Yesterday I brought Benny and Deirdre inside for their baths in the tub. Benny bathed for about 45 minutes and then complained when I tried to blow dry him a bit before bringing him back outside. I brought Deirdre inside next, but she didn't splash around and preen like usual. Her left knee was more swollen than ever with arthritis and her eyes, even though thick with cataracts, looked tired and... ready to let go. I finished blow drying her and then whispered, "I hear you," and then brought her back out to the barn to be with Jeffrey and Matthew (oh, how she loves those boys... especially Jeffrey). I called the vet and arranged for a vet visit this morning at 9 a.m. to help her along her way.

When the snow began to come down and school was cancelled I called my Mom and Dad and asked for help. They both showed up in their four wheel drive. Mom stayed home with Isabel while Dad drove Dear Dear and I to the vet.

Our vet gave Deirdre her first injection to sedate her, which worked very quickly and then he found a vein for the next injection and within a minute, she left us. It went so quickly, too quickly. It made me wonder if I've held onto her too long... if she was ready sooner and I was too afraid to see it. But in any case, her life here was wonderful and she gave me more than I could ever have given her.

I brought a small pair of scissors with me and two glass "luck bottles" and snipped a few of her tiny, little curly feathers from the back of her neck. That's where Isabel and I always kissed her--on her little curlies. A saved a few for each of us, so we'll have a small piece of her with us forever. And what could be luckier than Deirdre Dear Heart's little curly feathers?

So now our Dear-Dear is with Vida and Jezebel, her dearest friends...