In Memory

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said - "It is not the length of life, but depth of life". I attribute many of my life lessons to the privilege of spending some very special days with my precious boys - Meeka & Echo. They each came with a story and maybe a little baggage. Though some might perceive that as daunting we never did. In fact, we were always amazed at the wisdom that came with their trials in life. It was ingrained in their souls and made them who they were. Each day was a new adventure and my family and I represented the "extras" in their cast of characters. Some may have found that to be unacceptable - we however, were honored. It is this attitude that is required to successfully coexist with a Siberian. The mere fact that they often would lie next to us, sometimes even touching a paw to our hand communicating something far more that only we could understand.

We always knew one day we'd have to say goodbye. It was just something that would enter your mind and you'd quickly push it aside. Meeka's demise came quickly leaving us a mere 2 weeks to come to grips with the inevitable. A mass was discovered and it swiftly grew. As gut wrenching as it was we made that excruciatingly painful decision that many pet owners must make. A final gift to the one that gave you the best years of his life so that he would not suffer and could leave with dignity. He passed very quickly which to us was his way of saying that he was tired and so ready. Echo left our world on his own terms, sparing us the pain of making that final decision. He was happily playing in our home one minute, and was gone the next - collapsing in front of me, dropping his favorite bone that he had been carrying. I've spent many years pondering which would be worse - having to make that fateful decision for them, or having them make it for me. I still don't have that answer.

Life has changed since they have left us. Many, many tears have been shed. I can barely say their names without noticing the lump in my throat. This ride is over and it was such a good one. The boys were my family's introduction to the concept of rescue. It taught us that the world can be a cruel place yet we are surrounded by compassionate, caring people and have watched so many dogs overcome so much. It has taught us resiliency. Each dog has a story and their gentle faces are haunting, reminding us that no obstacle is worth giving up the fight. We've made many friends along the way. Meeka and Echo's legacy will not end and on their behalf we will continue to devote our efforts and time to rescue. They will forever remain in our hearts and one day we'll see them again.

This will be my final post on Echo’s blog. Although his life has ended, his spirit is alive and is bright. He made so many precious friends through his blog and we have treasured their numerous adventures and comments and will continue to visit their blogs. We hope that Echo’s story has touched some hearts along the way and will encourage others to become involved with rescue even if for just an hour. We ask that in his memory, please donate a small moment of your life to a rescue or shelter. Volunteer for a few hours....ask what you can do to help whether it be transporting, walking, brushing, or stuffing envelopes. Spend a moment petting a rescue dog looking for his forever home.... look into his eyes and tell him that he's special and that he's loved. Tell him he’s beautiful and didn’t do anything wrong. Tell him he’ll find his forever family, and that they’re worth waiting for. Then tell him Meeka and Echo sent you.

With all our love -

Sweet Meeka

Meeka 2001-2010

On Thursday, July 8th at 7pm we sent our sweet Meeka on his final journey. Although we knew in our hearts it was the kindest gift we could give our beloved friend the pain for us is overwhelming.

Very recently Meeka was diagnosed with a mass in his abdominal region. Within a very short period of time it had grown extremely large. Rather than subject this proud boy to painful surgeries and treatments none of which came with any guarantees, we opted to bring him home where he belonged so that he could spend his final time with his pack. Sadly our time was very limited. We barely had time to come to grips with the reality of life without him. His mind was intact....his body was failing. I don't think there's anything more heart wrenching than that. I have to say that Meeka handled all of this much better than I. To the end he maintained his Alpha status and I could see the others communicating with him. It was subtle but it was there if you watched. They rarely left him alone yet respected his space, lying a few yards away.......ever watchful.

Our hearts are broken. The pain is tremendous. I feel him everywhere yet it's not a comfort yet. I want to reach out and pull him back to me. But I can't. I know that in time it will get easier. Every second feels like hours. I miss his gentle nature. I miss the way he took your breath away when you saw him. I miss his joy when you came through the door, even if you were only gone for 10 minutes.

The outpouring of kind words and prayers has been amazing. One never knows what to say when this happens. I read every email and message left, sometimes only a few at a time because my tears get in the way. I will save them all and will put them in his scrapbook. One of the most profound messages came from a close friend of mine. It's from a book called The Art Of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein. It is written from a dog's perspective:

"My life seems like it has been so long and so short at the same time. People speak of a will to live. They rarely speak of a will to die. Because people are afraid of death. Death is dark and unknown and frightening. But not for me. It is not the end.".......... "after a dog dies, his soul is released into the world around us. His soul is released to run in the world, run through the fields, enjoy the earth, the wind, the rivers, the rain, the sun, the - When a dog dies, his soul is released to run until he is ready to be reborn. "

For now I'll hold on to that thought. It will get me through the day. I thank all of you for loving Meeka as much as we did.

