T H O R…

This post is dedicated to my much-loved sweet dog Thor.

This was one of his favorite places to lay, look out at the lake and watch the ducks.

Our big guy loved to go camping, or anywhere in the car with us.  He just loved to go places.  If you said “Beach” we went nutty, he sure loved going to the beach.

This was one of our camping trips in our pop-up trailer.

Over the 4th of July holiday weekend I noticed that Thor wasn’t eating much and was drinking tons of water.  After a couple of days I thought he was doing better and I saw him eating a bit more.  He was still drinking tons of water.

Last Friday I took him in to see his doctor.  They took blood and checked him over really good.  Doc said that his liver felt swollen but we would know more when the blood work came back.

The next day, Saturday, Thor’s doctor called and said that his numbers for his pancreas should be about 0 to 450 – Thor’s was 35,000!!! That’s when we first started talking about cancer.  He said we really needed to get an ultrasound to know what was going on for sure.

Monday morning, July 18th I took Thor to Tacoma to the animal hospital.  That’s when I was told that Thor had liver cancer and it was very bad.  All though his liver and maybe spreading into other organs.  They took a sample of his liver and sent it out to the lab.

On Tuesday night about 8:00 pm Thor’s doctor called me to tell me that it was very bad and that he thought a combination of steroids and stuff to make his stomach feel better should get him eating again.  Thor was thinking differently.  He never did eat again.  He started getting so weak and it was breaking my heart to see him hardly be able to go outside and up and down the 3 steps.  He still wiggled his tail when we talked to him and he laid by us and loved having his ears rubbed.

I took Thursday off work and stayed home with him so I could make sure he got his meds and that he was doing ok.

Thor had a gray beard from the time he was about 8 months old.

Rick was home with him on Friday and when I got home from work it really scared me… I knew the end was very near.  That night I helped him get up on the bed with Rick and he just stretched out next to him and went to sleep.  I kept our other dog Cassie out in the living room with me all night so she wouldn’t bother Thor.  My plan was to call the doctor in the morning.  Thor got up during the night and laid at the foot of our bed in his favorite spot and went to sleep.  In the morning Rick woke me to tell me that Thor passed during the night.  I walked in and saw him laying there… he looked so peaceful and like he was just sleeping.  I said good-bye and we put him on his blanket & bed.  We carried him out to the garage and called the vet on call.  About 10:00 am we delivered Thor to Petland cemetery to be cremated.  I will pick him up on Monday and we will scatter his ashes at his favorite beach.  I can’t even begin to tell you how sad I feel.  Today I have caught myself looking for him a couple of times.  I just want to have him here with us.  Rick and I got Thor the month after we moved in together.  Thor was 2 weeks old when we got him.  His mother was killed and that’s why we took him at such a young age.  I had to bottle feed him for at least the first month we had him.

Thor Thor Bing… January 2000 to July 23, 2011 – you will be missed sooooo much!

5 years!

I’m posting this a day late.  Yesterday was 5 years…

5 years ago I met my LYS owner – now like a sister to me!  So I guess you could say it was our 5 year Friendship Anniversary! 

Sherri - 2007 Knit in Public Day

Looking back at the past 5 years so much has happened.  Sherri (LYS owner) has had 3 children get married and now has 2 grand babies!  We have attending many Knit in Public Days and Stitch and Pitch games, countless Knit Nights, and Mental Health Days (that’s the kind of day you take off of work and spend the day knitting in the shop).   So much changes and makes us stronger and brings us closer.  I love her dearly and can’t imagine my life without her in it now.  All because I wanted to learn to make a felted bag! LOL

Well also in that year – 5 years ago, I got married! 

Also on this day 5 years ago, I learned to knit… well, I had tried to learn when I was high school.  My boyfriend’s mom was trying to teach me to knit, but I just didn’t have the patience to stick with it.  I just wanted to make my boyfriend a fisherman’s sweater.  Oh how that makes me laugh to think about it now.  So silly was I!  Back to 5 years ago – I went online and watched several how-to-knit videos and the cast on part was easy for me to remember, and the knitting, well that took me some practice.  For my first project I purchased Navy and Red Cascade 220 wool to make the French Market bag.  I practiced for a week and then jumped in.  I am so lucky to get to work with people/friends that knit!  They helped me soooo much.  I would drop stitches and some how knit too many stitches.  My practice knitting piece had holes in it, and was bigger on one side than the other… but after a while my knitting stitches got to be the same size and I learned not to purl on my knit sides!  If you go on Ravelry you can see that fine work of art (the French Market bag) in my projects. 

So that was March 15th, 2006!