We had to say goodbye to Cody, our sweet sweet boy, today. It was time. He was all skin and bones, and starting to go downhill quickly. I don’t think he was full-on suffering quite yet (he was such a suck that he would have let us know, I think) but he clearly soon would be, as things had begun to escalate.

We adopted Cody in May 2013 from an organization that placed retired racing dogs from the States. There was a bit of a mix-up, though. He came to us with the call name Cody, and racing name Cactus Gold, but some time later, we got a phone call saying that his real call name was Casey, racing name Toots Satellite. We were already calling him Cody at this point, so we stuck with that. (Casey, as it turned out, would be the name we gave our second greyhound years later, as an homage).

Being our first greyhound, we were at first a bit taken aback by the sheer scale of him. He was a big boy, and oddly proportioned. Teeny tiny waistline, giant chest. Like a Barbie Doll crossed with a horse. Kinda.

One of the first things he did, was VERY tentatively walk out onto our little dock, and then soon after, just walk off the end, into the pond. I think it was either his first dock or his first pond. (He was fine, just wet).

And oh my goodness, did Cody love to run! Not surprising for a greyhound, I suppose. Any time of year. Mud season was not fun for the cleanup crew, but something about fresh powder in winter seemed to really rev him up (Casey too, it would later turn out). At one point after that clip was shot, I measured the distance between where he left the ground and where he returned to earth. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was twelve feet. Serious hang time!

So long Cody boy. We miss you already!

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Oh boy, this is hard… we had to say goodbye to our sweet Bell today. She was all out of life, but too much of a bulldog to admit it. We didn’t think she would make it to Christmas, back in 2014. She got TWO more Christmases under her belt, as it turned out.

Bell was a very sweet puppy. She was part of a litter of Valley Bulldogs that were so similar in appearance, that one time we brought home the wrong puppy from doggy daycare at the breeder’s. But we got that straightened out. Pretty sure.

Bell was the last of the fabulous furry foursome, Silver, Tiger, Bell, and Lucy. It’s going to be so strange to not use the plural: time to feed the dogs, shall we take the dogs for a walk, etc. I used to walk them in shifts: big-big, then little-little, or sometimes big-little, then the other big-little. I think matched-size pairs worked best.

Bell was happy to hang out with me, especially around meal times, but if we’re being honest she was Lynda’s dog. Bell became especially important to Lynda during the time her daughter was away at school, and Lucy and I were still at the condo during the week. They had a very strong, almost mother-daughter bond.

It was devastating to have to say goodbye. I’m so glad we all had some quality time near the end, even as she was starting to struggle, walking, breathing, in a way we knew we couldn’t allow to go on much longer.

Night night sweet Bell.

Lynda reports this morning that our Reeves pheasants, George and Martha, were found dead in their cage. I haven’t been down to see them yet, but it sounds like they met the same fate as befell Corny and Cornelia, the Lady Amherst pheasants who were killed last August. We figured it was a weasel at that time, but we’re not really sure.

Reeves pheasants have been described as “pugnacious”, and George was no exception. He was always pacing back and forth at the perimeter of his cage, ready to offer a sharp peck to the nose of any canine who got too sniffy. Which they did on an almost daily basis.

Our two Lady Amherst Pheasants, Corny (Cornelius) and Cornelia, were found dead this morning in their cages, victims of some kind of predator. Judging by the size and position of the entry hole, and the condition of the birds (I won’t go into details) we’re thinking weasel. Corny and Cornelia are survived by George and Martha, our Reeves pheasants and now the last two of the seven pheasants that came with the house in 2006.