mama cass

today we said goodbye to mama cass - the best dog anyone could ask for. her health had been declining slowly over the last few months, but took a drastic turn for the worse about ten days ago. her vet thinks that it was likely an intestinal cancer that finally crossed an intolerable threshold. pete's parents lovingly provided cass with "doggie hospice" until we could get back from alaska to be with her. she was having a good day today...the way we want to remember her. 

i was there when cassie was born in minnesota in december of 1997 along with seven litter-mates. she was the last remaining pup from the final litter of birch coulee black labs my dad bred. losing cass is devastating enough, but losing her also feels like losing my most proximate, physical connection to my dad.

we have had many, many adventures over the last fourteen years and we are so grateful to have had her in our lives for as long as we did. 

a short video of cassie's adventures can be seen here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/113112843970263288979/Movies?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHEmcOIgc2zwQE#5785269684182957538 

thank you all for your support and love.