Maddie's Final Resting Place

Blogger is the bane of my existence right now. If it isn't one thing, it's twelve.  I thought it was just me, but I just read a post from someone having the same issue, so apparently it's a Blogger thing.  So the problem is, all of your comments aren't coming into my email inbox anymore.  If you're a regular comment writer, then you know I reply via email if possible.  Well, if I don't see your comment come into my inbox, then I don't know you've left one. I discovered the whole thing by fluke, and it's progressively getting worse.  More and more comments are being published, but I'm not seeing them.  So now, I'm having to check my individual posts. The most recently published one isn't that big of deal, but once there are two or three ahead of it, the odds of me popping in on an old one aren't very high.  Pain in my ass, I tell ya.  The point of all my rambling is, if you've left a comment, or asked me a question, and I haven't replied, I most likely haven't seen it. Shoot me an email if you think that's the case.  And if you've had the same problem and found a solution, PLEASE share the wealth.

Okay, enough about that.  I feel like I'm still playing catch up on posts since being so sick.  I haven't even posted our Valentine's Day dinner yet, for cryin' out loud.  It's written, but I'm thinking about just scrapping it.  We'll see.  

I did want to post these photos, though.

As you well know, after putting our Maddie girl to sleep, we drove up to the Rock Farm the next day to bury her.  The kids were in school, but we had to bring Baby along.  It's three hours one way, so it's not exactly close to home, but it was "the" spot, so off we went.

I hope this doesn't come across as morbid.  It didn't seem that way.  I took my camera to remember the day, which turned out to be beautiful.

We stopped on the way for a six-pack of PBR and off we went to dig a grave.

We took some time to choose the spot, and then it was game face time.

Not gonna lie, digging a grave for a four-legged kid is not for the faint of heart.

Physically or emotionally.

I held it together the whole time, but The Dad had to take some breaks.

The ground was impossibly hard to penetrate.

It suited the occasion.

Baby tooled around while we worked.

And then it was time.

I rounded up everything that would go in with her.

My niece and nephew brought homemade cards and flowers to her the night she died.

We put those in.

The Girl picked out a special rock, a tiny stuffed kitty, and a camellia flower for her.

The Dad put a bandana around her neck, because she always wore one when she was up there.

She went in with her bed, her blankie, and her pillow, as well.

He also put in his gloves that he used to dig her grave.

We sat down and drank a beer before saying our final goodbyes.

Filling the hole back up with dirt was the hardest part for me.

We gathered rocks, it is the Rock Farm after all, and piled them up.

I made a cross out of Juniper branches and tied them with some grasses.

I brought a sprig of Daphne from the yard, and put it by the cross.

It was so pretty out, I took pictures of Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood before getting back on the road.

Then it was time for the long drive home, without our girl.

It's still really hard, but we know she's where she would want to be.

And we'll see her when we head up for spring break.

I've been thinking about it, and I just don't have the heart to take her off my little sidebar mini bio.
So for now, she stays.