No more siestas on Siesta: November 2012

On September 18th (sadly, the day before my birthday), we had to say goodbye to our first family dog Buddy. For those of you who knew him well, he also went by the name Carl. When Robby was a little boy he was introduced to the books "Carl" about a Rottweiler that acted as a babysitter when the mother of the baby went out for tea with friends or on errands. This sparked a need in Robby to always own a Rottie. We rescued Buddy from the Humane Society 4 years ago. His paperwork wasn't too clear, but we think he was around 1 year when we adopted him. Shortly after, we adopted Heinz (another Rottweiler), mostly for Buddy's entertainment. He was from a rescue agency in San Bernadino. Buddy was incredibly loyal, almost too smart for his own good at times. He was so gentle around kids. He would go up to them, turn his body, and give them an invisible 1 inch perimeter of space, allowing them to pet him, never bumping them over. Buddy would play such hilarious mental games with Heinz. I felt so safe with Buddy. He also protected the air space of our yard, which could get very annoying, especially when Blimps would circle around SDSU. He barked at any planes or helicopters that he believed might be too low. He was small for a Rottweiler, but made up for it by acting so tough, at least with the mailman.

Early in the morning on the 18th, he had his breakfast and 5 minutes later I heard a scuffle in the canyon. Long story short - Buddy had killed a skunk and somehow in the debacle had injured his spine at the cervical level. Were not sure if it happened when running down towards the canyon, interacting with the skunk, or what. Robby's dad was very helpful in taking him to the pet ER while I had to go to work. Robby was already at work. There was a possibility that surgical intervention may have allowed him to walk, but his quality of life may have been one with chronic pain. He definitely wouldn't have the agility and playfulness that characterized him so well. I could go into more details, but will leave it at this. It was a solemn few days and felt very odd without him around once we had made our best decision to say good bye.

Heinz, whom we joke about as not being so bright, truly seems to be just fine without Buddy. He has actually mellowed out quite a bit without Buddy egging him on. Heinz is very respectful and gentle around Riley.

We are so thankful for the memories and the safety that Buddy provided. We gave Buddy a good home and will always miss him.

(Buddy is the smaller of the two)

Lots of trips to the Colorado River

Checking out the parrots in the trees

He loved snow.

Camping in Sedona

With the help of so many friends and family we worked for months to add in some grass to our yard, with the goal of completion being Riley's birthday party. Mama needs more outdoor space for survival since there aren't any parks nearby. Who knew that Robby is also a structural engineer, contractor and landscaper? It's amazing what owning a house does to a person's resume. I was so excited to celebrate Riley's first birthday with an outdoor open-house style party. Our plans were for it to involve some beer and sangria and be more of an adult 'We survived the first year' sort of get together. Instead, it ended up as a - we survived cramming 40+ adults and children all at once in our small but air-conditioned home, since it turned out to be the hottest day of the year in San Diego. It wasn't only the hottest day of the year, but the hottest day in San Diego for the last 24 years. It hadn't been 107 degrees in our city since 1988. But what mattered the most is that Riley had fun. I can never say it enough...but we are so overjoyed by the generosity of presents, relationships, love, and just pure fun we continuously have in our lives. Happy Birthday Riley, love you baby! And THANK YOU Robby for my grass. It makes me so happy. So so so happy.