Sibe Vibes ROCK!

We have FANTASTIC news to share! Meeka's surgeon called first thing this morning with some amazing news. Meeka's pathology report came back.....apparently he put a rush on it. Much to the surprise of the surgical staff and vets, Meeka does NOT have a malignancy!
We thank everyone for all of their kind and encouraging words, prayers, and those very precious (and quite effective!) Sibe Vibes!

"My buddy's gonna be OKAY!"

An Important Message From Meeka

Hi Everybuddy -

This is Mom speaking - Echo was kind enough to lend his blog to me for what we feel is a very important post.
As per our last entry, we've been busy. What I didn't share was the situation we've been coping with regarding our beloved Meeka. It's time to share his story.

A few months ago we discovered - quite by accident - a small mass on his upper gum. It was tucked away from sight so was easily missed upon quick inspections of his teeth and gums which we all routinely do from time to time. We have no idea how long it was there, nor had we ever seen anything quite like it. The next day we were in our vet's office. Meeka patiently let techs and 2 vets pull and tug at his muzzle, tilting his head one way then another. He seemed to know this was important. No one was really able to draw any conclusions as to what it was for sure. It could be a benign epulus....or perhaps something worse however all agreed they'd never seen a malignancy look like that. Several options were presented and we went home - our brains spinning, searching for the right thing to do. Unfortunately any mass in the oral area presents quite a challenge for getting clean margins. The only hope of doing that would be to remove significant bone mass in his upper jaw which would then require reconstruction. To even find a surgeon qualified to do that would be difficult. That meant our best hope would be to reduce the mass, then have it biopsied. The procedure was scheduled. Days later Meeka had a severe allergic reaction. His face quickly swelled and it moved dangerously lower, towards the throat region. This happened twice and despite my best efforts with Benadryl, Prednisone, and some major prayers I could not reverse the reaction. That meant 2 emergency trips to the vet to have an injection to reverse it. We had no clue what was causing this however none of them felt it was related to the mass. Unfortunately this made anesthesia extremely risky for him. We concluded that we need to wait several week to be sure we wouldn't be facing any more of these mysterious episodes. After an extensive blood panel and a chest xray, Meeka had his surgery yesterday morning. We opted for laser surgery since that was our best chance to remove the most tissue. He is recovering here by my side as we wait that painstaking wait for the biopsy results. I look at him and choke back the tears as he stares back at me with those soulful eyes. He's telling me he's okay for now and that I need to be brave. We always knew Meeka had an important job to do in this world. He's been a wonderful ambassador to the rescue world. Countless people have admired him at Meet and Greets and he sent the message that rescue dogs aren't just castaways with baggage. He became the Alpha of his pack. Always mindful of what the others are doing, scolding as needed and making sure they all stay safe. It came to mind that his work is not yet done. As I pray every moment that the biopsy won't indicate a very aggressive Sarcoma, even willing to settle for a malignancy....just please God, let it be a slow growing one - I realize this is yet another task for our proud Prince. He needs to let others know the importance of checking the mouths of your babies very carefully on a regular basis. Our vets have indicated they're seeing more oral malignancies now. Don't just quickly scan the lower gumline when you admire their healthy teeth. Pull up those lips and really look! Look for color changes, texture changes, swellings - and if you see a change, take them in to be checked. This is the message Meeka sends.
We ask that you keep Meeka in your prayers.

We Are Here!

Hi Everybuddy -

Wow! Life seems to have gotten away from us! We're sorry we dropped out of sight. It really wasn't intentional - it just sorta happened. Everything's fine and we are touched by the notes many of you have sent through wondering where we went. We're sorry if we worried anyone and feel we really do owe our friends an explanation. So here it is:



That's our girl and Logan! Mom has learned that this horse ownership thing occupies a lot of time. We don't keep Logan in our backyard so that means Mom and our girl have to drive a little ways to get to him. Logan has made so much progress in the past several months that our girl decided to show him this season. That has turned out to be a very good idea because the big guy really seems to like it. And look....he won his first ribbon last week! We're all very proud and are encouraged that there's a bright future for this pair. Unfortunately the barn where he is boarded doesn't have wireless internet. She said she could get alot of blogging done if she could just get that wireless thing going. In the meantime we're taking a bit of a hiatus. She doesn't think it's fair to ask everyone to read our posts and not have time to visit theirs. We really do miss blogging and promise we'll be back as soon as we can. In the meantime we'll be visiting your blogs when we can.



