Jerry G. Dawg,

Patron Saint

of Tripawds everywhere,

Bless us one and all.

Lend us your strength,

joy, and love.

Guide us through

pain and sorrow,

to the here and now,

where all is

as it should be.

We shall hold you in

our hearts forever.

Woof!

This site continues to amaze me everyday. I was just sitting on my computer thinking that it is one month today that we lost our Precious Tehya and wondering should I post or not. Then I see the thread of " anniversaries" it is almost as if you know when I need a hug!

Sending you all a huge hug and wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

Darlene (Angel Tehya's Mom)

It is so very hard to know where to begin when you want to pay tribute to all these great warriors who have shown us the way. We all owe so very much to Jerry, Jim, Rene and now Wyatt Ray Dawg for starting this community, continuing the support (even through those never simple upgrades), and showing us the way to contribute no matter how many tears between us and the monitor. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge Tehya who's amputation date was the same as my loss of Miss Cherry. It crushes me so very much that yours could not have been a story of longevity, but like Jake, Tazzie2, Emily and so very many others of this community, yours was a valient effort cut far too short.

If I sound rather down just now, caulk it up to two events. First, the loss of my ancient (nearly eight year old) notebook computer running my system of choice Windows XP. I was using this machine to do the animated .GIF and was about to make an attempt at a TriPawd animated .GIF. I had been prepared for such an event by buying a newer notebook when I could easily get one with Windows XP Pro installed. I purchased it just a week before Miss Cherry's diagnosis, but had waited to bring it out. We would always take the older machine on travels because we felt as if we would not loose too much if something happened to the old notebook. Well it did, so I am now down to a Quad Core Desktop and the Dual Core Notebook. See you do not have to feel sorry for this one.

The other reason, on Saturday we received a letter from the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Foundation acknowledging a donation made by one of Miss Cherry's cancer care-givers in her honor. I had heard via antidote that she had made an impression on all the staff there, but this just makes it clear. It was very gracious of them to remember her, and while I am sure that this was part of a regular donation that they make, it was very touching. It also reminds me of the loneliness that overwhelms me now. It also reminds me that there will be no K9 Easter Egg hunt this year, and that had been a annual tradition within this house dating back to "The Girls" and about 1987. It is really a kick to have them hunt the eggs, then help peel, and have them eat one right on the spot.

I have rambled too long, have broken my own desire to always post upbeat, but I just had to let it go somewhere. I know that this community will understand. Back to the original purpose of this topic, we are deep in our preparation for our month in Yellowstone trip slated for June. Once more, we will be able to feel the presence of Jerry as well as Miss Cherry and Allie (our camping parterners). I may have mentioned previously that in 2005 Miss Cherry had to visit the same vet who helped Jim and Rene released Jerry. Small World!

Spirit Cherry's Dad – Bob

jerry said:

… I hope that's not what crashed your computer!  

 

Thanks for the concern. The short answer is no, yes, well not really! I had been replacing the main functioning system disc in the notebook with one that had an older version with the necessary software. This included updating the software and operating system just to the point where they still worked together. This is why I did not use the main functioning system disc. (The animation software would conflict with the updated operating system.) The last time I placed this older version into the machine, it died. (All sorts of snow appeared on the screen and the system locked up like it was shorting out.) No amount of rebuilding has resurrected this ancient machine. While this disc replacement may have been the "straw that broke the camels back", the ultimate reason for the machine's failure was "old age". It was acting flaky while we were in Maui and as I said, I had a replacement waiting in the wings to take over.

 Also, I had been thinking of making an animated .GIF that included a TriPawd. My first idea was to have a fixed lettering "Cherry" like the one below, have Miss Cherry move across the lettering left to right as a QuadPawd, but return as a TriPawd. Probably more than I really could do, but it was great to dream!

Also, in the Small Business section of Dell, they still sell notebook computers with Windows XP Pro installed. Some come with a VISTA Business install disc (for what that is worth $0), and some come with Windows 7 install disc for later upgrade.

Spirit Cherry's Dad – Bob