A Brief Respite

We took a brief respite from blogging to deal with the death of our beloved Mikolaj, a.k.a. Mr. Big, who died on June 9 at the grand old age of 14.5 years. While not unexpected, the death of someone you love (whether that someone is a human animal or a canine animal) takes a lot out of you. Miko's death has been the easiest to process, in one sense, of the five pets I've lost the past 10 years, because he essentially died of old age, but that doesn't mean that the gaping maw in my heart didn't hurt and I didn't need some time.

Dudley and Zima have needed some time, or, at least, Dudley did. He wouldn't go near the towel I carried to clean up after Miko in my car, and he backed away from Miko's ashes twice. He clearly senses that they are something to do with Miko, and something that distresses him. Zima was not affected this way at all, but her bond to Miko was not as strong as Dudley's. Dudley was quiet for a couple of days, missing his buddy.

But life continues. And even though  bad storms blow nests out of branches and leave wee birds homeless, as with this hummingbird nest blown out of tree Saturday, it is all part of living. And we can always rebuild, and always will.