No dog will ever take Matilda's place in my heart, but now there is room for another passenger in the RV. Say hello to Abe. Formerly residing at the Southeastern Border Collie Rescue League in Deland, FL. Now and forever residing right next to me.
Stay tuned
From Jose
A few blog entries back I related some stories about Matilda. I asked my awesome brother Cris to share a story of him and Matilda. This is what he wrote:
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It is my pleasure to write a little note about a wonderful dog that won our hearts with her dynamism and playfulness.
One afternoon camping at the Junction I started climbing a hill with many trees. Matilda followed me and checked on me occasionally. As I went up I didn't see Matilda for a while so I called her a few times without response. I wondered where she was.To my surprise I looked to the top of the hill and... There she was wiggling her tail welcoming me, making my climb more interesting.
I have never had pets, but now I know how one can fall in love with one of these selfless four legged companions! Thanks Matilda for the memories.
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Back to Jose
The picture has a story also. I sent this picture to my niece, Cris' daughter, who I got Matilda from. When she first saw the picture she thought it was strange that Matilda was behind my brother. Then she looked carefully and noticed that they were coming down and Matilda is in front, which is more like Matilda.
Thanks Cris for the cool story. And thanks Maria for giving me five fantastic years with my doggie soulmate.
From Jose
I picked up Matilda's ashes ("cremains"). That finally brought home the fact that she's not coming back. She was the most amazing dog I've ever known and I will never stop missing her. I don't want to.
Before I started this trip Lenny and Brenda were my neighbors. I knew Lenny gave treats to the dogs across the fence (left to right Eclipse, Matilda and Maguire). Eclipse crossed in December of 2012 and Maguire does not care for treats that much. But Matilda woke up before me every morning and went outside to wait for her treats from Uncle Lenny. They had a special relationship of their own. Lenny made this montage of pictures he took of her. Huge thanks to Lenny for loving my girl and making her life more interesting.
I'd like to hear your opinions whether I should get another dog and when.
Stay tuned
From Jose
Thank you for your many emails and texts of condolences for the loss of my beloved Matilda. I would like to say that I am ready to move on but that is not the case. We were so close and she left so suddenly and unexpectedly. Yesterday I thought I was doing OK. Then we arrived at a new campground and I remembered how happy and excited she was to check out a new place, and that made me very sad. I know someday time will do its magic and I will be happy again, but not yet. I miss her painfully .
What follows are some stories and thoughts that have come to mind since Matilda passed. I initially wrote them for my own use but some of the readers who were not lucky enough to meet her personally might get an idea of her unique personality. Sorry if it's too mushy. Too bad. To quote my brother Cris, "she was a exploring, happy dog". If any reader has something to add to my thoughts please add a comment or email me. My brother Cris has a cool story about him and Matilda climbing a hill at Carmel Junction. Would you share it with us, Cris? Thanks Diane, Edwin and Lynne for some of the pictures.
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Life (and death) is so not fair. How can someone so full of life like Matilda die? It's not fair.
From the first time Matilda saw me, the day I went to pick her up at my niece's, she knew she was mine. There was no introduction needed. No getting to know each other. When it was time to go she got right in my car like she had been doing it all her life.
Matilda and I had a very tight spiritual communication. We were so in tune with each other. I think if she was a low key dog that just laid there out of the way I would not miss her so much. But she was so intense, so busy, always on a mission, always wanting to be part of whatever I was doing, that now anything I do brings back memories of her and devastating sadness.
Matilda's contagious spirit of adventure was a big part of the reason I decided to undertake this trip.
Matilda was truly an exceptional dog. It's hard to imagine life without her. I will be lucky to someday find a dog half as smart as her, or that will be so much a part of my soul.
Every time I came back from a store with packages she asked to sniff each bag, as if to see if any of them had something for her. I just brought the bags down to her level and she sniffed each one. When she was satisfied she looked at me, which meant she was finished. But if any of the bags contained something for her, even if it was something not normally meant as a dog toy or treat, just something I bought with her in mind, she would know it and get really excited.
On Jan 16, her last full day, we were at the southeasternmost point of the US in Key West when a guy on a bicycle stopped near us. Matilda immediately went towards him, paying a lot of attention to him. I commented to the guy "she really likes you, she's not usually this friendly to strangers". He pulled a bag of treats from his bicycle basket and said "maybe it's these". We all got a laugh from that, but she he did not get a treat that time.
Earlier in the trip, in Aberdeen, WA, I was taking her for a walk in a Walmart parking lot when a lady came the other way. Matilda approached her and I pulled Matilda back saying, "no Matilda. She does not have any treats for you". The lady said "oh, but I do. I have dogs also and always have treats in my pocket". And Matilda did get a treat that time, which made her very happy.