Your good buddy - ECHO

Breakout!

Hi Everybuddy -

Do you remember Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog that apparently has the ability each February to determine whether winter will come to an immediate halt or whether it will linger for an additional 6 weeks? If the fuzzy fella sees his shadow he concludes that winter will continue. Obviously not alot of technology goes into that. As a matter of fact we suspect Phil really isn't a willing participant. Think about it. If you were napping quite happily and were abruptly pulled out of your nice warm den to face this:




....how would you feel? I can think of about a million other things I'd rather do. Despite his protests which you can clearly see here:

"I see common sense eludes you"

....these stupid people continue to perpetuate this ridiculous sport each year. So is it any surprise Phil tried to make a break for it this week? Yep - poor Phil tried to escape 3 times from his man made den in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately he was unable to scale a wall which surrounds the enclosure. I'm thinking it might have something to do with his rather portly stature but I could be wrong:

"I'm just big boned"

We need to help this poor guy! In order to fully understand his plight I decided to pretend I was being held captive:

"This could drive a fella nuts!"

Since I do my best thinking after a brisk play session I knew what I had to do. There was no holding back. This calls for some serious thinking:





We need to put our paws together and help poor Phil out. Does anyone have a ladder?

Where's Your Peeps?

Hi Everybuddy -

It's that time again - the Peeps are here! We love Peeps. Mom loves Peeps too. For those of you who don't know what a Peep is take a look:

They're very yummy I'm told. Luscious globs of marshmallow covered in fine colored sugar and are traditionally enjoyed around Easter but can now be found in all sorts of holiday shapes and colors throughout the year.
Mom has them stashed all over the place in hopes that no one will find them. She's not very good at sharing her Peeps. She really needs to work on that. The National Geographic channel (one of our most favorite channels I might add) is running a contest. They want to know where you take your Peeps. They ask that you post a picture of your Peeps visiting someplace interesting. You can read all about it here. Here's some pictures they used for inspiration:



I couldn't let this opportunity go by so I asked Dad to fire the camera up. We let a Peep out of the package and he found all sorts of places to visit. Take a look:


Who knew they liked to swim? :


Ruh Roh.....we had to rescue the little guy when we saw this:


I'd like to add that no Peeps were harmed during this demonstration......just so you know.

"I know the perfect place!"

Here it is. The perfect place for a Peep to visit:


My crate! I promise to take real good care of it! Where do your Peeps go?

The Squirrels Have Landed!

Hi Everybuddy -

They're heeeere! I knew they were coming but I'm finding this season's gathering slightly disturbing. These squirrels are not to be confused with the Squirrel (with a big "S") that our sweet Khyra encountered this past weekend. After some intense surveillance this past weekend take a look at these highly sensitive surveillance photos:


Apparently they've brought the older/wiser generation along too. I'm thinking it's all a strategy for their advanced operations training:

Here we have a shot from Squirrel Boot Camp:


This next one is quite disturbing. Look if you dare! It clearly shows we really need to start preparing:


I don't know what was in their acorn stash over the past winter but this is alarming! Meeka has a few words to share regarding the possible invasion:

"Woo...Wooooooo....Woo!"

If you ask me I think there's just one solution:



Fellow blogger buddies - we must prepare! Woo!

Mission Accomplished!

Hi Everybuddy -

We're quite proud of ourselves. A long time ago Mom commented that we had the uncanny ability to encourage Siberianlike behavior in every living thing around us. She might be right! Look who's blowing his coat:



Although it's not nearly as impressive as our coat blowing skills Mom says this week will require much more barn sweeping. That's her job.

Bones Aplenty!

Hi Everybuddy -

Did you know we have a star among us? Yep - we sure do! I am very proud to announce that I know a real author! Many of you may already know Ari and her blog - Out With Ari. Ari has written a book about her explorations with a little help from her Mom, Kathryn of course. It can now be found on your local bookstore's shelf as well as purchased online.




We'd like to congratulate both of them on this impressive accomplishment. You can read about it by clicking here. We've placed a link to the book on our sidebar. If you're looking for a great read, please get your Mom's plastic card and buy a copy!

