Every Pet Owners Obligation

    Today I am sitting in my chair and as usual my dog Sammy is wedged in between my leg and the side of the chair.  For some reason he likes to nestle down in tight spaces to sleep.  It is a somber time because tomorrow I will be taking him to the vet to be put to sleep.  You see he is 14 plus years old.  He went blind a while back and last year he went deaf.  Cathy and I have had to deal with these health issues for awhile and managed to still have him living in the house.  Not too long ago he developed a kidney issue where he cannot seem to control his peeing.  I have cleaned up a few messes in the house and have tried to take him out more often but it does not seem to help.  I took him to the vet and he said because of his age his kidneys are not functioning as good as they were when he was younger.  So he drinks more water to compensate and cannot hold it as long as he did before.  So after giving much thought to the situation I have decided it is time for him to be put to sleep.  Any pet owner knows that one day they may have to make that same decision and every pet owner knows how tough it is to do.  He came to us via my son Jacob and daughter-in-law Hayley many years ago.  He has been a good dog and I have enjoyed walking him around the neighborhood.  When he went blind he managed to still walk around the neighborhood by smell.  I know my neighbors will miss seeing him with me, as he has stopped to get to know a lot of them.  It will be a hard day tomorrow for me, but I have had to go thorough it with several of my previous dogs.  It does not get easier and it will take time to get over it.  My brother Dirk has been kind enough to allow me to bury Sammy at his place, as he has a lot of acreage. I have always buried my pets as I think that is an obligation I take on when I own a pet.  

You have been a good dog Sammy

My Grandchildren's future

    I get up every morning and begin my day with prayer.  I pray for a lot of things, cancer prayers, dementia prayers, world prayers, government prayers, church prayers, etc..  But I always ask God to watch over my sons, their wives and my grand-kids.  I turn my worry over how the future will be for my grand-kids to God.  I trust that He hears my prayers and watches over their steps.  I pray that they all find Jesus and maintain a moral compass in this world.  Right now the way the US is lining up morally is rather disturbing to me.  I see biblical prophecies coming to fruition.  The Bible said that in the last days what is right will be declared wrong and what is wrong will be declared right.  I see men and woman who cannot make up their mind as to what sex they are.  I see a government sanctioning abortion even to the extent of killing a child after it has been born.  I see hate and division becoming the standard way to settle issues.  This makes my anxiety increase, but I still turn over this worry to God and let him have it. I ask for forgiveness of my sins and to forgive our country for the acts that it is authorizing.  I pray for the president and all those in charge that they may be directed by God.

  One day I pray my grand-kids will read this blog and understand that Cathy and I both pray for them continually.  We pray that through all the noise Satan is putting up that they will hear Jesus call.  

   John Prine has a song with the chorus that goes:

            Blow up your TV throw away your paper
            Go to the country, build you a home
            Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
            Try an find Jesus on your own

    His final chorus  goes:

            We blew up our TV threw away our paper
            Went to the country, built us a home
            Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
            They all found Jesus on their own (everyone of them)

    I pray that all my kids and grand-kids (and great grand-kids, etc) all find Jesus on their own and hold firm to His teachings.

Trouble in West Virginia

    Our daughter-in-law Hayley is having a troubled pregnancy.  We went to visit her and Cathy decided she needed to stay and help.  She has now been gone for a few weeks, but I have been surviving.  We have three dogs to take care of and one of them, Sammy, is 14 years old with a lot of medical issues.  I had to take Sammy to the vet the other day, as he has been peeing in the house.  He has not every done that before and I was worried he had some sort of infection.  The vet examined him and indicated that he was having kidney issues.  Due to his age his kidneys are not functioning like they were when he was younger. Since he is an inside dog, this puts Cathy and I into making a decision on having to put him to sleep.  It is a tough decision, but he cant live outside and we won't have him just peeing everywhere in the house.  He is already blind and deaf and he has arthritis in his back legs.  So he is just getting beat by time.  Cathy and I are both in agreement that if he gets worse he will have to be put to sleep.  I am not looking forward to that, but if you own a dog that is something that sometimes has to be done.

   Cathy spent her birthday in West Virginia.  Jacob and Hayley and Marek made the day special for her and I was glad to see that. Cathy has been a great help for Hayley and is also ensuring that she rests.  The doctors want her to rest and not to overdo anything.  The baby is safe now but Hayley has some issues that require her to be monitored weekly.

   I am surviving and the house has not burned down yet.  :)  I also get to babysit the grand-kids, as well as do a lot of community work.  So I am keeping active, but I do miss the mountains.