Sometimes when the four of us were out on a walk (Diane, Maguire, Matilda and I) I would need to go someplace by myself (to a campground office, etc). I would leave Matilda with Diane telling Matilda "you stay with Diane" which she understood perfectly. When I had finished whatever I needed to do and approached the group Matilda would recognize me from very far and get excited to see me. Sometimes Diane would encourage her saying "there's your papa! ". Sometimes Diane would then turn Matilda loose to run and meet me, which Matilda enjoyed very much.
Commands she knew :
Stay (voice and hand signal)
Sit
Come
Lay down
Go around (when she clotheslined me or a pole)
You stay with...
You go with...
Actually she did not know lots of commands like some other dogs do. And in any case, even if she knew a command she would do it only if she wanted to. But most of all she understood hand signals and body language. For example, when I woke up in the morning I signaled her to stay up on our (Matilda and i) bed above the cab until Diane started waking up on her sofabed. Then I alerted Diane to watch her legs and signaled Matilda to jump down to Diane's bed and from there to the floor. I just had to point to Matilda and then to the floor. But after a while Matilda learned that when I alerted Diane it was time to come down and she did not wait for my command.
Matilda cleaned up her food bowl very thoroughly and Maguire not so much. So when they were both finished eating we gave Maguire's bowl to Matilda to clean up. A few times when I was busy or forgot to give her Maguire's bowl, Matilda would get her front paws on the bed where Maguire ate to reach the bowl and clean it up. But she never bothered Maguire while he was still eating.
Matilda knew that she was going to get some of whatever I was eating (of course unless it was something that dogs are not supposed to eat, like chocolate, grapes, etc) . So anytime I was eating anything she was right there patiently waiting for her share. She was not an aggressive begger, she just sat there and drooled and stared at each bite as it went into my mouth. Even after I gave her some, as long as there was any left she begged. She always got the last little bite. And she always felt like the most important dog in the world because she got a treat.
She loved to fetch. Inside the house I often liked to throw her toy behind a chair, on a ledge or somewhere that would make her have to think how to solve the problem. On the few occasions when she just could not figure it out she would look at me asking for help. I would tell her how to solve it without actually doing it for her. I would tell her in plain English, pointing out the steps, "You climb here first and then put your leg there and climb there. Now you do it". She would always "get it" and follow the instructions. Then she would be very proud of herself. And she would never need help with that particular situation again, she would remember how to solve it.
She had a special way to tell me she wanted something. She would look at me, then look at whatever she wanted, then look again at me and then again at the object of her desire, and so on. If I did not react to her satisfaction she would change her position slightly, such as taking a quick step forward. By that time I could not resist anymore and gave her whatever she wanted (usually treats ) .
Matilda did not mind the rain. When it was time for Matilda and Maguire to go outside and it was drizzling, Maguire (aka Twinkle Toes) was hesitant to go out. Matilda did not care. She was ready to go out rain or shine.
One of Matilda's favorite places was a primitive campsite next to a creek near Carmel Junction. There is a place where you can pull off the main road and camp next to a creek. Matilda and I went there many times, with Diane and Maguire, with Carey and Maggie, with my brother Cris or just Matilda and I. As soon as I pulled off the main road she recognized the location and started whining with excitement. As soon as we arrived she would be the first one out and running towards the creek. She always returned a few minutes later sopping wet from jumping in the creek. I did not like her being in the creek by herself but there never was a problem.
She loved squirrels and stuffed toys. She destroyed stuffed toys with great determination within seconds. She never caught a squirrel that I know of but she was at Patty's fenced yard in the company of many squirrels up on the trees. She kept good watch on the squirrels.
When we were driving Matilda's usual spot was on the sofa bed behind the driver looking over the driver's shoulder. Many times she would be shaking. I never really found out why she was shaking but Diane once held Matilda tight and that stopped the shaking. Matilda rarely wanted to get on the driver or passenger's lap. She was not a lap dog and not much of a snuggler either.
On her last days she stopped eating but when offered food she showed enthusiasm but just could not eat. Similarly on her last day I took her for a walk and there was a cat nearby. Her reaction was same as always, she wanted to go see if the cat wanted to play. And on the way into the vet's office for her final visit Matilda found and ate something crunchy (a chicken bone?) in the parking lot. Her spirit never left her.
I hope that I was as good a dad to Matilda as she deserved. She truly was an amazing dog. I admired her and miss her every second of the day.