Now, I'd like to know....who doesn't like bones? I know Shadow loves bones:


I certainly enjoy a good bone:





This weekend I learned of an astounding opportunity for all of us blogger pups. On Saturday a very unique auction was held. The I.M. Chait Gallery was trying to unload a 9 foot dinosaur skeleton. You heard me right! Are you thinking what I'm thinking? This could mean an endless supply of bones! Take a look at the big fella:



Unfortunately for them, the highest bid of $220,000 fell short of the required minimum bid they were hoping for. That means the 150 million year old bag of bones is still available! Are you thinking what I'm thinking?? Apparently they intended to ship the big guy in his constructed glory. I suspect if we saved them the trouble and told them they can just toss the bones in a box we might be able to strike up an attractive deal. Anyone interested? Incidentally, a 7 foot tall baby Woolly Mammoth also went on the auction block and sold for a mere $45,000. What a bargain! It was proudly purchased by a private collector who will be placing it in the lobby of his Los Angeles office. I wonder if it sheds.

For The Big Day ........ Getting Ready...Hmmm?

Hi Everybuddy -

Wondering just what the big day is, are you, hmm? Quickly approaching, Yoda Speak day is! Until May 22nd to become fluent in Yoda Speak, have we. Of the most fascinating creatures in the Star Wars sagas of course you all know and love the cute little green guy who's one. Of the cute little guy (kind of like me) Yoda put a slight spin on the English language and in honor, of Yoda Speak we make our blog posts in on May 22nd I propose, we study the art. Hmmmmmm?

Translation: Are you wondering just what the big day is? Yoda Speak Day is quickly approaching! We have until May 22nd to become fluent in Yoda Speak. Of course you all know and love the cute little green guy who's one of the most fascinating creatures in the Star Wars sagas. Yoda put a slight spin on the English language and in honor of the cute little guy (kind of like me), I propose we study the art of Yoda Speak and make our blog posts in Yoda Speak on May 22nd.

I'll bet I kind of had you wondering for a minute there! Since I'm a cute little guy myself I feel compelled to honor one of my heroes - Yoda. Please join me in making your post in Yoda Speak on Yoda Speak Day - May 22nd. You can watch the countdown gadget on my blog to see how long you have to brush up on your Yoda Speak skills.

To my buddy Maverick The Pirate, you'll find Yoda quite amusing as well. Look:


Yoda has something to offer everyone. From his endless wisdom and charming sense of humor how can you not love him? Besides, you have to admit - endless wisdom and charming sense of humor does sort of remind you of me doesn't it?

"Learn Yoda Speak - I will!"

Donut Destruction

Hi Everybuddy -

As you all know our Shadow is stuck wearing a horrible inflatable donut around her neck. The good news is that her nightmare should be over within the next few days and she'll be set free from the giant donut. In the meantime she's stuck with it. In a show of support for her plight I valiantly offered to devour almost an entire box of donuts. Take THAT donuts!!!

"Woo! Be careful!"

"It's a tough job but somebuddy had to do it!!"

No amount of danger is too great for our Shadow's honor! I urge my blogger friends everywhere to show your support......eradicate donuts everywhere!

**We would like to thank our girl for making this donut destruction possible. Thank woo for leaving the box where I could reach it. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Note To Self.....

.....do not pull out your stitches. Plan B isn't very fun.

"Yes you morons - it's really me!"

Wrong..Wrong..Wrong!

Hi Everybuddy -

Today was not one of my most favorite days. It all started when Shadow - who's recovering from surgery and has amazingly figured out a way to lick her stitches despite the fact that it's in a spot that made that task very challenging - needed to wear the dreaded tshirt. Mom figured an E-Collar would totally freak her out so she decided to try a tshirt instead. Shadow wasn't too sure this was a good idea:

"Does this make me look fat?"

Then it happened. Dad got the bright idea that I needed to wear a shirt too. I heard him digging in the bag trying to choose the perfect one. Oh yes - I heard his snickering and his plotting. I did what any good Siberian would do. I went upstairs. I figured he forgot about it so I decided to take my chances and go back downstairs. BAD idea!

"It's PINK - what are you thinkin?"

"Hurry up. Take the stupid pictures."

"Hey big guy - I think that's enough don't you?"

"Time's up pal!"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Hey - dude - do you like your slippers?"

"Oh you have SO had it!"

So there you have it. The terror has ended and I broke free from the humiliation. It's okay though. Revenge is sweet.