...And We Come Home Alone....

In '09 we decided our little house in Bay View was just too quiet....so we thought it was time for another dog. Fenway Underfoot Woodard joined our family when he was just six weeks old. And did he ever bring laughter and activity into our lives and into our little house. Our first male and our first small dog...he was our sweetheart within days.

   

In 2010 we retired and bought a small RV and Fenway became "Camper Boy". He was such a good traveler....joining us for over 75,000 miles as we explored the USA and lower Canada.  As a boy we learned he had to leave his mark. We used to joke that Fenway "owned" the Grand Canyon, much of Texas. all of New England, parts of Florida, the Oregon Coast and everywhere in between.

Fenway "dressed up" and celebrated Christmas...being careful with Santa Claus.

When we moved to Port Washington he learned to be "Condo Boy" and moved into his role with gusto. He made friends in our building, loved walking the bike path and along the water and taking naps on our small deck.

He always found ways to make us laugh, playing hide and seek ("If I can't see YOU, you can't see ME!")

                                                Or "googlepussing" on the beach in Oregon....

               He wasn't necessarily good about sharing his toys...."Just try to get this frisbee!"

As he aged, Fenway got grayer and we called him "Our Frostie Bostie".

Leaving Port Washington our senior citizen moved with us to our retirement community apartment. He learned to be City Boy and made more new friends and loved our fourth floor Monday night cocktail hour.

We left Milwaukee two days ago to meet friends in west of Madison so the guys could go fly fishing on the Kickapoo River. We had amazing weather but sadly did not pick the best spot to fish. We still had a good visit. Fenway had been limping on an off for a few weeks, our veterinarian suspected arthritis first,  so we had drugs to help with that. But on this RV trip the limp got worse and he would always hold his right paw off the floor whenever sitting down. And then occasionally he began to cry out and whimper.  So we decided to break camp this morning and take him to the vet. Our doctor was fully booked until after Labor Day so we went to a 24 hour emergency vet office in Greenfield. We left Fenway with the doctor and waited two hours in the RV before getting the call to come back in.

X-rays showed Fenway was suffering from bone cancer and was in pain. The doctor was very kind and did describe several options. Amputation .... we said no. He could give us pain meds that would help some and for a short time, but this was going to get worse quickly and Fenway was in pain.

We were stunned and with heads spinning and hearts breaking we told the doctor we didn't want him to suffer so it was time to say goodbye. Fenway, cushioned on his favorite fleece blankie with the two of us crying, talking to him, kissing his sweet forehead and patting him all over, quickly slipped away. 

Coming home and walking down the hallway of our building without Fenway at the end of the leash was hard. Opening our apartment door to silence was crushing. Pet owners know this day will come....and he was almost 14....but still.....

Worst RV trip ever.