From Jose
Matilda Xray shows spleen a little enlarged but a needle to the abdomen revealed free blood in the abdomen. Ultrasound shows a possible tumor in the liver. If that is the case then that's the end. Now going into surgery. If the worst happens then I will probably call off the remainder of the trip and return to Kanab. I hope you can understand. :-(
From Jose
As you might recall from my last update, we were traveling South and Diane was not feeling well. I failed to tell you that Matilda was not feeling well either. She has lost a lot of weight, drinks water all the time, refuses her food, is not as energetic as usual. I took her to a vet and it turns out she has Lyme disease. Transmitted by ticks. Got some antibiotics and she should be fine. Poor thing. She has had two torn ACLs, been sprayed by a skunk, bit by a rattlesnake, and now Lymes. She sure lives life to the fullest.
We are in Key Largo heading to Key West soon.
Stay tuned
From Jose
We left Patty's with a sad heart. She was having difficulty breathing and she decided to go into the hospital to get her meds adjusted. We decided to continue the trip to give her freedom to do what she needs to do. We'll check with her again on the way back north.
Not far from Sebring we stopped in Lake Placid, FL to see the house where my parents lived from 1975 to 1995. When my parents lived there it was a cute little house and I had many good memories of it. The owners after my parents enclosed the carport and the back porch in a very tacky way. The house has been empty for three or four years and is up for sale. When I went there there were two guys working on restoring water to the house because the water pump had been stolen and someone is interested in buying it. I think I'll just keep the memories, thank you very much.
We headed south, around the south side of Lake Okeechobee to the West Palm Beach area and checked in at a cool campground with lakefront sites. Diane had been complaining of abdominal pain for a couple of days and when we got to our campsite it got bad enough that she (finally) agreed to go to a walk-in clinic. They did some tests which showed that it could be serious and recommended she go to the ER.
Not to appear that it's all about me, Diane was in excruciating pain, but I'll tell you my side of the story. You have to picture this. By now it was dark (we both hate driving at night), it was raining buckets, we checked in to the ER and Diane was assigned a room. I reached for my wallet to show ID to be allowed in with her and my wallet was not in my pocket. I went back to the RV (still torrential rain) searched all over, no wallet. My guess is that when I came in the RV after paying for the campground I did not put it back in my pocket and it fell off at our site. The angel behind the front desk allowed me in anyway. By now Diane was off to some more tests and I was contemplating driving back to the campsite without my wallet, at night, during a bad storm to search for my drenched wallet. What else could go wrong? Diane came back from the tests, still with a lot of pain, and we waited for the results. About this time the angel behind the front desk walked in with my wallet! It fell off my pocket in the ER waiting area. Somehow it got to her, she opened it and saw it belonged to me, tracked me down to Diane's room. I gave her a big hug.
The doctor came in and told Diane the diagnosis, prescribed some meds and sent us on our way. Next task was finding a 24-hour Walgreens. Still raining very hard, flooded streets, the GPS loosing signal because of the heavy rain.
We got back to our campsite after midnight and did not hook up or even back in. Just shut the engine off, warmed up some leftovers and went to sleep, glad that day was over.
Unfortunately the next day was not much better. Diane's abdominal pain continued, even with the high-powered meds she was taking. Again, I'll let her go into the details, but her suffering was to continue for some time... The heat and humidity is very uncomfortable, we have the air conditioning on all the time. It is harder to find a Campground with vacancy, they are all booked with snowbirds. Aaaahhh!
We have traveled South some more, now near Miami and if I can help it this will be as close as I'm going to get.
Stay tuned
From Jose.
At the end of my last update we had just arrived at Patty's in Sebring and were getting settled. I think we got settled real good because we are still in Sebring. Patty has a big fenced yard that all the animals take turns visiting. Matilda and Maguire, Patty's service dog Brim, and Patty's cat Kipper. As usual, Maguire's first reaction when meeting a new person is to bark, but after a few minutes he is best buddy. He is good friends with Patty's dad.
From Patty's we took a day trip a few miles north on FL-27 to visit Charlie, my former boss several lives ago. He has 45 acres near 27 but his place is as quiet as if it was in the middle of nowhere. He has some cows, and tons of squirrels, birds of every kind, the occasional deer and uninvited wild hog. We enjoyed the peace and quiet and catching up on our old coworkers. Charlie gave us a pineapple right from the plant. The ones from the store don't compare.
We spent one night at Charlie's and then returned to Patty's. I'm still not sure how long we'll stay in Sebring. Patty would like us to stay here forever. We'll see.
Stay tuned.
