our little dog put out of his misery this afternoon....only 11 years old, poor guy has cancer all over the place and is now really struggling with It...absolutely heartbreaking....
it’s amazing how quickly you forget about the trainers he chewed, the poop he left on the Brand new basement carpet (after It has been installed less than 30 seconds), the times he ran off chasing god knows what in the woods, how dirty he could get from seemingly nowhere, how he could bring back half of the beach attached to his paws, begging for treats, ravenously eating the bacon fat then 3 seconds later throwing It back up (always on the carpet), how he would run off and hide every time I put the football on the TV because he hated hearing me shout at It...etc etc etc
we will miss you so much you goof ball...
 
the reason I have used that photo....the guy on It is my best friend, a massive red dog...just thought It would cheer me up knowing he was on the DCFC forum..!
 

Saw this a few weeks on the Derby Telegraph website a few weeks ago;
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/dogs-gastroenteritis-sick-burton-swadlincote-2414259
Didn't think much of it until this week when my dog went down with it ?
We've been back and forth to the Vets over the past 5 days for various injections and pills and the poor soul spent a day there on a drip as he was getting really dehydrated - seems to be a lot perkier today though and the sickness and diarrhea have finally stopped.
Would have cost over £500, fortunately we have insurance and 'only' need to pay the £85 excess.

4 years ago today I had to have my best friend of 14 years put down... each year I convince myself it will be easier but it never is, people who don't have pets don't understand but I didn't just lose a pet, I lost my best friend, I lost a family member... I know a lot of people find it silly but I can count on one hand the amount of humans I've loved more than her. RIP Anya the rest of today will be hard just like it is every year and probably always will be. 

Newest member of the Rynny household 

So, yer mam dies in her early 40's, when you are 16.  2 years later, yer dad dies, still in his 40's, albeit 49.  This leaves you, as an 18 year old only boy, 3 elder sisters (21, 24 & 27), and the baby of the bunch, little sis who is still only 9 at this stage.
I guess what happens next is you start to wonder... will I manage to live a bit longer than my parents?... who will be the first sibling to cop it... and when!
Those thoughts have never left me.  4 of us have since lived longer than our parents, thankfully.  Baby sis has now lived longer than mum, and is closing in on the age dad was, so all good there, I guess.
I have to admit, on the day I equalled Dad's age, I was a little bit emotional, if truth be told.  Relief?  Guilt?  No idea, but it was a weird feeling!
But the one thing I have literally been dreading since being left an "orphan"... over 39 years ago now... is the first of us siblings going. 
...It happened last night! 

The sister up from me (so the third eldest) lasted until she was 60.... and two months.  I guess we shouldn't moan, given the family history, but I can't describe the gut-wrenching feeling, now the first one of us has gone!  This is the day I have been dreading for over 39 bloody years!
Depressed?  No.  Not in the true sense.
Anxious?  You bet!
Stress?  Not yet, but I'm sure that will come, as we try and help our 24 year old nephew (Sis's only child) through the next few days, weeks, and maybe even years.  Lot's to do.  Lot's to sort out.  Him and us.  There's no-one else to do it!
The first of my siblings gone... out of the blue... no warning!  Suddenly, I no longer feel immortal!
Eldest sis (67 next month) is feeling guilty, not being the first to go!
Baby sis is distraught, and now has to face her first close-relative mourning since becoming a 9 year old orphan!
Being old fashioned, I feel the need to take the lead.  To be practical.  The only boy, and all that!  Time to become a man!  Time to take charge, I guess, and stay strong for my remaining 3 sisters, and my nephew... but I can't help but feel vulnerable this morning, if truth be told.
Thankfully, I have the strongest, most wonderful wife tight by my side, so all is not lost!
I'm sure I'm not the first to lose a sibling, of course, but right now, feeling the way I do, a feeling I've never experienced before, is daunting to say the least.
It feels different to losing a parent.  It feels different to losing a granddaughter at 1 hour old.  Maybe not worse.  Maybe not easier.  But closer, I guess.  More frightening.  Too close for comfort!
Not looking for sympathy.  Just an ear.  Just a shoulder to lean on.  I may be back, I may not.  Having not been through this particular emotion, I really don't know what happens next!
 
