Dog Heaven

I had a dream a few nights ago about these ladies. They, DL, and a small group including other humans and dogs and I were walking down our dirt road in the sunshine. When we got "home" to where our cabin is in real life, in my dream there was a sun-drenched field and a big barn, like at Calypso Farm. We put the dogs out in the yard, and they all flopped out in the sun-warmed dirt. Then I went into the barn to take care of some goat kids.

I had always pictured dog Heaven being always March, because they lovelovelove to play in the snow, but I suppose there are seasons there too, and dogs love a good sunbath, too. And apparently we'll have goats! Well now! Isn't that something?

I don't believe I have ever shown you this lovely pendant I ordered made from Roo's fur shortly after we lost her:

The white furs are from the Heart on her Chest. The forget-me-not is extra meaningful, not just because of its name, but also because it is the Alaska state flower. The shop does all kinds of memorial keepsakes. Link here.

I am still mourning my Starbuck-A-Roo pretty hard. I don't talk about it much because we have Thistle and Cricket (and DL, a good job, and so many other things to be grateful for), and it seems ungrateful to the Universe to dwell on the holes that are still in my heart. But they are still there.

Roo always got nervous when DL or I would cough, even if we didn't have a cold and were just clearing our throats. I wonder now if she knew that COVID-19 was coming, and she was getting nervous, and she left us so that she could comfort all of the people that would soon be ill and/or die in lonely rooms, saying farewell to loved ones over Skype and gchat. I hope that the first thing they feel on the other side is her soft paw. I know that she is also running through the snow (and laying in sunwarmed dirt!) with Autumn and Linden and other dog-friends. I know that she is also welcoming her Friends from the Denali Center (none of whom have passed away of COVID-19, but who continue to die away for various mundane reasons as the elderly are wont to do). I imagine that she can do all of these things at once, since, unencumbered by a physical body, the laws of physics no longer apply to her. Just as humans over there can look over multiple grandchildren all at once, she can play in the snow with her dogfriends and offer her paw to all of the frightened people on earth, all at once.

Well, here is a photo of our present schweeties.


Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

Now I will have to think about mud in the afterlife. Maybe the thought of mud in the afterlife will help me to realize that mud is not so bad in the present one. We are well into breakup season now, when the ice breaks up on the rivers and the frozen ground breaks up in our yards, making copious mud. At least in the mornings it is frozen: