Cleo

I know it's been a very long time since I've been around. It's been a rough few months for me.

Three weeks to the day after losing our lab, Max, we lost our little sassy Dachshund, Cleo. 

I have to say, after losing my dad in April, losing Max in August, having that second dog die was almost more than I could take.

I'll back up a little and give more information.

Max was put to sleep on a Sunday night in August. One week later, Cleo started coughing. I couldn't imagine that she would have kennel cough, because she just had not been exposed. I made an appointment at our vet's office and after two sleepless nights of her coughing, I took her in.

I knew Cleo had a heart murmur, it had been diagnosed about a year or two ago. The vet tells me that with the heart valve not quite closing, she was probably getting a little fluid in her chest and put her on a diuretic to help relieve that fluid. He told me to give her a half pill twice a day. We did that and she stopped coughing!

Two weeks later, she started coughing again. Sunday night...once again. I was up with her during the night because she was very restless. It wasn't like before when she would cough and just lie back down and go to sleep. This time, every time she coughed, she would move to another place to try to sleep. Finally, at 1:00 a.m. I was exhausted and went upstairs and left her in the living room to roam. She followed me up in about 20 minutes. At around 2:00 a.m. I heard her go under our bed and start wheezing.

Nick awakened at that point and asked about her. I told him the story and we went looking for her under our bed. She had found a duffel bag Nick had stored under there and made it her bed. When we pulled the bag out from under the bed, she was lifeless and her breathing had a gurgling sound. She had pooped herself and I knew then, we were close to the end.

Nick picked her up and she was so limp. I wrapped her in towels, took her collar off and we loaded her into the car.

I was hysterical, I won't lie. I was truly wailing and thinking of having to call my sweet daughter away at school and tell her about her puppy.

I sat in the back seat with her as she took her last breaths just a few minutes later. We arrived at the vet clinic so they could confirm she was gone and left her there to have her remains cremated and scattered on the mountain with Max and the other beloved pets lost.

I thought it would be liberating to have no pets for a while, but it's been just awful. I need someone to get up in the morning and take care of. I need someone to greet me and need me when I get home. Nick will be deploying again in the next few months and I truly can't see doing this alone.

So, I we did adopt another dog. I will write more about her later. Today's post is about this dog.

She was a sassy little dog that drove me crazy. But she had great personality.

The day she stopped breathing she had a wonderful time. She had a walk, a bath, and a steak bone after our dinner. We started spoiling her quite a bit after we lost Max.

I will miss this silly, barking little dog.

Max

Almost two weeks ago, we lost our sweet lab, Max.

Max was 13 years old and was a pound puppy. Nick had him when we got married and he's been with me through two deployments.

Needless to say, it's been a sad couple of weeks at our house. I miss Max every day.

I like to think of sweet Max playing with my dad now, who only ever called him "Rover" 

Chocolate Tour

While the kids were visiting, my daughter-in-law, Meghan, celebrated her birthday. I know Meghan loves all things chocolate, so when walking around Seattle several months ago, and seeing advertisements for Savor Seattle's "Chocolate Indulgence Tour" I knew that was the birthday gift for Meghan.
I booked the tour, took Meghan and Callie and hit the road. It was fabulous!  It was a one mile walking tour in downtown Seattle and took two hours. It was so much fun.

The tour group gathered in the Mayflower Park Hotel. Once we put on our lovely headsets, so we could hear our guide as we walked, we headed to the hotel bar. It wasn't open yet, it was only 11:00 AM, but the bartender was there and he mixed us up a yummy chocolate cocktail.

You really have to love a tour that starts in the bar. And who wouldn't want a chocolate cocktail?

The drink was called "The Seattle Flatliner"  It was GOOD.

Next stop, The Chocolate Box

At The Chocolate Box, we had sipping chocolate. It's like hot chocolate on steroids. SOOOO rich and good. This particular sample of sipping chocolate had a homemade strawberry marshmallow down inside. YUM.

The Dahlia Bakery was next on our tour. Here we had the most delicious coconut cream pie...made with white chocolate. Oh my! It's a good thing it was a small sample.

Pictures out of order here. This sign was over The Chocolate Box, where they also had a wine bar. What's not to love?

I have to admit, I can't remember the name of the bakery where we got the delicious cheesecake. It was right across the street from Pikes Market and they put a birthday candle in Meghan's piece. So sweet.

Next stop was KuKuRuZa gourmet popcorn. I was so looking forward to this place. I love popcorn. I love salty and sweet together. This was heaven. I didn't get photos of the popcorn or the inside of the shop. I admit, I was very busy sampling. I brought home the Hawaiian Salt & Caramel popcorn. Well, I brought some of it home. I ate a lot before I got there with it.

Last stop was Fran's chocolates. This place looked like a jewelry store but with chocolates instead of precious jewels in the glass cases.

I treated myself to the Gray and Smoked Salt Caramels. I have one every few days. It's so good I almost can't stand it.



We had such a good time on the tour. I failed to mention the tea shop we stopped at. I wasn't impressed with chocolate infused tea.... just my opinion.

If you're ever in the Seattle area, Savor Seattle has several foodie tours. I'd like to take Nick on the brewery one. He loves beer and would love that one, I bet.

No one paid me to take this tour or write about it. I bought my own ticket and my opinions are my own!