In most places, it's here, I'm sure, but not here in central Manitoba. However, it's quite near. Susan and I took a very rare drive together in Tonya's Truck (with Tonya sitting between us and Lizzy in the crewcab, much to the old girl's satisfaction), cruising the back roads. The fields are still fully covered in snow, but the snowpack is visibly reduced in bulk and melt water is in evidence here and there in the ditches and low spots. The Canada geese and the crows have returned, and on the roadside I spotted the blessed sight of a pair of mourning doves -- as well as a shrike, the first I've seen in the area. So the birds say it's time.
It was a long, hard winter with too much snow, blow, and cold. It took an awful lot out of the caregivers, but the dogs came through it well. We lost just two over the winter: dear old Chinook companion Pudge faltered and died of abdominal cancer, and one of the C-litter Seppala bitches, Chenuk, suddenly succumbed to kidney failure. Considering our impressive population of senior stock, I'm surprised we came through that well. Tonya's half-Alaskan daughter Hippy will probably be the next to go; her abdomen is grossly distended, almost certainly with tumours, because we can feel every bone in her frame; she's still eating, but not enough to keep flesh on her bones, probably because she has limited room for food. Sad, but nothing can be done about it; so far she still seems comfortable, so we just monitor the situation.
Old Tonya now has a palm-sized tumour on her chest, low and behind the right foreleg; it's quite sensitive. Still she soldiers on! Appropriate changes have been made in handling procedures with her, and she has been cooperative about that. She *lives* for rides in her truck, still; going for a ride is her greatest delight. I got her out for a brief long-line walk a few days ago, Once we were out of the lane and well onto the grid road, I told her, "Now, Tonya, please remember that however far we go out, that's how far we have to march back." She carried on, stopping occasionally to sniff the roadside scents. About fifty yards further, she stopped, casually turned around, and began to walk back with no prompting from me! THAT is a first for Tonya. She's nobody's fool.
Feeding the kennel has been a trial as the snowpack softens. Our existing little trails became unusable, too punchy at the edges. For a couple of days we were floundering; now there are paths of a sort re-established, but it's still rather slow work.
Posted by jjeffrey at April 8, 2011 09:21 AM