PS:
Yes... yesterday's game really was poo, wasn't it!
 

Dog sitting my mum's new puppy next weekend. 

Just to let you know that Jess passed away a few minutes ago. She had gone downhill rapidly today and we took her to the vets. She was surrounded by love as she went

So, all give your pets an extra fuss, and if they look confused, tell them it’s from Mostyn. 
I was peacefully doing my ironing about an hour or so ago, by the window, that overlooks a busy Grampian Way in Sinfin. I heard a thud, instinctively looked out of the window to witness a dog running into moving traffic. 
Suffice to say I’ve shed tears a few times since seeing it. The car behind stopped, and the absolute gentleman driving it tried what he could and showed genuine love for the dog he probably didn’t know. 
After he carried it off the road and gently placed it on the lawn beside the road, the owner appeared with the lead in her hand, witnessing her reaction will live with me for a very long time, as will seeing the driver, totally blameless, who hit the dog, but stopped around the corner as his kids were in the car. 
After about ten minutes, the lady owner said goodbye to her dog before collapsing trying to lift the dog wrapped in a blanket, before being pulled away by someone, and the real true gentleman, who i dont know, but admire greatly, gently wrapped the dog a bit more snugly in the blanket and carried it to a car. 
Owner and driver totally inconsolable. A lovely dog gone just like that. ??

Doggo update....he's fully mended.
First time at the beach yesterday, wonderful.

puppy sitting for a friend. This is Patrick and he’s a good lad. 

Watching my uncle in a half-ironman, featuring my sister’s dog.

I've tried posting a few times in here, but it just didn't sit right each time I've wrote it out.
As some of you know I did the cancer research relay for life last year, my grandma was diagnosed over 2 years ago with a very rare form of cancer. She went through all the treatments, operations, chemotherapy etc and was told she was in remission last April, she joined me at the relay and did the survivors lap and had a great day of it. However in September she took a turn for the worse, she went for some tests and  found out the cancer had returned very aggressively. Over the next 6 weeks she deteriorated rapidly. But as the strong woman she had always been she battled to the very end. There were days where we were told to expect the worse, yet she kept fighting and holding on. She eventually passed away peacefully in her sleep. 
At the same time my wife's grandma was on the same ward, in the next room. We were told to expect the worse, she battled on for a few months but lost her battle at the start of this year. 
Then this morning my wife's grandad has passed away (from her mother's side, grandma was from her dad's side) he has been suffering from dementia for the last 6 years.
To say the last 6-8 months have been poo is a bit of an understatement.
I feel like this is something I've needed to write and down but not known where. 

I’m in a lot of pain. Hopefully it’s natural and I will adjust, but today one of my closest friends died, aged 39. I’ve known him for 30 years. He’s one of a very small number of people that I trust unconditionally.
Death happens all the time, I know this, but my mate Neil was put through the ultimate cruelty of pain and illness. He had bad diabetes, then sepsis, survived those for a while whilst having to live on crutches awaiting a hip operation that never came cos his organs were so damaged and his blood too tainted. 
In the end his heart stopped, his brain died and this afternoon his body shut down and he faded away within ten minutes of the ventilator being switched off, me and several others lost a massive part of our lives ?
Rest in Peace: Neil Anthony Ward 07/05/1980 - 21/05/2019 x

4 today, or 32 in human years!
 

Precisely the reason I've never bought a dog, despite having wanted one my entire life. It's a big responsibility and one that should be taken seriously. Maybe if there was more than one dog it might be a bit better, but leaving a puppy to it's own devices all day, every day, seems really unfair to me. 

One of my daughters cats: Hector (not named after King Kevin)
 

Rescued Ruby 2 weeks ago and she wouldn’t go anywhere near me... now we are best mates.

11 weeks old now and made it to base camp  (although he had to yelp to be rescued as he could get no higher and refused to jump down!)