We lost Cheyenne last Wednesday. She never did start eating again, even after surgery and everything. We "force-fed" her every 2 hours for 3 weeks, and she vomited and lost weight and muscle mass. she got to the point where she couldn't walk well, didn't wag her tail, and was generally not a happy girl, so we let her go. One of the hardest things we've ever done. Life generally sucks right now. So we keep ourselves busy with fixing up the motel. And thinking about another dog. We're not in a big hurry, but we weren't planning to be dog-less at this point, and we need a dog.

Thanks to everyone for the sympathy cards and emails, I know we're not alone in missing her. She was a great girl.

It's been overcast and chilly the past 3 days (70 degrees only), but tomorrow should warm up again. My one consolation is that I could have lost my dog and be really f-ing cold.

And what happened to the Packers?

We'll post happy pictures next time...

Still in Marathon, Still warm & sunny

We've had company since we last wrote...Lyle & Lisa were here for a week over christmas, then Billy & Susie over christmas & new year's. We had a blast with all of them...the weather was great (mostly), we were able to fish, go to Key West (the power went out for about an hour the night we were there...pretty cool!), hang out and drink a little.

Through all this, Cheyenne is still very sick. She's been through x-rays, an endoscopy, a barium study, and exploratory surgery which found that her pyloric valve was thickened, and not opening, and also 6 major adhesions in her belly. The surgeon repaired her valve and cleaned out all the adhesions. In addition she has stomach ulceres (probably from vomiting so much). She has a 12" incision on her belly, and is recovering nicely from that, but she still won't eat, and is down to 60# (from 86# a year ago). So Bob & I have been feeding her with a syringe every 2 hours (she hates this), and so far she's keeping it down, is pooping, drinking water, and peeing good. She's very weak and tired, but doesn't appear to be in any pain. The vets think that she has a "food aversion" at this point; basically she's associating eating with vomiting (she did that a lot in the last month), so it's our hope that we can build her back up and get her strength back, and then her appetite will return. It's been quite the emotional roller coaster, but she's slowly getting a little better every day. That's why I haven't written much.We just realized we've been here almost 2 months already!

We love it here. Still in the 80's and sunny most every day, and the 70's at night. It rains every once in a while (not very much for very long), and last week we had 2 days of 50's and high winds. We were freezing! I'm sure if we were home this would feel warm, but we're pretty much acclimated to Keys weather, so it didn't!