Sadie turns 14 today

I'm so happy to still have my Sadie Girl, despite her weakness slowing her down. Her hind legs are getting weaker by the day. Lately she prefers to lay down rather than walk because she is very unstable.

She still eats and drinks and takes her treats. She likes to greet me by the side fence with the other dogs when I come home.

She is using the dog house that John dropped off the day Kevin died. It's a lightweight plastic house big enough for her. It keeps the wind off her. During the day she prefers to lay under the juniper tree.

I didn't plan anything special. I wanted to take our photo together, but she didn't want to get up. I took a few solo shots of her instead, her advanced age clearly visible. She is going blind but navigates by smell. When I hand her a can of food, she sniffs around to locate it. If she is too slow, the other dogs will take it away from her.

It was a quiet weekend otherwise. I didn't hike, but logged in over 11 miles walking the dogs, both around the neighborhood and along the maintenance road, where the dogs can drink from the stock pond  I get the best mileage early in the morning  with them; I like starting the day with some miles under my belt.

Today I spent the afternoon digging up more ash from the old patio. The dogs enjoyed having me around. It's really the only time Wolfie sees me.

The biggest pile of debris was where Kevin once sat. I still found a few nice things that were left undamaged, small things like pet clippers and some of his wrenches. Carrying the heavy bags to the trash bin really hurts my back, though.